I had my first orientation session about three weeks ago now, and it was full of information and advice for the upcoming year abroad.
First, let me make it clear that my placement is still tentative. My application is being sent overseas shortly, where it will be either accepted or rejected by the rotary club abroad. I believe that it’s rare for an accepted outbound to be rejected by the host country, but anything is possible. Although I’ve been reassured that the fact that I take medicine won’t make a difference in my acceptance, I have been told that it would be easy to check me and reject my application due to my age; I’m very young for the rotary program. At the orientation session, which by the way, was from 8:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the evening, the other tentative outbounds and I were informed that we would be finding out whether our acceptance is official or not– when?? Apparently, it’s up to the host country and they can take their time in telling us. It could be March, it could be April, May, even June. Or it could be next week… you never know. When I do find out if I have been accepted, I will also find out where I’m going, and hopefully who my host family is. Then I can begin corresponding with them, with will most likely prove to be an ideal learning experience to prepare me before I depart.
At the orientation, we participated in a cultural difference game called “Bafa Bafa.” It was very interesting… a little silly, but the message it taught was clear. We also met with our country contacts. I was given books on possible places that I might get to go. We were also given several assignments which include reading “The Exchange Student Survival Kit,” reading about Stephen Cobey, and learning and reporting ten new facts about our tentative countries. Mine, by the way, is Poland. I read the book in about a week. It was an easy read, but it was honestly helpful. It stressed the importance of adaption and flexibility, and also emphasized on establishing a good relationship with your host mother. I think I may have heard the phrase “Your host mother is your best friend” about fifty times in the orientation. I’m assuming it’s important to get along with your host mother…
After meeting with our country contacts, we attended four informational panels: 1) a general overview of your exchange, 2) what to bring and what to do to prepare, 3) safety, and 4) what NOT to do. They were, again, informing and helpful. The first panel described what normal feelings we would be feeling during our year abroad, and good ways of handling them. It covered depression, confusion, and adaption… the third being an excellent solution to most problems abroad. The second panel covered preparations we could begin for our year abroad, such as applying for our passport, etc,. We also talked about what to bring, how to pack, and the importance of bringing gifts for host families from where we live. We were informed to start collecting gifts now (8 months in advance!!) so that we weren’t in a rush two days before our departure. The third panel covered safety aspects such as drugs, sex, violence, and discussed ways to handle difficult situations. The final panel informed us of expectations and the things we are expected NOT to do. These were pretty self explainable– no sex, no drugs, no serious relationships. The latter is an interesting thing… in the book we were assigned to read it discussed relationships and dating in a positive way while at the orientation, we were instructed to have no part in any romance during our year abroad. Anyway, those were the four panels we attended in our first orientation.
We then met with our country contacts again and shortly thereafter, departed. I rode home with two students from my school, and we all agreed that it seemed like the rotarians were almost discouraging any exchange program for us. Some of the other students and I also sometimes feel like everything to do with rotary is a test… and that can be very stressful I find. We agreed that we had heard more negative things than positive, and we were shocked that foreign exchange was made to sound so awful. We concluded that some students are likely to believe that they’re about to go on a year’s vacation, and perhaps this was an effective way of weeding out the students who really are not built for this program. We did occasionally hear “you will have the best year of your life,” but it was more frequently “you can drop out at any moment,” which didn’t make us feel very good about ourselves. But, I believe what they tell us, and I think it’s only fair to tell us that “your year will be the hardest ever” and “you won’t understand a thing that’s going on there.” Oddly, hearing these “encouraging” remarks made me only more eager to spend a year abroad, and learn a new culture.
Anyway, the next orientation is in March. So if I don’t hear anything until then, I probably will be writing next in March.
Posted by rotarygirl 