In this post I will tell you about things I've done this far. There can be little differences between the organizations but the main things are always same. So, this is the way Rotary does it. (Notice that there have of course been a lot more work than you can read from here. I'm not able to tell every e-mail, phone call etc.)
OCTOBER
First you have to contact your local Rotary club. I did that last autumn, I guess it was late October. If I'm totally honest, my dad helped a bit. He just called there and asked if it is possible to apply for an exchange in our city. The answer was yes.
NOVEMBER
Then I had to write a little text about myself. I wrote it in Finnish and e-mailed it at November 5th. It was quite easy; I just told some basic things about me, my life and my background.
After that essay my Rotary club invited me to ian nterview. My interview was November 30th. I was super nervous because of it, but honestly, it wasn't bad at all. I was allowed to speak Finnish and they didn't ask anything which I couldn't answer. I just told them why I would like to go overseas and why I think student exchange would be right thing for me. This interview was very important, because based on it they decided who they are ready to send to the "next round". What I mean is that Finland is shared to six Rotary districts, and districts are shared to many Rotary clubs. So, in this point just my club accepted me, so it still didn't mean I was going anywhere. My club was a bit late with this whole exchange thing, so I filled up my first official form in my interview. There were asked some basic information about me, and I had to tell which country I wanted to go. My first option was Australia, second was New-Zealand and the third one was Canada. This form needed to be sent ahead by the end of November, so we just barely made it.
DECEMBER
In early December I got a call in which were asked if I'm one hundred percent sure about this. I said yes. My answer meant that I was no longer able to cancel this thing.
In this point I had to pay an organizational payment. Of course I understand that people who handle these things need it, but I still think that's kind a funny because I wasn't going anywhere yet.
December 21th I got an e-mail in which were said that I have to fill the actual applying form. It was maybe the hardest thing in this whole project so far. There were fifteen pages to fill and many things to do. I had to take pictures about my family, my hobby, my home, my interest and of course about myself. I and my parents also wrote essays in English. My essay was three pages, and my mother's was two pages. I wrote about me, and my mom wrote what is hard for me and what do I do when I have difficulties in my life and how do we get along and what are my friends like and why do my parents think I would be a good Rotary exchange student and so on. I also had to get a statement from my teacher. In it she told her opinion about my suitability. This may sound a very big job, but really; it wasn't all, it really wasn't... I also had to go to dentist and doctor because I had to get certificates which said that my teeth and body were fine. These things don't necessarily sound awfully difficult, but you can try to get a time for dentist and doctor without anything being wrong and get a statement from your teacher at Christmas holidays, everything in only one week (and also do those million other things). THAT is a little bit difficult. : DD
All of these papers and a receipt of that payment needed to be sent to my district chairman before December 31st. As I said earlier, my club was a bit slow with this whole project, and they happened to get some extra time.
JANUARY
That's the reason why we had meeting as late as January 3rd. To there I took EVERYTHING with me, and you can only imagine how much paper I had... : D I had that fifteen-page form, five photos, statement from my teacher, my three-page essay, my parents two-page essay, certificate from my dentist, certificate from my doctor, copy of my passport and copy of my school degrees (I'm quite sure I forgot to say something...). This is just a one bunch of paper. I had four of those. What can I say; you need a good printer for going exchange... Haha, just kidding. : D
After that "extremely relaxing Christmas holiday" the biggest paperwork was done. Phew! The chairman sent my papers to my correspondent, who has been taking care all of my exchange things since then.
FEBRUARY
February 15th I got an e-mail in which were said that my application has been sent to Australia. I can't tell you how happy and relieved I was. My dream was finally coming true and I was going to be an exchange student in Australia!!!! As you may remember, Australia was my first alternative. Of course it doesn't go always like that, but I was lucky. :))
In this point the paperwork was done and I just waited new information. And I guess you all know what happened after that. If you don't, you better go and check my earlier posts! : D
Nice that you are interested about my adventure,
Liisa
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