Waking in France, school in Belgium

Jess headed off to Europe for the Rotary Youth Exchange program.

The Year 10 student will be spending time in France and Belgium as part of the year-long exchange program. 

While she is over in Europe for the program, Jess will be staying with three families across the year and will be attending school in Belgium.

For the first three months Jess will be staying with a host family in Cousolre, France and will travel across the border to Belgium to attend school. 

Jess said she was looking forward to the chance to immerse herself in another language and experience a different culture.

During her time in the Youth Exchange Program, Jess will have some Rotary duties which include preparing several reports about the experience.

Jess said one of the reasons she applied was because her brother, Mitchell had went on the Rotary Youth Exchange program to Taiwan in 2016 and had the time of his life.

Rotarian Chris Finkel said they have 45 countries participating in the Rotary Youth Exchange program.

Since the Rotary Club of Forbes became involved in the program, students have been sent to various countries including Taiwan, South Africa, Japan, USA, Denmark and Canada.

There are several steps involved in applying for the Rotary Youth Exchange, which starts with getting in contact with the Rotary Club of Forbes.

Once in contact with the club, Mr Finkel said applicants go through three rounds of meetings, including a selection meeting and two debriefings.

Jess said these meetings focused on her knowledge of Forbes and Australia and how she would cope living in another country for a year.

Jess was expected to arrive in Europe on Sunday.

Her first few days will involve meeting her host family and acclimatising before diving into the school year today, Tuesday, January 21..

Jess will be returning to Forbes in early January, 2020.