After registering, I immediately went up to a small group of girls and introduced myself. They happened to both have lovely accents one South African and one Australian. This, too, was the Inbound orientation for our friends from the Southern Hemisphere who arrived in January. One tossed her hair back and smiled at me, saying, "You're going to love being an exchange student, but you'll get fat." I grinned, not knowing exactly how to take the comment, but that was one thing I heard over and over at the Orientation. In fact, a Rebound who went to Slovakia told me that at his gatherings, the exchange students would compare stretch marks, along with countless other entertaining stories.
Lectures upon lectures awaited us some about Visas and Passports, while others gave us the medical low-down. All throughout the evening, though, I had a difficult time believing that this was actually me I was leaving in less than three months. We had a campfire that night. We talked with Rebounds (past exchange students) about their experiences, what we were excited about, funny movies we've just seen, the differences of the Canadian and American political systems (Hint: don't make a Canadian mad!), and just about anything else that popped into our heads. With no adults around, just 30 some-odd students around this campfire, I felt, for the first time, as if I had unquestionably made the right decision. Although I was only at a lake in north Idaho, I might as well have been a couple thousand miles away I was an exchange student. As I glanced across the flickering fire, and I heard my friend bound for Belgium laugh, and saw the smile of my friend from Argentina, and I realized again the common bond that unites us the exchange students of the world. Here's looking forward to a great year and a great ride!