Baby Steps

Hi! I suppose to start out my first blog entry, I might need to introduce myself…and tell the purpose of why I’m writing this blog. My name is Grace and this blog is to tell of all my experiences as a Rotary Youth Exchange student for the 2014-2015 school year (my junior year.) I am currently a sophomore in Washington state, and I am going to be exchanging to Denmark! Yay!

Now that we have that small introduction underway, I shall tell you what the Rotary organization is, and give you a little background and insight into the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Rotary is a community service or non-profit organization that is based all over the world. They have been exchanging with countries through their foreign exchange program for over 73 years. Each year, they exchange approximately 8,000 kids between 80 countries and this year my name is fortunate enough to be among those 8,000 others. 

Rotary’s foreign exchange program consists of both a short term exchange program (STEP), and a long term exchange program (LTEP). I'll be participating in the LTEP. The long term exchange program is for 11 months, and is basically exactly what you think of when you hear the word “foreign exchange.” It’s where you leave your home country to exchange with another country, which is thus called your host country.

Now that you have background into what Rotary Youth Exchange is, onward with my personal blog experiences! I originally found an interest in Rotary’s exchange program in May 2013 when a Rotary officer came in to talk to my French class.  For years before that, I had never seen myself as brave enough to even think about exchange, however when the presentation was given something ignited my excitement. I listened to the presentation (almost less attentively as when I listen in class- if I do say so myself), however at the very end of the class period I took the first baby step to making this newfound dream of mine a reality, and picked up the 3 flyers with information on the program along with the 30 some others in my class. Little did I know, I would actually carry out my interest in this and get to the most exciting point that I’m at now. Skipping ahead, I turned in my application on September 28th at a Q&A forum. As I turned in my small, one page, club level application to the club coordinator, I realized this was it. Three months after a small presentation in my French class of 30 some kids I had gone full circle and took the second baby step to achieving what was yet to be a new most exciting future. After I turned in my club level application, I was scheduled for a club level interview time slot. That interview was what would either launch me farther into the last steps of this long process, or it could eliminate me from the process for good. Talk about suspense. So when my local Rotary officer called my on a Friday night (October 9th, 2013) and told me that both candidates ("both" being me and the other applicant) were accepted, I ran up the stairs screaming, managed to bump into a few walls on my way, and shook some of the photo frames hanging up. For both candidates to be sent out of our district, however, there needed to be both an alternate and a primary candidate. I was selected as the alternate candidate. Don’t get me wrong though, being selected as a candidate at all had me bouncing into walls. Literally.

I suppose now I should give you a brief description of the difference between an alternate candidate and a primary candidate in my district. A primary candidate will find out their host country sooner than the alternate candidate, usually around December 20^th, sometimes a little bit before that. An alternate candidate will find out their country around January 8^th, mid-January if not then, or as I’ve also been told, sometime from mid-February to late February around outbound orientation. Basically, that is one of the only differences between the two.

Disclaimer: Being an alternate candidate may vary depending on your club or district. The chances of exchanging as an alternate, and when you find out your country as an alternate may be different for each and every person. Exchange is a unique experience for everyone and no one exchange will ever be the same, especially for alternate candidates. 

"I am willing to go anywhere in the world," is what I wrote on my country sheet as an alternate candidate. So talk about unique. 


Countdown to Denmark: 8 months!!

Farvel! (Goodbye in Danish!)