written by Nonie Titular Lumnis (participant to USA)
I am a proud alumna of KL -YES program batch 10. YES program was one of the best opportunity that happened to me, because at the age of seventeen something memorable and unforgettable.
I was hosted in Cincinnati Ohio and I lived there for almost a year. On my first few days with my host family, I was so excited and I don’t feel like I’m homesick. But I was wrong because after three weeks I cried every night before I go to sleep because I miss people that I usually see. I don’t usually miss people until I became an exchange student.
When I was in the U.S my host parents and I did a lot of travels and visit some beautiful places in their place and I always volunteer to do the household with them. My bonding with my host siblings is baking, I and my siblings baked an apple pie. That’s how I spent my time with them. Sometimes my host Mom and I did a late night talk/conversations about random things and my host Dad our usual bonding is to walk, I send me to school then pick me up. I will be forever grateful because I am not totally related to them but they accepted me wholeheartedly.
Dealing with different people is not an easy specialty in America because I’ve never been there before but in the process, I learned little by little how to interact with people with respect.
I had a very wonderful experienced year during my exchange year because I learned so many things especially in life and deal with people with respect.