Well hello dear readers!
I have some very very exciting news: I have been selected for the Rotary Exchange, however, this is with some exciting twists. My letter read as follows:
Congratulations! We are pleased and excited to extend an invitation to you to become a North Star Rotary Youth Exchange ambassador!
Your placement is designated "tentative" until you actually depart next summer. Before your exchange is actualized, you must satisfactorily complete orientations, assignments and obligations, and your host Rotary club must confirm placement for you. Throughout the orientation process, you will continue to be evaluated on attitude, cooperation, and how you relate with others. ONce you ahve successfully completed the orientation sessions -- barring unusual circumstances -- you may start anticipating your departure from Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport and your arrival in Germany!
... The letter continues with more details, but I won't bore you! Well, if you have read my other posts you may know that I was hoping to go to a French speaking country, but honestly, I am SO PUMPED to be going to Germany. I met a lot of people that went to Germany at my interview, and it sounded wonderful. I am nervous not knowing any of the language, but I am expecting to change my schedule for my high school and replace my French class with a German one class. Well, I have a lot of reading to do. I thought the excitement would end once I found out where I was going, but right now, I am even MORE excited and NERVOUS! I really want to know when I am leaving and where in Germany I am going. If you want more details about what my acceptance letter said, let me know. It's not much, but I know that I was really curious when people posted their acceptance.
Mit besten Grüßen,
Beth
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
What would you do if...?
Ah, the interview process. What a delight... Yesterday, December 5th, was the district interviews for the Northstar Rotary District. As an interviewee, I was quite nervous and extremely excited for the day. But, less prepared of what to expect than I would have liked to be for the day. So, for future reference for NEW rotary exchange prospective students, here is a little bit about the day. (Without revealing too many secrets. =) )
At the moment, my family is hosting a boy from Sweden, so it was a requirement for him to be there for the whole day (8am to 3pm). Arriving at 8am was a bit of a challenge. The day takes place at the Roseville Area Middle School, and it was quite a drive for us. But once there, it was a blast! So, not typically, I spent the entire morning with the fabulous exchange students from India to Germany, but in the afternoon the interview process began.
After registering and making sure that they know you've attended, you're ushered into a room for the introduction. A man talked to the orange group, the group I was in, about the logistics of the exchange. Most of the information was information I already knew, either from talking to my local rotary club or searching on the internet/Northstar's website. Afterwards the Rotex members (previous exchange students) herded the students out of the room to have a one-on-one talks. With the parents in the opposite room talking about safety and such with a rotary committee member, I was able to speak with a girl who went to South Africa the year before. We talked about why I wanted to go on the exchange, and what she found helpful on her exchange.
The next step was the dreaded interview. The first five minutes of the interview were with my parents. The questions were directed to make sure that my parents were okay with me going on the exchange, and that they completely understood what me going on the exchange met. It also made sure that they were able to go to the mandatory mandatory mandatory (did I mention mandatory?) orientation dates. Next, the parents leave the room. This is the part that I like the most, actually. Although they never directly ask you why you want to go on the exchange, they ask you really thoughtful and honestly difficult questions to answer. Some of the questions were-- who is your role model? What would you do if it was your birthday, and your host family has spent the day preparing a meal for you and when you get your plate, you don't recognize anything and it smells kind of rank. With your whole family watching you, what would you do? What was a hard decision you had to make? And ect. The interview process went pretty well for me.
What didn't go well? -- the french proficiency test. I have only taken one course of french at my school, and I am about to take my second course. I was expecting a quick-- tell me about yourself in french bit-- but instead I was bombarded with a ton of questions, and a few I unfortunately did not understand. Not the best. (disclaimer: you don't have to take this test unless you are applying to either France, French-speaking Switzerland, or French-speaking Belgium. There is no test for any other country.)
After this, I went to the 'country fair' where the exchange students tried to convince me to go to their country. It was quite fun, and at the end of it all, I had to choose what countries I would want to go to. In the end, I chose (in this order) France, Belgium, Spain, South Africa, and Germany. French-speaking Switzerland would have also been high up on my list, but for some reason or another, my district was not exchanging with that country this year.
I hope this lengthy explanation of the day helps you in your application, or at least is entertaining to you... Now I must endure the 20 days of waiting. I will let you know
the results!
Bien á vous,
Beth
At the moment, my family is hosting a boy from Sweden, so it was a requirement for him to be there for the whole day (8am to 3pm). Arriving at 8am was a bit of a challenge. The day takes place at the Roseville Area Middle School, and it was quite a drive for us. But once there, it was a blast! So, not typically, I spent the entire morning with the fabulous exchange students from India to Germany, but in the afternoon the interview process began.
After registering and making sure that they know you've attended, you're ushered into a room for the introduction. A man talked to the orange group, the group I was in, about the logistics of the exchange. Most of the information was information I already knew, either from talking to my local rotary club or searching on the internet/Northstar's website. Afterwards the Rotex members (previous exchange students) herded the students out of the room to have a one-on-one talks. With the parents in the opposite room talking about safety and such with a rotary committee member, I was able to speak with a girl who went to South Africa the year before. We talked about why I wanted to go on the exchange, and what she found helpful on her exchange.
