Weekend training meetings, contacting rotary club sponsors, and 3 plane stops resulting in 16 hours and 10 minutes of travel time are few things you would least expect from a person within the Des Moines community– but Junior Jenna Jensen did just that.

Jensen decided to travel 4,970 miles to explore more of what the other side of the world has to offer.

“I love traveling, I love meeting new people and seeing different ways of life. You can’t learn everything by sitting in a classroom or staying in the same place your whole life,” she said.

After being on the host side of an exchange with an Italian student, Jensen decided to result back to her ties with Rotary Youth Exchange. The program involves communicating with a local rotary club in order to sponsor the trip.

Jensen ended up being sponsored by the Ankeny Rotary club to leave Des Moines (and her activities: North orchestra and swimming) to travel to Pula, Croatia where she is living with her host family, The Brkljaca’s (berk-lya-chas).

Outside of her Eastern European home, she goes to school in what is called a “gimnazija” which is more similar to a general high school than career specific, which is more popular for students in Europe.

Balancing school and moving across the globe for a year wasn’t as simple as it seems for a sixteen year old.

“My family is my entire world and I knew being away from them wouldn’t be easy….everything is still new and confusing and you have to make a lot of adjustments, but I know that was just the first wave and there’s going to be many more, it’s a work in progress type of thing,” she said.

Along with large distance from home, Jensen has also experienced a tremendous amount of culture shock. “One thing I was a little surprised by was the majority of what people watch is American-made shows, and they’re in english with Croatian subtitles,” she said, “Street entertainment is also a big thing, and it’s not necessarily the stigma we have in America, people want to entertain, not just do it for money or because they’re poor and can’t take care of themselves”.

Most students outside of exchange programs are unaware of what the experience fully entails. “Exchange is often seen as just a year free from anything bad but it’s not. It’s [the exchange] one of the hardest things you can do and if you’re considering it, really think about your motive. The year will come to an end and you’ll have to return home, so know why you’re doing it and have the right heart for it,” Jensen expressed.

Jensen will continue her experience alongside her two host parents and two sisters until she returns home to Des Moines in June of 2017.Weekend training meetings, contacting rotary club sponsors, and 3 plane stops resulting in 16 hours and 10 minutes of travel time are few things you would least expect from a person within the Des Moines community– but Junior Jenna Jensen did just that.

Jensen decided to travel 4,970 miles to explore more of what the other side of the world has to offer.

“I love traveling, I love meeting new people and seeing different ways of life. You can’t learn everything by sitting in a classroom or staying in the same place your whole life,” she said.

After being on the host side of an exchange with an Italian student, Jensen decided to result back to her ties with Rotary Youth Exchange. The program involves communicating with a local rotary club in order to sponsor the trip.

Jensen ended up being sponsored by the Ankeny Rotary club to leave Des Moines (and her activities: North orchestra and swimming) to travel to Pula, Croatia where she is living with her host family, The Brkljaca’s (berk-lya-chas).

Outside of her Eastern European home, she goes to school in what is called a “gimnazija” which is more similar to a general high school than career specific, which is more popular for students in Europe.

Balancing school and moving across the globe for a year wasn’t as simple as it seems for a sixteen year old.

“My family is my entire world and I knew being away from them wouldn’t be easy….everything is still new and confusing and you have to make a lot of adjustments, but I know that was just the first wave and there’s going to be many more, it’s a work in progress type of thing,” she said.

Along with large distance from home, Jensen has also experienced a tremendous amount of culture shock. “One thing I was a little surprised by was the majority of what people watch is American-made shows, and they’re in english with Croatian subtitles,” she said, “Street entertainment is also a big thing, and it’s not necessarily the stigma we have in America, people want to entertain, not just do it for money or because they’re poor and can’t take care of themselves”.

Most students outside of exchange programs are unaware of what the experience fully entails. “Exchange is often seen as just a year free from anything bad but it’s not. It’s [the exchange] one of the hardest things you can do and if you’re considering it, really think about your motive. The year will come to an end and you’ll have to return home, so know why you’re doing it and have the right heart for it,” Jensen expressed.

Jensen will continue her experience alongside her two host parents and two sisters until she returns home to Des Moines in June of 2017.

Featured image is Jenna Jensen holding the Croatian flag. Photo by Lincoln senior, Steven Vargas.