Au début

At the beginning of the 5th April 2016 I had never even considered going on an exchange. By the end of the day I was emailing NZIIU to find out how to apply for the $4000 scholarship to go to France.

The first step was to ask two teachers to fill out a teachers recommendation form (and no, despite what you may think, I didn't have to bribe them to be nice). Luckily I passed that stage. Next I was sent an application form where I had to write an essay explaining why I believed I should be chosen for the scholarship. I also passed that! Then I was sent the full application to fill out...it was 40 pages long and included about 6 pages of French. Now for someone who had only learnt French for around 2 years, this was pretty scary but with the help of my amazing French teacher Mrs Skandera who helped with the editing, I managed to complete this section before the English section was finished. This was sent off and I received a reply that said I had been selected for an interview. This was my first interview and probably one of the longest I will ever have. The Skype interview was on the 27th July and lasted for about 4 hours but it did not feel like it (surprisingly!). It was certainly worth the time because at the end of the interview, Mari Gordon, the NZIIU co-ordinator, told me that I had been accepted into their program and I had received one of two scholarships they offered at HGHS. I was so happy that this had happened because France has always been top on my list of places to visit so the opportunity to live there for 3 months and form new relationships, learn more of the language and immerse myself in the culture? Even better then I had imagined.

From there, they sent me a certificate (featured in the photo) and began to look for a host family that I would be best suited to. Then the flights itinerary came through and it started to seem believable that I would be going to France. After that, I got the email about who the host family was and I was so happy. Not only because they looked amazing, but because it finally started to sink in that I was going to overseas for 3 months. I have spoken with my host family a few times and they seem very welcoming with similar interests to me.

Recently, I had my NZIIU orientation over Skype. It gave me a lot of information about expectations, money and how to deal with situations if they ever occurred (like missing a flight!). This was a very helpful orientation because it helped reassure me with things I didn't even think about or that I thought I was worried about. Many people have asked me if i will feel homesick and I think the answer is of course, I have never been away from any of my family for this long however my parents and I, with the help of the orientation, have thought of ways that I can overcome this so it should not be a big deal.

So now I am 9 days away from leaving and I think it will continue to feel completely unreal until I am on the plane and realizing that I am off to have an experience of a lifetime.