The latest Dryden Rotary Exchange student is back in Canada after spending 8 months in Taiwan.
Morgan Kruger was a guest at the Rotary Club of Dryden’s virtual meeting on Wednesday to talk about her time over seas.
Kruger says it was an experience that changed her life.
“It really was a life in a year. It made me see things in a completely new perspective and gave me another tid bit of information abotu a differt part of the world. It’s exciting and now I have the travel bug. I got to meet so many different exchange students that have been so many places and I never would have met any of these people, I now call best friends and friends for life, if I didn’t go on the exchange.”
The city Kruger lived in was Hualien, Taiwan.
“It was actually a lot smaller than Dryden, but ten times the population. So it was pretty interesting to be in a city that small, with so many people but there was a lot of stuff to do.”
Morgan Kruger with other exchange students at school in Taiwan. Screenshot from virtual Rotary meeting.
Kruger went to school everyday, where she got to learn their language by taking a Chinese class two times a week.
“My Chinese teacher was always using games and stuff to try and help make learning the language a bit easier and more fun.It’s quite a difficult language and can be frustrating sometimes.”
Some of the language has stuck with Kruger since returning to Canada, as she spoke some Chinese phrases to the Rotary Club during the zoom meeting.
Kruger says one of her favourite memories were the rotary trips to schools.
“I would have maple cookies set out, Canadian coins and Canada pins. The kids would just come up and the kids would come up to us (exchange students) and they would ask us questions.”
Other memories that stand out to Kruger were trying new foods and spending time with other exchange students on various rotary trips around Taiwan.
To say the least, it was an interesting year to be an exchange student for the Rotary Club of Dryden.
Kruger says Taiwan reacted quickly to the coronavirus, since they’re so close to China.
“I walked into a stores and people would have masks on. This was only in February. After that all the schools and stores started checking temperatures at the door.”
Kruger says there was also a quarantine period, but on the bright side she got to spend a lot of time with her host family during that time.
Despite her shortened exchange due to COVID-19, Kruger says she left with life long friends who she still keeps in touch with everyday and is thankful for the experience that has changed her life.
