Smile

Being an exchange student is such a curious place to find yourself. 

It starts as a vague curiosity, hardly even an idea in your mind. That vague curiosity lights a spark that turns into a roaring flame which engulfs your entire mind. It becomes your one ambition and you know you won't stop until you have it. 

You begin research. 

You learn. You discover. You desire. You apply.

    And before you can even realize it, you are on the other side of the world calling different and new people Mom and Dad. Or brother. Or sister. And all of the sudden everything you know is everything you don't need to know and everything you need to know is nothing you've ever known before. The habits you've obtained and disciplined yourself to are now useless information filed away in your mind for one year, because that knowledge is for there and you need to make room for what you have to learn for your new home....which is different. So very different. And it's not the wrong kind of different, and its not the right kind of different. It's just so different. 

    But eventually you realize it's somehow, in the smallest way, the same. You realize people are people and whether its here, there, or anywhere, happiness, and sadness, and love; they're all universal, and that's one familiarity you cling onto. Wherever you go, you learn to smile and never judge. No matter what you feel, or what you think, or if you're exhausted, or if you're terrified, or if you're homesick; you smile, because that is one thing everyone in the world can understand. And maybe sometimes they won't smile back, but that's okay because you know maybe they don't know what to think of you. You know that sometimes people judge each other who are different than what they're used to, but that's only because they don't know better. They don't know you're here to learn about their culture.  So you just smile. You just walk on, and you never stop smiling. 

     And as you continue to smile, you learn to accept what comes. You realize that, while you may be on the other side of world experiencing something so perfect, and terrifying, and wonderful, and scary, you only have one year. You realize that you only get one year. One year to spend with these new people you call Mom and Dad and Brother and Sister. One year and then you return to the comfortable life you've lived for 16 years. One year here. You may not understand everything right now. And you may feel lonely, and embarrassed and scared, but you have one year to figure it out. One year. And then it's gone. 

So you take a deep breath. 

You realize this is what you worked so hard to achieve. 

And you smile. 

You just smile.