As an exchange student living in Italy, I remember all the words of wisdom and advice thrown at me as I was preparing to leave. I am sure all of us remember hearing, "don't get homesick, eventually you will come home". "Keep busy and don't think of life at home." Well, we soon realize that you cannot help felling homesick, and once it is time to go home you don't want to. You cannot be busy 24 hours 7 days of the week and you cannot just leave your life at home. Although all of these words of wisdom help us in someway, nothing can prepare us for a year abroad. I want to take the opportunity now to give my advice not only to students leaving for an exchange but for anyone that has experienced something as intense as an exchange. It is something that was left out altogether; something that I live by everyday. Never miss an opportunity!
Never miss an opportunity to experience life. There is a whole world out there waiting for us! Take advantage of the world and the opportunities it has to offer us. Travel as much as you can. Take every opportunity to experience the wonders of the world. The beauty and history of our world are inconceivable; take the opportunity to fully understand this fact for yourself. Learn the cultures that make this world so diverse and know the people. Find out the beliefs that make up our different cultures. After experience one another's cultures, only then can we understand the hardships and reasons why things are the way they are.
Never miss an opportunity to take a chance in life. By taking chances we realize there are more doors of opportunity open than before. Most of us think this year will help us realize what we want, but in fact we realize that we have even more opportunities because of this chance we took. Challenge yourself in every way. Learn that with challenges we discover more about ourselves than we knew before. Each chance offers the discovery of new things: the discovery of ourselves and the discovery of other people. Challenge yourself in even the little ways and you will be highly stimulated.
I know that all of us will be given way too much advice on life. Half of it will go in one year and out the other. If you only live by one piece of advice, live by never missing an opportunity. However you use this, ultimately you will bless yourself with a lifetime of memories and lessons in life from a first hand point of view. A French proverb states "One never knows the full meaning of life until it is half over." Prove this wrong! Take all opportunities to live in life!