I started this wonderful experience on the 22nd of July in the München Airport, where I first met my host family and a few other exchangers of my camp.
We were all scattered in the South Bavarian area, in some different places: I was in Friedberg, a tiny beautiful city near Augsburg, with a Finnish girl, a Mexican guy and a French one.
We have bonded very deeply and become true friends: even if there are thousands of kilometers between us, we are sure that sooner or later we will meet again.
For the first week of our exchange, the four of us were always together, because our host families are friends, so they organized activities and experience for all of us.
It has been absolutely beautiful: we visited both Friedberg and Augsburg, went to high school (and compared that to the ones in our own countries), tried Bavarian specialties, but - most importantly - we lived with our families, sharing moments of their everyday life.

My host family was more than wonderful – leaving them has been very difficult, but they love Italy, so I invited them here and I’m sure that we’ll meet again. They treated me as if I was their own daughter, and this left me speechless – but I deeply loved it. 
On the 28th of July, we finished our stay in Friedberg and started a new beautiful chapter: the camp. We were 20 guys from 18 different countries (there were two Italians and two Fins), and it has been one of the best experiences I have ever lived.
Since the first moment (waiting for our train in München station), we started building a strong friendship between all of us, a bond that became deeper and deeper every day. This one was the aim of the first part of the camp, placed in Scheidegg (near the Austrian border),where we had to do plenty of group tasks… in order to make us a group – and they actually worked in a perfect way! We were in a sport house, very typical and absolutely great, where we did lots of challenging and unusual activities: outdoor and indoor climbing, soccer golf and normal soccer, building of a rope bridge over a canyon, …
But we also went swimming in a natural pool nearby, play cards (we Italians taught ‘Scopa’ to all of them – but translating its name into ‘Broom’), and went to the first of many Bavarian bbqs with the local Lions. One day, we went to a special factory where only mentally disabled people work – it has been a very important lesson: doing normal activities, they feel normal and more accepted by the world outside. In the afternoon, we took part in the Special Olympics, playing asphalt curling with a group of them – we discovered that they are far better than us in that sport.

After a week, we moved to Ingolstadt, where the local Lions Club took care of us: they were so kind and always welcoming… we felt home! In these four days we did plenty of activities, all of them so different and unusual, but absolutely beautiful. Not only we visited the Audi center and factory, but also we were shown a few modern technologies about cars’ lights: it was very great and interesting, and we were deeply thankful to the Lions members that made this possible.
In these days, we went to a typical restaurant, where we learnt the Bavarian dances (we deeply loved these) but also tried food and great beer; we did a flight over the Bavarian countryside with small airplanes (we were all speechless, it was far more than wonderful); we have been archeologist for one afternoon, looking for fossils into the rocks… we also did a great tour into the old part of Ingolstadt, in a small beer factory and in its museum, and we made our own bretzels in the best German bakery (so great!). Obviously, we also did funny things, like going to a water park with giant slides, and play in a lasertag; and, eventually, we took part in a first aid lesson, where we learnt many useful skills. 
The last part of our German stay was in München, hosted in a big international hostel, where we have been for almost a week. We visited the FC Bayern Arena – we felt like important soccer players just for the two hours of our guided tour; took our own giant beer in the Hofbrauhaus, the well-known restaurant in München; did a great bike tour in the city centre and in its beautiful parks; visited the Oktoberfest museum, the Modern Art Pinakothek and the BMW world. We went back to Friedberg, where we did the city-rallye – it has been so funny and interesting, because we learnt many things, and in a great way! In the same day, we went to the city’s beer festival (obviously, we loved it). 
We also visited Dachau, the concentration camp of the Second World War. It has been a moving, difficult experience, but interesting and very important for us: we must not forget that, in order not to do the same mistakes again. ‘Never again’: it’s written on one wall inside the camp, and everyone agree with it – we must learn from the past. 
In the last evening, we did a presentation of the whole camp for our host families and for the Lions Clubs that took part in it. It has been a moving moment – we all knew that the next day we had to leave – but we also wanted to be funny and happy, because it has been a perfect stay and we had to show that. Our staff - Gerald, Harry, Pepe and Deborah – was so happy and proud of us: we have grown so much, all together, we have become a group. 
The farewell has been the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. Before the camp, I imagined that I would have made some friends, but I couldn’t even imagine that I would have bonded so much and so deeply. We, 20 guys from 3 continents, have been together for only two weeks, but now it’s like we have always been friends – it’s a strange feeling, but it’s so great! We are sure we will meet again, sooner or later, in this great Europe that now actually seems more like an huge beautiful house for all of us. 
In the end, my advice for you is that one: go outside your front door, your country, meet people from all the countries, make friends, and dream together for a better world. I did it (thank you Lions for this possibility!) and now I feel so happy and hopeful that I barely can express that. Just risk, leave! And when you’ll come back, you will want to leave again.