First Steps

      Whenever I get to thinking about my exchange plans, I want to run and leap right in, get rid of all of this waiting stuff!  Unfortunately, everyone else in the process is perfectly content to go along in verrrrryyyyyy spprrreeaaaaaddddd oouuuttt, little baby steps.  The new applications comes out tomorrow so I'm excited to start working on that.

         The first real exchange event will be Tuesday September 18th.  Which to any Cross Country runners out there, automatically raises red flags.  Tuesdays are our meet days, and this one will be against Livonia Stevenson, but will luckily be held at our home course, early in the day.  The rotary meeting is in the next town over from 6-8 and I should be able to make it on time, the real question will be how presentable I am after running 5 miles through the woods... Let's hope it will show them my flexibility and determination rather than how quickly I can devolve into Bigfoot.  From what contact I've had with our club president, things should pick up after this meeting, because our applications and first interviews must be done by October 17th.

      I know I have a year before I will be able to leave, but even now I feel a little sad after hanging out with my friends because I know that there IS only one more year where we will all be together.  I've been so blessed to have such terrific friends through out my life.  Is it weird that I sometimes worry more about leaving my friends than my family?  I think that mainly comes because I know my family will be in my life forever, for better or for worse.  Where as moving away from my friends is truly inevitable (if only because I know I won't be living in Northville forever) and some relationships will fall to the way side.  Also, on exchange they hand you a host family, but the making friends part is all up to you.  I can't imagine making friends who I will feel as close to after one year, as the friends I have made over ten years.  But other exchange students are doing it every day, and that encourages me!

      I feel like I need to update this often, but I also don't want to post every day without having any solid, new information that is actually pertinent toward exchange.  I'll find the right balance at some point :)

In the Beginning

      Well, I guess an introduction is in order here.  My name is Mary Boyd and I am planning a year of foreign exchange for my senior year of high school.  I'm a soon to be junior (11th grade) in high school, living in a suburban town about half an hour from Detroit, Michigan.  I've been through many blogs of exchange students, but many don't deal much with the year of prep before the exchange.  So here I am, documenting all the exciting pre-exchange happenings!
       My reasons to go on exchange?
        1) My family has hosted multiple exchange students (Karen: Mexico 1996, Ilkka: Finland 2003, Jae: South Korea 2009) but we have never sent a family member abroad.
        2) I love to travel and am fascinated by new cultures.
        3) I think that foreign languages are immensely important and I'd like to become fluent in more than just English
I'm planning to go through Rotary Youth Exchange.  Rotary is the organization that all of our exchange students came through and all of our dealings with them have been more than satisfactory.  So far I've contacted my district organizer and have a list of countries offered for the 2013/2014 year.   He said he'll let me know when applications are set so until then I wait and think over my country choices.  This is a board I've made to try and organize the choices, there are just so many!

   My top country right now is Germany because I've been studying German in high school, but the more I look at the 44 countries offered I wonder if I shouldn't try for a more obscure country like Peru, Turkey, or Iceland!  I've also looked into the CBYX scholarship because it would guarantee that I would be going to Germany and like Rotary, would cover a majority of the expenses. One advantage of Rotary though is that you get to live with multiple families so you have a wider view of the culture and if there is an issue with a host family, then you have a new one lined up for a few months later.
 Of course if you get along wonderfully with your first family, then leaving won't be as fun.  Trade-offs all around.  I'll keep this blog updated now on anything new that comes up!