Blogging before you're there?

To be completely honest, its a requirement to blog in my rotary district. However, that doesn't stop people from not writing blog posts. We (all the students going on exchange 2018-2019) wrote a list of reasons to blog, and there were some really good ones. They were things like "lets friends and family know how their student is without making them homesick" or "provides advice for future exchange students." That makes sense: exchange students should blog. But why blog if you haven't even left? The people who are in charge, who watch students come and go, year after year, say its to build the habit. That seems reasonable even if posts are completely irrelevant to exchange. I must admit, the reason I started blogging is that it was required. The reason I kept blogging is that exchange isn't just the year you are there. It is also all the work that goes in beforehand, the work that will help me get through the hard days in Taiwan because I worked too hard to quit. If you are considering being an exchange student, remember; your struggle will be worth telling. You won't regret it.