by Anisa Apriliani, Indonesia 2016-17, hosted with AFS in Eden, NY

I can still recall that exact day, when I sat in the classroom with my peers, yet my mind started to wander, as I stared into the void, into another dimension- my ultimate reverie. I was not daydreaming, I was musing. I was musing about that one uncertain probability, which I wistfully yearned for: my exchange year…

Prior to my departure from Indonesia, I was still in a huge state of disbelief. I only had a few expectations and worries thus far. I can remember vividly how astonished I was when I was at the national farewell party, with my 127 new exchange friends, all coming from a myriad of places, wearing different traditional clothing, humming our anthem, waiting for all the parents to “badge us,” to finally make our ambassadorship a reality, and give us the grace to “spread our lights” all over the world.

I arrived at Buffalo International Airport after the long haul of flights and a series of orientations. I wandered around the crowd, who were all waiting for their families and relatives, until I finally saw a lady wearing a purple polo shirt with a tiny AFS logo embroidered on it.

She stared at me for a couple of seconds, as if I were one of the many student profiles she had read and she was trying to scan me. I was wearing the illustrious blue YES t-shirt, and tightly holding my at-that-point-useless phone. Fortune was on my side, as she recognized my shirt and explained that she was the AFS Western New York Team’s director. From that very instant, I learned that confidence and observation skills were indeed necessary to survive this year, and that my actual ride had just begun.

Three months have passed just like that… I arrived during the Erie County Fair, where all the flowers were still blossoming and people were so carefree, holding their ice cream cones, wearing the loosest and lightest of clothing. Now, as the brown leaves plummet to the ground, people have started to tighten up their coats, carefully sipping their hot drinks near the fireplace.

There are some days that I’ve spent here that I can still vividly recall, while there are others that have flown by so fast that I can’t even remember what day of the week it was!

Attending a birthday party right after I had arrived in Eden, Going to summer fairs, Driving around Downtown Buffalo, Strolling along the Erie Canal, Attending parties with the nicest folks in town, Watching the Bisons play in the largest stadium I have ever been in, Roasting my s’mores with a whole tree branch in the middle of the night, Experiencing the nerve-wracking first day of American high school, which turned out to be not so bad.

I could go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, but let’s just save that I’ve truly lived these past three months, to the fullest!  They say that people can have dreams so complex that they undergo five stages of them before they fully wake up. I just wish that this dream, my reverie, could go on forever, as I cherish every single moment that I’ve had so far during my exchange year.