(Informative text with personal experience included)

How to have a good exchange year
To have a successful year, there are a few things to take care of. A year without people which are helping you with your problems would be very hard, you should make some friends and do not take things too seriously, you should have a sense of humor and as well as to be able to speak the language, which is spoken in the country you will visit. Actually it is always difficult and not really easy to describe, how to a good year abroad, because there is no book or online blog or something else, which tells how to have the perfect exchange year. For sure you should bring some skills with you, if you want to have a year full of experiences and good memories. It is also impossible to have the perfect exchange year, because everyone’s year will be different, with different personalities in different situations, of course every exchange student is different as well, in fact: every year abroad is special and different compared to others.

Skills
~You should try to be optimistic, if you have a pessimistic personality. It is more possible that you won’t have fun at all and it would be definitely harder to make friends. To be optimistic makes solving problems easier and it keeps you going, even if something is not easy at all or makes you really sad. It makes the people around you happier too. Being an optimist means seeing always the best in each situation and when something bad happens, to look forward and think about the next step to take.

~You also should be interested in the country you are going to visit. It doesn’t matter which interests you have, you can always connect it with the foreign country you are going to visit. I personally am really interested in history, so I chose to take contemporary US-History as I heard that I can take it, because we don’t have it Germany. For example, if you really like sports, you should join a sports team and see how you are doing in another team with different people in another language. I joined the swim team in New Richmond, I love to swim and could not imagine not going to practice.              

            
~A very important point is to be open minded, especially about the culture. Many things will change so you should be interested in seeing the differences, but do not compare it too much with your knowledge of culture, this it can lead to homesickness.

~You have to try to fit into your new family. Your host family can become an important part of your life, if you just let them. They want to you in their family, in the end it is all about how you manage it. I personally enjoy playing cards with my host family or all the swim meets we go to and I really appreciate being with them because they are really nice people. Your host siblings can make many things much easier, I feel like my host sister is already one of the closest friends I ever made.

~You should also bring the skill of independence, of course you will learn this skill especially in your year abroad, but to make it easier, you should be a little bit independent before you are arriving in your new destination. You should be able to make a lunch and prepare breakfast and dinner. You also should know how to use the washing machine and the dishwasher. You have to think of things you have to do alone, like homework and when to take the bus to school.

To have a good year, you also should take care about physical things that are necessary. I believe that every exchange student wants to keep in touch with their friends back home, you might want to know all the news and problems of your friends etc., but actually “back home”, nothing really changes while you for example, do change the most. This is your chance to think about yourself, being independent and growing up in a complete different area and this is certainly not selfish at all. You will show huge improvements after concentrating on yourself for once and it is not all about the foreign language, which will show an excellent improvement after only speaking and hearing the language the whole time, the biggest difference will make your character. You will learn to be thankful for perpendicular things, maybe you will get more kind, than you were before you left your home country. You also should not be afraid to make mistakes. Mistakes are a part of the exchange year and nobody can do everything perfect, especially when you get to know a completely new culture. It is the same with speaking and writing mistakes.

The rule is trying and maybe failing, is still better than not even trying. At least you have the courage to try something new. In conclusion I can say that everybody has a different personality, but a little bit courage and a little bit of every skill I have listed, can make you a wonderful year with lots of experiences.