The Beginning

My name is Haley McIntyre and I am from a small town in Southern Arizona. In January of 2018, I was selected to go on a Rotary Youth Exchange. This blog will be an inside look into my feelings and the experiences I have while studying abroad in Nitra, Slovakia.

Why did I apply to become a foreign exchange student? In all honesty, I applied out of curiosity. I had heard about the Rotary Youth Exchange program my Freshman year of high school, and I never really gave it a second thought until two past exchange students (aka Rotex) came and talked to our school's Interact club. They spoke with us about their experiences a little bit and allowed us to ask them questions about the application process and the journey as a whole. Truly, they opened my eyes to the possibility of exchange and I really have them to thank for me embarking on this amazing journey.

That evening I spoke very briefly with my dad about the possibility of me wanting to go on exchange, and although at the time I believe he may have thought it was just a momentary goal that would fade in a day or two, he told me he would support me as long as I did research on the program and the other programs that were available for exchange. After that night though, I was dead set on going on a foreign exchange. I looked through a few blogs and countless news articles (mainly for my Dad's sake) to ensure that RYE was a safe program to go with, and then I applied. The application looked incredibly daunting at first, but most of it wasn't for me to fill out (the sponsoring and host clubs have a LOT of paperwork to fill out for you) and so the hesitation quickly dissipated.

If I have learned anything from the application and interview process, it's an incredibly long waiting game. I rushed to get my application in, just to wait about a month for a response from my local clubs. I then rushed through two interviews within the same month (one to decide if a local club would sponsor me and the other to decide if the district wanted me to go), just to wait nearly two months to hear if I got into the exchange program. The four other outbounds and I then had to wait another month and a half (as well as an incredibly long orientation meeting) to find out where we would be traveling to. However, none of those waits compared to the two, nearly three month wait we had to hear from our host clubs. It took a whopping three months after hearing from my host club to find out exactly what city I would be staying in and who I would be staying with. That wait was truly horrific. However, that was back in the beginning of June, and now I am here at the beginning of August just waiting for my departure date to come and I think this wait might be even worse.

My feelings throughout this whole thing have been very mixed. I have felt a lot of frustration (especially throughout those three months when it felt like I was the ONLY one who didn't know their host family or city) and excitement. Truthfully, there hasn't been much, if any, nervousness or hesitation. There has been one moment where I have regretted this decision. Being a senior, and now graduated, all of my friends are headed off to start the next stage of their lives whether that be college or jobs or moving out on their own, and I am not. This lack of progression, or rather the feeling that I am going to be behind my classmates and friends, did cause me to feel some regret throughout the week of my graduation. However, this experience is one that they most likely won't be able to have, and it is one that I truly didn't want to pass up on.

With only 19 days left in the US, I am really just anxious. The dread of having to say goodbye to the people I love for a year hangs over me like a dark cloud most days, but the excitement of what this year has in store for me greatly surpasses any negative feelings.

Slovakia, here I come ;)

-Haley