Rebekka Lord Johnson - VIC to France

Wed 24 Feb 2010

Rebekka Lord-Johnson, from Brighton VIC, is on a semester exchange program to France after winning a scholarship through the Make Your Mark T-shirt design competition. The following is an extract from Rebekka’s blog detailing her thoughts about being an exchange student:

“I would like to write something that my experience so far has taught me.

Last week, when I was standing out in the rain, after Arts Plastiques, waiting for my host mum to pick me up, there was something that occurred to me.

I had been randomly placed, in another country, by people I didn't know, to live, learn and be around complete strangers for five months. Before arriving here, I had been warned, time and time again, that this exchange would be a journey - at times a hard and most of all it would mimic the journey of a rollercoaster...oh and then there was the culture shock thrown in the midst of things as well.

As I was standing there, watching the strangers move, laugh and run through the rain around me, I realised that for me, there was no culture shock - that there would be no rollercoaster. Perhaps I'm "speaking to soon" when I say that, but life is a rollercoaster and will be till the end. So, if life = rollercoaster and rollercoaster = exchange, then really, doesn't exchange just equal life? Why be here, afraid of the next jolt, the next plunge into nothingness, not knowing what's around the corner, when you can just take it and say, "well, I'm going up...oh, whoohoo! That means the thrill of the drop is ever approaching...!". This isn't a rollercoaster. This is just the climb that builds you for those times when life is tough - it teaches you that you can make it through those times and be proud that you've let go of that handle bar and screamed like no one was sitting there with their fists in their ears.

I realised that where I was, at that moment, was a place no different to any other. There were people who had made mistakes, people who were too positive, or the opposite, too negative. There were people just like me. And as the sun set over the school, a group of friends ran past in the rain. All five cold and wet. Just like me. They were screaming and laughing and being too loud, making fools of themselves. Something you're able to do with people who don't judge you. It reminded me of those times in Australia with my own friends. Whether it be dancing in the rain after photography club, lining half melted jelly babies on the steps of the science lab, or just feeding off each other’s energy. There were people with their own stories, heads ducked against the wind.

All this made me ask myself, what separates people? Here I was on the other side of the world, in a different climate and culture and the people were just the same. Complete strangers, yet mimicking the same patterns I have seen before.

People think that they can go on exchange and be a different person - start a new life...But how is this possible if you are faced with the same everyday situations?

This experience changes you, yes. But you are the same person, just growing and maturing and catching up with yourself, really. Your anticipation, curiosity and perhaps fear grows as you wait in suspense for that dip at the end of the road. Each person around you, a stranger yet a shadow of someone you know. It is for this, I think that there is no home sickness no rollercoaster out of the ordinary. Just life. Life multiplied a hundred times, then multiplied again. And right now I'm heading up that mountain, not knowing what lies ahead. There is no fear. Just the knowledge that the strangers surrounding me are there to hold my hand and scream in unison as the ledge approaches...

People don't change. They just experience things that bring out different traits from within. It's our own choice what we choose to experience - how to react to an experience. People have told me this all my life. But it wasn't until it hit me that one day afterschool, that it became true, maybe not for everyone, but for me. One person amongst billions. Just one small step - just one metre of railing. But still, it's a start :).”

Rebekka Lord-Johnson

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