It’s been four months since Moa Johansson flew to Canada from her native Sweden, setting out on a year-long adventure as part of the Rotary Youth Exchange program.
The 17-year-old Swedish high school student spoke to R.F. Staples junior high students Dec. 15 as part of the R.F. Staples Talks series where she encouraged her peers to take leaps of faith.
“When you are an exchange student, you learn a new culture,” she said. “But you also grow as a person. You find yourself going out of your comfort zone in so many ways, but this is how you live your life to its fullest potential.
“I believe that in order to enjoy life the most, you need to expose yourself to new situations, explore your fears, challenge them and stretch your limits as far as possible.”
After getting the students riled up about the fact Swedish students get paid $200 a month to attend school, Johansson spoke about some of the larger differences.
She lamented the fact schools don’t provide students with free lunches like in Sweden, but pointed out that’s a small complaint in what’s been an eye-opening experience.
“Every morning, I trade 10 minutes of sleep for a freaking sandwich,” she joked. “Also, Canadians are so much nicer than Swedes are. Honestly, you guys say ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’ and I love it.”
She also noted that Canadian schools have more electives and school sports, noting that she would not be able to take classes like art, or drama, or play on a school basketball team back home.
After describing some of the sights she’s enjoyed such as her first Thanksgiving, visiting Banff and West Edmonton Mall and watching the Edmonton Eskimos football game.
She noted that she had to overcome a number of frightening unknowns to come to Westlock, ranging from being away from her friends and family to the cultural oddities she would encounter here.
“I tried to picture how life was going to be here,” she said. “I spent so much time on Google, walking the streets of Westlock and trying to find out as much as I possibly could about Alberta. But you know what? It’s nothing like I expected it to be.”
Johansson highlighted some of the similarities between Canada and Sweden, including cold winters, long nights and a love of hockey.
She left the students with some parting words of wisdom.
“Stop saying yes to stuff you hate,” she said. “Don’t hang out with people you don’t like, don’t agree with opinions you don’t stand for, don’t eat food you don’t enjoy. Don’t let others opinions get to you, people are going to judge you no matter what. Just ignore them, it won’t do you any good.”
With seven months to go, her Canadian adventure is far from over. After enjoying Christmas with her hosts, the LeBlanc family, she said she’s excited to join the Rotary Peace Conference in Vancouver in February.
Each year, the Rotary Club Youth Exchange program sends nearly 9,000 students across the world.
