Just ask 16-year-old, former Rotary exchange student Teresa Whitter.

After her summer graduation from Warwick Academy, Teresa headed off to Belgium to spend a year with a host family.

But Teresa found the language barrier insurmountable and returned home after six weeks. "I came back the first week in October,'' she recalled. "I was supposed to learn the language while there, but no-one helped me. It was so hard.'' After her adventures in Belgium, the Warwick native said there was not one thing she would change about Bermuda. "I missed everything about the Island too much while I was gone.'' If Teresa ever took off for foreign shores again, she said she would like to visit Australia.

"I heard so many stories about it (Australia), the kangaroos, their accents and the interesting things they do,'' she explained. "And they speak English!'' Teresa said her father was the person who had most influenced her life. "He taught me that whatever you do, do it right and neatly, even the little things,'' she recalled. "And he told me never to take short cuts.'' Teresa, who starts a course at Bermuda College in January, advised other young people to stay in school.

During her spare time, Teresa, who plans to pursue a career in computers, said she enjoyed drawing, painting, playing sports and listening to rhythm and blues.

INTERVIEW BY NICOLE WILLIAMS TERESA WHITTER