So, it's September of your Sophomore year in High School, (or Junior or Senior year, but for me at least it was Sophomore) and you see a poster on the wall of your foreign language classroom which proclaims, "ROTARY YOUTH EXCHANGE... no wimps need apply." Well, it probably doesn't say that, it probably says something like, "Take the adventure of a lifetime, spend a year abroad studying and travelling and living with a host family. Come to an informational meeting at so-and-so time at so-and-so place." But still. If you're even thinking about becoming a foreign exchange student, you're probably an independent thinker, extremely outgoing and also brave. These things are just about a necessity for the exchanger, and if you don't have them, well... you'll develop them quickly when you leave. Anyhow, seeing that poster and going to that meeting starts the first step in something that's sometimes scary, sometimes frustrating, but ALWAYS fun. Your exchange year.
The first step is the meeting, then applying, then doing your district interviews. Those are all extremely important, and can be kinda scary (I know), but the worst part is the waiting that comes after. You wait for about three or four months to find out to what country you're going (by now it's January or February) and then you wait for another two or three months to find out where in that country you're going. Then you wait again (by now school's nearly out) for your guarantee forms (and by the time you get them, school more than likely will have been out for a month or so) and then (if you're in Central States -- like me -- or in ESSEX also, I think) you go to Orientation Camp.
Now as these months pass by, you'll have gotten more and more excited. It may seem impossible, but Orientation Camp actually will get you even more excited about your exchange than you thought you could ever be. At orientation camp, you get advice from Inbounds, which are exchangers from your host country who will soon be returning, and Rebounds, who are the people who just got back from their exchange year in your host country. Orientation Camp makes you truly an Outbound, someone who is about to leave, and once you hit that point, you'll never be the same again. Not that that's a bad thing...
I can't tell you for certain what will happen once you get to your host country. I can't even tell you what will happen if your host country is Turkey. (Although I can tell you for certain that you have the potential to have as much fun as I'm having.) What happens to you once you get to where you're going is up to you; that's the beauty of the Rotary Youth Exchange program. You are almost completely independent. Sure, you've got a club and counselor and host family, all of whom you're going to have to answer to if you mess up and break the rules, but it's up to you to make sure you either don't do them or (this is the advice I got) don't get caught. And it's up to you to learn the language, make friends, learn to get around on your own, and learn to love where you are. Rotary Youth Exchange is about learning about yourself just as much as it's about learning another language and living in another culture. It's up to you to fulfill your own dreams, and your own potential for a great exchange.