Dalam Hatiku, Ada Dua Rumah
In My Heart, There are Two Homes
Most high school students are content with focusing on their grades, their friends, and their extracurriculars. They fill their time with coffee dates, shopping trips to the mall with friends, and studying for their daunting Math final. I craved more than simple conversations in the same language, in the same familiar places. As a Junior, I decided to reach beyond my hometown of 9,000 people and become a Rotary Youth Exchange Student. Venturing out of Wisconsin, USA, and making my life in Yogyakarta, Indonesia was the most life-changing, beneficial way I could have spent my Junior year of high school. Through foreign exchange, I discovered myself, gained deepened views of the world, and grew close to others in ways that most people my age have not.
When I arrived in Indonesia, I was ignorant to nearly everything. Every word, smell, and gesture was foreign to me. I knew nothing and no one. I was not even sure of an acceptable way to act. Every bit of common sense I had learned throughout my entire life in America failed me; that knowledge was not applicable in a place so distant and dissimilar. This sudden realization was alarming and agitating. My constant struggle to overcome that cultural barrier and settle my discontentment is ultimately what changed who I was and determined who I would become. I could no longer follow the daily routine and way of doing things that many of us settle into after living too long in one place. By forcing myself to break habits and cherish every morsel of life, I found what I truly value and enjoy. In doing that, I found myself.
I also found strangers who quickly proved to be unbelievably helpful and caring. Since I did not know anything about life in Indonesia, I had to put my full faith in others to show me what was wrong and right. These people: my host families, classmates, and Rotary members, taught me how to speak, how to act, and how to survive in a place completely exotic to me. I grew to love and care for them, and they did the same for me. Our friendships broke borders and boundaries of race, religion, class, and age. Through them, I learned of unconditional friendship. We were not friends because we had been since elementary school, we were friends because we genuinely wanted to be. Foreign Exchange led me to people that I never would have met. We became friends in ways that I have never experienced before, and that many people, especially my age, have not experienced.
The bonds I made with Indonesians and my newly formed mindfulness granted me a deeper view of the world. I discovered new beliefs and took time to question my own ideas. I challenged whether I created my beliefs, or if they were influenced by my culture and my peers. By questioning myself and learning to understand others, I gained a perspective that is not possible to achieve by living in the same 9,000 person town your entire life.
I stepped out of a town with a population of 9,000 and travelled 9,622 miles to discover myself. I travelled to the other side of the world to learn of something greater than myself and my small town. By becoming a Rotary Youth Exchange Student, I was able to unearth myself, incredible people, and a world once hidden to me. I gained experiences and ideas that not many people my age have ever fathomed. I studied abroad, and I am forever changed.
-I wrote this for my College Prep class for the prompt, “What experiences have you had in high school that differ significantly from your peers?” I just figured I would share it with all of you.
