New country, new learnings

New country, new learnings

As part of an exchange programme organised by American Field Services (AFS), I spent a year in Portugal where I lived with a local family and attended a local school. Part of this experience was being able to learn the language and embracing all the customs and traditions that my home away from home had to offer. 

But the most a vital part was learning to cope with drastic changes. The entire programme is designed around being able to have a unique and authentic intercultural experience.

So here is my personal account from the exchange year and the things I got to learn through it.

SCHOOLING
I studied at a local school in Mafra, which is about 40 km away from the main city of Lisbon. As part of the Humanities and Linguistic course, I studied History, Geography, Philosophy, Spanish, English and of course, Portuguese. 

One of the issues I faced early on was the language barrier. All the classes were conducted in Portuguese, and as someone who was completely unfamiliar with it, I would just sit in the classes and try to piece together what was happening. 

With the language continuing to be an area of trouble for me, I also began finding major differences in the content of the subjects that I was learning. The syllabus was extremely different from what I had been used to. However, some of the hands-on group projects and presentations helped me feel more involved and also helped me understand better. With time, this got easier and I was able to participate more actively in class lessons and discussions.

ACTIVITIES
While schooling is important, Portuguese people highly value family time and opportunities to socialise. I regularly went for hikes and to the gym with my host family. But often we would just stay home and have movie marathons. On the weekdays, school wouldn’t leave much time for other activities but my weekends were usually spent on the beach with my friends, in the local cafe, or outdoors with my neighbours. I soon got involved in activities my local community was organising, whether it was festive celebrations or simple get-togethers. This played an important role in aiding my adjustment process.

CHALLENGES
While I knew I was doing something that would at times prove to be tough, I didn’t quite realise what some of the biggest struggles would be. Since not many people in my new family, neighbourhood or even school spoke English fluently, I needed to learn Portuguese a lot quicker than I initially thought I could. Every evening, I would sit with my host family and read Portuguese books in an attempt to understand it better. Two months into the year, and I understood Portuguese completely. The next step — speaking —was a lot harder than I thought. Since I lived with two young kids, one of whom could not speak or understand a word of English and I was forced to speak in Portuguese and within a few months, I found myself communicating fluently.

As someone who isn’t very social, I had to really step out of my comfort zone initially to talk to new people and essentially had to start from scratch. The more I spoke to my now good friends, the easier and more comfortable the entire experience became.

LEARNINGS
One of the biggest things this exchange year did for me is help me break out of my shell. It helped me become more open and honest about my thoughts. I saw myself becoming more confident and more independent. Apart from this, since teenagers in Portugal are given a lot more freedom than an average Indian teenager is used to, I developed a sense of responsibility. Living in a completely different country, away from my family and friends, was made a lot easier because of the people I was surrounded by. 

All in all, this experience has taught me so much. It has helped me grow and evolve as an individual and I am grateful that I was part of such an enriching experience.

WHAT IS AFS?
AFS is an organisation that expands access to intercultural education in over 99 destinations. AFS India not only sends students abroad, but also gives families an opportunity to host students from around the globe. They encourage students from all backgrounds to take part in this global adventure by providing scholarships and outreach.

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