Welcome to my Rotary Youth Exchange blog! Here you will be able to read about my amazing experiences, trips, or struggles that I encounter throughout my year abroad. This past year in preparation for this amazing trip has finally begun to end as I am now focused on packing, organizing and contacting other exchange students in the area.
For those of you not completely familiar with this program let me brief you on what I'm about to depart on; one year ago I applied for this exchange program through Rotary, a fully immersive year long trip, where a student, preferably in the latter years of high school, is sent to stay in a foreign country to stay with a family and attend school in the local language. The exchange aspect of this trip is referring to the direct exchange of students between Rotary Clubs in the two countries. Therefore, as I am hosted by the Rotary Club of Fish Creek and the Rotary Club of Calgary West, as I leave, a student from Belgium would directly replace me in this club at around the same time.
Initially, I had not really given much thought to attending this type of program, however, in 2018, I attended the RYLA program and met a girl from Brazil who was living in Calgary on exchange for that year. She completely changed my mind and altered my view on Rotary exchange. This completely life-changing weekend immediately led to me applying for this program the following July. The relatively short application was a breeze and the following year of school went by like a bullet. When I finally finished my last exam of my high school career I realized how scared yet excited I was for this coming year. It is now exactly halfway through my summer and I already feel the immense amounts of emotions that I will continue to feel for the rest of the year, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and I now have a head start in learning to deal with these emotions before I leave already. My departure on the 18th of August is much sooner than I ever would have thought and I am starting to get everything I need organized. I'm going to end my summer off strong with two amazing backpacking trips in the Canadian Rockies before I begin my new life in the flat farmlands in rural Belgium.
Early in June, I was sent an extensive list of documents that I was required to sign for my arrival at the Brussels airport in August. Among these forms was the brief mention of my town, school, host club, and my host family! Within the hour, I found out my small town of Braine-le-Comte is located in a farming district about 40km south-west of Brussels. This quaint little town is home to roughly 20.000 people. My school looks super old and historic and will have to welcome 5 new exchange students this september. Yes, there are 4 other exchange students going to my same town, my same host club. Canada, Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, and Mexico. This town will be shaken by our presence thus upcoming year. I have been in contact with two of these students and they are very nice and I'm super excited to meet them. My host family will consist of my host father, my host mother and their dog! They have 3 children (18, 22, 25), 1 of which is off to Brazil for a year, and the other 2 off on their own adventures.
I plan to make additions to this blog as often as possible, most likely once or twice a week. You, the reader, have a job as you read these posts. I want suggestions about things I should do, places I can visit or events I can participate in. To do this, you can use my email which is posted in various places across the platform. I would love to read your suggestions and see your support. I'll most likely post once or twice more before I leave but no promises.
Enjoy the sporadic content!