Rotary Youth Exchange is one of the many opportunities Rotary offers for young people. There are two types of exchanges through Rotary- long term and short term. Both are for teens aged 15-19. A long term exchange is more common, I believe, and is around 10-12 months, whereas a short term exchange is around a few weeks. I don't know much about short term exchange, but contact your local club for more info.
In the typical long term exchange a student stays with 2-4 families. Often, but not always, your host brother or sister will be an exchange student, but rarely are there direct exchanges (where you live with one family and your host sibling will then live with your family). I will be arriving in Argentina in August, and in January my host sister will be leaving for Switzerland.
While you're in your host country you must attend school, even if you're going on a gap year, which is really common. I've found that most kids either go their junior year or as a gap year, but there are still kids who go their sophomore of senior years. If you're still in high school, talk to your guidance counselor to make sure that you'll still be able to graduate on time, if that's important to you. Most schools will freeze your G.P.A. until you get back and transfer credits of the classes that you took while you were abroad.
The point of exchange is not a vacation. Sure it's fun and definitely worth it, but it's hard. You have to learn a new language and attend school, and it's hard being away from a familiar setting. As an exchange student, you become an 'ambassador' for your country. All over the world people have misconceptions of other countries and good exchange students should teach people about their country and break those misconceptions.
The program is low-cost in comparison to other yearlong study abroad organizations. For my sponsoring district we had to pay approx. $6000. This includes air-fare, Visas, insurance, a Rotary blazer, business cards, and 3 conferences. They also pay and work with a travel agency that helps with everything- the passport process, Visa process, plane tickets, etc. While we're in our host-country we have to have an additional $500 emergency fund that has to be replenished if we ever take any out, but you get it back at the end of the year. The host country also provides a monthly stipend of $50-$100, and the host families provide food and shelter. The cost doesn't include additional trips that most countries offer and any other living expenses in the country like clothes, toiletries, etc.
Rotary prepares you extremely well for going abroad. Throughout the year before the kids in my district left we had to make a PowerPoint to show our local Rotary Club, language tests, a large research report and 2 reports on the books The Exchange Student Survival Kit and The Ugly American. At the conferences we had 'meetings' where we talked about all sorts of things- the application process, culture shock, etc. These conferences allowed us to meet tons of new people from all over the world, and the parents were able to talk to parents of kids who went in the past to give them a peace of mind.
Rotary Lingo
Outbound: A student leaving the country to go to another
Inbound: A student living in a country from another country
Rebound: Somebody who was an exchange student last year but is now back
Rotex: (Plural or singular)- A person/people who have been back for two years. There job is to help the Inbounds feel better about living in their country, and to help the Outbounds get ready for there exchange.
Yoyo: A person who's been on two exchanges (not very common, but does happen)
RYEO: Rotary Youth Exchange Officer; the person in your local club who you have to talk to and usually interview with to become a Rotary Youth Exchange student. They also invite you to Rotary events, check up on you, and tell your local club how you're doing.
YEP: Youth Exchange Program (can be used interchangeably with RYE, but not specific to Rotary)
RYE: Rotary Youth Exchange
I feel like I've left a lot of information out, but if you have any questions feel free to contact me or check out the links below!
Important Links
District 6220 Homepage (Northern Wisconsin/UP)- http://www.ridistrict6220.org/
Rotary International Homepage- http://rotary.org/en/
De Pere Rotary Homepage- http://www.depererotary.com/
Rotary Youth Exchange Information- https://www.rotary.org/en/youth-exchanges
Rotary Club Locator- https://www.rotary.org/en/search/club-finder
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