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Health & Fitness

Life Abroad for One WHS Student

The basic structure of a Rotary exchange student's life abroad.

Hello. In this blog post, I am going to talk about the basic structure of a Rotary exchange student's life abroad.

Many exchange students know very little of their host country's language when they arrive. In my case, I could say only basic things in Spanish. They speak Castilian Spanish in Argentina, a slightly different form of Spanish with a different accent and pronunciation. This made it difficult at first, but after about the first two weeks, I transitioned into the Castilian accent. Like many other exchange students, I was asked to take a two-month language course on top of all the Spanish I was speaking and learning in my daily life.

Most exchange students have two Rotary counselors: one from their sponsoring club and another from their host club at home. The duty of these two counselors is to ensure the student is having a healthy, successful exchange at home, in school and with daily life. Luckily, I have two helpful and dedicated counselors. Carol Turley (in Watsonville) has helped me with everything from my application to making sure I'm having a great exchange.

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Depending on the exchange student, and/or the host club, a student usually has two to four host families. The main objective of the host family is basic—to treat the exchange student as if he/she were their child. Some clubs, like mine, like to put the exchanges student in households that are both similar and different to their home families in order to expand the experience. My family in the U.S. consists of two brothers, a sister and my single mom. My host club first put me in a family that had two daughters—one living in Finland on a foreign exchange and another who was a college student in another city—so I was practically an only child. This was a very different, but good experience for me. My host family now is the same as home: two brothers, one sister and a single mom.

All Rotary youth exchange students must attend school. Even if they're 18 years old and have graduated from high school in their home country, they must put effort into their classes abroad. Students are not expected to pass every class their first semester, but they are expected to study the host language. For me, I will start my second semester of school in March after a three month summer vacation during December, January, and February (hard to believe, right?). Now I will be expected to get at least a passing grade in every class. Also, when I return, I may have to make up some classes, depending on how many credits I am able to transfer from Argentina.

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Some Rotary Clubs, such as mine, require you do various projects throughout the year to help the local community. This can include doing presentations about your country at local schools or volunteering for an organization. For example, I volunteered at a local swimming pool, teaching kids from local neighborhoods how to swim. I'm currently volunteering at the Olavarria Zoo, helping clean up after a huge, tornado-like storm swept through my city a few months ago. I am also planning various projects, such as collecting toys for a local kinder, helping at the local volunteer fire station and creating a power point on the United States that I can present to local schools.

Next, I will discuss the Argentine culture, and explain how it differs from American culture.

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