The term “counselling” is really a misnomer since these young people are the brightest and the best their country can provide and need very little actual counselling. What they do need is a friendly face to be available if and when the need arises - someone who can show them something of the countryside and culture of the area where they will be studying for the next year. Universities tend to be rather insular establishments and the scholar's experience will be all the better for a supportive link with the outside world.
Jeanine arrived in the UK on 24 September, 2003 to undertake post-graduate studies in mathematics at St John's College, Oxford. She had just completed her third year at Luwig-Maximilans University, Munich, where she read Financial Mathematics - a combination of maths and business studies.
After a few days staying with her Counsellor, during which the mundane tasks of opening a bank account - a real chore these days! - and other necessary preliminaries were undertaken, Jeanine settled into her college. From time to time, there are opportunities for all Ambassadorial Scholars to get together, and this year a group of ten have already met on a visit to Windsor Castle.
As the title suggests, Ambassadorial Scholars are in a sense ambassadors for their countries. Rotary, as probably the world's largest international voluntary organisation, supports many programmes that promote international understanding. As part of this, there is an expectation that the Ambassadorial Scholars it sponsors will meet and talk to local Rotary Clubs about their own countries and matters of mutual interest. Jeanine has prepared material on the vexed question of the Euro under the title of "Germany and the Euro" and she has already presented this talk very successfully to several Rotary Clubs in the area.
Ambassadorial Scholars are invariably very lively people with broad interests. Jeanine is no exception. Apart from being a habitual theatre and concert-goer, she enjoys jogging and is improving her fencing skills by taking classes. One of her musical talents is as a flautist, and she quickly joined the college orchestra on arrival at St John's.
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