Whakatane Rotary's International Rotary Exchange Student Sam McPherson
Sam spent his year in Vienna, Österreich with the stopover in Los Angeles on the way to Europe being a highlight of the year.Hosted by the Winchester Club of California, students were treated to visits to Disneyland and Universal Studios. Sam began by addressing us in fluent German but admitted that picking up the language was fairly frustrating and took about six months before he felt comfortable. Exchange students from a variety of countries attended the German language course in Altmünster on the shores of Traunsee; the views from their accommodation were beautiful but since it was winter swimming was not a good idea.
Sam spent a lot of time traveling to different places with the pinnacle being a two-week tour of Europe, which included Florence, Pisa, Rome, The Vatican City, and Strasberg etc. They had an absolute ball across Italy, France, and Germany. Sam also travelled on his own to Switzerland, where he stayed with our ex-exchange student Gina. The village in which she stays has been in existence for longer than New Zealand has been populated.
With motocross being Sam’s forte he managed to attend a Swiss motocross event and also the Erzbergrodeo endure event with his second host family. A weekend was spent in Tauplitz with the August inbound newbie exchange students. By the time they had a Vienna weekend for student Sam was almost a fully-fledged tour guide. The visit to the Italian opera did not go down too well. Towards the end of the year the German city of Dresden was visited; absolutely flattened in WWII it is a fairly modern city. There were also visits to Bratislava and Voralberg, the wild west of Austria: bordering the three countries of Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, it is possible to do a bike trip visiting the three countries in a single day.
Sam found the Rotary clubs in Vienna different to ours. Members are hugely wealthy and while paying out for exchange students’ experiences are not inclined to get involved with students or take them on excursions. He was not expected to attend Rotary meetings apart from a few random ones. In the smaller towns interaction was more personal with students attending weekly Rotary meetings. Sam made a lot of friends and tears were shed on parting. A ten-year reunion is planned on a private yacht in Monte Carlo.
Presently, Sam is a casual laborer building sheds but plans a (working?) holiday in the States from June to August. On return, he will be starting an apprenticeship as an industrial electrician. Sam thanked his parents and our club for the opportunity to go on the exchange and hopes to return to Vienna as soon as possible.