All About My Exchange

On Friday morning the world woke up to horrible news from France. Finland is not that close to France, but in these circumstances this of course had a special effect on me, as France is going to be my home country in less than 40 days. I'm not afraid to go, and after something like this happens, it feels more important to see the world and bring people from different cultures together.

But now, to something happier. Usually when I tell people that I'm going on exchange, I get asked a lot of questions, and very often they are the same questions. I don't mean that people shouldn't ask me these questions, but because they are the most popular ones, I'm going to answer them here, in my blog. Here we go:

What is a district? Or a club?
Because I'm going on exchange via Rotary, districts and clubs are very important. For Rotarians, world is divided into districts. In Finland I'm in D1410 and in France I'll be in D1690. Clubs are smaller, in one district there are many clubs, and in big cities there can be more than just one club. My sponsoring club is the club of Laitila and my host club is Angoulême les Eaux Claires!

How long does your exchange last?

One year. Or technically 11 months, but it's an exchange year, so one year.

Where will you go?
I will go to France, to Angoulême, which is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants.

Will you study in France?

I will go to school there normally, and maybe I can get some courses for the Finnish curriculum. I don't know if I'm taking exams, but at least in the beginning the main point is to learn to speak French properly.

How many host families will you have? What are they like?

I don't know yet. I just know I will have at least two families. In my first host family there is mom, dad, four sisters and a brother. I don't know anything about the second family yet.

Do you speak French?
I have studied French at school for two and a half years and now, during summer holiday, I have done some revision.

Aren't you scared that your friends will "forget" you?
I have to admit that I have thought about it. What if my friends continue their life without me? What if, when I come back, all my friends have disappeared from my life? It's a fact, that some of my friends might not be in my life anymore when I come back. But I trust that the most important ones stay and my friendship with them just gets stronger!

Are you happy to go to France?
Yes! Superhappy! As some of you know, because I'm going via Rotary, I didn't get to decide in which country to spend my year. But I couldn't be happier about this and I know that France is just my place!

At the moment I have gotten my business cards and my Rotary blazer. As soon as I receive my pins (hopefully in few days), I will make a post about all of these.

Au revoir!

Nea