For exchange student home is bittersweet

The Rotary District 7010 Conference for all Rotarians, inbound and rebound exchange students from our district came and went in a bittersweet blur of activities and emotions.

Although I have been back since July, this conference marked the end of my exchange.

This blog seems to be the hardest for me to write so far because part of me is resisting this conclusion. My parents came to France to visit me during my last two weeks. I was anxious to introduce them to all of my friends and host families. It was a visit filled with food, sightseeing, Rotary meetings, and shopping (of course).

My tour ended where it began, in Luxembourg, with my best friend and his family driving us to the airport. Our travel day left me feeling dysfunctional with the sadness of knowing that I might not ever see these people again.

As said in France, “they are missing from me.”

We were warned at the beginning of our tour that saying goodbye to our exchange families would be harder than saying goodbye to our real families. Although I once could not believe this, I now know that no truer words have ever been spoken.

I was excited and happy to be on my way home, but yearning to see their faces just one more time. I still feel like I am living in some parallel universe wishing that both worlds could co-exist. To live abroad is to make a new life in a year and leave it again for an older life that may not quite fit the “new” you.

However, since the moment I arrived home, I’ve managed to keep busy with my horseback riding and working on the farm. I am one of the fortunate exchanges students in that some of France followed me to Canada. Since I have returned to Canada, my host sister, Amelie, and best friend, Matheo, have come to Canada to visit me. That goes to show that even though the exchange is over, the life I had back there is not.

I often get asked, “How does it feel to be back?”

It feels as if I had lived a dream. Sometimes I still cannot believe that I had spent a year abroad and often catch myself looking for reminders of my exchange city within the confines of Sudbury. I cherish my memories that I created for myself during this exchange. I am proud of the independence I have gained, the increased ability to be self-reliant, to be brave and adventurous and the ability to look back on the range of emotions I experienced throughout the exchange, some good and some bad, and chalk it all up to growth.

This exchange has better prepared me for my future. I am already looking for possible post-secondary exchange opportunities. As always, my thanks and gratitude is extended to the Sudbury Sunrisers and the Rotary Club of Sudbury for taking a chance on me.

Lockerby Composite School student Giorgia Apolloni attended school in France as part of a Rotary Club exchange program. This marks her last column detailing her experiences.