Exchange Life

My story with Rotary Youth Exchange doesn't just begin from when I left my city on August 31st. My older brother, Marco, went on exchange with Rotary as well to Puebla City, Mexico. His Sophomore year of high school he decided he wanted to leave for his Junior year to live in another country. This was quite shocking news at the time. My dad was more or less excited because he is a Youth Exchange Officer (YEO, the person for his Rotary Club who helps the exchange students that come to my city). He has always supported the program and was surprised that my brother actually wanted to participate in the program. My mom on the other hand was hesitant at first. After nights of talking and discussing the possibility, my family finally agreed to send my brother on a year abroad. After the interview process, and orientation to find out what country he was going to be sent to we found ourselves saying "adios" to my brother as he ventured off on his journey to Mexico.

Goodbye Round 1

My brother was in Mexico during my Sophomore year as I was seeing advertisement and information about applying for exchange. I wanted to apply but I didn't because my brother was gone and my family had discussed my future plans of taking a shorter exchange during the summer or studying abroad in college. My two dear friends applied for the program and were accepted, I was so happy for them because they would have been great ambassadors and would have had amazing exchanges. But for familial reasons their parents decided to decline at the last minute. My dad and my current YEO, Cynna, became panicked because they no longer had students to send. My city has two Rotary clubs and each was sponsoring a student at the time: my brother Marco in Mexico, and Devin in Brazil. Devin's mother, Michelle, who is now the President of my Rotary sponsor club is a big supporter of Rotary Youth Exchange so my dad decided to ask her if she would be interested in sending her other daughter on exchange. Her family and daughter, Holly, became excited and agreed to apply and interview for the process. I thought it was quite amusing that a sibling of an exchange student was going to go on exchange so for laughs, and to see what my father's reaction would be, I told him he should send me on exchange that way it would be two years of siblings on exchange. He told me he hadn't thought about that and started to consider this option. After talking with many people and working hard to convince my mom to let me go I finally got the okay from my family to be able to apply for exchange. The next week Holly and I both had interviews with some Rotarians and the two exchange students in our city, Kate and Dacil. It was nerve wracking, but Holly and I were the only options for exchange students so we were basically guaranteed a spot in the program. The interview went very well and after that night I was officially an Outbound for Rotary District 5010. In January Winter Orientation came around. This is an event where all the Rotary Exchange Students who have returned from a country (Rebounds), are from another country (Inbounds), or who will be leaving Alaska to some country (Outbounds) all meet for a weekend. The Rebounds and Inbounds share stories and give advice to the Outbounds. The nervous Outbounds also have an interview so that the coordinators can get to know the student they will be sending out. It was a fun weekend and I gained so many friends from around the world! The second night of the three-day orientation consists of a banquet where the Outbounds discover what country they get to spend a year in. Every Outbound has their "dream country" and all are extremely anxious to find out if they will go to that country or not. My ideal country to be sent to was Ecuador because I want to learn Spanish since the majority of my family speaks Spanish. My district at the time was only going to exchange with three South American countries which were: Ecuador, Bolivia, and Brazil. Two of the following are Spanish-speaking countries, and in Brazil the official language is Portuguese. So throughout the orientation when people asked what countries I was interested in I said all of South America so that I didn't just sell myself to one country, even though I knew I wanted to go to Ecuador. So the second night at the banquet, after an exciting day of skiing and getting all fancy with my friends for the banquet, all the Outbounds patiently waited through the speeches that were given to hear their named called and see what country it belonged to. I honestly do not remember much of that evening. I was too excited and anxious and was just a mess of emotions. I remember sitting with Kate and my fellow Outbounds Holly, Sarah, and Ryan. I remember when they finally started the Assignment of Countries portion of the evening and Holly, Sarah and I all held hands. France was the first country announced and Sarah's name was called for France. We congratulated her and Holly and I still waited for our countries. I zoned out on the next few countries but when Ecuador was announced I paid close attention. Holly squeezed my hand because she knew this was the country I wanted to go to. Neither of us expected to hear what we heard next which was, "Holly O'Brien!" Holly froze for a second then stood up to go take photos and be recognized. She came back and my thoughts were, Okay, one Spanish-speaking country gone, but I still have Bolivia. When Brazil was called I paid attention again. From my district we always send two students to Brazil so the first name called was "Cigne Torres". Hearing my last name, Torres, caught my attention and I thought they had called my name, but I looked and saw my friend Cigne stand up and walk towards the front of the room. I waited to hear the name that followed which ended up being "Lisa Torres"—my name. I walked to the front of the room following Cigne. I glanced at my parents who were present and they had—let's say—interesting faces. I had mixed emotions as well, but overall I was ecstatic for my country. The ceremony finally ended and everyone had their country and the photo-op commenced.

