Welcome!

Since birth I've been a very world minded person. Having a mother from Malaysia and a father who spent upwards of a year overseas, they did not slack off when it came to world awareness. I recently had gone on exchange to Taiwan, and have met countless people from other countries both before I left and while I was there. I know that in exchange, every experience is a gift, a special something worth sharing. This is a place where you can share these stories. I will be sharing some of my own stories from experiences, augmented by a few of my friends. I hope, though, I can further these stories with ones of your own. Whether you be an exchange student, college student studying overseas, or even just travelling. Welcome, my good friend, to the world view (:

Thursday, October 18, 2012

The D's


As the preparation for your exchange year progresses, you learn quite a few things about what will be required of you during your year of preparation as well as your year abroad. One of these things is the ever present 4 D’s (plus one).
No Drinking
No Driving
No Dating
No Drugs
And the extra D, and my personal favorite; No Dumb Stuff.
When you go overseas, you are acting as a young ambassador from your home country, so for some people, you will be what they think of whenever they think of your home country. Your actions will determine whether or not that specific club will accept another student from your country. What you do will be the difference between “Oh, and American wants in to our club? Remember the last one? No.” and “Oh, an American wants in to our club? Remember the last one? Of course!”
There are many stages to the “Ambassador Process” overseas. The first step is with your club and host family. You will be in close contact with them most of your time in the country, and they are the ones in charge of you for the duration of your stay, so obviously you would want to give a good impression. The next is the community. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go around your neighborhood doing things (though that would be acceptable ^.^) But try to connect with the people at your school and in your life. A simple smile and wave can go a long way (: The last is your country. Now this sounds like a massive thing to do, and really, it is. But there are many times where someone has made a difference in the country, be it starting a new service project or establishing new Rotary Clubs. What you can do is only limited by your imagination. ^.^
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)