SEVENTEEN-year-old Adina Gunnis has been living a dream lately on a school exchange in Switzerland.

A former dux of the Allora State School, who will soon start Year 12 at the Warwick State High School, has also been taking in the amazing sights of Europe.

The exchange came about somewhat by surprise, a regular Education Queensland newsletter that included details of the annual Queensland-Switzerland-Germany exchange program.

"The only catch was that I had to be studying either German, French or Italian, and fortunately I had been studying Italian through Distance Education for two years," she said.

The program saw Adina paired with a Swiss student, her partner Emilia Gianola, who visited and stayed in Allora in July and August last year.

Adina's amazing seven-week adventure began on December 1, with her flight touching down in Milan, Italy, and will see her back home in Queensland this week.

A particularly special experience for Adina was a white Christmas.

"It was so totally different to what I am used to," she said.

"I didn't wake up to snow on Christmas morning, however on Christmas afternoon we drove two hours to the mountains to my host family's apartment in Churwalden and at 11pm that night it started snowing. I got my white Christmas."

The young ambassador from Allora has seen a good deal of Europe in the vicinity of her exchange family's home in Bedano, Switzerland.

"The first weekend I was here we went to Milan for the day, then a couple of weeks later we spent the weekend in Venice followed by four days in Paris after Christmas," said Adina.

"We spent the rest of the Christmas holidays in the Swiss Alps where I first saw snow, skiing and made snowmen. I spent most of the time on the ground when we went skiing.

"There are seven other people from Queensland and one from Adelaide on the annual Queensland-Switzerland-Germany exchange program in the same area of Switzerland as me.

"We have all gotten really close, all attending one of the nearby schools for Italian lessons".

Adina is more than pleased with the fact they eat lots and lots of pasta and pizza in her area in Switzerland.

"I love pizza and pasta" says the former Warwick Daily News journalism work experience student.

"We also have lots of bread and cheese and Italian food, and the chocolate is also absolutely amazing here."

Adina's adventure is coming to an end this week arriving back home in Allora and preparing for the coming school year.

Her experience abroad has sparked her ambitions, "for quite a while I was interested in journalism, and did work experience at the Warwick Daily New and the Toowoomba Chronicle" ponders the young traveller, "I still have that interest but I am becoming more and more interested in community services."

A bright smile though indicates Adina has been bitten by the travel bug, "I definitely want to travel more, whether it's for work or just travel."