Masterton student Ihaia Pirere says giving his sister a partner to practise Spanish is one of his motivations for heading to Chile on an AFS student cultural exchange.
Ihaia, 15, has just completed year 11, boarding at Hato Paora Maori boys secondary school near Feilding, and has been counting down the
days until his departure on February 15.
He began the countdown 164 days before the plane booking and now has only 16 days to go.
"I'm a little bit nervous and a little bit excited," he said.
His sister, Aroha, went on an AFS exchange to Argentina in 2005 and is now majoring in Spanish at Waikato University.
Ihaia is fluent in Maori and hopes to become fluent in Spanish throughout his year studying at San Fernando High School at the base of the Andes.
"It's a life-changing experience for some of these kids anyone can achieve it if they work for it," Ihaia and Aroha's mum, Diane Sutherland, said.
Ihaia is going into the trip open-minded and doesn't want any preconceptions of Chile to cloud his experience.
"I want to go there to learn another language and get engrossed in a whole new culture. I don't have any expectations in case I get let down. I just want to soak it all up," he said.
Ihaia is also a keen cyclist and plans to tackle the mighty Andes on his mountain bike and find Chile's best surf breaks.
Shortly after he arrives in the capital Santiago he will be given a two-day orientation before he meets his billet family in San Fernando.
His Chilean parents are physical education and special needs teachers and he will join a ready-made family with a brother, 16, and a sister, 15, with whom he has already made email contact.
He hasn't yet chosen his subjects at San Fernando High but is interested in accounting, maths and physics.
Ihaia is financing the trip with help from his mum and savings from working at United Video.
He also received an AFS scholarship from the Maori Education Trust Scholarship and the Sargood Bequest.
When he returns he will see out his school days at Wairarapa College before heading to the University of Canterbury to study accounting.