When Brazil was announced

With my beautiful parents

With Fernanda, the Inbound from Brazil

Even though I had many mixed emotions that night I had an amazing end of Winter Orientation and made friends for life! It was hard getting Brazil as my country because I felt like I needed to learn Spanish. But I will learn Spanish and Portuguese is very close. I like the fact that I have my own language too. One thing I have learned is that Rotary Youth Exchange students have to be very open. It's hard to go for a year on exchange and not get to pick what country you get to go to. But in the end I like the way the program works, otherwise I would not have gotten to know Brazil like I have. To really experience a great exchange, the country you get sent to should not matter. The important part is having an open mind and making the best of your exchange: adapt to the culture, learn a new language, be an ambassador. From Brazil to Turkey to Poland to Taiwan, this is an achievable goal.

My fellow Outbounds

Following Winter Orientation was Spring Orientation which is just for the Outbounds to find out more about exchange, learn about culture shock and other useful information for the year to follow. It was amazing to see all my friends again and to share our excitement! It was also our last time to see everyone together until Fall Orientation, after our year abroad. It was a nice bonding experience and was a great weekend like Winter Orientation was.

An exciting part of the weekend was receiving the ever famous Rotary Blazer. This is a tradition with exchange students to wear for special occasions and to trade and collect pins from around the world.

