Before strating to describe my experiences in Denmark, it's important to understand all the preparations that I went through in Portugal, since the very first AFS camp.
AFS is the exchange program that I'm in. My parents had the idea of me participating in such program since I was 13, so it has always been a possibility. It's weird to thing about how long it took since the first camp until I actually put my feet on Denmark. All the procedures took about one year.
First I had to submit a lot of documents, school reports, grades, a letter about myself, photos, etc. Then, me and all the possible exchange students who were selected met in the first preparation camp. We were about 70 people, from all around Portugal. The camp was a full weekend, so we had time to meet eachother, make new friends and do a lot of activities, all very well organised by the AFS Portugal volunteers. We participated in debates, presentations, physical activities, reflexions, tests and games. It was all to test our way of perceiving the world and the society and see if we had the cultural luggage to participate in a program like this. We had a couple of meetings after the first and every single one was really helpful to be ready for the final experience.
In these camps I learned about the different levels of a culture, the way how we tend to make false judgements about things without searching about them. I also broadened my critical thinking, my thoughts about society and friendships. I learned not to be afraid to talk loud about your thoughts but to respect other's opinions and believes. I learned the importance of trust in others and in myself. I was encouraged to think about my personal values and what I really expected with this exchange year. I was given the feeling of being in a culture where the same words had different meanings. I got exposed to the magic of body language and non-verbal communication. All of this and more were the base stones that were incredibly important to enlarge my experience.
For that I'm really grateful to AFS Portugal, to all the volunteers that helped me and guided me through the camps and to all the friends that I made. It had a great importance to me and I'm happy to still hold contact with some volunteers that are now friends to me. If anyone wants to participate in the best year of your life, I highly recommend AFS, has it has helped me greatly and it's such an amazing program.
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