As a former Rotary International exchange student, I can personally attest to the impact that traveling abroad can make on a young person’s life. I spent my junior year in high school in Liege, Belgium and lived with three host families. I learned to speak French and met other exchange students from a myriad of foreign countries: India, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Argentina to name just a few. I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a midwestern city on Lake Michigan, which no one would call a booming metropolis, so the time I spent in Belgium broadened my outlook on the world.

At the end of my exchange year, the Rotary organized a two-week tour of Europe for all exchange students in Belgium. This was our chance to get to know one another and have fun experiencing the exciting and varied cultures of Austria, Germany, France, Czech Republic, and Italy.

During this trip, a conversation that I had with a girl from Australia planted the seed of a friendship that has lasted more than a decade, which was something that never could have happened in the States. After all, who
During this trip, a conversation that I had with a girl from Australia planted the seed of a friendship that has lasted more than a decade, which was something that never could have happened in the States. After all, who comes all the way from the “Land Down Under” to live in Milwaukee? When I left Belgium, I learned that home is not just your hometown, that your friends can be from any corner of the world, and that your mind can be expanded with every conversation and experience you share with these newfound friends and family. I will never forget the time I made a family recipe for a chocolate chip coffee cake for my host family. When we sat down at the table and bit into the cake, their eyes widened and the kitchen echoed with resounding “mmms” while my host mother Danielle,