Outbounds 2006-2007

Phillip’s Bio

 I’m Phillip, I’m a senior in high school, I’m 18 years and I have a profound love of music. Whether it be collecting, playing, or listening, I can find solace in music. I was born in Miami, Florida on January 13, 1988 at South Miami Hospital. I grew up in a suburb of Miami called Kendall, it’s about five minutes from the everglades. Before actually settling into our quite dwelling in Miami, my parents moved me around Europe and Colombia. I lived in Barcelona, Spain and Bogotá, Colombia for about two years collectively before going back home to the states. Growing up was was like a roller coaster ride, it had its uncertain moments; eventually though things would turn out to be fine.

My childhood was fine, I had a big group of middle school friends. The more positive bunch would ironically enter my life as the summer of 9th grade approached; I recall 6th and 7th grade being tough years for me. I suppose I had a lack of direction, I didn’t have any real dominant male figure around who could put his “foot down”. It was not until my mom remarried and my step-dad came into the picture when I slowly, but surely got my act together. It’s also when we moved to Orlando, Florida. I was now in 10th grade and ready to make new friends, and have fun in my new city. I started discovering new bands, I even started playing in a couple of bands that would eventually implode. The experience of making music and bonding with new friends was memorable even today.

I now write this biography on my computer in Fruit Cove, Florida. We moved to Fruit Cove at the end of sophomore year. At first the transition was a drag, for lack of better words. No friends, no car, no band, no fun. Everything a teenager in eleventh grade would describe as essential for having a good time I didn’t have for those brief months. I’m now at the end of my senior year and I couldn’t be happier with my life. I have a steady working class job that gives me income to save up for anything my heart desires, I have a band that I feel is my best musical project to date, and a small but loyal group of friends. Most importantly though, I believe I’m more mature about my actions and the way I conduct my life.

September 27 Journal

 Istanbul, Turkey has taken me in like one of their own. And I say Istanbul, Turkey because yes my host family has taken me in and treated me with more kindness then I have ever received from people I’ve just met. But Turkey has treated me like their son. From the mini-bus drivers who take me around the city, to the staff at businesses that always greet me with a Hoþ geldiniz every time I frequent a cafe, restaurant or any other place of business and to finally my loving family. Whom upon meeting and dining with them, I knew was going to make their home my home away from home.

I was picked up at the airport by my brother and my host uncle. We drove around the city. My brother told me we were taking the long way because they wanted me to see the city. That was fine by me. As we drive by I was witnessing first hand two continents looking at me! Asia on the other side of the bridge and my side, Europe. We made it home and I took the first advantage to hit the ol dust trail (nap). When I wake up hours later, my brother asked if I was hungry? I said “yes” and he took me upstairs where a meal of every Turkish tradition was waiting for me. After the meal was over, or so I thought my host mom Sibel brought me a cake with writing in it that said “Welcome!”. That’s when I felt that I made the right decision the to be here, and how lucky I was to have a great family. Time flew by, and before I knew it was the Rotary camp and the following week for two weeks we had language camp. It was enjoyable. Thanks for reading journal!

Gule Gule!

November 24 Journal

 Hello, Readers, future Rotary exchange students, my friends all over this world, my family and Al of course. Well, it’s been a significant amount of time since I last updated my journal. Quality over quantity I say.

Since I last wrote in my journal, I was still feeling Turkey out. Really getting to know it you know? Last month my host family went to Spain for vacation, we had a week off of school for Bayram (Muslim holiday). Remember, Turkey is a Muslim country. Secular, but Muslim nevertheless. American Rotary students aren’t able to leave the country while on their exchange, so a friend from my school who was going home for the holiday (my school is a boarding school) offered me a place to stay for a week. At this point, I had to accept not knowing where he lives? what his family would say? were they nice? do they like Americans?

The holiday and the family turned out an amazing experience. During Bayram like most holidays you visit your family and wish them a happy holiday and which is the custom in Bayram the host of the house offers you candy, but before eating it you clean your hands with a type of hand cleaning oil. I did this about 100 times during the vacation and went to neighborhoods I thought I would never set foot in (traditional Muslim neighborhoods). My friend’s family took me in as one of their own.

A fond memory I will always have will be walking through a field at sunrise next to my friend’s uncle listening to my Ipod. He point to the Ipod and says “Bu ne?” Turkish for What’s this? At the time I was listening to “Cokertme” (I’ve also grown quite fond of Turkish music). If you don’t know, “Cokertme” is one of Turkey’s most popular songs, the Turks are known for their bombastic music styles and I’m loving it. My friend’s uncle puts his arm around me and in the middle of the field we start singing “Cokertme”, I think I might have earned his respect when he saw I knew some of the words (I listen to the song at least 5 times a day). So at this point an 18 year old American boy from Florida is in the middle of a traditional Muslim neighborhood with a 40 year old Turkish man singing “Cokertme” and doing a Turkish dance (trying to do the Turkish traditional dance).

After we made it to the bus station, we said goodbye. My friend, his mom, and I had to catch another bus back home. A couple days later school started again, my family came back from Spain and my life with my friend and his family ended. I’m glad to be back with my host family and the comfort of the environment of my Turkish home. I’ll always remember those days with my friend and his family.

In this day and age, it seems the world regards humans not as who they are, but what religious beliefs they hold, their economic power and what political party they might vote for. Well, since I’ve had this experience (being abroad) I’ve been able to be with people that have covered all borders of the political and religious spectrum and I can try to accept people better now. I’m glad Turkey chose me, life can take you anywhere and Rotary has been a great a medium for this. I would like to thank Rotary and all the work they put in this. And my family and my mom whose words of wisdom and prayers are always with me.

Lots of love from Istanbul, Turkey.

February 15 Journal

 Well, where to begin? Its been about a almost two weeks since I’ve been back in Istanbul. The hustle and bustle of the big city once again. I was on my tour, the Turkish tour of the western coast of Turkey. I can now say I’ve been to the Black, Aegean and the Mediterranean sea. Not only have I been to these seas, but I even swam in all three. Although, I might add it was a tad cold.

It was a great experience. Some more notable parts of history which I was given the pleasure of seeing and visiting were the Virgins Mary’s home, very spiritual experience I must say. St. Nicholas cathedrals, aka Santa Claus’ home. The highlight for sure was Troy. Yes, you read correctly! Troy as in the great movie which was made after it! Although everything we saw was great. More ruins the I could count, lots of amphitheaters and enough beaches to last a lifetime.

My favorite part of the tour was meeting the “authentic” working Turkish people. Sometimes in the big city you forget you’re living in a country that’s so close to the east but yet so far and out of touch with it. And that you only have trouble a couple hundred miles in any direction and the eastern culture that you’ve never known is right in front of you and you love it. I remember this restaurant we stopped at in a town I don’t quite remember, anyways we approached the restaurant and we all crouched around our table and ate on the floor which is still common in Turkey with the exception of Istanbul and other big cities, and all around us were hammocks and the little river which gave this particular restaurant its character. Another interesting fact I noticed is how the owners let the dogs roam around and eat our meal with us.

Anyways, It was a great time. I’m thankful for Rotary for constantly providing me this chance of a lifetime. Hope everyone is doing great. Allah emant ol.

May 22 Journal

 Hello fellow outbounds, Rotary, and anyone else who reads these journals.

Since I last wrote in my journal I have been lucky enough to visit eastern Turkey. If you aren’t aware, the first church in the world along with the first known civilization is located in Turkey. I’ve also been lucky enough to visit Urfa, a Turkish city located just miles from the Syrian border. I saw a camel for the first time out in the open just walking around, men sipping tea in their mud huts while wearing turbans on their heads. It was surreal in many ways that in a country like Turkey, where you see girls in tight pants and short skirts right here in Istanbul, there’s also another life people live, with far different ways of living and ways of thinking. Either way it was a positive experience because I’ve seen the west and the east in one country, which is what makes Turkey unique.

My time in Turkey is winding down quickly and I’m sad to see it pass by me. I’ve met so many new people and have established a solid friend group, both Turkish and American and even a Syrian. Turkey has gone pretty smoothly, I must say, and for the entire experience I would like to thank Rotary and all the individuals who have made my exchange great, and thanks a lot to Al.

Well, I think this will be my final journal. I hope everyone’s year has gone as great as mine and I hope to see everyone at the welcome home party.

GÜLE GÜLE.

Kenny’s Bio

 Guten tag, freut mich. My name is Kenny and I’m a junior at Buchholz High School in Gainesville, Florida.

I’d like to start out by saying I GOT IN & I’M GOIN’ TO AUSTRIA!!!!!

I’m 16 years old and have lived six years of my life in Gainesville. Before I lived in Gainesville I lived in northern California for ten years in a town called Santa Rosa. My family basically consists of two sets of parents. There’s my mom Jill and my step-dad Bill, and my dad Ken and my step-mom Jodi. I have two wonderful sisters, Kerri and Kristen and a baby brother on the way, Bryan. Kerri has her own apartment and works at Starbucks Coffee Co. and my other sister Kristen is a freshman at UF.

At Buchholz I do a lot of different activities, which sadly enough I probably won’t get to do in Austria, seeing as most Euro countries focus on the school work and not so much on extra-curricular activities. Here in Buchholz I pole-vault on the track team and also run on the cross-country team. Apart from sports I do a lot of acting and I’m about to start a play in March.

Some of the things I also love to do are to read, listen to music and drive my beautiful ’93 Honda Civic (which sadly enough I’m gonna have to sell before I leave; but don’t say anything to her, she doesn’t know yet.) I also love to travel. So far the places I’ve been are the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and Costa Rica. From these trips I could tell right away that studying abroad for a year is exactly the thing for me, and I know I’m going to have a great time!

I want to thank Rotary District 6970 for this wonderful opportunity.

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September 6 Journal 

I have now been in this country for 25 days. At 8:27 AM, I stepped off the plane into what would become my home for the next ten months. Before I had boarded the plane I was confident in almost every aspect of the trip. I had all my luggage, all my papers and I was ready to go. So I said goodbye to my parents and charged forward to the security checkpoint. About twenty feet later I had realized that I had walked straight into the handicapped line. Okay, good start. I made my way through the correct security line and headed to my gate. Thirty feet later I had realized that I was headed for the wrong gate. Okay, second good start. But now I was serious! I turned around very casually and headed toward the right gate and boarded the plane. Twelve hours later I landed in Vienna and made my first step into my Austrian exchange.

Waiting for me when I got off the plane was my host family. I was greeted with hugs and kisses and a lot of German words I didn’t understand. During the trip I had prepared a whole line of what I was going to say to my host family when I first saw them. When the moment arose for me to deliver my lines, I choked and all I could muster out was, “hallo!” It was a weak start in the country, but it was a start.

We packed the car with my luggage, and immediately made a tour of Vienna. The whole drive my mouth was to the floor as we drove by six-hundred year old buildings and stared up at gigantic historical monuments.

Finally, we pulled into my new home. The neighborhood is beautiful. All of the homes were lined with flower gardens and a lot of garden gnomes. As we came out of the car, I grabbed my bags and headed up the four flights of stairs. In Austria, land is very expensive, so they all build their houses up instead of out. Well, my room was on the fourth floor, and I had a lot of fun lugging my bags up that flight of stairs. As soon as I reached my room I unpacked my iPod, switched it on to some easy music and passed out before I even hit the bed. Seven hours later I awoke to my host brother telling me that if I was hungry, I could come downstairs. I hopped out of bed and bolted to the kitchen. For the past twenty hours all I had eaten was a lukewarm chicken and rice meal and a Sprite. Needless to say, I was looking forward to a good meal. Ten seconds later, I found out that I was in for a great meal. It turns out that in Austria, people don’t mess around with their food. There’s no experimenting with new ideas or new flavors, they simply stick to the traditional meat, soup, bread, cake and more meat diet. And I have to tell you, it was WONDERFUL! My host mom wanted to make sure that I had enough, so she just kept putting more and more food in front of me. I didn’t want to be a bad guest, so I complied with her wishes and just kept eating. And besides, who am I to turn down a good Austrian meal?

A few days later we headed to their holiday home in a small town called Gmunden. My host brother and I decided to go by train, and boy was that an interesting experience. By the time that we had bought our tickets the train was ready to leave. So, with tickets in hand we ran to the platform. If there is one thing that I have learned about European trains, it’s that they wait for no man. As we got on the platform we could see our train slowly pulling away in the distance. My host brother quickly yelled something to the platform manager but he didn’t hear him, so we just kept running. Finally we were right up beside the train and we hopped into the door. Since then we’ve always been early!

Three hours later we got off the train in Gmunden and headed for the house. A few hours later my host parents arrived and we again feasted on a wonderful meal. That night we went to the fireworks festival that Gmunden held every year. The festival was huge! People came from all over Austria just to see the fireworks show. Throughout the night the streets were packed while we made our way from booth to booth trying all the different Austrian chocolates. Two days later I headed to language camp with a bunch of other exchange students. The language camp was only three miles away in the next town. While we were there the teachers took us out on two trips. One, was a boat tour of the Traunse lake, and the second, was to an old salt mining town called Hallstatt. For the two weeks I was at language camp, I had the time of my life! I met over fifty other exchange students and made great friends with everyone there. Classes began every day at 8am and ended at 3pm. From 3pm until 6pm we’d study or play table tennis, futbol, foosball or just sit around and talk. The village was just a five minute walk so we usually went into town everyday after classes and also after dinner. The village was beautiful and there were a lot of great places to go. Alongside the lake there was a boardwalk which runs down all the way to Gmunden. Also you would not believe the lake. Except for the rocky mountains behind it, it looks like a crystal blue ocean; nothing like a Florida lake. The language camp was a great start to my trip and the people I met there, I’ll never forget.

Now just a week out of language camp I’m back to Vienna. Though the Austrian country side was great, it’s nice to be back in the big city again. Whoever said that, “Green acres is the place to be,” has obviously never been to Vienna. In just four short days I begin school and I guess we’ll see what Austria has in store for me. Though at times the transition from normal life to that of an exchange student can be tough, I don’t think I could have been as happy with any other path. Austria is wonderful, the people are wonderful, and so was my decision to become a Rotary Exchange student.

In the words of David Sedaris, “Living in a foreign country is one of those things that everyone should try at least once. My understanding was that it completed a person, sanding down the rough provincial edges and transforming you into a citizen of the world.”

