“Those who canot change their minds connot change anything” – George Bernard Shaw.
My name is Paola Rosales Ruvalcaba and I am an exchange student in the Czech Republic (2022-2023) I am Mexican and my current time is 3 months.
The first 3 months is the period of time where you decide where you are going to direct your exchange, whether for better or worse.
As a matter of principle, the moment you decide to go on an exchange and you’re already on the plane, from that moment on your life is heading towards something different and new and as much as you don’t want to, the exchange will change you completely, and as James P. Lewis said: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.” But not because you are already in the exchange means that your life is already directed to something new, NO, it depends on you if it is directed to something new or if it redirects to what was before. If you only think about going back, you talk 24/7 with your family from your country, your thoughts are always negative, you complain about everything, you refuse to learn the language they speak, then I am sorry to tell you that you are going to have a bad time , all your exchange will go from worse to worse, until the time comes when you are going to decide to return to your country or Rotarians will return you for not following the rules and having bad behavior and that is where your life returns to what it was. On the contrary, if you start off on the right foot, I mean, help your host family in whatever is necessary, you are grateful for what you have and what they give you, you follow the rules of the house, you adapt to the routine and culture, that you create a routine in which you stay active and positive and dedicate time daily to studying the language, in my case Czech, let me tell you that your exchange is going to go wonderfully and as you pose, time will go improving, obviously it will have its ups and downs but never give up, that your life is directed to something extraordinary.
No matter what happens to you in life, because you have the ability to choose your reaction, when you manage to ingrain the habit of looking for the positive in every circumstance, your life will go to its higher dimensions. What really separates happy or optimistic people from those who are mired in misery is the way they interpret and process the circumstances of life, since we all have the power to determine what we are going to think about at a given moment.
Managing the mind is managing life, you decide where to direct your exchange. It will not be easy, because this is a huge step in your life and big things are always difficult, and after 3 months I am still in this process but I know that the change in my life is guaranteed.
If you have time read the book “The monk who sold his ferrari” by Robin. S Sharma, this book has helped me a lot to be able to move forward in difficult times of my exchange and as my grandmother said “There is no better companion than a book”
My biggest hobby is going horseback riding, I really like to exercise. I would love to be a neurosurgeon and I hope that this exchange will open doors to a world outside of Mexico.
