There and Back Again: An Exchange Student's Tale: "I want to see mountains, mountains, Gandalf!"

“I want to see mountains, mountains, Gandalf!”

And mountains I did see.

(Not to purposely continue with the lord of the rings theme but I thought I’d go with it as long as it works)

Alrighty, my day has been a crazy whirlwind of emotion, survival, travel, excitement and a definite constant overhanging feeling of being overwhelmed. Which means if this turns out to be an obscenely long blog, you’ll know it’s because I’ve had 11 hour on a plane and 6 hours in the Madrid airport so far to think through my thoughts and feelings.

Chances are if you’re reading this I’ve talked to you in the last 2 weeks to 2 years about how excited I am to go to Spain and go on exchange. Now that it’s happening I couldn’t be more overjoyed and overwhelmed at the same time. It’s been coming in waves every ten minutes or so for the past 72 hours or so. I feel crazy excited to meet my host family and see their amazing faces in person and then, two minutes later, I feel sick to my stomach and likely to throw up all over. Just saying. Who knows if its nerves, the stress of traveling alone or if I am actually seriously ill and ignoring it because nothing will keep me from reaching Spain after waiting for so long…

Despite the rush of emotion and potential illness, I like to think I’m remain pretty chill. I only broke down once on the plane and I actually made friends from it, so cool. Turns out the flight attendant on my flight to Dallas studied abroad in Spain in college and one of her best friends is a Rotary exchange student from Thailand who she met in high school. Pretty neat. And old businessmen sitting in first class take pity on you and wait for you to get off the plane to see if you’re alright if they see you walk down the aisle crying… again who knew.

My fabulously embezzled Rotary jacket hasn’t gotten me any special treatment just a lot of questions… no I am not a tour guide…

Anyways, things I have realized already since on exchange, it hasn’t even been 24 hours since I left MSP, but traveling alone can force you to mature, you’d be surprised.

New factoid #1: I’m am such a dependent person. As much as any other newly 18 year old, I would like to considerer myself fairly independent (I am technically an adult for goodness sake), but it turns out I am crazy dependent on my parents and common courtesy in general. I mean up until today my mom always held on to my boarding ticket so I wouldn’t lose it… I also generally have some member of my family to lean against in an airplane and or my mom to make sure I eat while travelling so not too many hours go by without a decent meal. I’ve learned I could practically be an 8 year old child when it comes to traveling.

New factoid #2: I am that loser on the plane that freaks out a little inside when they see something besides flat Minnesota outside. I always forget how truly boring Minnesotan horizons are until I see something with diversity. Sure I’ve been places with mountains before but being able to look out of the window of the plane after 8 hours over the Atlantic and to see beautiful and diverse topography which I get to call my future home… just an amazing feeling. Straight up awe right there. By the way Madrid/Spain landscape is beautiful from what I can tell from the plane and inside the airport. Now apparently I just need some dwarves, a dragon and a magic ring to catch up to Bilbo.

New factoid #3: Rotary is an awesome exchange program. Yes, I would be saying that anyway as I’m just starting my exchange and brimming with excitement but, I spent 9 hours on a plane next to a girl my age from Atlanta also taking a gap year in Spain but through AFS or CCE or something. The point is that, first of all, she had 4-5 countries to choose from and once she chose Spain, Seville was the only city she could go to. Also, she is worried about making friends because she is just taking Spanish classes at an international school with for sure 5 other girls from the U.S. Lastly, SHE’S NEVER TALKED TO HER HOST FAMILY. All she knows is she has an 8 year old sister who she’s hoping she won’t have to babysit. I tried not to freak her out with my questions of whether they were even allowed to make her babysit and if it was right that she had never talked to them. I suppose anything is possible and I’m just crazy lucky to be a part of Rotary where none of that is questionable.

To close, when I said goodbye to her I gave her a hug and said “I’m sure you’ll have some Rotary kids in your city, we’re everywhere”. We. Collectively. Me and them. Today I may be overwhelmed with the vastness of the world and the idea of living in it without the comforts of my family and home, but truly, with Rotary I’m never alone. Wherever I go in this world there will always be a collective We through Rotary.