The World is Bigger than You Think, Explore It!
Amanda Kwienisa-INA KL-YES to USA YP 23/24
“Hey what’s up?” A lot of things happened.
Hi everyone! I’m Amanda, a 17 years old high school student from Tanah Air Indonesia. I’ve lived in a lovely small city in Indonesia for my whole life, Probolinggo. I’m one of the KL-YES 23/24 awardee and yes, now I’m staying in the United State for one academic year. I live with my host family here in the United States. I got placement in Iowa, Des Moines. It’s a new experience for me and it’s a whole different thing than my home city in Indonesia. Interesting isn’t it? As a girl who always goes with her parents everywhere and now is an exchange student who lives hundreds miles far from home by herself and host family. I guess it’s time for me to let my journey live!
I got hosted by a family, a family that I think would be so anxious and awkward with. Turns out, they’re amazingly nice people who care about me here. Isn’t it funny I got beaten up by my own judgment of people, it was silly of me to think of them like that. I learned so much about America from my host family. America is so diverse! My host dad is Dutch and It’s kind of hilarious how he was so nervous to meet me. He thought that I would hate Dutch people because I’m Indonesian (So I’m not the only one who is nervous here ahahaha). My host mom, she’s Swedish. She thought that it was so funny of him, I’m really glad we bonded really well because of that! The different perspectives are interesting to share. I have two host siblings here, Skylar and Eric. They are my sources of Happiness at home, we always have something fun to do as siblings. Even though Skylar is much older than me, she is really nice to me and willing to play together. Eric is younger than me, he’s 16 years old and he helps me with all my confusion about high school in America because Indonesian High School and American High School are divergent.
Talking about High School, it has been my favorite place since I was in the United States. I made a lot of friends, all of them from different backgrounds. That’s why it’s interesting for me. I joined two clubs, the world culture club and RISE (Immigrant and Refugee) club. These two clubs make me meet new people and help me to make friends. I realized the difference between each country they’re from, it’s so unusual to have this kind of diversity. We share each other’s cultures, knowledge, etc. The more I learn about something, the more I feel this world is huge. I have friends from all over the world by joining these clubs and socializing with other people. They’re from Columbia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Brazil, Moldova, Mexico, and Myanmar. Cool right? Yes I thought it was really cool of me to be friends with them. Part of myself never thought I would be this cool, I used to be really shy and worried about socializing with people, especially when they’re strangers. But I’m an exchange student, I’m an ambassador for my country so I have to be brave and independent. Nothing is wrong about that, The key is just be confident and willing to learn. Do not feel insecure about your English or Accent. English is my second language so it’s normal for me to make mistakes.
always find a new way to learn english here, not only speak with people. Me and my siblings, we made a cool way to learn it like “Word of the day” so they’re going to tell me a new word that I can use as everyday sentences and it actually helps my
vocabulary enrichment. So I believe if you’re willing to learn, you won’t be miserable. I learn how to keep my head up and respect the differences. I think that’s the key to make the exchange journey successful. How you explore the world is to learn and respect it, if you won’t open your mind to the other world you won’t be able to make it. Every person is different, but it doesn’t mean they can’t understand each other. As an ambassador of Indonesia, I have to show them that Indonesians are people who have values and morals. My host family is different from me, my friends, my teacher, but all of them get along really well with me because I understand them as a human being. The world is really big, if you wont talk, or respect, you cant step forward on your journey.
Thank you for following my journey! I still have a lot of things to learn and will never stop learning and step forward to be a better person. See you on my next journey.