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January 3 Journal

 Well, it’s been about four and a half months since I’ve come to Austria from the states, and a lot has happened in these past months. I’ve had Rotary trips, trips with my family and a lot of trips with other exchange students living here in Austria. Also, I’ve just been experiencing every day life here in Vienna. Now that I’ve been here for this long I feel more life a citizen than a tourist. I go to school, I meet Austrians, I go out with friends, and I’ve even got a library card! Now if that doesn’t mean that I’m a citizen here, than I don’t know what does.

About a month after my language camp, we had our first Rotary weekend, in Tauplitz. Whenever we have a meeting anywhere, we always take the trains. Now, four months into my exchange, this is no problem for me. But four months ago, it seemed every train ride had something go wrong. On Friday morning, I left my house and set out for the train station in the middle of the city, with a friend. We thought we had left ourselves plenty of time to get there, but apparently it wasn’t enough. By the time we got to the train station, we were just in time to see our train pulling out of the platform. Now in a panic we ran to the help desk and asked what it was that we could do. We were told to go to the south train station in the city and wait for the same train which would be passing through there in about twenty minutes. The man at the desk then told us the street car that we needed to get on that would take us to the other station. The only thing he didn’t tell us was how long the street car would take. When we arrived at the south train station, our train had been gone for ten minutes. Again, we headed back for the other train station. When we arrived for the second time at the train station we got stepped off the street car and bumped into my friend Paul, who also missed the train. The funny part is Paul missed his train because he couldn’t find the train station, which is almost impossible to miss, due to the gigantic building that surrounds the train station. Seeing that we had about two hours until the next train, we all went inside the station for a cup of coffee. About six hours later we arrived in Tauplitz very tired and very late. When we stepped off the train, there was a bus waiting for us to take us up the giant hill to our lodge. As we sat on the bus another train pulled in and a few friends stepped off, also late. It turned that we weren’t the only ones to miss a few trains. Twenty minutes later we arrived at the lodge where we met up with 80 other exchange students. Over the weekend, we went hiking, swimming and spent every night in the small town. The hiking trip was great. We saw some small glaciers and even found a cave that went back into the mountain about 60 feet. The trip was incredible and it was a great way to start off the year.

Apart from trips, regular life as an exchange student is great, especially when you’re in Vienna. The city is the perfect place for an exchange student because of all the history and all the space. Vienna is a city of about 1.8 million people and it has so much to offer. Every day, I leave school at about 12:45 and go home for lunch. At two, I go to my German course, stay there for two hours and then I usually spend the rest of the day in the city. Vienna is full of great places, whether it’s a museum, a park, a palace of the kings or just a really good café. I start in the middle of the city and then just work my way out. This is always the best way to find the best stuff that Vienna has to offer. My favorite part of Vienna, are the parks. In Vienna, there are parks everywhere, especially in the inner city. I love to just go out with some music and take a nap under a tree. Right now In Vienna it’s too cold to go out to parks, but just give it a few months and I’ll be back.

Just a few days ago my host brother and I decided to go snowboarding. It was a great trip, where I learned that the snow board was not meant for Kenny Duffield. In two months my Rotary District has a ski week. I think this time I’ll stick to the skiing. We arrived later that day back at my house completely exhausted and ready to lounge on the couch and watch the movie. So we popped in the movie Fight Club and fell asleep. I woke up two hours later to my host brother telling me is was snowing outside. I jumped off the couch and peered out the window to see about four inches on the ground with lots of snow still coming down. So we put on some shoes and a jacket and we walked around the neighborhood for an hour. While my host brother was making snowmen, I was freaking out about the snow. The snow had come so late to Vienna this year, and I was so happy to see it. The snow gave the weather a good reason to be soo cold.

Anyway, things right now are going really smooth. I fit in with my family, in my school and in just ordinary life in the big city. I love this trip and I love Austria, I can’t believe I only have 6 months left. I guess time flies while you’re having fun. Anyway, I have plenty of time left and I’m going to enjoy every second of it.

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January 27 Journal

 

Today is January 20th and the freakish weather continues to blow over Austria. About two weeks ago the weather was quite nice, where the skies were mostly blue and not too cold either. Then last week a huge cold front sweeps in and before you know it I’ve got the heavy jackets on again. Then just this week, we get this wind storm that came down from Germany and it starts blowing the roofs off houses. It’s pretty weird stuff. I know I’ve said this before, but I’m just holding out for the warm weather.

Also, this week was the opening of the Rathause skate rink. The Rathaus is a government building in the middle of town and is also one on the most beautiful buildings in Vienna. Right in front of the building, the city made a huge skate rink, with trails, dance floors, and cafes. It is definitely the most elaborate rink I have ever seen. A few days ago they had the opening ceremony, so a couple of friends and I decided to go. The opening was really great. They had stunt guns, light and some sort of interpretive dance that no one understands. After the show, they opened the gates for free admission but unfortunately we didn’t have skates and the rentals were 6 Euros. So, we stuck around a while, met some people, listened to the music and just enjoyed the night. For most of the night we just leaned up against a railing and watched the skaters go by. It’s probably one of the best things to do. To be with your best friends, just talking and enjoying the night. It’s unbelievable how close you get with the other exchange students. My two best friends in Vienna are Sergio, and Ramses. In just five short months we have grown a bond stronger than any I’ve had before. The friends you have here are really friends for life, people you just won’t forget.

Speaking of friends you won’t forget, my friend Eric left for Brasil yesterday. Since it was Eric’s last night we all went out to a locale and just had one last time with him before he left. We spent a couple hours there and I had a lot of fun. After Eric left for his house, my friend Martha called me and invited me to a cafe where a band was playing music that was a cross between Turkish and Greek. The music was really great and we also ended up staying there for a while. After about and hour I said goodbye to Martha and left with my friend Sergio so we could go meet Ramses. Everything was going fine until we got on the streetcar. As soon as we got on we took a seat and just relaxed for a bit. Then all of a sudden this guy in the front of the car starts to take his clothes off. Piece by piece this guy completely undresses on the street car. While he was walking down the aisles, his girlfriend was screaming at him and I think an old woman fainted. Sergio and I hugged up against the walls when he came by, yet we couldn’t help but to crack up. It was honestly the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard. As the street car came to a stop he redressed, waved goodbye to everyone in the car and, casually stepped out. As I stepped out I thought to myself that this is probably one of those things that you really regret in the morning. Or not. This guy seemed to know what he was doing. Anyway, after the crazy streetcar ride, Sergio and I met up with Ramses in the city and had a great time. As Usual.

Anyway, these are just a few stories from my life in Vienna. As you can see its a little crazy, well, the people are atleast, but the city still retains its dignity.

Kristen’s Bio

 Cześć!

My name is Kristen, and I hail from Daytona Beach, Florida, home of the tenth most famous beach in the world, and the sun-burned tourists who come to enjoy it. I have lived here with my mother, father, and sister my whole life. It seems like it is a great city, but probably only to visit because it gets pretty boring around here. We have a little mall and some theaters, but other than that, you can find most people hanging out at the beach or someone else’s house. As you can see, there’s not much to do, but we people of Daytona make our own fun. J

As far as hobbies go, I like to go to the mall and hang out with my friends just like any other teenage girl would. I am also very interested in the arts, especially writing, drawing, painting, and singing. Most who know me say that they can tell when I’m truly comfortable because if I am, I am almost always singing. I consider this hobby practically subconscious because most of the time I’ll just randomly break out into song without even noticing. It’s usually my friends who have to tell me to just give it a rest, because I really won’t stop (and my voice isn’t all that great!). Even my parents say that I was always singing because when I was little I would sing anytime, anywhere, no matter how long or loud. I have also been drawing and painting for quite some time, and that’s another thing that I’ve been doing since I was really little. I know that I will enjoy journaling a lot next year, so hopefully I will be keeping up with my writing, although I still haven’t decided whether writing in English would really be the best thing to improve my Polish…J

My future plans and ambitions as of now, are definitely getting into a good college, and earning a degree in either writing or journalism. I would love to write for a magazine as an adult, or even a novel one day. I have also thought about looking into a job as a foreign correspondent, so that I can travel and continue to act as a journalist. I’m not really sure about either of these, because I still have yet to truly discover who I am and what I want to do with the rest of my life. Hopefully my year abroad will change a little of that because I hope to do a little soul-searching while I’m away so I can come back with a little more knowledge about myself than I had before.

I’m a sophomore at Atlantic High School, and I am fifteen years old. I know that I am probably one of the youngest, if not the youngest of the outbounds this year, but that doesn’t bother me one bit! I know that I would not have been given this wonderful opportunity if I wasn’t qualified for it, and I will not let my age affect my maturity. I am very excited to be going to Poland next year, and I hope that this proves to be one of the best experiences that I will take with me through life. Thank you Rotary for giving me this chance of a lifetime!

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November 5 Journal 

 Cześć!

Okay, so I’m a procrastinator–nothing new there. I’ve been in Poland for a little over 2 months now, and I’m just now writing my first journal entry. Because of this, I have a lot of catching up to do, haha. I think I already had a book’s worth of story-telling after the first week, and now I have to sum up 2 months? Maybe now I’ll keep up with the entries a little more frequently 😀 But here it goes:

When I stepped off the plane, I tried to calm my nerves and slap my face a few times so that I’d wake up a bit. It was around 6:00 in the morning, and I couldn’t be more tired. Some people feel jet lag later, but I was definitely one of those people who faced it the second they got to their destination. Still, I trudged in to baggage, and then through customs, and then to the cute sign that said, “Welcome At Home Kristen!” When I met my host mom and host brother then, I wanted to say something in Polish, but it seemed like every word I had learned just flew out of my brain, and I just stood there, haha. Still their welcoming smiles reassured me that everything was going to be okay, and I was soon more at ease.

From where my plane landed in Warsaw (Warszawa), it was a three hour drive home. I got more acquainted with my host mother, Beata, and my host brother, Kacper, and so began my new life.

First of all, the drivers here are absolutely insane. It’s perfectly normal for a person to drive at 100-160 km an hour anywhere, anytime, and if there’s a slow person in front of you, it’s no big deal because you can just rush into oncoming traffic (yeah, there’s only one road going and one coming) to pass them. Seriously, I was fearing for my life on that ride home, but now I’ve gotten somewhat used to it. Besides, they seem pretty good at this type of driving. Thank God the driving age here is 18 though because if people my age were driving like that, we’d all be dead, haha.

I live in this city called Częstochowa… It’s about 3 hours from Kraków by train, I think, and they call it “the religious capital” of Poland. This is because on a hill in the city sits the beautiful Jasna Góra monastery which holds the famous painting of “The Black Madonna.” If you want to know more about the history behind it, wikipedia is a good source. Otherwise I’d be here typing forever, and I really don’t want to get my facts wrong. But it’s basically what my city is known for.

Then there’s school. I go to L.O. II, otherwise known as Traugutt. It’s supposedly the best school in Częstochowa, and students actually come from smaller cities and live in hostels just to go to it. I have seven lessons, but they’re all different depending on the day. And I start at different times too. Tuesdays and Thursdays I start at 8:55 instead of 7:55. It took some getting used to, and to be honest, I still haven’t memorized my entire schedule, but it’s okay because I can just follow my class around and I’m fine, haha. Oh yeah, and there are different classes in each grade. There are 3 grades, or “years”, and of them, I am first year. This is basically like being a freshman, haha. But high school is from 16-19, and I’m 16, so yeah. The classes are in letters A, B, C, D, E, and F. So, when someone asks me what class I am, I say 1F. The classes are divided according to what the student is most interested in. One is more focused on science and math, while the next focuses on art, and so forth. Mine, I believe is language and business, but my friends tell me that first years don’t really have serious classifications because they have to take the basic lessons first before they can move into the specific courses. Confused yet? Ha, trust me, it took me a while to get everything down.

My class is really nice…They were all shy at first, but now we talk, and I even have two good friends. My really good friend though is the other exchange student in my city. I don’t see her a lot, but it’s always nice to talk to her when I had a rough day. Her name is Lauren, and she’s from New Jersey. Together, we went to Lublin for language camp in September. There, I made two other friends, Adrina from Canada, and Jerry from Mexico. And from there we made a speech at a school, were on a radio show, learned a lot of language, and visited a lot of interesting places. Of these, was the concentration camp, Majdanek. This of course was one of the more depressing places that we visited, but I’m glad I went because I learned a lot. It made me realize how lucky I am to not have to go through any of that kind of suffering that the people in the camp went through. Sure I have problems, but nothing could compare to what they went through. It was a really eye-opening experience, and I won’t forget it anytime soon.

After Lublin was the Inbound Orientation, put together by the Rotaract Club of Toruń. It was an 8 hour train ride to Toruń, but I was with a bunch of my friends, so it wasn’t too bad. Toruń is known for a few things, like being the birth place of Nicholas Copernicus, and the type of gingerbread that is made there. While I was there, we all got to make gingerbread and walk around the beautiful old city. It was really nice, and the exchangers and I shared our experiences and had a lot of fun. There was a talent show that was quite funny, and a disco too. Oh yeah, going to discos is pretty much what everyone does in Poland. They’re a lot of fun, although I still don’t know how you’re supposed to dance to techno, haha…Anyway, the orientation was awesome, and I can’t wait until the Christmas meeting this December!

When I came back to Częstochowa, I went from there and developed a routine. I went to school during the weekdays, hung out with friends on the weekends, and pretty much lived like any other kid there. Well, except my Polish still isn’t too good, but it’s improving! I can now understand almost everything that is said, as long as it’s said clearly, and fairly slow. Pronunciation is hard, but I did accomplish one thing already. I can say a Polish tongue twister! I must say, I am very proud of this, haha. Anyone that asks me what I know in Polish gets a, “Stół z powyłamywanymi nogami,” in return. Yeah, I dare you to just try and say that, lol. It took me forever!

Next, what everyone’s been asking me about, is of course, the food. The food is basically like my friend Lauren puts it. It looks like Hell, but it tastes like Heaven. And this is coming from the girl who had to try “Flaki”, a traditional Polish soup made of sheep’s intestines. Ha, I’ve tried a few odd things, but nothing can come close to that. That’s the one thing I absolutely refuse to try! So far, I’ve liked everything except for mushrooms, which here is practically a sin. Mushrooms are a big deal here because one of the biggest pastimes is mushroom hunting. Basically you go out into the woods (or the “forest”, as they like to call it), and you look for mushrooms. Really, it seems like a simple thing, but seriously, they’re crazy for it. Mention it once, and you’ll get a 2 hour lecture on how great it is and what the most beautiful mushroom found by that person looked like. Haha, I still have yet to understand why they’re so amazed by this particular hobby, but I have all year to find out.

