The Unexpected Journey
Avry Gita — INA AFS to HUN YP 23/24
“Can I do it?” That is the first thing that came to my mind before I signed up for this. I doubted myself a lot and didn’t think I would be able to get in. But here I am now, after three months of staying in another country. Three months may be little for other people but it is a lot for exchange students, especially for me. I never stayed out of my home for a long period so this experience is interesting.
2nd of September, the day I stepped foot in Hungary, the day I met my new family. I still remember the exact feelings, excitement, and a lot of nervousness. I arrived later than the others so I did not attend the orientation and had zero clue about how it was here. We arrived at almost midnight at my new home, where I had my very first dinner with my new family. I was still amazed and couldn’t believe that I finally arrived here. I am very grateful to be placed in this beautiful country and to meet many lovely people who helped me through tough times.
My family. Something new to me is that I have two siblings here, younger siblings! I was excited to know that I would have younger siblings as my host family since I am the youngest child in my family. My siblings and I are very close, we love to spend time with each other. My host family taught me a lot of new things that I would never imagine learning. For example, my mom and sister love horse riding, they ride almost every weekend so they say I needed to learn how to ride, which I did and it was awesome. My host dad also has a different hobby, diving. He taught me diving and got me a diving certificate when we were in Egypt for the autumn break. Also in December, we went to Austria and my host aunt taught me how to ski. We have done many things together and they have also been here for me every time I need them. Sometimes they describe themselves as “the crazy family” which might sound weird and scary. But in reality, they are just silly and like to joke around and that is why I love this lovely family so much.
My school friends. I was never as nervous as I was on my first day of school. It wasn’t like a normal first day of school in Indonesia, since everyone here speaks a whole different language. Luckily, one of my classmates already contacted me before I got here so I was not really worried about not having any friends. Moreover, she introduced me to the other classmates and thankfully they were very happy and welcoming to see me. They would give me the school tour, tell me what I was supposed to do, hang out with me, translate things for me, and even show me which bus I was supposed to take to get home. They are also very enthusiastic when I tell them about Indonesian culture and are always interested in how things are done in Indonesia.
My AFS friends. There are four students in my chapter and all of us are girls, one Turkish, two Chilean, and me. The “Csinos Lanyok” or the pretty girls they say. As I said, I did not attend the orientation so the first time I met them was on my first Hungarian course that we have every Monday. From there, we develop a really good bond. After the Hungarian course, we usually have a chapter meeting when we get together with volunteers and play board games or just talk and discuss things. It is always interesting to hear about other cultures too. The girls and I also love to hang out and discover new places in Hungary. We always have somewhere to go on weekends and we are excited to explore more places in this country together.
chapter friends
Those people are the ones that are making my exchange year interesting and enjoyable. I wouldn’t have imagined being placed somewhere else and unable to meet these lovely people. Now, if I ask myself again “Did I do it?” I would say “Yes” and will keep doing it. Although it has been such a rollercoaster journey, it has taught me many things and priceless memories.
