Officially an Outbound!

I'm officially a Rotary Youth Exchange outbound!  I received a call this morning just before leaving for work.  The woman on the phone told me she was with Rotary Exchange, and she asked me if I had received my letter yet.  I told her I hadn't.  She told me that I had been accepted, and that when I got my letter, there would be a mistake in it.  She said the letter would say I'm going to New Zealand, but that they are actually sending me to...... PERU!!!  *Cue 15 second solo dance party*

So, yeah, that's pretty awesome!! I was very surprised, because it was my fourth country choice.  But I'm most definitely not disappointed.  I had said to my parents after district interviews, "I wish I had put Peru higher on my list." 

The beautiful Peruvian flag.  It reminds me of Christmas.

And so when I got home, my letter had arrived, and yep, it said I was going to New Zealand.  My mom informed me that while I was at work, my local Rotary Youth Exchange officer had called, very surprised and worried about my placement (she had also received the letter that day) in New Zealand.  No one had informed her of the mistake!!!  My mom eventually told her about the call and cleared everything up.  Very funny I'd say :)

And so here I am.  I know very little about Peru.  The capital is Lima.  Machu Picchu.  An alpaca comes to mind.  And that is about it.  But that is the point of foreign exchange!!!  There's no point in going somewhere you already know a lot about! 

I want to say thank you to my local Rotary Club, The Rotary Club of Rice Lake, and to my multidistrict, North Star Youth Exchange.  I am very lucky to have this opportunity to study abroad, and I couldn't do it without Rotary, or without my family.  Thank you to everyone for the support!!