So skip a few weeks to October 31st, which just passed. This was Halloween. Sadly enough, I did absolutely nothing. I was in Gdańsk, visiting Jerry, the girl from Mexico, but we just ended up renting movies because there was nothing else to do. No trick-or-treating, no parties, no nothing. But that’s okay, I can see why it’s not such a big deal here. The big deal was of course November 1st, All Saints Day. On this day we visited the cemeteries of all their dead relatives and we lit lanterns and put flowers on their graves. It sounds sad, but it was actually a really nice day. People crowded the cemeteries from dawn until dusk. There were several masses held at each one, and you could here a choir singing in the background like in the church scenes of movies. It was interesting to take part in this tradition since Nov. 1st in my house in Florida is just like any other day. Jerry and I lit a lantern each for our own relatives, and we left them in the middle of the cemetery along with about a hundred others that didn’t have graves to be placed on. I felt very good to have taken part in it in my own way.

November 2nd will stand out in my memory forever because this was the first time I saw snow. Yes, the Florida girl saw real live snow for the first time at sixteen years old. Wow, was I ever amazed. It was like I was discovering this from a child’s point of view, realizing that snow is actually wet and it doesn’t stay wet for too long. Oh, and I needed special shoes for it, haha. Jerry’s host mom had to help me pick out boots that would last for winter because I had no idea how to even begin looking for them. Now, I own my very own winter coat, boots, gloves, scarf, and hat. I don’t know why, but I’m sort of proud of that, haha.

And that about wraps it up. I’m amazed that I summarized it all this well. I thought I was going to end up going on forever like I always do :D. I’m sure I left our a lot, but like I said, I’ll keep up with the entries more often. But for now, I want to give a shout-out to my mom, dad, sister, and grandma who I know are going to be reading this. I want to thank you for supporting and loving me through all this, starting from when I applied, and then to where I am now. And I also want to thank Rotary because I can’t believe I’m actually living this AMAZING roller coaster called youth exchange. I know there is a lot of work involved, and I am so grateful that you take the time out of your schedules to make sure that we all have the time of our lives. THANKS!!!

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March 2 Journal

 Hej!

Wow, okay, so again I apologize for doing this so late. I’ve just been so busy and time seems to be going by so fast now. It’s hard to think of where it all went.

I left off right before the Eurotrip, and that was a turning point in my exchange because after having so much fun on that trip with all the exchange students that I’ve come to know and love, I hit a rough spot. Between the last two weeks of November and the first week of December, I felt really homesick and frustrated with the language and not understanding things like I so desperately wanted to. But, I knew that this was normal for the three month mark, and soon enough it passed.

The second week of December was the trip to Prague. I think that out of all the cities I’ve been to so far (i.e., Paris, Belgium, Cannes, Nice, Monaco, Venice, etc.), this was my favorite. It had gothic buildings and squares where people were lively and ready to celebrate the upcoming holidays. There was a lot of history in the city, and it was just overall beautiful and one of the most interesting places I’ve seen. I definitely wouldn’t mind going back at all, and I hope that I can someday.

After that trip and maybe two weeks later, I had to switch host families. Since they didn’t have a family lined up, I went to the family of the new Australian girl who was to arrive in late January. I moved the 23rd, which means that I went the day before Wigilia, which is the word for Christmas Eve in Polish. It’s similar to vigil, and this is the most important day in the season when it comes to traditions. This is the day that you spend with family from all over, and we have a twelve course meal that starts in the early afternoon and ends in the late evening because of all the breaks in between each meal. Most of my family was stuffed by the time they got to the tenth course, but I was pretty much starving because I was allergic to almost everything! They all thought this was funny though, and I got extra chocolate in my gifts afterwards =)

In this family, I have a mother, Dorota, a father, Jacek, a 16 year old brother, Paweł, and a 15 year old sister, Ania. I am the oldest, but only by a month, and I am in the same year as Ania, at the same school. We became really close really fast, and it’s going to be hard going to my next family because she really is like my sister. We have all of our little inside jokes, and she introduced me to all of her friends, so we all have fun hanging out together.

Next, like I said, on the 22nd of January, Brigid from Australia came to our family. I was prepared to move, but nobody wanted me to go, including me, haha, so we all decided one more month wouldn’t hurt. So Brigid, Ania, and I became friends pretty quickly, and we are known by our family and some of our friends as Charlie’s Angel’s because we are brunette, blonde, and redheaded, haha. Kind of stupid, but it only shows how close we really are.

I marvel at how much Brigid was like myself when I first came to Poland. All of her first experiences in this country, I remember having too, and I am always there to help her out because I know how difficult and strange it can be. It’s so amazing to see how far I’ve come since that early stage in my exchange. Some of the funnier things I’ve seen Brigid experience was number 1. dealing with crazy Polish drivers in which I saved her from getting run over three times, and 2. dealing with gypsies which aren’t trying to start a conversation with you, but are really asking you for your money. Oh, and then dealing with getting rammed into by the gypsy after you told her you didn’t have anything, haha. But to me (the last bit aside because I always walk away from gypsies fast enough), that’s all normal.

School’s great, and I have some really great friends now. In my class is one girl in particular, Dominika, and I sleep over her house sometimes, and hang out with her on a regular basis. I can safely say that she will be one of the people that will be at the airport crying when I leave, and this is because she already said this, herself. And of course I will be crying too because I’m already having a hard time believing that I have to leave so many wonderful people … Dominika has a three-year-old brother named Kuba (a very popular name here), and he is so cute. He talks to me in Polish, and I can usually get away with a one word answer in response, and he is almost always satisfied. He can’t pronounce his “r’s” yet, so he says my name like, “Klistine!” and it’s so adorable. I love going to their house =)

Speaking of my Polish, I’m understanding so much now, and I can function quite well now. It took a lot of patience, but I’m progressing more and more each day. I can order food, shop, and pretty much hold a decent conversation with someone without having them look at me like I’m speaking gibberish. And as for my first Polish dream, it was maybe a few weeks ago, and I woke up and thought, “Wow, I said everything wrong.” But it counts, right? Hahahaha…

And that’s about it. February was filled with winter break, in which I spent all with friends in both Gdańsk and then Kraków. No skiing for me, but I’m okay with that. As of now, I’m getting ready for my trip to Greece, which is on Sunday. I’m so excited, and I can’t wait to show pictures in the next entry! But I have to finish packing, so until next time,

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April 12 Journal

 Hej!

First, before I say anything else, I would like to thank Rotary for this exchange, and the year of a lifetime. It has been nothing but extreme highs and extreme lows, but it has been worth every second, and I know I will keep these memories with me for a lifetime.

One of these memories, is of course my trip to Greece. I went in the beginning of March, and even though it wasn’t even spring yet, it was a comfortable 20-21 degrees (Celsius of course :D), and the sun was shining non-stop. Let me tell you, after quite a few months of seeing no sun at all, you’d be surprised how even a little sunshine can make your day. Seriously, I went from Poland, feeling tired and gloomy, to Greece, where in just a few minutes, my whole mood changed to overly happy and full of energy. While I was there I saw the Parthenon, the ruins of the temple of Zeus, Agora/temple of Hephaestus, the Acropolis, and so much more. And this was just in Athens! I loved it there. Every street is colorful and lively. There’s citrus trees and green plants everywhere (something I’ve missed about Florida), and you can see ruins from any point in the city.

Then, I went to Santorini by ferry. If you’ve ever seen “Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants,” then this is where Lena goes to visit her family in the movie. The ride was 8 hours, but with the other exchangers, it wasn’t bad. And the view from the ship was amazing, so some good pictures came out of it, even though in half of them with me in it were just of all of my hair in my face because of the wind. But oh well. When we got there though, I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was like my version of paradise. There were high mountains and our hostel was at the top. Every building was bleach-white with bright colored roofs of blue or salmon, and pretty much every other color too, but those were the most common. Our hostel was actually a monastery because our Rotary chaperone knew a man there who would only charge us 5 Euro to stay, and it was really nice. You could go on top of the roof, and see the whole island, including the volcano across from us. Watching the sunset from that roof was probably one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in my whole life, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

And once that was over, I was kind of sad to go home. I wanted to vacation in Greece a bit longer, haha, but I had to come home. So, sure enough, I came home on a Thursday, and the two days later, I landed myself in the hospital with a 102.3 fever and bilateral pneumonia. Yeah, that’s not even a joke. And you know, it came so fast. Friday I only had a slight cough, nothing big, but the next day, I woke up and couldn’t breathe whatsoever. I went to the doctor and she just gave me some antibiotics, but since I have bad asthma, we wanted a second opinion. I went to the emergency room, and they admitted me that night. I was in there for a week, where I caught a nasty stomach virus, and was pretty much miserable. But hey, I was a trooper and got out alive. Now let’s just hope I never have to go back!

The next week I moved to my next family. They’re pretty cool, and they live a lot closer to the city than my last one did. In this family, I have a mom (Ela), a dad (Jarek), a host brother who studies in Warsaw (Janek), another brother (Staszek) who is a few months younger than me, and finally a sister (Marysia) who is 14. Another big family, but I’m not complaining because I actually like having a lot of siblings. The only thing I have a problem with is not getting enough hot water for my shower, haha.

Toward the end of this month I went up north to Toruń to see some friends and enjoy the city, because I liked it so much the first time I went. I saw Nicholas Copernicus’s house, and enjoyed the architecture, which is pretty unique compared to a lot of other Polish cities. Of course there are a lot of churches, but these are different because the architecture is more gothic. Toruń is also famous for these cookies called pierniki, and it’s very similar to gingerbread. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to them, so I can’t eat them, haha. Toruń is also home to Poland’s own “leaning tower” (think Pisa), except it’s more like a leaning bar, haha. Literally, I have no idea how it is still standing. I promise I’ll show pictures as soon as I have time!

Easter was an experience and a half…First of all, the Thursday of that week is “great Thursday”, and that’s when the official holiday time starts. Basically, family comes then, and they just keep coming and leaving until Monday. I’m not even going to lie, I was so bored, haha. I didn’t leave my house for 4 days, and all I did was eat and hang out with my host sister. We had maybe 4 different types of cake at all times, and about 5 meals a day! And then the Monday after…Oh God. The Monday after Easter is “wet Monday,” and this basically means that all day, you’re entitled to throw water on anybody and everybody, all day. I knew about this, but I thought the game was going to be fair. So here I am, sleeping away, and all of a sudden, I feel drops on my face. I open my eyes, and SPLASH! A whole liter of water is dumped on me. It was, hands down, the worst way to wake up in the morning. It took all the willpower I had not to scream every obscenity I know (I am NOT a morning person). What’s more is that they turned off all the water in the house so that I couldn’t even get revenge! Yes, wet Monday was a sad Monday…But they declared it over by the afternoon.

And that’s all for now. I’m actually getting ready for another trip, which starts with a Rotary meeting in Kraków, where I’ll be seeing the concentration camp, Auschwitz, and then I’ll be going to Budapest and Vienna from the 17th-22nd. Should be a lot of fun, and of course I’m excited 😀

So look forward to hearing about that later on! Oh, and to the future outbounds, LEARN YOUR LANGUAGES! And no, I’m not just saying that for fun.

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June 28 Journal

 So this is the end…

I leave first thing tomorrow morning to Warsaw, and at 12:05 I’ll be on my first flight home…

It seems like every time I say that my heart hurts a little bit more.

I said goodbye to a lot of people today, and I didn’t think I could cry so much for people that I’ve only known for what now seems like such a little amount of time, but when I finally realized that this may be the last time I see them again for a while, I just couldn’t bear it at all. And to have people tell me that they can’t imagine life without me? That was just too much…I mean, I went to my favorite cafe today for the last time, and the waitress that I always talk to almost every day actually cried and said she would miss me! And you know what, I cried too.

I never thought that saying goodbye would be this hard.

So, to quickly describe my last three months in Poland without getting into all the trips and things I missed out on talking about because of my busy schedule, here’s a journal entry of mine from May 24th:

My room smells like lavender…I picked it yesterday and put it in glasses all over my room. It’s times like these that make me realize how much I’ll truly miss Poland, even after all the ups and downs and difficult situations that I went through over the course of this year.

Time goes so fast…

Now that summer is almost here, I keep getting hit (more like smacked in the face) with waves of nostalgia. I see the pubs finally opening the beer gardens up again, and I see flowers everywhere, and happy people already making plans for vacation, and I’m instantly reminded of my first weeks here. Back when I knew no Polish, and found or learned something new every day. I met many people that I would never talk to again, and I met many that would become my closest friends. I would get lost all the time, and I never wanted to take the bus by myself, solely because I wasn’t confident that I could find my stop, let alone press the button at the right time to get the door open (retarded, I know). And now that summer’s coming around again, I feel like I’ve come so far, and even though the season is familiar, I’m experiencing it in a completely different way because, now, this is my home. This is where I live. I can be anywhere in the city, and know how to get home, or to the nearest pub/club/or friend’s house. I can buy bus tickets and KFC twisters, and pretty much do whatever I could do in Florida, besides drive, of course (which is okay because now I can say that I’ve taken every form of alternative transportation out there, besides hovercraft). I can appreciate how I get the opportunity to walk everywhere, something I used to complain about profusely, and I can go for a bike ride and see the beauty in the country around me without complaining about not being an outdoors kind of girl, or having to deal with my allergies. The bums and gypsies don’t phase me anymore (meaning they used to scare the crap out of me), and I feel comfortable with my knowledge of Polish culture and language. I know what to say and not to say, and I finally understand how important a, “Dzien dobry,” is to an elder, or a kiss on the cheek is to a friend or a classmate. I say “no” like it means “yes,” and I use phrases that not many of my American friends would understand and words that I can’t explain in English because they just don’t exist. And after all the hard work I did to get to this point, I finally feel like I belong.

And now, after nearly 9 months here, and finally establishing that this country is my home, a big part of me doesn’t want to leave. But sure enough, in 1 month and 14 days, I’ll be on the plane back to Daytona Beach–the place where I was born, and raised, and will live until the next chapter in my life…

But all three of my host families have told me in some way or another that I always have a home here, and with some luck my friends will visit, and I will come back again one day. I guess all I’m trying to say is, I may leave Poland, but it will never leave me.

