The place where it all begins!

     
““Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.””
-J.R.R. Tolkein

Three years ago I discovered a program that would soon become my obsession. Rotary Youth Exchange, a program dedicated to spreading peace by allowing high schoolers to live in a foreign country as an exchange student for a year, had put me under its paperwork-filled, confusion-riddled spell.
I had asked my mother through email when I first discovered the program, and, some time later, started the application process. I was fourteen at this time, and my district was the only one in the state who decided not to participate in the exchange program. It was no surprise then that, my age and the fact I was so far from the district I applied under, I was rejected.
A second year passed, and with it, the application process. I had gotten so far behind in the application forms that second year that I simply could not apply. More than a tad disappointed in myself, I waited for the third year to come around, paperwork filled out and hopes building.
Honestly, I can't say for sure what would have happened had I not gotten into the program this third time. All I can really say, though, is that I am eternally thankful to Rotary and all of its volunteers for presenting me with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live abroad in Japan. My family (even my sister) also deserves thanks from me for supporting me the entire way, whether I realized it or not. Last, but definitely not least, I would like to thank my Aunt, without whom none of this would be financially possible.