Rotary exchange student Leo Chen crossed the globe almost a year ago and arrived in Bermuda with no idea what to expect.

The Taiwanese national is now getting ready to return home with rich memories.

“This year was amazing,” he said. “If they let me choose the place to do exchange again, I will choose Bermuda again. I have so many memories with my friends and host family. I will never forget them and this island.”

Mr Chen travelled to the island last August and, in addition to studying at Bermuda High School’s IB programme, he has taken the opportunity to delve into Bermudian culture.

He said: “When I found out I was going to Bermuda for a year, I was really surprised because I didn’t know anything about Bermuda except the Bermuda Triangle.

“Everything seemed strange to me in the first month I was here — the different culture, language and lifestyle. Food was the most different thing. I needed to try everything new and faced every problem by myself, but all of my friends from BHS and my host family were really nice to me.”

He said that his first surprise was the willingness of Bermudians to greet people — including strangers — when walking down the street.

“For me that was really weird because before I came to Bermuda, I lived in a busy city, Taipei,” he said.

“Almost seven million people live in Taipei. Because everyone is too busy, normally we don’t say ‘hi’ to the people that we don’t know, but I think this is a really good habit. This habit makes the people in Bermuda closer to each other and makes the community friendly.”

Chen said his favourite thing about Bermuda was the beach and the beauty of the island’s water.

He said: “I am going back to Taiwan next Friday, but before then I will go to the beach again because I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to come to this beautiful island again.”.