1. What is my name?
2. What is my favorite food?
3. What is my hometown?
4. What is my favorite color?
5. What is my favorite movie?
6. What is my favorite drink?
7. What is my dream vacation?
8. What is my favorite dessert?
9. What is one word to describe myself?
10. How am I feeling right now?
11. What do I love most in the world?
12. What do I want to be when I grow up?
…a little bit about me…
My name is Charlie, and I am a 15-year-old living in Austin, Texas. I like to believe I am a free thinker. I try not to conform to any way of thought simply because it is the generally accepted mindset, but at the same time, won’t forgo anything simply because it’s the popular choice.
Music is my life. To quote Victor Hugo, “Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and cannot remain silent.” I love all genres and forms of music, and delight in listening, playing, and even composing music. I also love books. Reading is one of my favorite pastimes and I can stay up all night just to finish a really intriguing story. Although I sometimes read intellectually-stimulating material, I prefer a good romance or mystery novel. To me, reading is a way to escape reality. It’s hard to do that with psychological conundrums being flung at me from the pages of some existentialist work.
…good news…
Today I found out that this coming year I am going to be an AFS exchange student in Italy. I have never been outside of the US, much less to Europe, and am ridiculously excited about living there for a whole year. The funny thing is that even though I will be leaving in a few months, I don’t actually speak a word of Italian. I’m in my third year of taking French in school and can have a decent conversation, but that’s as far as my knowledge of foreign language goes. However, I’ve always been a quick learner and hopefully if I start right away, by the time I leave I will be able to hold my own in Italy. The rest will come from experience.
I have one older sister, Kathryn, who I love dearly. However, sometimes I feel like I’m just following in her footsteps and not making my own path. In her junior year in high school, she was an exchange student in French-speaking Switzerland. Although she was my inspiration for deciding to spend a year abroad, I want to be able to make my own path in life. That’s why I am not going to a French-speaking country, even though that is the only language that I (somewhat) know. That and the fact that Italy is probably the most beautiful place I can imagine. It seems as if no matter where you go in Italy, the landscape is breath-taking, the people are gracious, and the food is positively to die for. Or so I’ve heard…I can’t wait to actually be there and be able to form my own opinions. I feel as if living in Italy for a year will let me discover who I am and what part I play in the world. I’m tired of living all my life in one place and never experiencing anything for myself—I want the bigger picture.