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So. Thank you Rotary for preparing me for, and allowing me to have what was the best year of my life so far. Thanks for experiences that I’ll never forget and for letting me see the world at such a young age…But most importantly, thank you for letting me meet some of the most amazing people that I have ever met. The ones that I’ve cried for so many times, and the ones that I already have plans to see again. Honestly, I don’t know what I’ll do without them now, but I guess that means my exchange was a success, right?

Oh, and before I end this journal, I just have to say that today I was walking with my friend Lauren, and we were talking about sad things, seeing as how it’s my last day, and we see a man walking a cow down the main road in front of the cemetery. And it’s not like I live in the country, so it pretty much made my day to see that, and I thought, “Only in Poland,” haha…

xoxo

Kristen

(Barbie, Barbara, Mini-Keśu, Krysia, Krystyna, Barbrusia, etc.)

It’s amazing how many nicknames I have, really…

August 3 Journal
Hey everyone!!!
Oh my goodness. My first week in Brasil has been one of, if not, the most wonderful, eventful, and stressful weeks of my life.

I arrived into Brasil with thirty other American exchange students from all over the United States, going to many different places in Brasil. We all met in Washington Dulles Airport and all flew into São Paulo Airport. There we split up to change airports, to catch connecting flights, or to stay there in São Paulo. I think I was actually traveling for more or less 36 hours, and during all this, I think I received about 3 or 4 hours of quality sleep.

During all my flights, and waiting around in the airports, I was continuously thinking about my host family and what they would be like. I couldn’t stop talking about them with my friends in the airport. I think I was getting a bit annoying, hahahahaha. As I stepped of that last plane in Ilhéus Airport, my heart was racing, and so were the butterflies in my stomach. I spoke with my sisters on MSN instant messenger, but nothing can prepare you for the feeling of actually meeting them in person. As I walk in door, I see a huge crowd of people, waiting for me. There was probably close to forty people. The first person I recognized out of all was my sister Laís, who I had talked with many times, and exchanged pictures with on the internet. It was such a nice warm feeling to see her face and to meet the person I had been talking with and anticipating my arrival with. Laís like me is going to be an exchange student. She is going to spend a year in Boise, Idaho starting August 9th. Standing with her was my other host sister Lilian, who I had also spoken with on MSN a few times, and my Mom and Dad (Leslei and Fred). I was so excited to meet them and talk with them all that I walked right past the baggage claim.

After being shooed back to the baggage claim conveyor belt, I wait quite anxiously for my baggage to come. After receiving my guitar and one bag the conveyer belt stops, and my heart drops. Where is my other bag?!?! I proceed to ask one of the employees when I feel a hand on my back. It is Marcelo, my Brasilian counselor, who I had exchanged emails with. I tell him about my bag and he tells me `tanto faz´ which basically means don’t worry. He spoke with the employee, and after about ten minutes of deliberating, we learn that my bag is on its way to Salvador. Ilhéus was just one stop on the way to Salvador, and that bag had been checked all the way. I filled out a form and gave it to the manager and he said that the bag would arrive at the airport in the next day or two, which two days later it was delivered to our house which was rather convenient.

As I turn around from the counter, I am immediately inundated with kisses, hugs, and so much warm embrace, it was amazing. I met everyone there. My first, second, and third host families, their families, and all their friends from school. I probably received a good 150 kisses and hugs that night alone at the airport.

When we arrived home from the airport, I was given a grand tour of the house, and then we sat down for a wonderful dinner of lasagna. We stayed there talking for a good 2 hours. And after, I took a shower and sat in the computer room talking with my host sisters until 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning. My host sister Laís speaks pretty good English, so for these two weeks that she will be staying here, she is helping and teaching me when I don’t understand something in Portuguese, and in turn I help her with English.

The next morning I awake to the most loud horrendous music coming from outside my window. I walk out onto the balcony that is connected to my bedroom (which I really think is amazing) and I see a person riding a bike with two twelve inch speakers attached to it. I though what in the world is he doing at 7:30 in the morning playing that horrendous music. My sister explained to me that the music he was playing were jingles from the local supermarket, as advertisement. It turns out that this is an extremely common site here in Ilhéus. After we proceed to eat a nice family breakfast, my mother asks me if I would like to go to school or not. I said yes even though I had only received 4 hours of sleep the previous night.

At my first day of school, I met all the people my host sisters had told me about on MSN. They were all so welcoming and all wanted to be my best friend. I felt like royalty. They were firing questions at me right and left. I didn’t quite understand all of it but I got the gist of what they were saying and asking me. I did a lot of smiling and nodding, and actually it worked. After we make our way into the class and sit down. The teacher begins to teach, although it really seemed like no one was listening to a word she was saying. The whole class was talking and would not settle down. I am amazed that they learn anything. At Vitoria, we have 3 classes each day. They start at 1:30 in the afternoon and end at 6:00. In total I have 9 different classes. After school that day, waiting for the bus to arrive (it is not the typical yellow school bus that you are thinking of. It is an enormous white bus that you have to pay 1,45$R every time you use it.) I was able to speak with some of the students one on one and actually have some conversations.

The next day my mother, sister and I went out to buy my school uniform, which is hideously ugly. I have to wear this uniform everyday, which isn’t so bad because every one wears it.

Later that day at school, I got to play my first game of Brasilian Futesal. It is similar to American soccer, but it is played on a small enclosed concrete court, with 5 players on a team. My goodness it is fun. That game I scored my first Brasilian GGOOOOLLLL!!!! All of the other players and students watching went crazy cheering me on.

In the next couple of days I have just been going to school, and normal things. My sisters have been showing me around the town and we have been buying things. I bought my first pair of Brasilian Havaianas. I have not met a person here who does not own a pair. It is kind of like underwear here.

On Sunday my friends from school and I went to the beach. The beach was utterly beautiful. We went swimming in the ocean a little but mostly we just hung out and talked about all sorts of things. We also drank beer. Here in Brasil, the drinking age is 18. But if you are a teenager, you are expected to drink. It is really odd. Culture shock kind of hit me. At first they offered me a cup of beer, and I said no thanks. Every one looked at me oddly, including my host parents. Eventually I said ok I’ll have a cup, and I drank a little with them on the beach. That day I think I saw every Brasilian I know. On Sundays everyone goes to the beach. And I mean everyone. My Rotary counselor was there. People from my school and other schools. Relatives of my family and friends.

Yesterday, the majority of the students in my class all contributed in buying a soccer ball. Here in Ilhéus, soccer balls are hard to come buy. They are quite expensive and the majority of the people are not very well off. Every student chipped in about 5$R and the ball will be kept in one person’s house, but will be the whole class’ ball. Saturday in the morning the students will go play because we do not have classes then. Normally on Saturdays we have classes but not this Saturday. I can’t wait to learn some of their Brasilian moves and teach them some of my American, (if there is such a thing) hahahahah.

After playing soccer on Saturday, I will come home and celebrate my sister Laís and her exchange to Boise. All of her relatives are coming and going to be a “Grande Festa´´. The next day on Sunday, all of her friends are going to throw her another party. She doesn’t know that we are doing this. Then she leaves on Tuesday.

Well, I’m having an amazing time here and I love every minute of it here. Every day is a new adventure that I take in stride. There is no other place I would rather be right now than Ilhéus-Bahia-Brasil.

Tchau, Abraços

Chris

September 13 Journal & Pictures
Hey everyone. This past month has been ridiculously eventful.
Everything started off with an amazing shrimp and lobster dinner the night before my sister Laís took off for the USA. It was so delicious and amazing. The next day I woke up vomiting up a storm. It was terrible. Later that morning I kind of hid that I was sick while we went to the airport and watched Laís take off. I really did not want her knowing or worrying that I was sick the day she left. Well I made it through sending Laís off, and that’s about it. For the next 3 or 4 days I was sick and in bed home from school. I went to the doctor and he just said that I wasn’t really sick. I looked at him odd. He said that I probably ate something raw or that my body wasn’t accustomed to. On the fourth day, when I was getting better, my host family told me that I had eaten Denden, a substance in the sauce that was with the lobster and shrimp. It turns out that all gringos, when they eat this for the first time, get really sick, my sister told me. That’s good news to know after the fact. Hahaha.

That next weekend, the Interact club of Ilhéus went to the Jubiabá Praia Hotel. For two days and one night, we played soccer on the beach, swam in the ocean and in the pool. We stayed up like all night that night on the beach, around a huge bonfire. I brought my guitar to the hotel, and played on the beach around the fire. Everyone loved it when I sang and played for them. I taught them all to sing some Christian sing along songs. It was hilarious for me and the other American and Canadian exchange students there to hear these well known songs being butchered with Brazilian accents. Their favorites were Kum-bay-ahh and This Little Light of Mine. A little later that night, some friends of mine from school arrived there to hang out with us. I didn’t know this but one of them could play guitar. He started playing some Brazilian music and every one started singing, including me, much to my surprise. I guess six weeks is enough to learn some popular songs. Hahaha. He was nice enough to teach me how to play these songs. He also invited me to play with him in his band.

Fast forwarding a bit now, just three days ago I presented an idea for a song that I had written last week. I played them the guitar line and sang to the best of my abilities in Portuguese and it turns out they loved it a lot. We are going to Pumar’s house next week to try to record it on his computer. I will be singing the lyrics in Portuguese. They said that the lyrics sounded a wee bit funny, but with my American accent, it evens everything out.

Rewinding now, At Jubiabá, I learned the meaning of close. Our room consisted of 2 beds and a bathroom, one double bed and one single bed. So logically we should sleep 3 to a room, right. Well it turns out we had only registered 3 rooms, and there were 17 kids in total… you do the math. Well we somehow slept 6 people into these 2 beds. It was amazing. And this isn’t even the weird part. No one organized boys and girls separate. They just all bunked into the same beds together, wherever they wanted to sleep. No one, except the exchange students, even thought it strange that boys and girls were sleeping together. That’s called Brazilian power. Hahahaha. I also learned a really important life lesson while I was in Jubiabá; how to turn on Brazilian hot water in the shower. All the showers have only one knob and a shower head. This knob turns counter clockwise to turn on the water and clockwise to turn it off. Every time I turned on the water I turned the knob about ¾ turn to get decent pressure. The water always came out ice cold. I would proceed to turn it more and it did not change. I thought it to be most peculiar that they don’t have hot water. Well in Jubiabá, the knob got stuck 1/8 turn and barely any water came out. Well I stuck my head under the trickling water, to wash my hair at least, and the water was blistering hot. What in the world. Well I finally got it unstuck and when I put it to my normal ¾ turn, it got ice cold again. It had just then hit me that the less you turn it the hotter it is. There is a fine line between hot and cold in the showers and now I’ve found it. Hahahahah I think I had been here for about 25 days without knowing this. Now I feel dumb.

That next week at school was a pain in the butt. We had tests galore all week. And often we had more than one test a day. Here in Vitória (my school) I do not do all the tests due to the fact that my Portuguese is rather limited. I do do the English, Spanish, Portuguese, Math, and Biology tests; because I have already learned these subjects and they are not hard in Portuguese. Since I don’t do all the tests here, I did a lot of sitting in on the younger kids’ lessons, more over to learn more Portuguese, because they are more or less at the same level as me. I was rather upset at my English grade. I only got a 6.2 out of 9, while in Spanish I got a 8.6 out of 9. This is because the English test is more or less in Portuguese. There is a small text in English and you have to comment about it and answer questions in Portuguese. In the Spanish test, it is all in Spanish, which I have already learned. Hahahah that’s kind of funny for an American to do bad on an English test and good on a Spanish test in a Portuguese speaking country. I get good grades on my math and bio tests because math and biology are more or less universal. You really don’t need to talk or write words to learn these.

That weekend, my friends and I went to the beach again to play soccer. That afternoon we went surfing. I am being taught by the 2 best surfers in my city. One goes to my school. I think I surprised them. The first time I went out there I was able to get up and ride the wave for a bit. I guess it helped living in Florida to try surfing once or twice. While I was at the beach, I did not use a bathing suit, or board shorts, or pants. I wore a sunga. A sunga is a Brazilian Speedo. Here in Brazil, everyone uses them. It is a much more open culture. Hahahah. And actually, I like my sunga. I feel like belong in Baywatch. That night we stayed up all night at the beach again. Dancing and singing. It was really fun. I really like these Brazilian beach parties.

The next Friday, three other exchange students and I set out from Ilhéus for Salvador for a weekend meeting/orientation. The weekend orientation in Brazil is so much different than the orientation in USA. We arrived there really early in the morning on Saturday and listened to some speakers speak for the morning and for an hour or so in the afternoon we watched some movies about Bahia (my state) and had a tiny Portuguese lesson. That afternoon we went to the beach and swam with the dolphins in the reefs of the coast of Brazil. It was just like you see in the TV and never think that you are ever going to do yourself. It was beautiful. Later that night we went to the Pizzeria and had some Brazilian pizza. At pizzerias here in Brazil, you sit and people walk around with various types of pizza, and if you want pizza with corn you call that waiter, if you want pizza with pepperoni, you call that waiter. It is really neat. That night, the exchange students split up and went to different houses to sleep. I was in Danilo’s house. He is 23 years old and a friend of all the Rotarians. We were 3 exchange students there and he had a blast just talking all night. That next day we all went out to the historic district of Salvador and took a tour, seeing many huge, beautiful churches, and other religious, and government buildings (which here, religion and government aren’t much different) haha. That afternoon we watched Brazil kick the snot out of Argentina. 3×0. What fun watching a big game in Brazil with Brazilians.

The next week of school consisted of only 2 days of classes because September 7th is Brazilian Independence Day. On the 6th my friends and I went to the beach. Do you see a pattern forming? Every weekend I go to the beach. On the 7th there was a huge parade which marched through the main avenue here in Ilhéus. I was able to walk in the parade with Rotary and Interact. It was really cool. After the parade, all the members of Interact and Rotarians went to have a big party on a military base. It was pretty neat. We ate fejuada (beans). I love the fejuada and all the other Brazilian food. I’m eating so much here. I have already gained 4 kilos (8-9 lbs.).

Two days ago I went to the AABB (the local club) and played soccer with this more or less professional team. They don’t get paid but they play against professional teams so. Since I was playing on the grass and on a normal size field, I got to play at the speed I am used to in the USA. It is more controlled than the normal street ball of Brazil.

Well I’m having lots of fun here in Brazil. I hope that all of you are safe and having fun in USA. I hope that all you outbounds are having fun in your countries. Drop me a line some time.

