Introduction!

สวัสดคะ! (Hello in Thai) This past year has been full of excitement, as I learned that I will be an exchange student to Thailand. I recently was elated to hear from my host district and am looking forward to hearing from my host club and family soon. I will arrive at my destination half way around the world in early August 2012. I will be in Thailand for approximately eleven months and I hope to post updates often, so please keep checking back to see my adventure unfold!

How My Adventure Began

                This process started for me a little over a year ago. I had played ice hockey for the previous 12 years and it was my life’s passion. I ended up at home with a severe concussion from the sport I loved. While at home in March 2011, I used my time to look online at different travel sites around the world. Then, I stumbled upon the Rotary Youth Exchange site, which I immediately explored more in depth. (However, it wasn’t the first time I had heard of this program, as my family hosted Rotary students when I was much younger.) After looking at pictures and sites for each of the 40 plus countries, I knew that I was meant to be wearing a blue blazer filled with pins from around the world. I thought the Faroe Islands looked amazing and I couldn’t wait to tell my parents! As soon as I told them about my interest in becoming an exchange student, they were onboard supporting me 100 percent of the way. The next step was finding out which club to apply to, as my family was moving from Michigan to Wisconsin in August of 2011. It was suggested that I get in contact with the Green Bay West Rotary Club, the RYE officer then contacted me for an initial interview. From there, another interview was scheduled with the club President, the RYE officer, and two club members on September 21, 2011.  I had butterflies fluttering going into the meeting, but as the interview ended, my smile reached around the world and back. My grin was uncontrollable as I realized I would be spending my next year in a country yet to be determined. Next up was the Fall District RYE Conference on Saturday, October 22, where I got to meet all of my fellow exchange students who have either completed their exchange, were here on exchange, or were about to embark on the most exciting year of their life.  At this conference, we outbounds learned about the application we would soon be filling out, in addition to the books we would need to read and report on. It’s amazing how exchange students just understand other exchange students; it’s something that can’t be put into words. Within seconds, we became friends, simple as that. On Saturday night, there was a culture fair held by the current inbounds.
The idea of this is for each inbound student to set up a booth about their country for the outbounds to explore, as we were in the process of ranking over forty countries to submit with our application. These rankings help determine in what country we will be spending our exchange year. As I walked around asking questions about the different countries, I couldn’t help but fall in love with a country that I hadn’t expected to: Thailand. I can’t even begin to describe the passion I felt so strongly for this country. The people, the festivals, the culture, everything. Everything spoke to me in a way that no other country did. I decided that Thailand was the country for me, but as I completed my application, I knew I would be happy no matter where in the world I would end up. Prior to the culture fair, I thought I wanted to go to Europe. After the culture fair, I researched, watched videos, looked at pictures, languages, everything everywhere. I placed the forty plus countries in an order of my choosing. My top ten were as follows: 1. Norway 2. Denmark 3. Belgium 4. Austria 5. Netherlands 6. Thailand 7. Czech Republic 8. Switzerland 9. Germany 10. Latvia.  You may wonder why Thailand was number six, instead of number one. I placed Thailand as six because that was my hockey number when I received my concussion. I figured if Thailand was meant to be, it would be. Off I went on a snowy November 9, 2011 to drop my application off at the post office. Waiting…Waiting…Waiting! On January 16, 2012, I received an envelope which I opened early morning on January 17. Before opening the envelope I knew where I wanted to go, I just had this feeling of certainty. As I opened my envelope, I couldn’t help but smile. Land of a Thousand Smiles says it all.  Smiling from ear to ear, it was a smile of pure of happiness and satisfaction, that I would now be spending my year in THAILAND! I told everyone I knew and couldn’t keep quiet about my country. I was so happy that words can’t even describe. Next stop on this adventure was the February conference, where we got to learn more about our specific country and the visas we would be obtaining before we left. There was also a talent show, full of talents from around the world.

Some of my fellow outbounds and I danced to “We’re all in this Together” from High School Musical, and we made tie-dye T-shirts as part of our costume.  Another amazing weekend, that can’t be put into words.

 I know I say that phrase a lot, but it’s so so so true! But as that weekend came to a close, I remember the memories fondly and think back to them often.

Since November, I have attended my Rotary Club’s meetings each week and enjoy getting to interact with the Rotarians who are making this adventure possible for me. THANK YOU ROTARIANS OF THE WORLD! My next post will be after the May, District Governors Conference or sooner! Hope you enjoyed reading and I am excited to share my Northern Thailand exchange year with you!