Ben
Yesterday I gave my rotary presentation to my sponsor Rotary club: Madison West Towne Middleton. It was a really special time because I gave the presentation exactly one year after I left for Germany. While at the meeting I met a new inbound at the meeting who is from the Netherlands who will be attending my school next year. I also just received word that there will be another inbound who will be going to my school from POTSDAM! (a boarder city of Berlin).

Also, in other big news... I have been really thinking about my future and what I am going to be doing after my senior year. I want to go into the working-world with as much experience as I possibly can. I want see as much of the world as I can, learn as many languages as I can, and learn as many lessons as I can. I'm really trying to figure out what the best bet for me will be...

Do I want to go right to college and sometime in my years pay $20,000+ for a semester abroad?
Do I want to go to college, get a degree, and after, join an organization that allows me to travel?
or... do I want to go on Rotary Youth Exchange again?

Since I signed up for RYE I always considered doing a yo-yo year. I learned SO much last year and doing another year would enable me to learn another language and experience a new culture . But... I would have to repeat a year of high school, and I could possibly experience a "been there done that" sort of feel. Also, there are more complications- WHERE WOULD I GO? There are several age restrictions on the countries I could go to... I would be 18 and 7 months if I were to leave, but the age limit on many countries is 18 and 6 months. I wonder how strict they would be in accepting me? I'd love to be fluent in French (because I've taken 4+ years).. but my mind says SPANISH. (because its the third most spoken language on the planet).

Anyways... I have been going back and forth with this idea in my mind. I definitely have NOT made a decision yet, but I'm just relying on god to help me out with this. I'm going into next year with a completely open mind! We'll see what happens.
Ben
I feel it is fitting that I write a sort of "closing" post to sum up this exchange year even though this will probably not end up being my last blog post. I plan to update everyone every so often throughout the coming months to share how all of my grades end up transferring, as well as how my year abroad affects my college plans. Feel free to contact me at any time to ask questions about Rotary Youth Exchange or what it MEANS to be an exchange student abroad. I would be more than happy to answer your questions as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

So... After being back in America for just under a month I find myself thinking less and less about Germany, and more and more on the present. It kills me to say it, but Germany seems a bit like a dream- sometimes I can't believe it really happened! I feels so LONG ago- like a distant memory, or a dream! ... I still feel like no one except other exchange students truly understand what last year really meant to me, but I'm okay with that. I guess my it is kind of like my little secret that I have inside of me. My year is a unique part of me- something that will never leave me.

I still think about Berlin every day- I still am dreaming in German - and I love all of the amazing people I met in Germany. I miss it so MUCH...but I feel like it is time to move on. Its time to focus on other things now than my exchange year. I know that my year in Germany was the most important, most influential year of my life... but I have had a whole month to get back on track and now I need to start thinking about my future- finishing high school and finding the right college.

All I can say in closing is THANK YOU of you people who took the time to follow me in my adventures in Germany this year. It really gets me excited to think that all over the world, exchange students are getting ready (or just starting) their year abroad. To all of you outbounds reading this... this year ahead of you will change your life. Go into it with an open mind and HAVE FUN! It is over soooo quick! (you'll hate me for saying that because it doesn't feel fast until it is over).


It was a pleasure to write- I hope you all enjoyed my far from grammatically correct blog, and possibly gained some insight to a year abroad through rotary youth exchange. I wouldn't trade my year for the world! It changed me, it changed my prospect on the world, and it taught me immeasurably more than I ever thought I would learn my Junior year.

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I'll be here :)