Lots of love

Chris

October 16 Journal & Pictures
Hey Guys. This month has been crazy. Well it’s a Brazilian youth exchange, what do you expect?
To start off, my school had a yard sale (I guess you could say) for the poor people of Ilhéus. My classmates and I brought in used clothes, food stuffs, and household appliances. We lowered all the prices by about 75 – 90%. We set up all the different rooms with the signs on the walls saying where to direct the people around, since there were many rooms of things to sell. Well it turns out that many of them couldn’t read, so some of my more outgoing classmates and I directed them around bringing them to where they wanted to go. What an eye opener. The proceeds went 50% to the school and 50% to APAE, the local school for the mentally challenged.

Well Interact is going great. I love Interact here. In the USA, it’s pretty lame, and no one does anything. They go the meetings to say they went. Well here in Brazil, if someone misses one of the meetings, everyone asks why they missed, and you have to have a good reason. It’s a big deal here. And very rarely does anyone miss the meetings. There are 28 people in the Interact club right now. And normally the majority of them go to all the projects we do. Every Tuesday morning a group of Interactors go to APAE and do some projects with some of the kids. I am the head of this project. One week we went and painted the faces of all the kids there, another week we went and made pictures with tiny rolled up balls of colored paper by gluing them onto a larger piece of paper, and last week we brought in a DVD player and a TV and served them popcorn and soda while they watched Spiderman. I really enjoy spending time with the kids there at APAE every week.

Here in Brazil, the Brazilians joke with the exchange students that they’re not here for exchanges, but they are here for a vacation, because every week there are parties to go to, shows to see, the most beautiful beaches you could dream of, and to top it all off, the most beautiful girls serving food and beer where ever you go. Well last week I went to a show of one of the most famous bands in Brazil, Armandinho. They packed in about 5000 people into the area of half a football field. What an experience. The show went from 11:00 to 1:00 and then after was a party celebrating the show that went from about 1:30 to 6:00 in the morning. When I got home the sun was already coming out. All the parties in Brazil are like this.

One weekend I went to my friend George’s house. Well this weekend was like heaven for me. I love soccer so much. Well when I got to his house and saw how crazy his family is for soccer, I was so happy. First George and I went to an indoor court to play with some of our friends and after we went home and watched the game between Brazil and Kuwait where Brazil clearly won 4×0. Then we went to play this soccer video game at the local LAN house. Walking home, we met up with some of George’s friends who were playing soccer in the road so we played with them for a while. The next morning we went to a soccer field made of sand. Yeah, it’s sweet. Well to sum things up the weekend was a blast. And to top it all off Sunday night we met up with one of George’s friends who is the son of the owner of the professional team here in Ilhéus. So we got into the game for free. Well it turns out that this same team has a team for people between the ages of 18 and 20. They said they would let me enter the team even though I’m only 17. What luck.

This weekend was the annual Interact conference of District 4550 in another city called Itabuna. Oh my goodness. This was probably the most fun weekend I’ve had here yet.

Ilhéus set out by bus about 4:00 on Saturday and arrived in Itabuna about 5:30. Well it turns out the bus dropped us off nowhere near the school where we were going to stay. So 15 Interactors, each with a bag, pillow, and a cochin to sleep on, had to walk about 2 miles since no one knew what local busses went in that direction. Well we got there at about 6:30, set up our beds, and mingled with the people from the other cities for about an hour. In total it ended up being about 100 people there. At 9:00 started the completely formal Rotary party and a huge dinner. The night started with a meeting and then had a party for the Interactors with lots of dancing and music. Everyone got back to the school and watched a horror movie. Boy that was super sweet, because interact is made up of 75% women and 25% men. So during the movie there were all these scared screaming girls for all the guys. Hehehehe

Well that night some of my friends and I stayed up really late, actually about 7 people stayed up all night talking and hanging out. The next morning we all went to this huge restaurant club and had presentations from Rotary and each Interact club presented some of the projects they have been working on. After that was the most amazing lunch and then we returned to the school where all the exchange students gave presentations about their home countries and how they are liking Brazil. After this, every one came back to Ilhéus to go to the beach since Itabuna doesn’t have a beach. Some of the exchange students and I from ilhéus showed all the others around Ilhéus and after we went to the beach and swam, surfed, and played soccer.

After coming back to the school, we had a Halloween ball, were everyone used costumes. 3 guys and I dressed up as women. We were the most beautiful men women you’ve ever seen. Well the party was amazing. It was held in this haunted mansion looking building. It was from about 10:30 to about 5:30 in the morning. The whole night we were dancing, singing, and partying and what not. One song of arrocha (type of music where a girl and guy dance really close using lots of fast hip movements, it’s a rather sexual dance) … everyone made a huge circle and one girl and I were in the middle of the circle dancing. Wow, I was kind of embarrassed, but it was fun. I didn’t know that male hips could move like that.

That next morning, after not sleeping not even one hour again, we had breakfast and after listened to this comedian present a serious subject. Hahahahah. He was amazing. I understood all the jokes he told. Right now I am fluent in Portuguese, the majority of my dreams are in Portuguese, and right now it is easier for me to converse with people in Portuguese.

This weekend I’m going to take it easy. I don’t think I will go to any parties or any shows. I need a week of relaxation. Well got to go study. I have a Chemistry test tomorrow.

Take care every one. Have fun, and be safe.

L8R

Chris

November 12 Journal & Pictures

Oi gente! Tudo bom?
Yet again, here comes another journal, describing, listing, and recounting all of my amazing experiences here in Brazil. Well duh… Brazil is nothing but amazing and wonderful.

Well first I would like to thank my sponsoring Rotary club of Palatka Sunrise, District 6970 for their contributions to my exchange. They often send me e-mails, cards, and news of what is happening in the USA. And more recently, they have given me a sum of money allowing me to go on a 5 day trip to Rio de Janeiro. I am extremely greatful for this magnificent contribution and I’m proud to represent Palatka Sunrise. Muito Obrigado.

This month has been a bit slower for me. In a way I’m pretty happy about that.

To start off this month, some of my mom’s coworkers entered in a city-wide soccer tournament. The fields were a bit smaller, and we played 7v7. Their team was lacking a keeper. One of them played with me and my friends one day and he liked how I played goalie, so he called me up. There were 10 teams in total. My team played 5 matches in the main bracket winning 3, losing 1, and tying the other. We won our semi-final game 3×1 and moved on to the Final match. In the final match, we went into overtime. The score was tied 1×1. The game seemed like it was at a standstill. Overtime expired and we went into penalty shootout. Ohh boy. Each team gets 5 shots and whoever makes the most wins the game. Me being the goalie I had all the pressure on my shoulders. That was pretty tough. Well in the end I stopped 2 of the shots and one missed the target leaving them with 2 goals. My teammates made 3 shots in total, so we won the cup. What a week end! At the end of the tournament my stats were: 25 saves, 6 goals against me (2 of which came in the last game in the penalty shootout), and one GGGOOOOOLLLLL. Yes the keeper made a goal. That was pretty funny. Well it turns out that the winners got a pat on the back and their names written down in this book. You have to remember, Brazil is not the richest country in the world, so there were no medals or trophies, or ribbons, just a handshake and congratulations.

The weekend after that, one of the exchange students from Sweden, who is in the other city, had her birthday party here in my city at a huge beach house. 50 Interact members and exchange students alike went to celebrate her birthday. We all got there at like 5 at night and began dancing arrocha until like midnight, when all of a sudden, the boy from Denmark, Mathias, switches the CD to Queen. Bohemian Rhapsody starts to play. My goodness, my heart fluttered. All the exchange students here began to dance and sing. I think that this song should be the anthem of Rotary youth exchange because every exchange student I meet knows and loves this song. We stayed the night there on the beach with a huge fire and lots of singing and dancing. Boy was I tired. Lots of people brought cochins to sleep on and pillows, but I didn’t. Actually, I was the smart one because we didn’t get back to the house until 5:30 in the morning in which the sun was coming out. Hehe Well we set back for home about 9:00 that morning all wiped out. What a weekend.

Last Wednesday until Tuesday, my family and I went to Salvador to spend time with their family. I met all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and Grandmother. The real reason my family and I went to Salvador is because my grandmother (mother of my dad) was in the hospital. She is not doing so well right now. But this didn’t stop us from having a good time. Lílian (my host sister) and I went many places with my cousins. We went to the shopping mall of Salvador. It is really big. It is about half the size of the Orange park mall, but it is 3 stories. Boy all the things there are expensive. One pair of Nike shoes that would normally cost like 50 or 60 dollars in the USA, is 1000 reais here in Brazil (450 dollars). We went to the movie theatre in Salvador. It was an experience. In the USA, the people are quiet when they are watching the movies, but here in Brazil; it is quieter in the zoo than at the movie theatre. I saw this really strange Brazilian comedy called “seus problemas acabaram” (your problems just ended). The next couple of days went by pretty slow. The last day there, Sunday, we watched Bahia play against Vitória, the two teams from my state Bahia. This is probably one of the biggest rivalries in the Brazilian Futebol league. My family roots for Bahia even though Vitória is the better of the two. I have a couple jerseys of the Bahian team because everyone that is a fan gives me one. Hehehe.

Well we got back on Monday morning, and I went to school that afternoon. Later that week (Wednesday) I got a cold and it escalated pretty fast. Until now I am fighting a pretty strong throat infection. About 5 days I have had it now. I’m getting a lot better but I have missed a bunch of school.

This upcoming week is the last week of school here in Brazil before summer break. This week is full of testing. 11 different subjects to test in 6 days. Yeah I have school on Saturdays.

This next weekend I’m going to Itacaré with my Interact club. Itacaré is the city with the most famous beach for surfing in the world. Every year, Billabong, and Quicksilver, hold their world wide surfing competitions here. It’s a huge event. I’ll fill every one in on this in my next journal.

I have so many plans for this summer break. I’m so excited.

Until later y’all
Um abraço

February 19 Journal & Pictures
Hey everyone, how’s everything been?
I know it’s been a really long time since my last journal but I’ve just been having so much fun.

My family and I went to Salvador for Christmas. We were there for about 1 week. The first couple days my sister and I went to the movies, shopping mall, park, and just hanging out in the city. When Christmas Eve came, the whole family came over to celebrate. At about 8:00 pm the party started. Everyone was talking, laughing, drinking, playing games, and dancing until about 11:30. At this time we started the Secret Santa which everyone was preparing for, for the whole week. Everyone had bought a 1 – 2 dollar item which was just for jokes. Everyone drew names from a hat and had to give a small speech about that person before giving them their present. To make a long story short, the presents were things like rolls of toilet paper without any paper, a dirty diaper, women’s size 100 panties, and I got a condom that was designed for a walrus. This was just a riot and everyone had a blast.

After that, at about 12:30, we had one normal gift exchange and it was a bit more like the normal Christmas I am used to. Filled with love and joy everything went in slow motion as I took it all in, realizing that now I actually have 2 families who love me and 2 places right where I belong.

We all came back to Ilhéus, including my whole family. We had about 13 people staying at my house for about 4 or 5 days. That was really fun. They all came for the New Years party that was taking place in Ilhéus. I stayed at my best friend Álvaro’s house for these days and went to the parties and shows with him. That was really fun to spend some days traveling and hanging out with him. On the 30th there was a really great band who played called Cidade Negra. They play a rather upbeat reggae. On the 31st we went to the New Years party and had a blast. When the clock struck 12:00, the fireworks went off over our heads and everyone gave so many hugs and kisses.

After the parties, shows, and holidays, came the summer break. I started to play soccer every day on the quadra with the local teen-agers. For about 45 – 50 hours a week for the next 3 – 4 weeks I was playing soccer, watching soccer, and just hanging out with my friends on the quadra. Here in Brazil, there are so many people who don’t have enough money for shoes so they play on the asphalt barefoot. I played with these guys barefoot so much that I ended up with so many cuts, blisters, and ingrown toenails. After so much time of playing I am now wearing “Sapatos Brasileiros” which means Brazilian shoes. They call it this because I built up another layer of skin that is like the hide of a rhino. During these days I was getting home at about 3 in the morning every day because they play at night also. Thank God the quadra is so close to my house.

About 3 weeks ago I changed my families. I am now living in the center of town with my Mother (Marta) and my sister (Sara). They have a small 3 bedroom house about 100 meters from the beach. I really like it here. I also have another sister named Luiza who is doing an exchange in Maryland.

Just the other day was my birthday and my friends more or less threw me a small party on the beach. I went with about 15 friends and my sister and mom and 2 cousins. We sat around talking, surfing, drinking, and doing everything you normally do at the beach. After, my mom took my host sister and me to Itabuna to watch a movie there. At the end of the day I was treated with a really nice talk with my whooole family back in Massachusetts.

Well I hit the 6 month mark here and I am really seeing how I am now a Brazilian, and no longer the gringo. =D 100% fluent in the language and culture. I find myself on the bus stop from time to time giving out the list of busses that some one could take to get to “Central de Abstacimento” or something like that. Even to the point that in my literature class there is a new teacher this year and she was never informed that I am American. On the first day of class we had to give little advertisement presentations to show what kind of person we were. I said that I am an English teacher and “this gringo can get you speaking fluently in just one lesson” and the teacher got upset saying that I had to write about myself and not a gringo. What a trip.

Alright well I’m going to watch the Brazilian soap opera with my mom now. I could never see myself doing this in the USA. Hehehe

L8r ya’ll

September 2 Journal
I’m exhausted.
I am spending my exchange year in the city of Barretos, São Paulo. Barretos is most known for hosting one of (if not the) biggest rodeo festivals in the world. This year that festival occurred August 17-27…during the first month of my exchange. My host parents got together with my host Rotary counselor here and bought me a pass to go everyday to this festival. The first day, I was excited to go. Some friends of my host sister traveled to Barretos and stayed with us for a weekend just to go to the festival. About 3 PM, I was wondering why we weren’t leaving. About 7 PM, I figured that we were waiting to go the next day. At 10 PM my host sister told me to get ready. Confused, I put on some jeans, tennis shoes and a shirt. When I came out of my room, I noticed that all the girls were wearing ‘open’ shirts, and my host sister’s friend said “Aren’t you going to put on make-up?” “I don’t have any.” So, she pulled out her make-up bag and put eye-liner on me. I could’ve swore that she was going to poke me in the eye. Then, we went outside, my host sister and her friends pulled a beer out of the cooler, and then we packed five people into a two-seater car. We drove to the arena, and then we entered and climbed over a white fence to get inside the arena which had a dirt floor. The arena was packed with people. Then there was a techno concert that lasted until 2 AM. The whole time, I was wondering “Where’s the rodeo?” During this concert, there were a lot of drunk guys that would try to grab random girls to kiss. I think I screamed about 10 times. After the concert, I thought “YES!! We can go home now!!” But I was wrong. We left the arena and walked around, passing a lot of loud speakers blasting techno and Black Eyed Peas. People would stop and just dance in the streets. Finally, at 4 AM, we started walking toward the car. Talk about “culture shock”. But after the first day, when we would go, I met up with my friends from school there who don’t drink, dress promiscuously, or kiss drunk guys, so I felt more comfortable. And if any guy looked suspicious, my friends would grab my hands, form a line, and travel to another area in the arena. So I felt safe with them. I also stopped screaming whenever some guy would grab my arm. If you start slapping at them they leave you alone (haha). So with my friends, I started to have fun, but I have to say that I never got used to staying out until 4 AM. So I took every opportunity to skip a couple days of the festival. =) Oh, also, I found out that the rodeo stuff happens during the day, and at night it’s just big party. Nevertheless, I’m glad that’s all over!!

