Chloe Yates will be sharing her experience while in Argentina through a regular column she will be writing in the Horowhenua Chronicle to share with readers. We wish her well and look forward to her reports of life experiencing another culture.
I have always wanted to travel and see the world. I grew up listening to my Aunty’s stories of travelling, first as an exchange student, and then as the wife of a diplomat. My cousins are always checking in on Facebook from some new exotic place in the world – Dubai, Apia, Copenhagen. So early last year I applied for a Ministry of Education scholarship to go on an AFS student exchange. I really didn’t know if I stood a chance.
Filling out the application form was overwhelming. It was about 20 pages long. I needed references, school reports, photos, a long personal statement and a full medical. I just about gave up! Luckily I didn’t because four months later I received an email and I had been shortlisted.
I paced the house for a week waiting for my interview. I wrote in my diary – worried I wouldn’t get in. I worried more that I would. I started to wonder if this was really what I wanted. Could I actually get on a plane and leave my family to live on the opposite side of the world, speaking a language that I didn’t fully understand?
The night before my interview I was so nervous I couldn’t sleep. This was my dream and it was about to come true – or not.
The interview went well but the weeks of waiting dragged on. I kept myself busy with school work and spent weekends with friends trying to think about other things. Finally on my 17th birthday I received an email from AFS. I couldn’t believe it, I had been awarded a six month AFS study award to Argentina on an inter-cultural programme, leaving in August.
As I start the preparations to leave, making contact with my host family in Argentina, learning about the city of Cordoba that will be my new Levin, I feel excited, but also a little scared. It is not the first time I have travelled but it is the first time I have travelled alone.
Recently as I was cleaning my room I found something that made me smile. It was a bucket list I had written when I was 12 years old. Scrawled in messy handwriting at the top were the words: #1 Be an exchange student. I got out my pen. Bucklet list item #1 – tick.
Article courtesy of Horowhenua Chronicle