Facebook is officially cool again

Ciao tutti, e benvenuto al mio blog! Whoa. So you know how whenever your English teacher assigns an essay, or you're meeting someone important and you have literally spent hours planning out the perfect words to say?  Yea, me too. Last night I had to contain myself  from posting again on the same day, because I was that excited that my blog had 99 views as of 10PM last night! (grazie tutti) However, its amazing what a difference 12 hours can make, because I'm basically banging my head against the keyboard trying to recall any of the brilliant brain storms I was having last night.

 Why. Didn't. I. Write. Them. Down.     

Just as I thought all hope was lost and was about to start describing how I'm cleaning out my closet, a got a Facebook message from my friend in Turkey and inspiration struck!

Okay, so it was more of me responding to her and then trolling my newsfeed for a good 15 minutes while I ate a bowl of Frosted Flakes and jammed out to Disney Pandora, but eventually I had the idea to talk about how amazing Facebook is! (This is some damn good free publicity, you're welcome Zuckerberg)

I know of the big 3 (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) Facebook is the oldest and least cool. Like so many other American teenagers, you probably got your Facebook when you were in 6th or 7th grade and then the rest of your middle school experience is documented on it because you used it 24/7. Then, your grandma and weird uncle from Minnesota that you only see at Thanksgiving decided to try out this new fangled internet thing and get a Facebook too. Boom! Next thing you know half of your newsfeed is made up of nothing but old embarrassing family reunion pictures and your grandma's statuses about her lucky night at bingo.

 

Oh god, the horror and the reality of this picture.. I just... I can't.. Internet.....stahp....

 Needless to say, most of us have moved on to bigger and better (and more complicated) social networking sights, where we are free of our family and any emotional wounds they may inflict upon us. Personally, I chose to hide my relative's posts from my newsfeed and just kept on using Facebook. I thought of Facebook as that one childhood friend that isn't as cool as they were when you were in elementary school, but out of respect and kindness you still let them sit at your high school lunch table with you.

So, once I got accepted into the AFS program, I realized I would be meeting a lot of new people, (just one of the trillions of perks of being an exchange student) but I severely underestimated just how much "a lot" was. The first group I joined was the speedwell winner group. This Facebook group has about 30 kids in it, and it is for anyone who will be traveling abroad next year on the Speedwell Scholarship.(click for a link to the scholarship application page) That is where I met 3 of the other girls going to Italy with me, along with dozens of other kids from around this area who are going to various countries, such as Germany, Argentina, etc. After that, I got to meet even more students through the Susquehanna Valley AFS group, where kids from all over central PA AND any foreign kids who are currently living with a host family in the area are a part of. Because of that group, I now have friends from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and China (that's right be jealous). Finally, my friend Kara added me to the best group of all, the 2013/2014 AFS Italy group. This group includes anyone from around the world who will become an exchange student in Italy through AFS. Let me tell you, being in this group is about the equivalent of joining the UN. So far, I have met and am friends with kids from Chile, the Dominican Republic, Quebec, Mexico, India, Egypt, Turkey, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Germany, and even some who actually live in Italy! It's insane when you are talking to someone at 10;30 AM here and they are just crawling into bed because it's 11:30 PM there! It really makes the world feel like such a small place, and although most of them don't speak very good English (and lord knows I can't speak Thai or Arabic) we still share so many of the same likes, dislikes, and interests! Did you know that Imagine Dragons is HUGE in Japan right now, or that schools in the Dominican Republic are currently in final exam week? The best part is that whenever I get sad that it's unrealistic for me to ever fly to Hong Kong or Germany to meet any of them in person, I know that in just over 2 months we will all see each other in Rome :D All in all, I think that choosing to become an exchange student has already changed my life for the better, and although I will get homesick at times and miss my junior prom, the benefits of this program FAR outweigh the drawbacks. I might just be a naïve teenager, but if we all took a step back for a minute and looked at how much we all have in common as human beings, regardless of race, gender, or birthplace, the world would be a much happier and peaceful place! Until next time, ciao amici :)