Choosing Countries

So let me just start this post by saying that I don’t think that I’ll ever be able to count the number of times that I have been asked where I am going. The conversation goes something like this every time:

Friend or Parent’s Friend: “Trula! I hear that you are going on exchange next year!”

Me: “Yeah, I’m really excited, but also pretty terrified.”

Friend: “Wow, where are you going?”

Me: (launching into my well-practiced little elevator pitch) “Well, I’m not sure yet, but I will learn in late January at a Rotary orientation. I get to give rotary my top three choices, but I’m not guarenteed one of them and really they can send me anywhere. I’ve chosen France, Italy, and Brazil, but who knows where I’ll actually be going.”

So yeah. It gets a little exhausting. It’s November now, and I have to keep this up until the end of January! My friends in my carpool to Crew after school have already heard me say it enough just in the carpool cars to be able to repeat it just about word for word :).

As far as my top three countries, I picked France, Italy, and Brazil. I was given a list of of 16 countries, divided into two lists: European and Non-European, and I had to pick at least one from each list. I was interested in France from the beginning, having taken French for two years. Italy seemed appealing for their beautiful language and delicious food. Then I had to pick one non-european country, and I chose Brazil based on recommendations from family friends who have been to Brazil. I’m crossing my fingers for France or Italy, but I know that they are both very popular choices and it’s kind of unlikely that I will get them. Luckily, I really would be fine with any country on the list. I would just be more ok with some than others ;).

The Looooong Application Form

I’m pretty sure that the title says it all. The long term application long form is a little crazy. And even though I had at least half a month to get it done, of course I was tying up the last strings the night before I had to turn it in. I met with my counselor several times before the final turn in to look over my progress and ask/answer any questions. On the due date, I met with my counselor and both my parents to review the application one last time and have a form signing party! I’m seriously glad that is done...it’s kind of a hurry up and wait type of thing. Now I get to sit around until the first formal orientation in January. At least the first phase of paperwork is done with!

Family Interview and First Rotary Meeting

After I had been selected, I was assigned a “counselor” to help me in the process of exchange. My counselor, Ian, scheduled a family interview at my house, which was basically just a big Q&A session. Rotary asked my family questions, and my family asked Rotary questions. Definitely not a stressful interview whatsoever, more just clearing things up. I also attended my first Rotary meeting which was very easy...my counselor simply introduced me at the beginning of the meeting and then I got to watch and listen to the rest of the meeting. This is a nice short post...hopefully you didn’t fall asleep reading some of the earlier ones :). Bye for now!

The Interview and Selection!

The Interview! That’s a fun one.

So after I turned in my short form, Rotary called me to schedule an interview. The interview was held at my school in the evening, and was about 30 minutes long. 

Let’s start with the fact that due to a dental misfortune, I was COMPLETELY numb for the interview. That was just great. So for the actual interview, a panel of about 7 rotary members from multiple clubs conducted the interview, and they took turns asking me questions. 

Disclaimer: these questions are NOT word for word. They are just the general sort of things they asked. The questions themselves ranged from easy(“what type of responsibilities do you have at home”, and “do you have any siblings”) to medium (“How would you describe yourself socially”, and “What would you do if someone interacted inappropriately with you”) to the hard ones(“What has been the hardest time in your life so far”, “Who is your role model and why”) plus many more questions that fell into all three categories.

The most difficult part for me was being able to think on my feet and come up with at least slightly intelligent-sounding answers. I mean, seriously people, do you think I can come up with the most difficult moment in my life in two seconds flat? So yeah, some of my answers were a little strange when I thought about them later. The interviewers were very nice, however, and the interview felt much shorter than 30 minutes.

My interview was on Wednesday, and on Friday night a rotary member from my sponsor club called me and told me that I had been selected! From there on, I was emailed a bunch of info and directed to start filling out the long form. We made doctor and dentist appointments right away since that is an important part of the application. I also made an appointment with my school counselor to start planning my academics.

Staring The Process

Hi! The next few posts were written a few months ago, before I created this blog. I wanted to wait to create my blog until after I learned what country I would be going to so that I could use my country's name in my blog name, but I also wanted to write about my experiences leading up to learning my country assignment. I ended up writing these posts as I went, and just kept them in google drive :). And now there’s a big stack of things to post :).

So how did I start this whole thing? I have always been intrigued with the idea of being an exchange student, so when I saw a poster for the Rotary Youth Exchange Info Night at my school, wanted to go. The meeting was about 2 hours long, and a little bit boring, but it provided a good overview of the program and had some Q&A time at the end. Many Rotary members and current exchange students were also there.

At the meeting, I picked up the Long Term Exchange “Short Form”, which is basically a “I’m raising my hand and I’m kinda interested” form. It’s a one page, super short form which just had some basic questions like “why do you want to go on exchange”, and “what do you do outside of school”. That form was emailed/faxed/given to the outbound coordinator within a week of the info meeting. Yeah! Things moved really fast from the info meeting onward. After the form came the next step...the interview. That really deserves its own post, so I’ll talk about that in the next one.

Hey There!

Hi everyone!

I'm Trula and I will be going on exchange with rotary for the 2015-2016 school year. I’m currently a sophomore at Arcata High School in California. I’m 15 and will be going abroad for my junior year of high school. I want to share my experience from the very beginning because when I was first starting the application process, it was very hard to find information, as most people had begun their blogs when they got to their destination country. I’m new to blogging, so bear with me here! Hopefully I’ll update here at least semi-regularly. I’m hoping that while I’m away, this blog will keep people updated on my adventures and provide a great journal for me to look back on. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away. I would love to hear from you, so if you leave comments for me you will probably make my day ;). I hope you have fun following me on this journey!