Other than the festival, I’m adapting pretty well – Yes Rob, hugs and kisses on the cheek and all, haha. I love school. Everyone is so nice!! The principal gave me a choice of what grade I wanted to go to, and I picked what’s equivalent to the Junior year. Because if I go the grade where everyone is my age, at the end of the school year in December, I’ll have to start the same senior year all over again, but with different people. So I chose the grade where I can stay with my friends for the longest time. The food is different here, but I’m getting used to it… and I still think that macaroni on pizza is pretty weird. And if anyone asks me what’s the best thing about Brasil, I always say ‘the juice’, haha! I don’t know what it is about it, but orange juice tastes so much better here! And I’m not having language difficulties… which I know is a miracle from God… and apparently I blend in here because everybody thinks I’m Brasilian until they hear my accent. So to the future exchange students: STUDY THE LANGUAGE BEFORE YOU LEAVE! It’s so much easier! Well, talk to y’all later!

Bjoos

December 2 Journal
It’s December already!!
Last week marked my four months here in Brazil. I feel so adapted that it seems like I’ve been here longer and I don’t want to go home so soon seven months from now. But at the same time, when I think about my family at home, the rest of my time here seems like an eternity. It’s like I have two lives, two families, two groups of friends and everything. But I think it’s worth it. This is definitely one of the best experiences I could ever have.

Summer break just began! I just left summer break back in July back at home, and now I have summer break until February! And then there will be a two week vacation in February for Carnaval…I love Brazil. =) During this summer break I’ll be traveling with an English teacher that I help once a week named Miriam to the city of São Paulo. It’ll be lots of fun. and plus, that’s where all the souvenirs are! The only souvenirs here in Barretos are from Festa do Peão, the big Rodeo Festival.

After four months now, my Portuguese has improved A LOT. And at the same time, my English has gotten a lot worse. When I help Miriam with her English class, sometimes the students correct me! Also, I think I’ve lost my fear of saying something wrong. I learned that it’s okay to mess up every once in a while. Plus, it’s usually funny when you do. For example, one day I tried to say that my brother has a beard and is really hairy, which means to say that he is “peludo”. On accident, I said that he’s “pelado”, which means butt-naked. haha!! My friends still joke about it today.

I LOVE my new host family. The family consists of a mother and a 19-year-old daughter. They are so nice and it’s here where I feel most at home. We go to church every Sunday and on Saturday there is a Teen Service, where there are three teams. Of course, I entered into my host sister’s team. Last week, each team had to present a play. I played a New York policewoman who only spoke English, to make it funny. And my host sister was the villain, and I had to arrest her and take her to prison. It was a lot of fun!. And WE WON!!! Our play was the best! Afterwards, we all played games in the churchyard until 1 a.m. and after that, everybody went to the lakes to play some more. My host sister and I ended up coming home at 4 a.m. I couldn’t believe it. I swear … only Brazilians would go to church at 8 and come home at 4 a.m. haha!

Well, I guess I’ll close out this journal. I’m having a great time, making lots of good friends, and losing a bit of my timidness every day. And I don’t think that crazy questions about America will ever end…last week someone asked, “Are there cows in the United States?” haha!

Beijos!

February 17 Journal
It’s CARNAVAL!! Which means…a week off of school!!! haha. Last night began Carnaval, the most well-known holiday in Brasil. On TV all you see is the colorful parades in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The decorations are extraordinary and the dancers from the samba schools wear beautiful, bright-colored costumes. After all the commercials and advertisements about Carnaval, I already learned how to samba.
Last month, I had my first birthday outside of the USA. And it was my first big party too! Because I wasn’t able to go on the big Northeast trip with Rotary, my host family put together a huge birthday party for me. There were 30 kilos of STEAK! (steak is way more cheaper here by the way) When I had first made the list of who I wanted to invite, I couldn’t believe that I had over 80 friends here after only 5 months in the country. I ended up only inviting 50 people, and every time that I took a name off the original list, it was like a stab in the heart. The majority of the people there were from my host family’s church that I fell in love with. When people started to arrive, I felt so nervous that I began to sweat like a pig. But after a while I got the hang of it. I helped serve soda to everyone and then I had asked the pastor to pray over the food. Extremely happy that I had asked, he asked everyone to stand up and hold hands and we prayed. Then everybody ate steak, rice, beans, cassava, farofa (spiced breadcrumbs), tomato sauce and bread. When it came time for the cake, everybody sang Parabéns for me and I gave the first slice to my host mom. After that, I couldn’t handle wearing dressy clothes for so long so I changed clothes and we all played games. The party was from noon til 6:30 PM. It was great!

Beijos

March 18 Journal
This week at school was Integração 2007. Every day there were at least two events that all the grades would compete in. Each grade chose a theme and by coincidence my class chose the United States.
I participated in the Checkers, Chess, Soccer, Exhibit, and Typical Dance competitions. In checkers, I won 1 out of 2 games, leaving our team in 3rd place. In chess, I won both games, leading our team to 1st place! In soccer, I only played one game and it was because there weren’t enough girls to play, and we lost (haha).

For the exhibit of the United States, I displayed everything that I had from home, even peanut butter and my Rotary pins, and we dressed my friend Fernanda up as the Statue of Liberty holding a basketball and a Coca-Cola bottle. My friends Vanessa, Marcella and Talita dressed up as cheerleaders, and Vinicius as a basketball player. And me and Larissa dressed up as breakdancers. After all this, nobody understands why we ended up in 3rd place for the exhibit, but at least it was fun!

And finally, I participated in the Typical Dance competition. The typical dance consisted of first my friend Alini dancing to Frank Sinatra and afterwards me, Larissa, Isabella, Keyla, Silvia, and Tali breakdancing to hip-hop music. I have NEVER breakdanced in my life, so we asked a breakdance teacher to pass us a choreography. After two weeks of practicing, we were ready for the competition Thursday night. The day of the competition, I woke up nervous 4:30 in the morning (an hour and a half too early) , I wasn’t able to eat lunch or dinner (I was only able to force myself to eat a cereal bar one hour before the show) and I began to shake and sweat right before the competition.

After hours of anxiety it was time…the song “New York” ended, and our song began. We ran out on the stage, I lifted my hand up to God for guidance and after that I couldn’t hear anything nor see anything… (no I didn’t faint haha) I just danced the best that I could and the song ended…the crowd went wild. When I returned to our team, everybody congratulated me and all I heard was that I was the best dancer, the judges were only looking at me, and that everybody was screaming my name. I couldn’t believe it. I surprised everyone…better yet, I surprised myself! While we were waiting on the results of the competition, they played music and everybody went to the dance floor. And then suddenly, all my friends started circling around me, telling me to dance some more! Finally, the results…we tied for 1st place!!!

About 11:30 I caught a ride with Alini and went home. When I went to bed, all I said was THANK YOU JESUS! because me helping to win a competition by breakdancing had to be a miracle. Friday morning I arrived at school, and everybody turned. I walked up to my group of friends and everybody applauded and shouted! Now everybody knows me as the American that can dance…I never thought that this would happen on my exchange year in Brazil.

Beijos!

June 4 Journal
Well, I have 11 days left.
Last Sunday my mom, stepdad and brother came out to visit me and they just left an hour ago to go back home. When they arrived here, I didn’t cry like I thought I would…but I think it’s because I knew that them coming meant that I going home soon afterwards. Plus, I know I’ll always have my family and friends at home waiting for me, but how do I know I’ll be able to come back to Brasil? And how soon?

So…11 days…what do I do in 11 days…

When I got back to my host family’s house today, I went ahead and packed one suitcase of stuff that I won’t need until I get back home. After that I cried. Man, being an exchange student is really cool, but at the end, it REALLY SUCKS!!! =) Now I’ll have to say good-bye to everyone that helped me grow this year and made me into a better person. Some people I actually consider family now. One of my host cousins asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding 2 years from now! So for sure, I’ll get a job when I get back to Florida, even if it’s just to save up for plane tickets.

So, right now I’m full of a lot of mixed feelings…I want to go home to see the rest of my family and my boyfriend that I had left back there one year ago. But at the same time, I want to stay because I feel like I’m already at home. But it was very nice to see my Florida family here in Brasil. They liked it a lot and I got to show them my life as an exchange student: my host families, Rotary club, art classes, churches, and all the friends that I had made here.

But now I’m sad because my exchange year is coming to an end. But I know for sure that even though my “stay” in Brasil is over, that doesn’t mean that the friendships and experiences are over as well. Now I have extended family and friends outside my home country.

Thank you, Rotary, for this opportunity that I’ll never forget. And I thank God that I made it through and that there will be tears when I leave because that means that I put my mark in other people’s lives.

Beijos

Mélanie’s Bio

Hola! My name is Mélanie and I’m from Gainesville, Florida. I was born in France and am 16 years old. I’m a sophomore in the International Baccalaureate Program at Eastside High School. I live with my mom and younger brother Christophe. One of my favorite things to do is play sports. I love soccer and basketball and I also run cross country and track. I sing in the chorus at school, and I help teach the little kids at Sunday school. I also enjoy listening to music, watching movies and spending time with my friends.

I can’t wait to go to Ecuador! I hope I learn a lot about the language, the culture and the people. I know that I’m going to have a great experience and I know that this is an opportunity of a lifetime. Thanks Rotary for giving me this life changing opportunity!

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September 14 Journal

I can’t believe that I’ve already been here for one month! The time has gone so fast. I’ve met so many nice people and seen a lot of beautiful things. My family is so great. They have helped me so much with learning the language and getting adjusted.

I just started school on September 11 and it’s a lot of fun. My school is called Liceo Naval and it’s a military school. I have three different uniforms and I have to wear a hat everyday. Every morning we have to stand in formation and sing the Ecuadorian National Anthem. My class always gets into trouble. We always have to run laps and do squats as punishment. It’s hard being at a military school because it’s very strict.

I’ve only been in school for four days, but I already have tons of friends. Their names are Mafer, Veronica, Pili, Karla, Jess, Andrea, Oscar, Michelin, Sebastian, Andres and Jonathan. I’m the only exchange student at my school and everyone knows me. I think I met half the school on the first day because everyone wanted to help and ask me questions about the United States. I’m part of the soccer team and we are going to play our first game very soon!

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I go to Spanish classes with the other exchange students. There are seven of us and there are no boys! Four of us are from the United States, one is from Canada, one is from Austria, and one is from Germany. We are all really close. They are such nice people. I’ve seen many beautiful sights already such as Salinas (a beach), the Malecon and Las Peñas. I’m having so much fun here and I have learned so much about the culture and the language!

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October 23 Journal

 The last month here has been great. I’ve done a lot of traveling. Two weeks ago I went to Quito with my family and my best friend Ann-Christin, a German exchange student. We took a bus at 11:00 at night and it took nine hours to get there! I got to meet my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. Everyone was really nice and I can’t wait to go back. We also went to Mindo, which is a little town 2 hours from Quito. My cousins from Quito came and we hiked and swam. We stayed in cabins in the forest and it was a really neat experience.

I also got to experience what the elections are like here. On October 15th, my sister had to get up at 6.00 to work at the election booth. Here, everyone has to vote so there were tons of people there. The voting is held in different locations and there are separate lines for men and women. They can only vote one at a time and they get a huge piece of paper with all of the candidates names and pictures on it. There were a lot of candidates running for president, I think there were almost 30. After 5.00 no one can vote anymore because they start counting the votes. They don’t have electronic machines to count the votes so the people working at the booths have to count them all! So far they have it down to 2 candidates. In November there are more elections to decide who the president will be. It was really interesting to see how different their elections are from ours.

I just got back from my first Rotary trip on Saturday. We went to Manabi, Portoviejo, and Canoa. The beaches were beautiful and the water was nice. We had soccer and volleyball tournaments and we chose a king and queen of the paseo, which means trip. The queen was the girl from Taiwan and the king was an American boy. We had a parade and everyone walked through the town holding their flags. All the people cheered for us as we walked by and it felt really nice to be welcomed by so many people. I met students from all over the world and I can’t wait for the next trip so that I can see them again. This last month has been amazing and it has really flown by! Thank you Rotary for this opportunity. It’s an experience that I will never forget!

Mélanie

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November 20 Journal

 I’ve been here for 3 months!!! I can’t believe it. So much has happened like every month. 3 weeks ago we had a 4 day weekend and my family took me to Salinas again! I love it there. It was kind of cold (by Ecuadorian standards) but I swam anyway. We also visited another beach. It was amazing and the waves were huge. On the way there and on the way back we got flat tires!! Luckily my dad learned how to fix the tire from the first time, so the second time it didn’t take long to fix. We stopped at a roadside stand and had cold coconut juice!! It was so good! The coconuts were huge! It was my first time trying coconut juice and I loved it.

My sister’s birthday was the 10th of November, and we had a party for her on the 11th. It was fun. We went to the Navy Club and swam and went bowling. I got to meet her friends too. Later on, back at our house, we had a cake and threw it on her!! It’s the tradition here. The birthday girl/boy gets their face pushed into the cake!!! It was fun! The next day we put up Christmas decorations. It’s so early but everyone starts putting their decorations up after Halloween. My family said it’s because they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving and so Christmas is the next big holiday! I helped decorate the tree and nativity set. It’s huge! My mom loves Christmas and she collects nativity pieces. I feel like it should be getting colder since it’s almost Christmas, but it’s actually getting hotter!

