5 months in Canada

Exchange year 2022 – 5 months in Canada

Lina Wegener (10C) verbringt gerade fünf Monate in Kanada und schickt uns ihre Eindrücke.

I always wanted to go. When I was a child my family travelled a lot, so I learned quite early how big the world outside of our backyard really is and I wanted to see all of it. I still do. We always visited the wild, quiet places with no people and a lot of nature. Being here opened my eyes on how much that really affected me. I think when people say you have to go to find yourself, this is what they mean. You have to meet new people to see how different we all are and to find the people you’ll come to love. You have to see new places to realise what “home” is to you. And, most importantly, you have to go so you can come back. So you can discover the new in the old.

So, like I said before, I wanted to go. Regardless, when the first plane took off, I started crying immediately. Almost four months later I still can’t say why. Maybe it was fear. That would make sense, because I would be lying if I said that this isn’t scary. It is. You leave behind everything you have ever known, just to enter a new life. But you will live and you will love. I could never regret going, even when leaving is horrible. And it will be horrible, when in 42 days I have to do it all over again. But it’ll be okay. The people I met, the places I saw, the memories I made will always stay with me. And here are some of them:

I have a 17 year old host sister from Brazil and i consider her the best person I met in these months. She is like a real sister to me and we can laugh and cry together, look at the stars, try weird food, go for walks in the middle of the night, and we both understand what it means to be here and not to be here. Then, there is my host mom. She supports me in everything and is very dear to me. Of course, I also made friends in school and it’s crazy to think about that I’ve only known them for a few months, since it feels like we’ve been friends my whole life. Some of my friends made it their responsibility to show me around a little and I’ll always remember visiting this small, dirty cave near our school during lunch break or hanging out at my best friends place. There are a lot of moments I want to remember forever. The first party we went to, Hockey games we watched, trails we hiked, Table Tennis tournaments we lost, Easter eggs we hunted for, birthday cakes we baked, late night drives just to get shitty ice cream and scream to music, building a little snowman, going skiing for the very first time, watching movies in an almost empty cinema and going sliding in the dark.

As one would expect, the language is a big concern for many people who are thinking about going on an exchange year. But honestly all I can say about this is, don’t worry. It’ll be fine. I didn’t have any problems with understanding the people here or expressing myself. The same is to say about the school. The teachers are all very understanding and most of the stuff you learn here won’t be hard. Just try to open up. Try to go out there and try to see the world in a new light. And always go out there with the knowledge that your time is limited. Don’t waste it. Never waste it, and you’ll have the time of your life.

Lina Wegener

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