The next step was the dreaded interview. The first five minutes of the interview were with my parents. The questions were directed to make sure that my parents were okay with me going on the exchange, and that they completely understood what me going on the exchange met. It also made sure that they were able to go to the mandatory mandatory mandatory (did I mention mandatory?) orientation dates. Next, the parents leave the room. This is the part that I like the most, actually. Although they never directly ask you why you want to go on the exchange, they ask you really thoughtful and honestly difficult questions to answer. Some of the questions were-- who is your role model? What would you do if it was your birthday, and your host family has spent the day preparing a meal for you and when you get your plate, you don't recognize anything and it smells kind of rank. With your whole family watching you, what would you do? What was a hard decision you had to make? And ect. The interview process went pretty well for me.
What didn't go well? -- the french proficiency test. I have only taken one course of french at my school, and I am about to take my second course. I was expecting a quick-- tell me about yourself in french bit-- but instead I was bombarded with a ton of questions, and a few I unfortunately did not understand. Not the best. (disclaimer: you don't have to take this test unless you are applying to either France, French-speaking Switzerland, or French-speaking Belgium. There is no test for any other country.)
After this, I went to the 'country fair' where the exchange students tried to convince me to go to their country. It was quite fun, and at the end of it all, I had to choose what countries I would want to go to. In the end, I chose (in this order) France, Belgium, Spain, South Africa, and Germany. French-speaking Switzerland would have also been high up on my list, but for some reason or another, my district was not exchanging with that country this year.
I hope this lengthy explanation of the day helps you in your application, or at least is entertaining to you... Now I must endure the 20 days of waiting. I will let you know
the results!
Bien á vous,
Beth
Sunday, November 27, 2011
A Look Into the Process
While applying for this Rotary Exchange I looked at numerous blogs from Rotary Exchange students, but I never found anything about the process. I thought my trial and tribulations might be useful to students thinking about applying (and if you haven't thought about it... you should! :D )
Step 1: GET INTERESTED! After reading and reading about the idea, the more appealing it was to me. I am not the usual type to go on an exchange. I've been college bound since before I could walk. Every class I have taken in high school has been towards that goal. But school can't prepare you for life, and it sure can't tell you about the culture of another country (in-depth that is). It is something you need to experience for yourself. So the first step is to contact your local Rotary Club. Tell them you are interested in an exchange and fill out a simple application only for your local club (you'll fill out a longer one later).
Step 2: Local club interview. If your club accepts you, you will need to be interviewed. For me, this interview was quite simple. Mostly questions about why you want to go and how you will act when you get there. Casual.
Step 3: When you are accepted by your local Rotary Club, you will need to fill out the loooong application. This application is a bit more lengthy. Get a start on it quickly! I am applying through my district, North Star Rotary. They have been amazing, and if you are from the Wisconsin or Minnesota area here is their website! (http://northstaryouthexchange.com/) They are wonderful! As a tip you should get in contact with your local rotary club early to make sure you have all of the numbers and such for the application. You will need pictures of yourself, your house and of a hobby and such. If you have any questions about the application I am sure your rotary club will be able to help you, or if you have more simple question you can email me no problem.
Step 4: Get an acceptance letter from your district! I recently got mine. It explains that the next step is a District interview- more formal. At my interview my parents need to be present. Before or after the interview you get to go around and meet all of the inbound students and they persuade you to go to their home country on your exchange. Then you make a list of your top five countries to go to for exchange. Obviously I haven't been through this process yet, but my list is France, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, in that order. Because my choices include french speaking countries, on my interview day I need to go through a French Proficiency test to determine if I can go to France Switzerland or Belgium. Needless to say I am very nervous for this. I will give you more details when I am through with my interview this Saturday!
Until then, bien à vous,
Beth
Until then, bien à vous,
Beth
Friday, November 25, 2011
The Beginning
Hello everyone!
My name is Beth. I am a high school senior at a medium sized school in a Twin Cities suburb. Okay, maybe a pretty small suburb. Through this small suburb's local Rotary Club, I have just applied for a Foreign Exchange. This interest in traveling grew exponentially when I went on a school trip to Europe this summer. I visited London, Paris, Versailles, Florence, and Rome. It was the time of my life. And this wasn't just because I got to see the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, or the Vatican, it was because I got to experience each culture's... well... culture! It wasn't the museum guides that I liked, it was the shop owners and the restaurant owners in the towns off the beaten path that I connected with. This learning experience drove me to find the Rotary Exchange. I hope to return to France, the most. I have taken 2 years of French in high school, and I hope to expand that French basis to a usable level.
Bien à vous,
Beth
My name is Beth. I am a high school senior at a medium sized school in a Twin Cities suburb. Okay, maybe a pretty small suburb. Through this small suburb's local Rotary Club, I have just applied for a Foreign Exchange. This interest in traveling grew exponentially when I went on a school trip to Europe this summer. I visited London, Paris, Versailles, Florence, and Rome. It was the time of my life. And this wasn't just because I got to see the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, or the Vatican, it was because I got to experience each culture's... well... culture! It wasn't the museum guides that I liked, it was the shop owners and the restaurant owners in the towns off the beaten path that I connected with. This learning experience drove me to find the Rotary Exchange. I hope to return to France, the most. I have taken 2 years of French in high school, and I hope to expand that French basis to a usable level.
Bien à vous,
Beth
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