Getting Started: decision making

All of my beloved RYE friends have them, and claim that it's a very good idea to have a blog in order to remember this next year, because it's going to be gone fast.  So here goes:
  About a year ago, when all my friends were auditioning for their favorite school's music and theatre programs, stacking up applications to their Ivy's, and concentrating on writing the perfect college essay, I was freaking out.  I needed some time to figure out what I wanted to do in college.  I've always been really interested in music, theatre, and dance, but I can't decide if that would be what I wanted to pursue in college, and if yes, then on which of those three do I want to concentrate.  And I knew I needed some time to grow up and figure myself out.
  So I remembered that my cousin had gone on foreign exchange to Belgium with Rotary as a gap year a few years ago and figured that's just as good a way of spending a year figuring things out as any.  Especially since I also happen to love traveling and French :)  Since then I've learned just how beneficial and exciting this opportunity is going to be for me.  I applied to and interviewed with RYE (Rotary youth exchange) winter of 2010/2011, and was accepted as the only long term exchanger from my Rotary district (6760)[I was the only applicant :P ].  I'll be going to Belgium for one entire school year, from August to May/June/July, and staying with several different families over the course of the year that I have yet to meet!  It's very exciting and I can hardly wait to start out as a completely blank slate, taking in every detail of not only each individual family's culture, but also the culture of the country!  To Rotary I'm already extremely thankful for the chance to be a part of this.
  As it turns out, I got SOME things figured out by February and have also been accepted at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL as a theatre major.  I have deferred the acceptance for one year in order to go master French, experience a different culture, and basically have my life changed!