Dear exchange diary,

in this completive blogpost I shall hand over the microphone to the man himself. I presented him with just one simple question to answer throughout it: “How was it to stay here, in Austria, within my family for one entire year?”

Well, it was more like ten months. Quite a surreal and absurd ten months, yet the most fulfilling, pädagogisch-wertvoll and emotionally intense ten months of my life. My experience with your family was incredibly positive, and I felt like I was very well-received from the first moment onwards. Even when I arrived in the Salzburg Hauptbahnhof and met you and your grandparents for the first time, not knowing whether I should go for a hug, the “two kisses on the cheek” thing or an introductory handshake, I still felt a very warm, assured feeling for what this year would bring.

So did my stomach, as it slowly came to the realization of how much Schnitzel and Apfelstrudel it would be digesting. Food was a big part of my exchange year, and your grandma’s cooking was truly to die for. Every day I was blessed with a warm plate of lovely home-made grub after I came home from school, and this is something I miss dearly. Another part of my culinary experience was eating at Pommes Botique every Tuesday at 13:40, during the two-hour break at school. I will never forget those fries (and that red sauce!!!) in my entire life. I gained ten kilos, but it was worth it.

It wasn’t all stomach-warming though, because my exchange year brought along several incredibly difficult experiences and feelings. This was however one of the most important parts of my year, as these difficult experiences was where I truly learned most about my own inner situation and emotional intelligence. Facing your strange unconscious material is quite a tough task, but this is probably how you grow the most. It brought along its most important lesson for me, namely teaching me how to be vulnerable, honest and in touch with your own emotions.

My exchange year has been immensely important for me, probably in many ways which I have not realized as of yet. I must thank my host family for allowing me this opportunity to make new connections all over the world, learning a new language, feeling many things, and most importantly, allowing me to stay at their home for ten months. Liebe Grüße und vielen Dank.

Lávre Johan

(Well, it also was more like ten months it took you to answer this freakin’ question! Still, much love for the heart-warming answer.)

Now — with the big question having at last been answered — I shall let you go wander free of the usual randomness I used to exercise in here. As exchange students often get to say possessed by a so sweetly sour emotion: “Have a good life!”

Julian

13/11/18

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