The process

I thought I would start off this blog talking about the process I had to go through in order to be an exchange student like I will be later on in the year. I had always been interested in being an exchange student, but I always thought that it was a ridiculous dream and I wouldn't be able to achieve it. Just to entertain myself, around August, I looked around on the internet about exchange programs. All of them were definitely out of my families price range. A women, Mrs. Lynn, who lives in my area works for an exchange corporation and I looked at their program and entertained the idea, that is until my parents saw how much it was. I had almost given up luck when Mrs. Lynn emailed me saying that Rotary had an exchange program and it was relatively cheap compared to all other programs. I researched Rotary Youth Exchange thoroughly and decided that if I was to be an exchange student, this was the program that I wanted to go through.

I contacted a former Rotary exchange student that went to my school and he told me about his exchange year and about Rotary Exchange. Next, I contacted just about everyone I knew that was in the Petersburg Rotary club. Finally, I contacted the right people and was told to fill out the preliminary application and email it to the President of the club. A few weeks later I had emailed it and the next day, while I was at school and in 3rd hour, I received an email explaining that the email had been received and the rotary would like me to come to a meeting that night so they could meet me and one or both of my parents and talk more about it. I was ecstatic, of course! That night, my mom and I went to the meeting and the Rotarians just asked me some questions about myself and what made me want to be an exchange student and what made me choose Rotary. At the ed of the meeting, they told me that the Petersburg Rotary club would love to sponsor me and that there was a District interview that I had to go to that was on Saturday. I was also told that Rotary District 6460 could only sponsor 8 exchange students and only 6 had applied. So, I knew that I had a pretty good chance of making it.

I showed up to the District interview that Saturday and was extremely nervous. I didn't know what to expect  but I knew that it would be more serious that the one I had with the Petersburg club. When it was my turn, I was called into a room with an older couple. My parents had to stay in the waiting room until I came to get them and they could join the interview. It started off with the couple just getting to know me. They asked me the same questions that the Petersburg club had asked me. But, then it went more into detail like, what world event interested me the most, what was the most interesting thing to me about America's history, what was one current event in the US that interested me, ect. They were testing my worldly knowledge. I was scared and nervous and I'm pretty sure I made a fool out of myself. My parents were called in to join us and the couple asked them questions about me and if they supported me. Once we were done, when headed back home and I just waited. A week later, I received a call from the Inbound Coordinator from my District and she told me that I had been accepted as an Outbound in Rotary Youth Exchange for 2013-2014. I was so happy, of course!

Once I got the call, I had to start working on the final application. It was larger, 16 pages! We had to get my doctor to fill out a page, my dentist to fill out a page, a school teacher to fill out a page, and Rotary members had to sign numerous pages for me. The application was a hassle, but I made it out alive. I finally sent it in. A couple weeks later, I got a call from the Inbound Coordinator about some mistakes and we had two days to fix them and send them back to her. That was hectic, but my mom and I managed to get it done.

In December, I was invited to a Fun Weekend with the other Outbounds and all of the Inbounds. I declined because I wanted to watch my brother wrestle at the Invite my school held every year. He was a Senior, so I thought I better watch him. He ended up getting 5th, so yay!

In January, I was invited to another Fun Weekend, and I ended up going this time. I got closer to the Rotary Exchange student that went to my school. She was from Ecuador. I also became friends with the rest of the Inbounds and Outbounds. I was an extremely fun weekend and it definitely got me excited to go on my exchange later on in the year.

Two weeks after that, I was at my grandparents house eating supper when I received a call from the Inbound Coordinator. She told me that I would be going to Peru for my exchange year. I was off the wall happy! I called my parents immediately to tell them the news and they were excited too! I told the rest of the Outbounds who had also just found out where they would be going. It was an awesome time. I hardly slept that night because of the excitement.

A few weeks after that, I went to an Outbounds Orientation where we were told more about the exchange  the cost, and the experience. That made me even more excited for my exchange!

So, now, here I am. A week after the Orientation. I am just sitting here waiting for the next thing to happen. I really want to know exactly where in Peru I will be going and living for a whole year. The whole process was long, but over all, it was worth it!

-Emily Churchill