“Should I bring the polar bear pins? Will French people know there aren’t polar bears in Juneau?”
In the process of collecting pins, I spread moose, Alaska state flags and pins of the Alaska state flower (the name of which my dad forgot) all over the floor. Thinking back to my winter orientation in Wasilla, I remember the exciting buzz about trading pins. Getting as many as possible to adorn our blue Rotary blazers is part of the tradition of preparing for an exchange abroad.
This year there are 22 outbound students from Rotary District 5010 (Alaska and the Yukon, Canada) traveling to 20 different countries. I am one of five outbounds from Juneau. After a few rounds of interviews where Rotarians assessed my interests, language skills and strengths, they selected me to spend my junior year of high school in Cholet, France, population 60,000. Compared to Juneau, a big city!
Time is flying by, and after anxiously waiting for documents from France and traveling to the French consulate in San Francisco to get my student visa, it’s finally time to think about … PACKING! Time to Google “what to pack for a year long exchange.” That’ll be really helpful. Right? Some knowledgeable advice from YouTubers: “Don’t pack ALL your clothes.” Thanks, internet. I still have two weeks, so I’ll think more about packing in a week and a half.
Advice from former exchange students is always helpful. They told me to pack one suitcase of clothes and one suitcase full of gifts for my host families. I’ve been told that the French don’t eat peanut butter. So to give them a taste of America, I’m going to bring a big box of Justin’s peanut butter packets. My mom ran my idea by some French tourists in the museum store, and they thought it was a great one — their son nearly broke their blender trying to make his own peanut butter in France. And yes, I’m bringing Alaskan salmon, in all its forms.
Rotary Youth Exchange is intended to build bridges of friendship and understanding through students internationally. “Service above self” is the theme while participating in exchange. I hope to expand my global perspective and make connections with people that have completely different views than my own.
Back at my winter orientation in Wasilla, former exchange students were marked by their different colored T-shirts and jackets completely covered in pins. I didn’t need these things to be able to tell who was a newbie, and who had already experienced the world through exchange. Their confidence was visible from across the room — they had learned so much about themselves and other cultures in such a short time. I hope to learn as much as I can, become fluent in French, and make friends 4,689 miles from Juneau.
• Bridget McTague is a Juneau-Douglas High School student who is spending her junior year abroad in Cholet, France, as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange. Follow along with her travel adventures by reading her bimonthly column “Bridget Abroad” in the Juneau Empire.
