Rotary Youth Exchange: The Adventure Begins
Early this morning, my wife and I said goodbye to our oldest son, Will, as he passed through security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to begin a twenty-four hour journey to Thailand, where he will spend the next eleven months as a Rotary Youth Exchange student.
But the adventure really began a year ago, when Will and I met with Vicki Dilley, the Northfield Rotary Club’s youth exchange officer, to find out about the exchange program. The months that followed were punctuated with important milestones leading toward the big day of departure. In early November, the application was due. In early December, Will joined more than a dozen other Northfield students in Roseville for the district interviews. In late December, Will learned that he had been placed in Thailand.
Between January and March, the accepted students from Northfield attended mandatory orientation sessions in Roseville that covered everything from culture shock to travel arrangements to the “5 Ds” that all Rotary Youth Exchange students are expected to follow (no drinking, no drugs, no driving, no dating, no debt). Northfield's own Rick Estenson, from the First National Bank, also presented helpful advice on keeping track of money during a year abroad.
The students also received blue Rotary blazers—the blazer that Will was proudly wearing at the airport this morning.
For us, there have been a few bumps along the way. In March, political unrest in Thailand nearly derailed plans to send Will to that country. But in early June, the political situation had stabilized, and Will learned that he had been placed in Lopburi, a small city about 50 miles north of Bangkok, known for its ancient temple ruins, fields of sunflowers—and monkeys.
A few weeks ago, the 2010-2011 outbound exchange students from Northfield started to leave for their host countries—and some of them started to blog about their experiences.
“Don’t leave your packing until the last minute,” several of them advised. Did Will take that advice to heart?
Today, the big day had finally arrived. As the sun was rising here in Minnesota, it was setting in Thailand. Otherwise, the temperature was exactly the same in both places—and the humidity was slightly lower in Thailand. The big difference is that, in Thailand, the weather is like this year-round. So Will will have some adjustments to make. But he and his parents are grateful to Rotary for giving him this opportunity to live as part of a different culture, on the other side of the world.
You can find more information about the Rotary Youth Exchange program at the program website. And if you want to follow some of the students on their year abroad, here are the blogs:
Aletha (Brazil)
Anya (Norway)
Beret (Brazil)
Beth (Austria)
Carly (Brazil)
Gage (Sweden)
Heidi (Denmark)
Maria (Argentina)
Martha (Sweden)
Natalie (Lithuania)
Raena (India)
Sara (Italy)
Stina (Italy)
Ted (India)
Related story: “Youth exchange opens up the world,” Northfield News(2/2/10). Includes a complete list of the 2010-2011 outbound students.
