So in my last post I mentioned I went to my sponsor club interview... well a lot has happened since then. I had my district interview on Feb 27, and it was like my first interview but they went in a lot more depth of what is expected of me and the types of questions they asked. At the very end they sent me out, conversed amongst themselves, and when they called me back in, told me I was accepted into Rotary. For Rotary you have to give them three options of countries (in case they can't get your 1st choice) so... my first choice was obviously Japan (no questions there), 2nd was Germany and 3rd was Austria.
On March 1st I had my first orientation. It was just me and three other girls from Chilliwack (I was the only one from my hometown). A lot of the things that were discussed I had already heard in the interview and is just plain common sense.We talked about some of the rules; the 4Ds (NO drinking, driving, drugs, and dating), also what to do in case of sexual and/or physical harassment. Touched briefly on banking options, also things like engaging in your host country (not only with your host family and school but also at Rotary functions with Rotarian's - networking). Talked about travel insurance, visas, and plane arrangements (briefly). What else..... haha, we also were told that we will probably gain weight while overseas! We also had an inbound student from Germany who came and was able to answer some questions and give his input on some things. At the very end of the orientation we were told which countries we are going to. For the other three girls they are going to, Peru, Germany, and Argentina.
And I am going to...... (drum roll please)...... JAPAN!!!!
I am so excited, I couldn't stop smiling for at least half n' hour afterwards. I was really anxious to hear about where I was going because apparently every year my district has had someone wanting to go to Japan but couldn't, so I was extremely lucky, which I am thankful for. Overall the orientation was a little boring but still very very helpful.
There is in fact way more students then just the four that was at the orientation (it was only those in the area) in my district. However, I will meet the rest of them at our District Conference in May. Its over the weekend so I'll have plenty of time to get to know them. At the conference apparently we are going to discuss a lot more thing in depth as well as have opportunities to try out the language of our host country (if there is someone there that can speak it) and more exciting stuff.
That is all from me... I'll keep you guys updated. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
さよなら!!! Bye!!!
