This is the beginning of my journey!
I think I will start off by describing how I even came to be here, 3 months away from heading to a foreign land in which I don't know the language, the culture or the people.
It started when a Rotary Exchange Student from Germany talked about her experience at a school assembly one morning. At first, I didn't think much of it but a close friend at the time (who had previously been on exchange to France) told me how much she loved her experience, and therefore, how I would love mine if I was offered the opportunity to take part in youth exchange.
So I applied! I visited the rotary representative at my school and she gave me some forms to fill out and mail to the district 9800 youth exchange committee. They had to arrive at the beginning of April. At first, I wanted to head to USA or Japan for my year abroad, but I'll get into what changed my mind later.
It was a bit of a long wait after that, but a few weeks later I got an email saying that I had been selected to attend district interviews in May. I was over the moon, but also really nervous. We had to prepare short presentations on Australian culture and history, and also many aspects of Rotary International. Before my interview, a member of the committee came to my house to have a chat with me about youth exchange and interviews. He gave me a lot of information on the processes of exchange and answered my countless questions. Interviews came around, mine was early on a Sunday morning out on the western side of Melbourne at a little primary school. The whole committee and many of the other applicants had travelled down from Bendigo, Bacchus Marsh and other regional places in Victoria, so I had it easy when I only had to travel from the other side of the city. Lucky me. The interviews were really nerve wracking, there were three panels of six members of the committee, in which I sat and talked to for around twenty minutes each. They were all so lovely, and the other two girls that I was rotating the panels with were also lovely. I would later find out that their names were Emily and Lucy. I said um and ah a lot in my interviews and one of the members of the committee, Peter, mentioned it in the middle of my interview. I was slightly embarrassed, but the ROTEX (returned exchange student) that came to my interviews with me, Nathan, told me that apart from my um-ing and ah-ing I did well. (He has recently told me that since that day I have stopped using these fillers in my various speeches, and that he is proud of me for that, yay!)
Two days later, I was ecstatic to receive an email from the committee telling me that I was through to the next stages of the process, and I was sent my full application forms. It was all becoming so real. The application process was quite extensive, and included doctors and dentist visits, photos of my family and friends, medical and personal details, passport and birth certificate copies etc. It took me a while to fill out, but I got there and sent them off on time.
About a week after that, I was sent another email saying "congratulations, you have cleared the first hurdle on your quest to be a part of the rotary youth exchange program", and the details of a weekend outbound selection camp up in the country, a month from then. It was all going to quickly... I had blinked and suddenly become part of this huge program, and maybe even going overseas for a year?? Crazy!!
The camp was in mid June at 'Camp Getaway', a Rotary Camp in rural Victoria. I was so nervous to meet all the other possible outbounds, see the committee, and be assessed on whether I was the right student for exchange. My grandparents drove me up the night before and we stayed in a little motel before driving to the camp early Saturday morning. I was the first one to arrive, which I was glad to know (I love being early), and my grandparents, being 30 year Rotary members themselves, instantly found a member of the committee that they had been part of a program with. ("It's a small world Madi" they told me). The camp was amazing. All the other students, sixteen of them including me, were from all around Victoria and had the same dream as I did. The first day was intense, with various exercises and activities to do with team work, leadership and public speaking on which we were constantly watched by a committee member over a clipboard, scribbling mysterious notes. We got to meet ROTEX members, who had been on exchange in the past 4 years or so and would be our mentors if we were selected. We all bonded so quickly, and constantly joked about how we had only known each other for a day but already felt like family. That is the thing that you learn when involved such a program, you all have the same experience and something that instantly connects you- exchange and the dream to be an exchange student. On the Saturday night, we had a formal dinner in the form of a Rotary meeting, and a country fair which consisted of different stalls on which ROTEX, country coordinators and inbound students explained the culture, language, and exchange to each of the twelve different countries. What happened to me was that I went in thinking one country, and came out convinced of Spain. I had been there briefly previously and loved it, so I figured "why not?!" and ended up putting it as my first preference! On the second day, the committee dismissed themselves to an isolated space to have a meeting that felt like it went forever. They were discussing the sixteen of us, and the prospects of us becoming youth exchange students. Meanwhile, we all continued to chat, dance, sing, joke around and bond. Our parents arrived at 12 o'clock for a barbecue lunch and information session. The session was a brief overview of Rotary Youth Exchange, and to our surprise, at the end of the session we were told that we had all been accepted into the exchange program and were even told what countries we had been allocated to!! To my delight, I was allocated Spain. This was amazing, I couldn't believe it.
There was to be another camp in 2 month's time, and it was a training camp. Between the first two camps I visited and attended a meeting at my host Rotary Club, met with my ROTEX mentor who went to Spain in 2014 (who I love!) and spend a day in the city ice skating with all the other outbounds and ROTEX members.
INBOUND AND OUTBOUND TRAINING CAMP
The next training camp rolled around pretty quickly, since we had all been going about our lives as usual while continuing to stay in touch, and we again, arrived at Camp Getaway on a chilly Saturday morning in mid August. This time it was different, as all the new inbound students from all over the world were to attend this camp as well. We spent the morning getting to know them all, while catching up with each other too. This camp was all about beginning to prepare us for our year abroad, and we were told all about culture shock, language, safety in a foreign country, how to make friends etc. We also learnt how to throw boomerangs and we got to paint some, which was fun and the inbounds all really enjoyed it. Again, on the Saturday night we had a formal dinner and I was asked to start the national anthem (ahh?!), because someone told one of the committee members that I could sing.... But it was fine and all a lot of fun. We took photos with the flags of the countries we are going to, which was really cool, and we also got measured for our blazers and district 9800 rotary rugby tops. On Sunday our parents joined us again and we were given an insurance and flight details briefing.
A few weeks ago, I received my first contact from Spain. I will be living in Pamplona, Navarra in the North East of Spain, about 100km from the French border. I am so excited to continue preparation for my departure in January!
From now, it is a little bit of a waiting game. The full details of our first host families and host schools will be revealed within the next few weeks so we can finish the Visa Process. There is another camp and blazer presentation in November, but that is a month away!! I am so excited, I can't wait.
I will post more updates throughout the next couple of months prior to my departure in January, but until then, adios my loves!
