Today is the fifth day I spent on this island. I am amazed by how deeply in love I am with Paros already. The sun, the wind, and the sea, its people, its animals and its cuisine, everything here just makes me happy and calm.
Although we are still getting to know each other, students in my program have bonded so quickly, and we are all like family now. As the only international student in the program, I feel accepted, loved and safe in the group. Everybody has been helpful and patient with me, they have taught me slams and puns, and helped me with my English pronunciation. The friendships I have earned here makes this study abroad experience the most beautiful and the best thing that happened to me in the year of 2017.
It has been seven years since I have visited a European country. I went to England in the summer of 2006 as an exchange student and spent most of the time in the city of Brighton, a beautiful city with breathtaking rock beaches. The host family I lived with were an old couple. The husband was a famous singer who had his records hanging on the walls in his house. The wife was affected by an illness and lost her ability to speak. They cooked for us every day, wouldn’t go to sleep until we got home, and did our laundries. They were like parents to us. For a couple of years, after I got back to China, I sent them postcards but never heard back from them. I wonder if they are still in this world.
I always regret that I didn’t have the skills and equipment to record my experience in England, and the fact that my memory starts to fade away makes me very upset. I am glad this time I am fully prepared. With my skills in photography, videography, and journalism I will try my best to tell the stories of Paros, of its people, and history. And I am confident that the friendships I have earned here will continue to accompany me in the future, inspire me, guide me, and encourage me.
Written by Echo Lu