"The Rotary Youth Exchange- creating peace!!!!" by PolishChick

The most powerful force in the promotion of international understanding and peace is exposure to different cultures. The world becomes a smaller, friendlier place when we learn that all people — regardless of nationality — desire the same basic things: a safe, comfortable environment that allows for a rich and satisfying life for our children and ourselves. Youth Exchange provides thousands of young people with the opportunity to meet people from other lands and to experience their cultures. This plants the seeds for a lifetime of international understanding.

A Brazilian student makes her first snowman in Finland. A South African masters eating with chopsticks at his Japanese hosts' home. An Australian becomes part of an extended family in Russia, and a Mexican student in France raises funds to benefit homeless children in Haiti. A Polish one goes to Wisconsin! ;) New experiences, new "families" and friends, and new adventures can await you, too.

This year, more than 8,000 teens will see the world the way it is best seen — from the inside out — through the Youth Exchange program. This could be your year.

As a Rotary Youth Exchange student, you will spend a year, or perhaps just an extended period of time, living with a host family in a country other than your own. You may learn a new language; you will learn a new way of living and a great deal about yourself. But there's more. While you are busy learning, the people you meet will be learning as well — about your country, culture, and ideas. You will be an ambassador. You will be helping to bring the world closer together, and you'll be making good friends in the process.

If you are ready for the challenge and the rewards of living in another land as an exchange student, then you are ready to discover new worlds through the Rotary Youth Exchange.

Hosting a Youth Exchange student from another country is a challenge — and an opportunity. Involvement with an exchange student challenges a host family to become familiar with another culture, while providing the opportunity to share a student's hopes and ambitions. These challenges and opportunities promise to enrich the lives of every member of your family.

Because Rotary exchanges with more countries than any other exchange organization, you could have a student from one of 163 countries living in your home. Not only will you provide an unforgettable service to a student from abroad, but you also will educate your family about the world around them.

Check out my host family`s exchange student`s page!!!

Each year, local Rotary districts and clubs worldwide arrange thousands of international exchanges for high school-aged students. The primary goal of the program is to foster world understanding by way of intercultural exchange.
There are two principal types of exchanges:

Long-term exchanges: These exchanges usually last an academic year in the host country, during which the student lives with more than one host family (usually three families for three months at a time) and attends school.

Short-term exchanges: These vary from a few weeks to three months. They often take place when school is not in session and usually do not include an academic program. Short-term exchanges usually involve a homestay experience with a family in the host country, but also can be organized as international youth camps and tours that bring together students from many countries.