After Delaney (Outbound to Hungary) and I got our blazers

My Sophomore year started coming to an end so I spent my days enjoying time with the company of my friends, fundraising, and experiencing my first job. School ended and summer began. I was working and counting down the days for my brother, Marco to come home from exchange. He came home the end of June and it was nice to spend time with him before I left. After his homecoming my next step was to have my visa approved so I could leave. Unfortunately, delays occurred and August rolled around and I still was up in Alaska. It was nice though because I was able to spend an unforgettable summer with friends and my family. But anytime someone asked me when I was leaving I had to reply with an "I'm still waiting to find out" and eventually that got old and I was ready to know when I was leaving! The end of August came and Holly departed for her adventure to Ecuador and the three new Inbounds for my city came into town. First, Thomas from Taiwan; second, Phillip from Austria; and lastly my host brother, JuanMa from Mexico. I was glad I was able to meet them, show them around my city, and make them feel welcome while I was waiting to leave for my trip. It was cool to become friends with the Inbounds before I left and I still am keeping in touch with them, and they are loving Ketchikan which is good! Since, JuanMa was going to be living with my family he had a list of questions provided by Rotary to ask my family about their lifestyle and family rules. On Thursday, August 30th my family went out to lunch to talk about the rules. My dad gave the sheet with the questions on it to JuanMa and we started talking about everything. The very last question, #44, read something along the lines of "Lisa, would you like to know when you are leaving for Brazil?" I read the question to myself before JuanMa had the chance to out loud and was a little mad because I was tired of people asking me and thought my dad was playing a joke on me. So when JuanMa started reading I told him to stop. But then my dad asked "Well, do you want to know?" And I replied with, "Of course I do." At that moment I realized my dad finally had my date so I prepared myself for him to say in a week or some time close to a week. But I did not expect his response which was "Tomorrow at nine a.m." I then started to cry. I could not help it even though I was trying to. So many emotions were flowing through me. I had less then 24 hours in my home. It was unreal. Marco was leaving that day along with the Cross-Country and Volleyball team on the ferry to head to out-of-town meets, so it was my last few hours with him. Once the news sunk in I realized I should tell my friends, so I began to text, post on Facebook, and call people saying that I was having a good-bye party that night. (Luckily my dad is dear friends with the manager of the mall in my city so she lets us throw parties and hold events there when needed and the awesome woman she is let me have a very last minute going away party there!) I spent the next two hours with Marco and then went to the ferry terminal to say goodbye to him and my other friends who were leaving on the trip. Tears were flowing and it was my goodbye round 2 with Marco. I was so happy that I could say goodbye to so many of my dear friends at one time. So it was a great blessing in disguise. The rest of the day I spent getting myself ready and preparing for a going away party. That going away party was a reminder of how blessed I am for having such incredible friends. The turnout was amazing and everything was perfect. My last night was spent watching movies with my closest friends and then packing—I did all my packing that night which was quite eventful and caused me to get maybe 1 or 2 hours of sleep before my journey. In the morning I headed to the airport ferry and had a nice group of people to say goodbye too. Saying goodbye to my closest friends was really hard for me, but I will see them before I know it and I know I will make unforgettable friends here in Brazil as well. I headed onto the ferry with my goodbye entourage consisting of a few friends, JuanMa, Emilio, and my parents. Due to weather and my great luck my flight was delayed and I had to have an early goodbye with my dad since he had to go to work. Once my flight finally landed I had to say goodbye. It was a bittersweet goodbye that was perfect in every way. I grabbed my belongings and headed through security with some tears rolling down my face. Leaving my home was hard because it really is a marvelous and supportive community and I will miss it dearly. But I'm lucky because I know that I will have a great support system back home who is proud of my exchange and will be there for me always. 

Final group hug

My first stop was in Seattle where, because of the flight delay in Ketchikan, I had to spend the night. Ed, the man who runs the travel agency that booked my flights offered to let me go to his house to freshen up and wait to find out what my plans were going to be for my trip. My dad flew to Seattle that night to spend time with me since we didn't really have the goodbye we had hoped for. It was a good father-daughter bonding experience, and I was glad I had a proper goodbye with my dad in the morning as I flew out of Seattle to Detroit, Michigan. My insane adventure continued in Detroit. When I stepped off the plane, my mom called and said that my flight from Detroit to São Paulo (my destination in Brazil) was delayed. So I spent time roaming the airport. Then finally went to the gate to wait. The Estimated Time of Departure (ETD) was pushed back again so they gave all the passengers food vouchers to eat some dinner. We went back to the gate again and waited, and waited,  and waited some more. Then they finally decided to cancel the flight and reschedule it for the morning. Let me tell you, Brazilians who find out that their flight is cancelled are not Brazilians that you want to be around. They were yelling in Portuguese, cutting in line and yeah, it was a great time. I waited until most people had made sleeping arrangements and were leaving the airport. I then talked with an employee and told him I would rather stay at the airport and didn't want a hotel room. So he gave me a voucher for the hotel room and since I'm a minor he let me stay in the Unaccompanied Minor Room overnight where I ate pizza, Twix and watched all the Phineas & Ferb that I could, before getting a good night's rest. I woke up in the morning and finally got on the plane that would take me off of the United States soil and up in the air to Brazil. I was so relieved to finally be on my last plane ride. It was going to be a long one but it was the most important and I was finally almost to Brazil. The beginning of my exchange story (from when Marco decided to do exchange, up to arriving in Brazil) was exhausting, emotional, exhilarating, and a preparation for a year that will be the same. So I'm ready. Brazil 2012-2013 here we go.

Spending the night in Seattle with my dad

Finally made it to Brazil!