【明報專訊】What do you know about Switzerland? Mouth-watering chocolate bars? Well-known breath-taking heavenly sceneries? I can tell you Swiss are introverts (內向的人) because I am a half-Swiss local high school student. Last year I went on exchange in Switzerland with AFS. I lived with a Swiss host family in a beautiful place called Obfelden.
Have you ever heard of not enjoying exchange? I didn't enjoy it at first. People did not treat me as I had thought they would. I just set aside all the time because I didn't speak German. My participation in activities and classes could not be less. A strange brew of depression and frustration began to grow. I even contemplated leaving the sad place and returning to Hong Kong. I simply missed my family, my best friends and my passionate self in Hong Kong.
But then I asked myself why I had come and what I had done so far to tackle the problem I had. I pondered and pondered and finally regained my senses. I buried myself in piles of German-learning books and asked my host family to help me.
In about five months, I managed to speak Swiss German (the local language) quite fluently. I shared my feelings and stories with my friends. Such communication is essential because without it others will not count you in. Success does not await you. You have to go along the thorny path step by step. People usually say exchange is ''life-long- unforgettable'', ''genuinely eye-opening'' and, above all, ''enlightening''. It may be a cliché, but it is so true!
text: Victor Wong (exchange student from Hong Kong to Switzerland in 2012-13)
■Application deadline for Year Exchange Program will be 16 March 2014. Find out more on www.afs.hk
