More than four months in Australia, and something interesting has happened. Something that slipped in so quietly that I almost overlooked it. When I first arrived and started my time here, every day felt special, like beginning a new chapter each morning. Even the smallest things and the regular daily life seemed new and exciting. Since you experience so many things each day, the days feel full of impressions and therefore long. You think to yourself: wow, so many things I’ve learned and seen in such a short time. When I looked at my calendar, I counted the days that still remained, and I felt like I had all the time in the world.

But now something has changed. I’ve started to feel like this is some kind of home for me. And with that feeling comes a routine, and suddenly the days pass by so quickly. All the new things have become part of everyday life. And the moment you realise that is when you try to become aware of each day again and appreciate it. You can’t allow yourself to get lost in the desperate feeling of counting the days, realising how few are left and how many have already passed. I had to push myself to change my mindset and shift my focus. I am here, and in every moment that I am here, I can choose to be more present, to give each day not more length but more depth.

Many small, subtle details make me feel more and more at home. It’s not so much the things that surround me that give me this feeling, but rather the way I am. I’ve simply become comfortable no longer pretending. Perhaps home is less a place than a feeling.

I’m aware that this is possible for me because the wonderful people around me, with their warm and open nature, make me feel that it’s okay. Okay to speak differently, look different, know different things, or not know different things. That’s how I’ve learned how people perceive me, or rather, how they don’t judge me but simply accept me. And that has taught me to do the same.

I’ve become myself again, yet I’m also a new, more open version of who I am. I think I’ll carry a piece of Australia with me, even when I go back home. Perhaps Tyrol will feel a little different then, still familiar, but seen through different eyes.

I’m surprised by how much my perspective has changed. When I first arrived, I often found myself searching for what felt like home here, what we had in common. But through contact with different cultures, you realise how little we actually have in common, and yet that never feels negative. On the contrary, the exchange is beautiful and exciting. I’ve gained the feeling that the unfamiliar and the diversity I once thought might exclude me actually became what gave me stability and a sense of belonging. Learning to navigate the unfamiliar, and recognising that I myself am the unfamiliar, has become a new strength.

And now I’m no longer looking for where we’re the same, but for where we’re diverse. Where we’re vibrant. And how wonderful it is when someone invites you into their own lively world. Because what we all have in common is that we’re different, and that is precisely what makes us so beautiful and vibrant.

I came to get to know a new country, and instead, I became a new version of myself. Perhaps the most beautiful thing about an exchange isn’t seeing new places, but learning to give yourself new colours.