Colbie Sherring is currently in France on an exchange arranged through the Rotary Club of Yorkton.
“Being an exchange student has been a sort of dream of mine for several years now,” the 18-year-old told Yorkton This Week via email. “I first heard of it through RYLA (a summer camp held by Rotary) and it stuck.
“I have several friends, both foreign and Canadian, who’ve been on exchange and have shared their wonderful stories with me about the exchange life.
“Being an exchange [student] was not a decision I made easily. Obviously, it’s not easy to pack up your bags and leave for a year, but when you’ve just graduated high school, you get the idea that it’s your last chance to do something crazy before life kicks in. That ideology is what concreted my decision. Whenever I’d share this idea with parents, teachers or really any adult, the answer was always the same: ‘Do it while you can.’”
Sherring said while there is a somewhat lengthy process in terms of being accepted into the program, it was also pretty straight forward.
“In total it took just under a year before I was on a plane to France,” explained the Sacred Heart High School graduate. “It began with talking with Yorkton’s Rotary Club. After sharing with them my wish to be an exchange student, they made a few calls and eventually I was contacted by a Rotarian from Melfort, SK. This Rotarian asked if I could drive to Regina for an interview so I gladly got in my car and met him. He asked me several questions you’d expect to receive in an interview, but most questions centered on two subjects: Leadership and independence. Shortly after I received confirmation of my acceptance and a dossier to fill out.”
By December 2016 Sherring knew his host country and Rotary host club. “In February all of the outbound exchange students of our district met in Russell, Manitoba with the inbound exchange students to ask questions and get a feel for the exchange life,” he said.
Sherring said the final step was driving to the French consulate of Vancouver, and applying for a French Visa.
“I applied on August 20th, 2017 and a week later I was on a plane to France,” he said. “The entire process was such a rush that I had no idea what to do when I actually arrived. For the first time in months, I was finally relaxed.”
When filling out the application, participants are given five slots to fill with countries they’d like to go to.
“France was my second choice (just below Belgium). Even upon hearing I wasn’t chosen for my first choice, I wasn’t upset,” he said. “The whole point of exchange is rolling with the changes so I took it as my first encounter with the exchange life.”
It helped Sherring graduated from Sacred Heart High School with a bilingual diploma as a french immersion student. “Because of this it took me no time to become fluent in French, but I am friends with many exchange students who are now fluent in French and arrived in France without knowing a single word of the language,” he noted.
Sherring said he went into the program hoping to get a fresh perspective on the world.
“The most I was hoping to gain from an exchange to France is perception,” he said. “I wanted to see the world through the eyes of another culture and in the end it’s exactly what I got. The past six-months of my exchange have really changed how I see the world and I guarantee it’ll change how the world sees me.”
Sherring is located in Château-Gontier, Mayenne, France.
“The greatest challenge I’ve faced here in France is hard to narrow down. Don’t get me wrong, this may be the best year of my life, but when you go abroad there will be challenges,” he explained. “I’d say my biggest challenge is giving up driving for a year. When you come from Canada a 300km trip to Saskatoon could be completely spontaneous, but in France a 300km trip to France takes at least two weeks preparation because in France, 300km is a long distance.”
While there are challenges, there are also highlights to always be remembered.
“My greatest highlight in this exchange is even harder to narrow down than my greatest challenge,” said Sherring. “The past six-months of my life have practically been highlight after highlight. I’d say the greatest highlight was when my Rotary exchange district went to Mont St. Michel for the weekend for a meet-up with 200-plus other exchange students. Exchange students are family, so being with 200-plus people who all understand each other and are all going through the same experience is perhaps the most comforting feeling I could imagine.
“My Rotary Youth Exchange has provided everything I anticipated and more. This is the best decision I’ve ever made.”
