disappointment that no boys had applied.

But they said they were very pleased with the five girls who were chosen.

"I guess Bermuda's best and brightest end up being girls,'' joked Mr. Walter Saul, chairman of the Rotary Exchange programme. "We don't normally get applications from boys.'' But he said the only two boys who applied to the programme last year were chosen.

Mr. Saul said Miss Carla Lambert, Miss Naomi Darrell, Miss Colleen Dill, Miss Miranda Jackson and Miss Randi Horton will spend ten months abroad living with a host family and attending school. He said they will not return home until the exchange is finished.

Also this year the Hamilton Rotary Club will host a boy from Bolivia, the St.

George's Club will have a girl from Indonesia, and the Sandys Parish club will bring in a girl from Mexico.

"By (Bermuda) Rotary Clubs hosting foreign students it allows us to send out students,'' Mr. Saul explained.

Mr. Reginald Minors, in charge of student interviews, said: "The girl coming from Mexico is going to stay at Carla's house, while Carla goes to Mexico.'' But Mr. Saul emphasised that it was not a house-to-house exchange.

Seventeen-year-old Miss Lambert, a Berkeley Institute graduate, said she had begun researching her host country and was trying to learn some of the language. She said the main concern in the group was that they would never become fluent.

Mr. Minors said this was a common concern, but most Rotary students "conquered'' the new language quickly.

"Two weeks after they are there they are thrust into a school setting,'' Mr.

Minors added. "Some of them are high calibre schools. They are having to compete with students who already speak the language.'' He also said he was very pleased with the students chosen and called them "true Bermuda ambassadors''.

Bound for Sweden, 18-year-old Miss Jackson said she was buying souvenirs in bulk in Bermuda because it was cheaper.

A recent graduate of Warwick Academy, she said she planned to become an insurance actuary when she completed university.

"The exchange will help me better deal with people with different views in life,'' she said.

The students have begun correspondence with their host families and will meet them for the first time at the various airports, he said.

One of the prerequisites for becoming a Rotary exchange student was that the students speak about Bermuda at Rotary Club functions in the host country.

Mr. Saul said they were also chosen because of their personalities.

"School grades played some part, but also their activities and involvement in the community,'' he said. "We didn't think quiet and shy would work.'' Before they were selected each of the students was interviewed.

Miss Jackson said one of the questions was "What would you tell an inbound student to do if he had no money?'' To which she answered: "I would tell him to go to the library, go to the beach and see the natural free sights.'' Miss Dill, 17, said she was asked a question about overcoming stereotypes in the host country. And she said she replied: "I have to show to them that I am not really like that.'' But the Warwick Academy graduate, who plans to study medicine, added she was not worried about being stereotyped when she goes to her host country, Germany.

Miss Horton, also 17, who is going to Belgium, said she hoped the experience would make her more independent.

"I will be more independent when I come back, because I'll be out there on my own without my family to help me,'' she said.

BERMUDA AMBASSADORS -- From left, Mr. Reginald Minors, Miss Randi Horton, Miss Colleen Dill, Miss Miranda Jackson, Miss Carla Lambert and Mr. Walter Saul.

Not pictured is Miss Naomi Darrell.