I had my first soccer game the other day! It was different from the usual soccer games. This kind of soccer is called futbol sala. The field is made out of carpet and it’s smaller than the regular fields. So are the goals. Also, instead of throwing the ball in you’re supposed to kick it and it can only be on the line for 4 seconds. Only 5 people play at a time and the halves are only 15 minutes each. We lost 9-0, but it was still fun.

I’ve had a lot of fun this month. The time is flying by, but I’ve enjoyed every minute of it so far! Thank you Rotary and anyone who made this possible. It’s truly an amazing experience.

Mélanie

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December 20 Journal

 It’s been four months and I don’t want to leave. I’ve made so many good friends here, I love my host family and Ecuador is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever seen!!! So much has happened that I don’t know where to start.

First, all of the exchange students in Guayaquil got together and planned a Thanksgiving dinner for our host families. It was really fun. The day before we went to the store and bought a huge turkey, vegetables and desserts. The cart was piled high and we were all very excited. Even the girls from Canada, Austria and Germany helped. They couldn’t wait to learn how to make a Thanksgiving dinner.

The next day, we went to Caroline’s house and cooked from 9 in the morning until 7: 30 at night!! It was interesting making Thanksgiving dinner without the same ingredients that we have in America. They don’t have pumpkin pie mix here so we had to make little apple pies instead. We had to use empanada crust, but they turned out to be really good. Our host families came and they had a really good time. They loved the food.

They also had elections this year on November 26th. It was really hot and a lot of people had to vote outside. People were really excited; they were honking and waving flags around trying to get last minute voters to vote for their candidates.

Two weeks ago, we went to a retirement home and danced with people. It was fun. All of the exchange students were there and we gave everybody cake and soda. Then we danced with them and they were really happy.

Then, on Thursday we went to a town called Samborondon. It was really poor. We went to a school and brought presents to the kids. The school was one building with only 2 small class rooms. The kids were very excited to get their presents. It was an amazing experience.

The other day at school we took a trip to the jail. It was the carcel de mujeres, the women’s jail. When we got there, the kids ran up to us and hugged us. They were so excited to see us! The jail was a huge open building surrounded by four extremely high walls. There were separate buildings where the women slept and there was one whole building for only kids and their moms. There were also some seesaws, a slide and a few swings for the kids to play on. I felt bad for the kids, but it was nice to see their faces light up when they saw the presents that we brought for them.

Time has gone by so fast. I want it to stop, because I don’t want to leave. I have enjoyed every minute of my life here!

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January 19 Journal

 I spent my first Christmas away from home this year. It was a little hard, but I was so busy that I didn’t have time to be too sad about not being with my family for Christmas. School got out on December 22 and that night my class had a party. We did a gift exchange and we ate a big dinner. Then, they had a few people get up and talk about everything that had happened during the year and I was one of the people they chose to speak. I was pretty nervous, but I was able to make a speech all in Spanish!! All of my friends were really excited for me!

The night before, I had a party with the other exchange students. It was in a 33 story building called the Bankers Club of Guayaquil. It was amazing. We all had to dress up in fancy dresses or pants and the food was delicious. I took a lot of pictures of the restaurant and we went upstairs to take pictures of the city from up high. We also had a gift exchange and we each talked about everything we have learned and seen so far this year.

On December 23rd, we left for Quito at 5 in the morning! It took us 7 hours to get there, but my sisters and I slept most of the way so the trip wasn’t too bad. When we got there our aunts, uncles and cousins were all at our grandparents’ house and we had big lunch of turkey, salad, rice, soup and dessert. Then we talked with the family for a while. My sister Lorena and I stayed at our cousin Pablito’s house and we stayed up until 3 in the morning playing Monopoly. The next day we visited my dad’s side of the family and then went back to our other grandparents house. My family called me to wish me Merry Christmas and then we opened presents. We had another big dinner. The next day we went to church. I also got to go to the middle of the world which was so amazing!! I have a picture of my feet, one on one side of the equator and the other on the other side!! Christmas in Quito was really fun!

New Year’s in Ecuador is a huge party!! Earlier in the day, we went out to buy el año viejo which means the old year. They are big dolls made out of paper, wood and firecrackers that you burn at midnight. People here really get into it. They have all different sized dolls and there are so many different colors and characters to choose from. They have interesting traditions here. One is to eat 12 grapes 12 minutes before midnight. You eat one per minute and after every grape you make a wish. We also wore pink pins on our shirts because pink is supposed to bring good luck. At midnight, everyone came out of their houses to burn the dolls. They pour gas on them and then light them. It was really hot and very loud. Everywhere you looked there were huge fires! My sister and I also ran around the block with backpacks. That is supposed to bring you a year full of traveling!

I learned so many new traditions that I want to bring back to the United States. It was my first time away from my family for Christmas and New Year’s, but I had such a great time. I’ve already learned so many new things and met a lot of new people. I feel like I belong here. I can communicate with my friends and family and even though I’ve only been here for 5 months I feel like I’ve been here forever. It’s going to be hard to go back because while I’ll be going back to my original family, I’ll be leaving my new family behind. This year has been the most amazing year of my life so far!

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March 2 Journal

 Hola todos!!

Another month has flown by, I can’t believe it. This month was the first time I celebrated my birthday away from home, but it was awesome! My sister woke me up the morning of my birthday and my family came into my room singing and they each had a present. After I opened the presents I went downstairs to eat breakfast. There were 17 pink balloons and pieces of confetti hanging from the walls and the lamps!! For breakfast we had eggs and bacon which was delicious. Then my sister and I went to get our nails done. When we got back, my mom had a huge feast for us. There was pizza, chocolate fondue and birthday cake! I invited my friend Ann-Christin over to celebrate with us. We had a small food fight and Ann-Christin, Lorena and I all ended up covered in chocolate! Then I got a face full of cake because here, the tradition is to push the birthday boy/girl’s face into the cake!!!!!The cake was really good. Once we cleaned up, we all went to the beach. Once we got there, we played a board game and went to the movies. I’ll always remember my 17th birthday in Ecuador!!

The Tuesday after my birthday, my counselor called and asked if I could come to the Rotary meeting with him. My club had a cake for me!!! February was pretty much one big party, because we also celebrated Carnaval. That is a holiday where people go wild. You get sprayed with everything you can imagine. I was only sprayed with water and foam, but some people were hit with eggs, flour and even ink. Everybody wears their old clothes during Carnaval because you get hit with all sorts of stuff!

Another great month has gone by with my friends and family and everyday that goes by brings me closer to the day I’ll have to leave. It’s hard for me to think that I won’t be able to stay here forever. I feel so comfortable now. I have my friends and family and I can communicate without a problem. I didn’t realize that it was possible to fall in love with a new family and country, the way that I have.

Besos y saludos a todos,

Mélanie

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March 21 Journal

 The highlight of this month was the Amazon trip!!! The Amazon is the most beautiful place that I’ve ever seen in the world! When we got off the plane we took a two hour bus ride before stopping to take a canoe. The scenery was incredible. Everywhere we looked we were surrounded by trees and everything was quite and peaceful. When we got to the Yachana lodge our guide, Jose, introduced himself and told us a little bit about the Amazon before we went to dinner. The food was delicious. We had soup, followed by meat and rice with vegetables and dessert. After dinner we chose our cabins and went to bed.

The next morning we had to wake up at 7 for breakfast. Then we got into the boat to go to the local market. It was small, but there were lots of useful things for sale, like batteries, toothpaste, soap, etc. Then we visited the Yachana school. It’s a school for poor kids. They go to school in shifts. There are 2 different groups and each group is there for 28 days. The other 28 days that they have off, they go home to help their parents. They learn basic math, science, history, and English, but their main focus is learning how to use the Amazon and its resources to their advantage. The first day we met them, they were building ponds to raise fish. After leaving the school we got our faces painted using a fruit that the natives use in their ceremonies. We also got to hold a monkey!!!!! After lunch we swam in the Napo river and visited the butterfly garden. By the end of the first day, everyone was exhausted!

The next day we returned to the school. We split up into 3 different groups to help the students with their daily work. My group helped build fish ponds. We had to use machetes to clear the field and we had to dig. I couldn’t take my eyes off of our beautiful surroundings! The digging and clearing was hard work, but it felt good to help the students, and we got to experience what they do everyday. After lunch we went on a hike. We learned about the trees and plants and how they can be used to cure illnesses. We also got to swing on a vine. I took lots of pictures. That night we went swimming again. The Napo was cold, but it felt good after the hard work that we’d done that day.

We went to the school again the next day, but it was raining. Since we couldn’t do any work outside, we helped the students make a window out of bamboo for the school. After lunch we visited a shaman. He lived on a small island across form the lodge. When we got there it was smoky and the guide explained to us what we were going to do. The shaman cleansed us by waving leaves around us and blowing smoke on us. It was an interesting experience. Some people form the Amazon go once a week to cleanse their conscience. After the cleansing we learned how to use a blow gun and a lance.

On the way to the school the next day, we went through the local town. The local school was having a graduation ceremony so we stopped and watched. The three kids who were moving on to the next grade had to bow down in front of the Ecuadorian flag and kiss it. It was a promise they were making to their country. We stopped and had watermelon too, before we finally got to the school. It was our last day to help the students and we planted seeds. After lunch we took the boat down the river. At a certain point we jumped out and floated all the way back to the lodge!! The current was strong and it was fun. That night we had a bonfire and ate marshmallows.

The last day we went on a 4 hour hike. The guide showed us bugs and we learned more about the plants and trees. It was a long hike, but it was fun. We had to ease through water and we got to swing on a vine again. It was sad because it was the last time that we would get to walk through the Amazon and enjoy its beauty. After lunch the guide taught us how to make baskets out of plants. It was really awesome and he told us that the natives actually use those kinds of baskets to carry fish, fruits, and other things they need. After dinner we packed our bags and went on a night hike. It was neat to see the rainforest by night. We saw lots of bugs that we hadn’t seen during the day.

The next morning everyone was sad. We all had a great time together and the Amazon was amazing. After breakfast we got into the boat for our last 2 hour canoe ride. No one said much as we went down the river. We were all enjoying our last moment in the Amazon. Then at last came the time when we had to say goodbye to Jose, our guide, and we left.

I had a great time in the Amazon. I didn’t know that anything could be so beautiful!!! Ecuador may be a small country, but it has everything from beaches to mountains to rainforest. Thanks to everyone who made it possible for me to come on this exchange. Muchas gracias mom, dad and everyone else who helped me be able to go to the Amazon. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget.

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April 20 Journal

 Yet another month has flown by! I can’t believe that I only have 2 more months left. There are still so many things that I want to see and do. This month, my mom and brother came to visit. We had a lot of fun together. My whole family went to the airport to welcome them to Ecuador. They didn’t come in until around 11 at night, so they were pretty tired. I stayed in the hotel nearby with them. In the morning, we got up early and went to my house for breakfast. My host mom had made eggs and we had bread and coffee. Then my dad, sister and I took them driving around Guayaquil. We showed them where my school was, where my sister worked and the Malecon which is sort of like a park where you can walk and relax. At night we went to Las Peñas. There are over 400 steps and at the top there is a light house and a church. After that we went home and had empanadas and watched the Gator basketball game!!! I’ve now made my host family Gator fans!!! Then we went back to the hotel.

The next day we went to my favorite place in all of Ecuador, Salinas. We left at 8:30 in the morning and arrived at 10:30. We went to the beach and talked. Then my host family took us to eat at a really great restaurant! My brother and mom had fish which they loved and everyone had a good time sitting around the table and talking. Everyone clicked right away, it was perfect. After that we all took showers before heading back to Guayaquil. Then we went out for yucca bread and yogurt which is one of my favorite foods!

On Monday we left for Quito, just my mom, my brother and I. My aunt, Tia Bachi, was at the airport waiting for us and she took us to the middle of the world. My brother and I took pictures with our feet on both sides of the equator and we took a family picture there too. They really enjoyed it. At my aunt’s house, my family met my uncle and cousin. Then we all watched the final Gator basketball game together because my uncle loves basketball! We won, GO GATORS!!!

The next day my aunt took us to Otavalo, which is about 2 hours away from Quito. Otavalo is well known for its markets and my mom was really excited to go. Along the way we stopped and took pictures. The conversation in the car was interesting because my mom would talk to my aunt in English and my aunt would respond in Spanish. I had to do a lot of translating! Otavalo was a really nice town. Since we went on a Tuesday there weren’t many tourists which was nice. We bought a lot of gifts for people back in the US. That night back in Quito, we found out that my dad (my real dad not my host dad) won the elections in his university and is now the president of the University of Reims in France!!!! Yay!!

Our last day in Quito was spent walking around looking at churches. We also went on the Teleferiqo, where we saw Quito from above. I’d been wanting to go and was really excited. It was cold, which was a nice change from the weather in Guayaquil. We went home for lunch and at 4 my cousin Pablito and his mom picked us up to take us to the traditonal market. It was nice, although my brother was starting to get tired of all the shopping we were doing. Then we went to a restaurant to eat and see the night view of Quito. My grandparents met us there and we had a good time. My grandpa was so excited to speak English and he told us war stories. Back at my aunt’s house, we packed to get ready to go in the morning.

Back in Guayaquil, my mom picked us up from the airport. We had a nice lunch and told my mom and dad what we did in Quito. Then we unpacked and rested before going to the iguana park. My brother really liked the iguanas and took lots of pictures. My dad also took us to some beautiful churches which my mom liked. When we came home, my sister Lorena was back from work and we went out to eat in a seafood restaurant. My mom and Christophe were really excited because they love seafood and Ecuador has some of the best seafood in the world! My brother had crab for the first time and we laughed a lot that night.

Friday was a holiday, so my sister didn’t have to work which was nice because she was able to spend the last day with my family. We got up early and had breakfast at my house again. Then we drove around and showed them more of Guayaquil. After that, we went to a nice restaurant for lunch. Back at home, Christophe, Lorena and I downloaded all the pictures they had taken while they were here. For their last Ecuadorian meal they had empanadas and then we went back to the hotel so that they could pack.

They left very early in the morning. We all woke up at 6 and had a quick last breakfast with them before going to the airport. We were all very sad. Before they got on the plane they told us what a great time they had had and my mom said that maybe we could come back next year with my dad. The rest of the day I was a little bit sad, but it was great to have been able to show them Ecuador.

