Rotex Round Up Report

Rebecca Fafard


Medemblik-Koggenland‏ Rotary club,

De Weere, Netherlands

Summerland Rotary Club, Summerland

Well I have now been in The Netherlands for 6 months and I have had my ups and my downs here. At times I feel like throwing the towel in and just giving up but I know I will never achieve anything by doing that. When I came to the Netherlands I thought it would be pretty fun going to school abroad but then when I arrived I fond it to be nothing of what I thought it would be. Even with all the ups and downs I have had I’m glad to have gone through them; each one was a learning experience in itself. So far here I have had three big challenges that I have had and still are facing. Number one would be the language; it’s so easy to get caught up speaking English here and at the same time I only get a small amount of help and the rest is up to me. The language has a lot of hard part like trying to learn how to pronounce everything is and can be quite the challenge in itself. Number two would be getting away from being an introvert and to finally take a step forward and be more outgoing and less introverted, before this exchange I took myself as an outgoing person but now I really see myself in a new light. Number three would really go with Number two but there is also how the people I am around act as well. I have had a real problem with making friends sure I have a few and I’m happy with only having couple rather than none at all. People in my school are very posh and are stuck in there ways, they think of me as an intruder who doesn’t belong since I don’t speak Dutch just like them. I have also found that it is only my school does this, I have visited others and they have all welcomed me. The ways that I have use to coupe with all these challenge are asking for more help and not taking everything to heart and to plan more things with my friends instead of waiting for people to ask me. Well like I wrote earlier that there are ups and downs and those were only some of the down but there have been more high points then the downs. Some of the high points in my exchange have traveling to Berlin with my class and getting into a 11 hour traffic jam where we only moved 200 meters It might sound bad but I know I will never forget how much fun I had in that 33 hour school trip. Some more high point are all the trips I do with the other exchange students here in Holland, it seems that when we all get together it’s the only time that I and the other exchange student get to have a good laugh and look back on what we have done and see the true humour in our everyday lives. Well to think about in a long run I don’t know if I have truly contributed in making a positive impression. I have done some volunteer work with a group that helps with primary school children and I have volunteered as a black peter that brings gift and cookies to all the good little children for Sinterklaas but other than that I can’t truly say that I have made a huge positive impression but I’m on my way to making one. As it is right now I don’t know if I have fully change from who I was when I left Canada. I do think that I have matured a lot and that I have a better understanding for the cultures around me but other than that I really haven’t noticed or thought about how much of a change that I have gone through. So far all I know is that my exchange in half way through but my experience will last a life time. So for the entire new soon to be outbound exchange student that is looking for advice on what to expect. Well I can’t truly give you the best since every place does things differently. There are two thing that I would like say to you that is, expect the unexpected and don’t let things get you down and lastly learned a good amount of the language before leaving so that it is easier to get along with everyone also you’ll find that things will seem better when you are able to communicate with everyone in their own language. So again learn the Language and have a fun time!!!