The most valuable thing I brought home from my exchange wasn’t in my backpack. It was an idea.
Ironically, I discovered it while trying to save money.
Like many exchange students, my first priority wasn’t sustainability. It was making my budget last. When I arrived in Edinburgh, I needed to furnish my room without spending money I didn’t have. I joined a local Facebook group called The Meadows Share, where complete strangers gave me kitchen utensils, bedding, hangers and other essentials they no longer needed. What started as a way to save money became my first lesson in the circular economy. Someone else’s unused belongings became someone else’s fresh start.
The same happened with Couchsurfing, Vinted and Too Good To Go. I first used them because they were affordable, but they gradually changed the way I thought about consumption. I realised they extended the life of products, reduced waste and created communities built on sharing instead of constant buying. During my exchange, I also cooked almost every day, carried a reusable water bottle, walked across Edinburgh whenever I could instead of taking the bus, and travelled around Europe with only a backpack.
The experience that changed me the most happened in Bologna.
My Couchsurfing host invited me to volunteer at LEILA, the Library of Things, where people borrow objects instead of buying them. I spent the afternoon repairing a power drill and replacing the battery in a speaker before sharing dinner with the volunteers. Looking around, I saw camping equipment, projectors, kitchen appliances, sports gear and dozens of other objects that most people only use occasionally. It made me wonder why we all buy the same things when we could simply share them.
As an Industrial Engineering student with a minor in Technological Innovation, I couldn’t stop thinking about how simple and brilliant the idea was. It wasn’t about inventing a new product. It was about rethinking ownership.
These experiences brought the UN Sustainable Development Goals to life, especially SDG 11, SDG 12 and SDG 13. They taught me that sustainability is not only about lowering emissions. It is also about creating communities that choose to share, repair and reuse.
When I return to Chile, I hope to help explore how a Library of Things could be adapted through a municipality or university. If my exchange changed anything, it wasn’t just the way I travel. It changed the way I think about ownership. The most valuable souvenir I brought home wasn’t something I bought. It was an idea worth sharing.
