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RotaryYouth Exchange RYE
 About Youth Exchange
A Brazilian student makes her first snowman in Finland. A South African masters eating with chopsticks at his Japanese hosts' home. An Australian becomes part of an extended family in Russia, and a Mexican student in France raises funds to benefit homeless children in Haiti. New experiences, new "families" and friends, and new adventures can await you, too.
This year, more than 8,000 teens will see the world the way it is best seen — from the inside out — through the Youth Exchange program. This could be your year.
As a Rotary Youth Exchange student, you will spend a year, or perhaps just an extended period of time, living with a host family in a country other than your own. You may learn a new language; you will learn a new way of living and a great deal about yourself. But there's more. While you are busy learning, the people you meet will be learning as well — about your country, culture, and ideas. You will be an ambassador. You will be helping to bring the world closer together, and you'll be making good friends in the process.
If you are ready for the challenge and the rewards of living in another land as an exchange student, then you are ready to discover new worlds through the Rotary Youth Exchange.
Youth Exchange Blogs !
As our many Youth Exchange
students roam today's world
they have cell phone access
to the internet in several countries
and we will list as many as we can
on this page so you can experience
their travels and wonderment with them!!
Sam Smith from Rockport in Chile:
Hey guys!
I was asked to write a letter to describe how things are going in Chile, so here goes!
first of all, if I were to describe my entire experience so far in Chile with one word, it would be "AWESOME". I have accomplished so much already, like learning the language (though not completely), learning about the culture, and despite the language barrier, getting some work done academically. But the experience hasn't been all work. It's been a ton of fun. I've already made a Ton of friends, and there are fun things to do everywhere. Just yesterday was Chile's independence day, during which every citizen in a 100-mile radius came to the center of my city, and watched a military parade with Huasos (pronounced wassos), or the chilean version of a cowboy, which there are a LOT of, as well as traditional chilean dancers, and soldiers. It was a very interesting cultural experience.
For most people, the toughest part of the exchange is the language. At first, the language was pretty hard and I had to constantly ask people to slow down or to repeat themselves, but now that I'm used to hearing and speaking the language, I can understand most of what they say, with the exception of some vocabulary, a little grammar, and of course, the chilean slang, which there is a TON of. As long as you try to learn a language, when you're immersed in it, it will come to you after a while.
At first, in school, I couldn't understand a thing the teacher was saying or writing (their handwriting is much messier than our teachers' in Rockport), and now, I can understand about 10%. I figure that once I can understand 25%, I'll be speaking fluently. The classes here (except english and spanish) are about the same as our classes at home, so school's not too hard. In fact, school here's kind of fun. We go to school from 8-1, and in that time, we have 3 2-hour-long classes, with 15 minutes between each class, then we go home for lunch for two hours, and go to school from 3-6:15, and have 2 more classes. the schedule is different for our class every day. My entire class (about 30 people) stays in one room for most of the day, and leaves when it's time for electives. In the beginning of the year, I was given a choice between 3 electives: math, science, and the one I picked which consisted of history, english, and spanish. our class already has these classes, we just take them twice. same goes for the students in the other electives. I still have math, and I still have 2 science classes. My classmates are all very supportive, and help me when I have no idea what's going on.
My family here is great. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met, and I'm really glad to have been put in this house. My host family has 3 children: a 30-year-old son named Rodrigo that lives about 3 hours away with Mirari, my host sister who is studying architecture in the University of Santiago. Mirari comes home on the weekends, and for vacation, but Rodrigo rarely comes home. My other host brother, Gustavo, is currently in Vermont with the rotary youth exchange. I met him before I came, and he told me all about the school, and his family, and his city. With the Rotary exchange program, in most countries, it is required that you have at least 2 host families in your year abroad. In Chile, you need to have 2, but there's a chance that you can stay with only one. Changing host families has some good points and some bad ones. switching host families would be good if you didn't like your host family. Also, it gives you a chance to become members of two more families while you're away, and chances are, you'll keep in touch, and some day, come back and visit. it also gives you a chance to learn about the culture of your country from different points of view. on the other hand, switching host families is difficult for any student, because they've lived with that family and been a part of it for a certain amount of time.
Although switching host families may be hard, the rotary is supportive, and very strong in most parts of the world, making it an excellent exchange program. in my district, we have 50 inbound exchange students from various parts of the world. a few weeks ago, we had our first meeting, and I met students from all over europe, the US, Canada, Parts of Asia, and a few from New Zealand. the exchange students all meet occasionally, and talk, exchange their pins (one of the greatest ideas ever thought up), and eat lunch.
The rotary blazer, though it can be annoying when you first leave your country, is a very interesting concept. every student has his/her own pins that they give to every other student that he/she encounters, and they stick the pins on their blazers. students often stick other things on their blazers such as minniature flags of their host country, or things that have personal significance to them. The blazer is something that will always remind the students of their year, so the students can put anything they want on it. some people have their blazers completely covered in pins. when I say completely covered, I'm not exaggerating. I mean you can't see their blazer. it's all pins.
To sum up my entire experience in one letter is really hard. There are so many things that I've done so far. Time goes by so quickly here that I know a year won't be enough time to experience everything. it seems like one month went by like a week.
well, I hope all of you are having a good year! I'll see you when I get back!
Sam Smith
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