16/03/15

If you are someone who likes monotony, high school, stayingin one place and being comfortable at all times, you can probably skip over reading this. But if you’re anything like me, you have an unattainable urge to adventure and discover and learn and create: You might want to consider applying for exchange. Now let’s pretend you’ve already considered it.

“How on earth do I apply?”

“Where would I go?”

“What is exchange?”

“How much does it cost?”

“Am I ready?”

There’s not really a simple answer to any of those questions, because everyone is unique just like every exchange is unique.  But I’ll just talk about myself and hope someone somewhere takes something from it.

www.rotary.org

I’m with the Rotary Youth Exchange program, or RYE, but there are many other organizations that participate in student exchanges. These exchanges let awesome young people  experience culture in another country for anywhere from 3-11 months. I chose rotary for a couple reasons. Firstly, Rotary is a worldwide charity and fundraising organization. There are thousands of Rotary clubs all over the world, and they are involved in many local and international charities and events. However, Rotary also provides a youth exchange option. I really agree with Rotary’s motto and goals, and representing such an awesome organization is going to be fantastic.  I also chose Rotary because exchange is relatively cheap in contrast to other organisations. Rotary is completely volunteer-based, and many of the club members have full-time jobs. What this means is that the exchange students – you and I– don’t have to pay the people involved. Basically, being an exchange student with Rotary, you will pay for insurance, tickets, language camps,  regalia, personal medical expenses, and spending money for the year. These are not extravagant costs, and Rotary gets some deals with insurance etc. Exchanges can vary from 6,000-10,000 Canadian dollars, and that depends on how far you go and how economically wealthy your host country is.

APPLICATION

Are you considering applying? Contact a club near you as soon as possible. My application had to be in by the 21^st of November in 2014, the year preceding my exchange. You can find the club level applications on your district website, and after that interview (which is very easy and personal, just try to find out about Rotary  and its goals as much as you can) you will have to fill out a more formal, 13-18 page application. The application will include doctor’s and dentist’s examinations, two letters, some pictures and some personal safety information.  You generally need to be under 18 years of age, but over 14 to apply, but some exceptions are made. On that application you can show your country preferences. Notice I said preferences? ROTARY DOES NOT ENABLE YOU TO PICK YOUR COUNTRY. There will be three columns of 5, where you can rank your top 15 in groups. The people who choose your placement really do try to accommodate your preferences, but almost everyone is always pleased with their exchange no matter the country! Rotary has to accommodate incoming students (Inbounds) as well as outgoing students (Outbounds) so some countries may have limited placements. These interviews are not scary. The people running them genuinely care about you and your hopes and try to make it as easy as possible for you to go on exchange. They focus on problem solving, goals, plans for the future, relations with your family and friends, reasons for wanting to exchange, and some very general knowledge about Rotary and what the organization does. That being said, if you’re an alternate for a Rotary Club, you may not be able to go from a lack of sponsorship.

ARE YOU READY?

If you have at all considered becoming an exchange student, just do it. It is an incredibly rare and unique experience, and even a vague urge to go abroad means that you are ready. If you have though seriously about leaving your home and family, you are ready. If you are reading this right now and taking notes to discuss with your parents, you are ready. If you sit in your room and watch travel vlogs and exchange videos and research plane ticket prices, you are ready. If you’re relatively outgoing, curious, and good natured person, you are ready.

Seriously, just apply. The worst that can happen is that you don’t go, or that you resign. The best that can happen is that you push through your fears and have the most amazing year of your life. A year that I am preparing for, and that I hope to continue sharing about along the way.

Some other organizations if Rotary is not your thing:

http://www.afs.org/

http://www.osef.ca/

http://www.efexchangeyear.org/

https://www.yfu.org/

tschuss!

16/03/15

To those of you who don’t know:

Hi! My name is Andrea, and I’m an outbound Rotary Exchange Student from District 5020 in Canada. I’ll be leaving the west coast for Germany this August, 2015. After about a year of adventuring and overcoming language and social barriers, I’ll be back in June 2016. Hopefully, I’ll be able to blog often to keep a public record of my year. This is normally my photography blog, and the fact that I’ll be using it to talk about exchange won’t change that. I’ll be posting the same kinds of original photos, although they might be followed by storytelling posts or captions etc.

This is mostly for my own benefit, as well as the benefit of my friends and extended family, but throughout the year I’ll be open to any questions or comments from people who are interested in the subject! I’ll be trying to provide information that might help other future outbounds, because I know that I scoured blogs for hours for information before i applied! If that’s your case, feel free to contact me and we can chat! If you’d like to see more, my instagram, @andrea.jvr, will also be updated often.