Good Pieces of Advice

How to avoid jetlag
Usually the 2 best ways to avoid jet lag is simply to sleep on the air plane and drinking lots of water during the travel. 

You can read more on about how to avoid jet lag by clicking here

High school sports
Get involved with a sport in your high school right away. It is a great way to meet new people and make new friends quickly.

Practice your new language
Use Duolingo to learn the language of your host country (also comes as a free app)

You can also get even better at your host country's language and expand your vocabulary by learning just 1 new word a day. You can choose the difficulty of the words depending on how well you speak the language already, but remember to challenge yourself. 

If you are learning English you can go to www.vocabulary.com or download the $2.99 app and expand your vocabulary (or you can just use the website for free).

Make business cards
Business cards are always great to have within your reach so people can get in touch with you.

Your business cards should include:
- Name
- Telephone number
- E-mail address

You can also include:
- Name of blog/website
- Home address
- Exchange organization

You can easily create your own personal business cards on websites like Zazzle.com

Keep an eye on the valuta
This does not mean that you should keep track of it daily, but if your currency is different than your host country's currency it is a good idea to keep track of the exchange rate.

Write appreciation cards
If someone spends time or money on you it is always deeply appreciated if you write them a thank you card. You can make some yourself or create and order personalized thank you cards online. 

Make a local bucket list
Make a list with things you want to see or do in the area, so you can do something with your host family and friends. People always appreciate when you take the initiative. 

How do I get my phone to work in my host country?
To get your own phone to work you would have to cancel or pause your phone carrier in your home country and replace your SIM-card with a SIM-card from a phone carrier in your host country.

When I went on exchange I brought along my iPhone 5 from Denmark to the U.S.. In order to get it to work, I paused my Danish phone carrier and got an American SIM-card with an American phone carrier (AT&T), which costed about $25 for a 'regular phone subscription'. 
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Rotary Youth Exchange Students:

Rotary meetings
Attend as many Rotary meetings as possible during your exchange year. When you join the meetings and the different Rotarians get to know you, they would want to take you out to do all kinds of fun stuff. 
- Get up at every meeting and tell everyone your 'highlight of the week' (the best thing you have done that week). By doing this all of the Rotarians will get to know you much better.

Do presentations

Do as many presentations in your local Rotary club and at your school as you can!

Rotary Blazer
Wear your Rotary blazer to all Rotary related events. Be proud of your blazer as it represents your home country and Rotary. (Bonus: when people see you wearing the blazer they will want to give you pins as well)

Save lots of money on souvenir pins for your blazer

Instead of buying overpriced $4.99 souvenir pins, you can buy $1.00 tokens and make them into a pin. Simply glue a pin clip to the back of the token and attach it to your Rotary blazer. Wham. A cheap and personal pin has just been created!

I bought 2 different inexpensive kinds of pin clips from AliExpress.com:

50 butterfly pin clips (around $7.50)
200 back bar pins (around$ 6.50)