Hi everyone,

My name is Louise and I spent a year overseas as a WEP exchange student, one semester in Italy and one semester in French-speaking Belgium.

Being an exchange student is a global learning experience. Instead of whizzing past monuments in a 15 minute wonder tour of Rome, exchange students are given the chance to live like a local. Your new city eventually becomes your second home and you are given the opportunity to master a new language, maybe even acquire the local accent.

I lived in a little town, 10 minutes drive from the Centre of Turin, also known as the ‘town of the stars’ as it houses the only observatory in Northern Italy. I attended a small high school in the centre of Turin, right next to one of the old Kings of Italy’s palaces and two steps away from the cafe that served up what I decided was Italy's best cappuccino. Once you begin to befriend your classmates and really start to integrate yourself at school, you realise that teenagers can be quite similar on both sides of the world.

When my departure from Italy was looming, I began to realise what a dream I had been living.

As for Belgium, my school French had been washed from my memory. Sometimes a conversation could be easily turned into a very amusing game of charades as I tried to explain complicated vocab such as a book voucher, bubble bath or a nail file.

Learning doesn’t always have to come out of a classroom and, indeed, student exchange reinforces the idea that the world is beautiful because it is different.

The world is a book, and those that don’t travel read only one page ~ St. Augustine
Without a doubt, new experiences can often enrich us and shape our life, seeing us turn the pages of that book at a rapid rate and, perhaps, give enough inspiration to write its sequel. I’m writing mine as we speak, inspired by WEP’s student exchange.

WEP Scholarships to Italy & French-speaking Belgium

WEP is currently offering two scholarships to Italy and French-speaking Belgium! Click here to find out more or fill out our enquiry form to request a FREE application pack in the mail.