Introductions/Orientations

Before I start any departure posts, I'd like to write about the orientations us exchange students attended this spring: After finding out I had been accepted into the Rotary Youth Exchange program to Austria in January, all of the outbounds received information about scheduled orientations in February, March, and April. At the first two orientations, the six of us gathered in Butte with Daryl (the District 5390 YEO) to prepare for our coming exchanges. Lots was discussed at the first orientation in February: what to expect, how to handle culture shock, ways to make the best of our exchange, personal weaknesses/strengths, etc. (http://www.yeoresources.org/ is a great site to visit to learn more about these kind of things if you're interested) We also learned that we were expected to give a presentation at the district conference in April - in our respective host language. We met up again in March, this time with our parents, to talk with a representative from It's Your World Travel (the program we use to transfer any documents and attain needed visas with) to talk about insurance, money, and flights. And then, on the 24th and 25th of April, we traveled to Kalispell for the 5390 District Conference, which was a lot of fun. The inbounds and outbounds got to meet and talk more about their current exchanges, and our upcoming exchanges. We gave our speeches Saturday, and hung around the conference for the banquet that night. We were grouped up for homestays, and Talia and I got a chance to meet a chameleon named Apollo and eat some excellent breakfast. We've all stayed in contact through social media since - the inbounds have returned home to their respective countries, and us outbounds are getting ready to jet off. When Andee, Jordan, Cale, Clara, Ingrid, and I get back next summer we will be attending a week long excursion to discuss our exchange year and will be able to call ourselves Rotexes! :-)