Hi!
I'm Tereza, and I'm an exchange student from a small village called Radošovce that's right next to the Czech border in Slovakia.
It's been a year since I decided to go on an exchange to Australia and unlike many exchange students, my mindset was not to have any expectations, so, four months ago I jumped on a plane, expecting basically only a language improvement (which is going smoothly, I think). Of course it might've felt a bit unfair when I asked other people going to Australia for an exchange year where they're going and all of them answered with a name of a big coastal city and I got Dubbo! However, now I know I wouldn't change it for the world.
Living in a different country, with a different culture, is an amazing experience, that I would recommend to everyone and I'm so glad I went through Rotary, not only it was financially accessible and my sponsoring district prepared us for anything, but the community at the Dubbo South Rotary Club is just amazing! The warm welcome from the very first day in Australia means still a lot to me.
The school is very different too. Not only the smaller number of subjects student have to have, but also the choices of the said subjects are just wonderful! Especially for someone like me, who was thinking about trying drama and music, but not being able to do it at the highschool back in Slovakia.
There are loads of opportunities, not just within the school and I try to take every single one, good evidence of this is me taking a part in the Tour de OROC as a rider despite not riding bicycles that much in Slovakia, I can only tell you that it was a hundred percent worth it! One of the best advice I got on my exchange was "just say yes to everything, you'll regret more not trying things than trying them and failing" and I can say it is changing my exchange, not only to the better version, but probably to the best version of the exchange year.
My first host family were amazing too! They taught me a lot about Australia (and Australian slang) and took me to many places, including Gold Coast, which was just wonderful!
Then I stayed with my counsellor, David, and his lovely wife for a month and had an amazing month there, until my music teacher with his wonderful wife became my next host family, and just week at their place so far and I'm having such a good time!
Apart from that I was already in Sydney on a school excursion and many more. What can I say? Even not that big town with no ocean at sight and just quarter of my exchange in is a life-changing, heart-warming experience, full of people that don't become just your friends, but a family, because as one smart man once said "family don't end with blood, boy".
So if you're thinking about going on an exchange, I can just say three words: yes, yes and YES!
