provided Catherine Wouters, a foreign exchange student sponsored by the DI Rotary Club, is spending the school year on Daniel Island.

Waking to the aroma of roasted coffee beans, a foreign exchange student rubs the sleep from her eyes and sits down to eat breakfast more than 4,000 miles from home. This is how Catherine Wouters, a foreign exchange student from Belgium, spent Christmas morning on Daniel Island.

Over the past seven years, five students from different countries have stayed with families on Daniel Island as part of the Rotary Student Exchange program.

President of the Rotary Club on Daniel Island, Judy Burnstein, supports the student exchange program as a way to bring different cultures together.

"As part of Rotary International, Daniel Island Rotary takes part in the Rotary Youth Exchange program by supporting it financially and by having our members house students for either short or long periods of time," Burnstein said.

During her year abroad, Catherine will spend three and half months living with island residents Mike and Dana Johnson, John and Linda Common, and Kevin and Catherine Brookes.

Catherine recently went on a cruise to the Bahamas with the Johnson’s, has plans to visit the Biltmore Estate with the Common’s, and will make stops in New York City and San Francisco during a tour of the eastern and western states. While studying abroad can be rewarding, according to Catherine, it can also be difficult if you have a problem adjusting to the foreign culture.

"I would recommend studying abroad to anyone interested in experiencing life in a different country but I don’t think it is for everyone," Wouters said. "You have to be willing to be away from everyone and everything you have ever known."

While Daniel Island’s Rotary has only sponsored inbound students, the club is looking for high school juniors and seniors that are interested in studying outbound.

According to Burnstein, sponsoring a student from Daniel Island to study abroad would be the best way for the organization to contribute to the program internationally. Interested students would need to prove their independence and self-starting abilities to be considered during the application process.

"We would need to know that they are independent. If a child is going to be sent away for three months to a year, we need to know that the money is being spent to put the right child in the right place," Burnstein said. "We are also looking for someone who has been a self-starter somehow, maybe through a club or an activity they are involved in."

While students can sometimes receive credit, Catherine decided to participate in the program for life experience. "I am taking classes at Bishop England but I made the decision to live in another country, surrounded by a different culture, with totally different people, to help me prepare for my professional and social future," Wouters said. "It is also the best way to learn a language and a way of living that is different from your own."

Catherine will live with John and Linda Common until the end of February, completing her study abroad session in May after living with Kevin and Catherine Brookes.

High school students interested in applying to study abroad should contact Judy Burnstein locally at 278-1617. More information about the Rotary Student Exchange program is available at its Web site, http://www.rotaryyouthexchange7770.org/index.htm.