I became part of the BFF family two years ago. When I first arrived in North Carolina, where I was hosted, I felt very welcomed from the airport where both my host family and the BFF staff were present. As the year went by, I met many other exchange students and their host families through our monthly events. I was very excited about those events, because as I used to tell one of my exchange friends, all exchange students from BFF are so different, so unique, yet so similar in one way: They are all so nice, and it was always a pleasure spending time with them and with their host families too.
Besides from that, I spent the most amazing moments of my life so far surrounded by BFF members through the trips organized throughout the year. I especially enjoyed the small chats we had while walking or eating, it was so cool to discover that diversity of cultures, and I learned that in the end, people from around the world that I used to see as strangers are also just like me, having the same thoughts, the same life experience, just with different ways of doing things. I also learned during our enrichment weekend that barriers built by cultural differences really need to be changed into bridges, because everybody is just trying to live a peaceful life. All of this was made possible by the amazing BFF administrators. I am so grateful for my local coordinator who has always been there for me, giving me rides, taking me to places, and checking on me every month to make sure I’m safe.
I am also grateful for our program manager who’s such a nice person, sometimes even too nice, being around her was synonym of being happy. I feel so lucky to be part of BFF and I’m so grateful for every member of BFF that I got to meet.
