Growing up and attending French school there was always one message that the teacher was insistent on. One day you will be happy to speak French. This was often said in tandem with the, “you must not speak English in the hall's” speech. Which was constantly repeated throughout my time there. What I never realized about the first message, is that they were right.  Being a francophone is an asset, because everyone speaks English here, so over and above being from a foreign country, being francophone differentiates me.  For those who don’t know me, my name is Wilfrid Kelly-Coderre and I am currently on my Rotary Youth Exchange year in Norway. I moved from Ottawa, a city as big as the two biggest cities in Norway combined, to Elverum, a city of 20,000 in the east of the country. Despite having only been here for 112 days, I am confident that nothing I could have done back home would have rivaled the experiences I am having here. I remember having my doubts about applying, and even committing to going after I was accepted. But just a third of the way in and I can’t help but want to be involved with next year's outbounds, just so I can witness as many people as possible do what I am doing right now. To any clubs that are considering sponsoring a youth exchange student: do it. I can’t recommend this experience enough, and I am so grateful to the wonderful people of the Rotary Club of Ottawa and of the whole district that made it possible for me to be where I am today.