I was in Ontario, Canada for one month, from 23rdJune to 21stJuly…dates which I will never forget!
At first, when they told me that my destination was this wonderful country, I couldn’t believe it.
Before the departure, I was so excited and anxious at the same time, as I had never travelled either alone or outside Europe.
This novelty surely made my stay there even more memorable.
I spent almost three weeks with my host family and ten days at a Lions camp.
The Buis family was the best host family ever! They have three children, whom I managed to meet and to spend some time with. In particular, I had some pure fun with Sydney, their daughter, who is my same age, and Garrett, their older son, who is one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met! But I must say that my stay would not have been the same without Kata, the Hungarian girl with whom I shared a bedroom and some of the best and most amusing moments of my entire life! 

We lived in Port Dover, a small yet amazing town at the lakeside. We enjoyed going to the beach and hanging out, especially on Canada day!
By wearing red and white clothes and watching the typical parades, I felt like a real Canadian girl!
Moreover, our host family arranged lots of fun activities: BBQs, shopping, jetskying, sailing, boat trips, escape rooms, amusement parks and much more!
I deeply appreciated the little things as well. Having pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast, cooking typical Italian food for my host family and seeing their lovely reactions, playing cards with them and having a simple talk really made my days there and made me feel at home!

This exchange would not have been perfect without the stay at the Lion Bill Evers Friendship Youth Camp though.
Its rusticity and its location literally in the middle of a forest didn’t negatively affect my stay at all. On the contrary, they made the cohesion among the camp participants so much easier.
There were twenty of us, twelve of these I had already got to know before the camp itself.
The camp life was actually very fun! I did enjoy sharing a small cabin with three fantastic girls, preparing breakfast for my companions twice, playing in the nature, singing the Lions’ songs and having a campfire all together every single night.
The trips were even greater! I particularly loved the ones to Toronto and to Niagara falls…what a breathtaking view! 

I also had the opportunity to experience lots of things that I had never tried before, such as zip lining, driving a dragon boat and going on a jet boat.
However, what really made my camp stay unforgettable was the people I met there. Before my trip to Canada, I didn’t think ten days were enough to know deeply someone and to make real friends.
Well, I was completely wrong. I felt part of a big international family and I found some friends for life.
I understood that distance and cultural differences aren’t important at all…we were just a group of teenagers, who wanted to explore the world, have fun and share information about their own countries. Indeed, not only did I embrace the Canadian culture, but I also discovered a lot about several more countries, which I really can’t wait to visit..
Finally, I should surely mention the Lions members, who made this possible and help lots of people all over the world every day. Spending some time with them, both there in Canada and here in Italy, warmed my heart.
They are such a blessing.
In the end, if I could only suggest one thing to the future Exchange Youth, I would say “Leave, explore, feel free, conquer your shyness and live every moment as it were the last!”.

This is what I did and I came back as a new Serena.
I got more comfortable with my English, I got more confident and braver, I overcame my fears (especially the one of dogs haha) and I grew up as a person in general.
I didn’t want this report to be so long, but one thousand books wouldn’t be enough to describe the best experience of my life.
One month went by so fast that I didn’t even realize it.
I didn’t want to leave the “maple syrup country” and still after a month I always get very emotional when I think about it.
Canada stole my heart, yet I am sure that every single country would do the same thanks to the Lions Youth Exchange Program.