I can’t believe that in 2 months I have to leave. If 8 months went as fast as it did, then 2 months is going to go even faster. It’s going to be harder for me to leave Ecuador than it was for me to leave the United States. I don’t feel ready to go at all. I have a great family and school is going well. I feel like this is where I belong now and I try not to think about the day that I’m going to have to leave. To any future exchange students: enjoy every minute of your exchange year because before you know it, it’s almost over. I didn’t think that it was possible to fall in love with a country that wasn’t mine, but now I know that it is. Thanks again to Rotary for this wonderful experience. I’ve learned so much and I know that I’m going to learn more in these last 2 months as well. This has truly been the best year of my life!!

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May 20 Journal

 Friday, May 18 made 9 months that I’ve been here. A lot has happened this month. The best thing that happened was the trip to the Galapagos Islands!!!! For me it was the best trip we’ve taken this year. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. We left Friday morning from the airport at 7:30 in the morning. It was an hour and a half flight and I got to talk with the other exchange students that I hadn’t seen since the Amazon trip in February. The airport is very small and it’s on one of the main islands called Baltra. When we got there we had to wait for our bags to come off of the plane. The airport was so small it didn’t even have an electric belt to put the luggage on!! The people had to load a few bags at a time onto a small truck and drop them off by hand!! Once everyone got their bags we got on a bus. We drove for about 20 minutes and from there we got on a boat. The water was so blue it was incredible! I’d never seen water like that before in my life!! From there we got on another bus which took us to the Nimfa Hotel. We got our room assignments, ate and then went to the Charles Darwin Research Center. The turtles were huge!!!!!! They can live to be up to 200 years old! We took pictures of them and the guide showed us Solitary George, the famous turtle who is the last of his kind in the world. They’re trying to find him a mate, but so far they haven’t found any other turtle like him. We also walked on a beach and took pictures of the huge red and black crabs. We had only been there a few hours and we were already in love with it!

The next morning we had to wake up at 6:30 for breakfast. After that we took a 45 minute bus ride and then a 30 minute boat ride to an island called Bachas. We didn’t get out of the boat, but we just circled the island taking pictures. The animals were amazing!!! We saw beautiful birds and sea lions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For the first time in my life I saw sea lions! We also saw water iguanas. Then we went to another rock and snorkeled with the sea lions!!!!! It was the most amazing thing. I had my underwater camera so I took lots of pictures. I got a picture right next to the rock with all the sea lions. They smelled bad but it didn’t matter because we were so excited to be swimming with them. After that we went to a beach with sand that was very white and soft. There were pelicans there too and I got some pictures of them from very close. It was amazing because the animals weren’t scared of us at all. We had lunch on the boat and then went back to the hotel. We walked around the little town and then rested before dinner. I couldn’t believe that I was finally in the Galapagos. I’d been looking forward to the trip the whole year.

We had to wake up at 5:15 the next morning!! After breakfast we took the bus again and then a boat. We went to an island called Daphne Punta Carrion. The island was full of animals!!! There were more sea lions and iguanas. There were also Blue Footed Boobies! They were beautiful. They’re white and they have blue feet. They were everywhere. They were guarding their eggs and some of them already had babies. The guide explained that the male and female take turns with the egg while the other one goes and finds food. They can live to be about 30 years old which is pretty old for birds. Then we ate on the boat again before going to the Playa Alemana which was beautiful. We also went swimming in cascades. Back at the hotel we ate and then walked around the town.

We slept in a little bit. After breakfast we went on an hour walk to Tortuga Bay. It was a beautiful beach with sand that felt like flour on your feet. We took tons of pictures. Then we swam and talked before going back to the hotel for lunch. Later that day we went to some lava caves which was pretty cool. It was hard to see because it was dark, but we walked through them. We stopped at a little store on the way back and there was a huge turtle shell that we got into and took pictures!! It was cool! Now I know why turtles move so slowly. Their shells are so heavy and it’s hard to move your legs.

The next morning we had to leave. On the way to the airport we stopped to see some holes formed by craters. We took a group picture and then headed to the airport. We were all sad because the trip that we had been looking forward to all year was over. I have lots of pictures to remind myself of the good time we had there.

This month hasn’t been all fun though. One of the girls from Guayaquil went back to Canada and it was really sad. We had a goodbye party for her and we went to the airport. It’s sad because our group is gradually getting smaller and pretty soon we’ll all be gone. I try not to think of the day I have to leave. I can’t imagine my life without all the wonderful people I’ve met here. I feel so lucky because this year has been perfect. I have an amazing family, a great school, and lots of friends. It’s hard for me to believe that I have to leave in a month. I feel like I should just be going back to the United States to visit and then come back to Ecuador. My family and my friends have changed my life forever and I’ll never forget everything they’ve done for me. Muchas gracias a todos por lo que han hecho para mi en este año! Ustedes son los mejores, nunca les olvidare!!!

Mélanie

Ramsey’s Bio

 Goddag, for the people that don’t know Danish that’s good day (the formal way of saying hello). My name is Ramsey, I am 15 years old and going to be sixteen in May. It’s too bad that I’m going to have to leave soon right when I get to drive, but oh well. I was born in Atlanta but only lived there for 2 months because my family moved soon after. We moved around Florida a bit because of my dad’s job, but I finally ended up in Jacksonville when I was five just in time to start school. I can’t really say I love Fruit Cove, which is a small suburb kind of place, because it can get so boring here. After the first ten years things can get kind of old.

As of now I like to play baseball with my friends. I’ve never really stuck with one thing in my life, I’m kind of an indecisive person. When I was little I did baseball but HATED it with a passion because the coach always stuck me in right field and all I did the whole time was pick grass and mess with the ants. So as soon as I got my chance I quit that and moved on to skateboarding. I liked to do that in middle school a lot with my brother and friends. We would go to construction sites at houses and make old rickety ramps that were basically death traps. I still skateboard from time to time but not as much as I used to do.

In middle school I played the saxophone for two years, but then my teacher said we had to choose between band and P.E. I was out of there. I couldn’t stand having to be in a chair all day and never getting to run around. Playin’ baseball now is a lot more fun because I’m not obligated to be on a team and I can just mess around with my friends, although I am thinking about joining one because now I can play what position I want.

My family is kind of big, four kids and two parents. It can kind of drive my mom crazy because I have three brothers and there are no other girls in the house. Two of my brothers are twins (Price and Wesley) and then there is Louis who is the eldest and he is 17. We are all very close, but Louis and I are the ones that go off and do our own thing. When the weekend comes me and him are gone until Monday. We both can’t wait to move out and just have our own place. That is why I am really excited to see how well I can do away from the family. I’m am really hoping that it is going to be completely different than America, that is why I chose Denmark. Farvel Saa Længe!

September 1 Journal 

 Hej alle, it’s Ramsey and I have been in Denmark for a month. Wow. I know it doesn’t seem a long time to you but in a way it does to me and in a way it doesn’t. Well time really flies by here; this month has seemed like two weeks but when I look back on what I have done it seems like a lifetime has gone by. It’s crazy.

Well shall I get started on what has happened? On my way over here I had to take a couple of flights and all of them were horrible. I flew from Jacksonville to Detroit and although it was a short flight I had the most upset baby right behind me screaming it’s head off. I thought I was gonna pick it up and kick it like a football but I held myself back. I was unbelievably thankful to get off that flight just to get on another horrid flight. Fortunately I met up with a bunch of other exchange students while looking for my gate. One is actually in my district too. Well we all boarded our international flight and with my luck I got to sit next to a three year old little kid who apparently thought the plane and me were his playground and took the opportunity to use it at his disposal. I thought to myself “you think the parents would do something about this” but they didn’t. There isn’t much to that flight except for that. When we landed in Amsterdam I think we went through customs there but I’m not sure because it took like two seconds. The line was huge back it didn’t take long at all I was astonished. I didn’t know why people complained about customs because I don’t remember going through anything in Copenhagen so the security in Amsterdam had to be it. After that we got onto our flight from Amsterdam to Copenhagen. Luckily I had another baby right by me who liked to scream his head of so that made me happy (sarcasm for the slow ones out there). Besides all that the flights weren’t all that bad, just boring.

My family is really cool. It consists of Mette who is my host-mom, Jakob who is my host-dad, Jonas who is my thirteen year old host-brother, and Anne Sofie who is my host-sister. Unfortunately they have been having trouble with Mette’s parents who have apparently gone insane. Her dad is paralyzed on the left side of his body and her mom is not well in the head. Our house is really cool though. We live on a hill and it is really hard to explain. It is a two story house but since we are on a hill you have to go up to the second story to get to the back yard. It is so beautiful though because the first day as I walked out on the balcony I looked out over the protected forest in the middle of my neighborhood (I know it’s hard to imagine but try) and I found myself not able to look away from it. It is on the country side I guess you could say but it is like five minutes bike ride to the city which is really cool. The train systems are also incredibly amazing. I still can’t believe that I can hop on one and in thirty minutes be in the center of Copenhagen WHEN EVER I WANT. It is truly an experience.

The day after I got here I had to go to language school which was not that bad. I got to meet all the kids in the district and we are all really good friends now. Despite the distance between us we can get to each other so easily. By train it’s like ten minutes to anyone’s town. The cool thing is that our language school is in COPENHAGEN. How crazy is that? It is so cool. When we first started the language school we had it for two weeks straight until we went to a language camp for a week and now we only have it on Tuesdays and Thursdays for four more months which is so great because it gives you a break from regular school and all the exchange students get to hang out. Almost every day after language school my host dad and two host brothers took me around Copenhagen and showed me all the sights. We also saw Bill Gates’ boat with a helicopter on top of it too. It was crazy big and I couldn’t believe he had it in Denmark haha. Copenhagen is truly a wonderful city and so beautiful. I am so glad they have put all the work forth that they have to preserve it. After a week of that though my host brother Mathias left to go to Wisconsin and I officially took over his room. Anyways let me tell you about the language camp.

The language camp was in Jutland and was the best. The train ride there was a little hectic and I feel bad for the train employees because it was a bunch of kids stuck in the back of the train cart cramping everyone because we all wanted to meet each other but it was out of my hands. Because I and all the other exchange students in my district all had gone to language school I didn’t learn much that was new but it was still great. I think I learned more about the culture than anything. Every night was like a party haha because all the Brasilians through dance parties. Of course I had to show everyone my skills but I tried not to embarrass anyone too much but I may have haha. All the exchange students became really good friends during the week and we were all sad to see everyone leave but we knew it couldn’t last forever. Everyday though we all had huge beach volleyball games and they had these sauna things at the school too haha. The train ride back was surprisingly more pleasant because each district was split up in its own group. It was some nice relaxation.

I started school the next day after I got back. It is really cool and all the kids are really nice. Although I am so confused on which classes I take but fortunately I don’t really have to do much, just one worksheet in each class pretty much. We get like twenty million breaks in school though it’s crazy. The way they set up their schedule is also crazy. I don’t get it at all. I have to check online everyday to find out what classes I have although I have no clue where they are. Fortunately I have made a couple of friends and they show me around and help me out. The kids are all really cool and I can see myself becoming really good friends with them. The school system here is so different and can you believe the school throws the kids parties, talk about culture shock. How crazy is that? I almost couldn’t believe it myself but apparently they do. I am going to one tonight. I’m just starting my life here and getting into a routine because I have been busy with the tourist things and the language school and language camp; it is like I haven’t really started living here until this week came and I started going to school. To me this is when my exchange begins. I hope all the other exchange students are having a wonderful time in their countries and I wish everyone back in America well.

December 6 Journal

 Well, it’s been about three months since my last journal. I guess all I can say is sorry – feel free to e-mail and yell at me.

Well, let’s get down to business. Denmark is awesome. I have wonderful friends here, the language is coming along nicely, and I don’t want to leave. It’s so weird because when I got here I had a completely different feeling of Denmark but now it just feels right. It is so hard to explain and I guess you have to be an exchange student or at least go to another country for a while to understand. For the people reading this and thinking about whether they want to be an exchange student stop thinking and start acting. It is only one year out of your whole life and you won’t regret it.

As of right now everything is going good. My only problem is my school wants to switch me into another class and I really don’t want to. They put me in second year at my gymnasium and I should have been in the first year to begin with but there were no open spaces in the first year. Now there is an open space and they want to switch me. I love my class and everyone is so cool in it and I really don’t want to have to make friends all over again or anything like that. But I think I will be able to stay in the class I am in now so I am not worrying about it.

I have recently switched host families and my new host family is great. We get along so well and it is nice not having younger siblings in the house that I have to put up with. I have a 16 year old brother named Jeppe and a 15 year old sister named Mette.

OK rewind to about two and a half months ago. I got a call from my counsellor saying that there was a weekend in Sweden so I thought great I’ll go. Then I remembered oh yea Glenn is in Sweden I wonder if she will be at the rotary get together thing. Turns out she was. What a small world. I though that was pretty weird. We had fun on the weekend, we even took a six hour hike through the woods. Yea the walking part sucked but the Swedish forest is absolutely amazing. We went to this gorge thing where there were these massive rocks just lingering over your head just waiting to fall, it was probably the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life.

Rotary has been awesome to us here, they even threw us a thanksgiving dinner for us. It wasn’t like home but close enough and the turkey was damn good. The Rotex for here even threw us a Halloween weekend. All the exchange students in Denmark went to Holbæk which is a beach town on the middlewester coast of Zealand. We had this huge costume party and some Brazilian guy dressed up as a transvestite and won the award for best costume so that was pretty funny. We explored the city and had a huge indoor hockey tournament. My team didn’t lose a match but the catch is we just tied all of them. The funny thing though is that these three Canadians that play hockey couldn’t beat us so we rubbed that in their faces and it made for some good jokes afterwards.

After Sweden and Holbæk I was talking to some of my friends and they were like oh did you hear that the MTV European awards is going to be here. So we went and got tickets for them. You had to try out to get the tickets though. It was probably the most embarrassing thing I have ever done but it was worth it. Me and my friend got front row to where the bands were playing but it was really crowded and everyone would not stop pushing everyone around.

Those are pretty much the big things that have been happening. I have just been living my life here and loving it. Oh and I found a baseball club here too, which is extremely rare from what I’ve been told. Thank you Rotary for making this possible.

April 1 Journal

 Hej, how’s everyone doing? Well I’m doing great. Well, better than I was. It’s been awhile so I have a lot to tell you but not as much I should have. Well here is what’s been going on.

When January came around after Christmas break I was starting to feel a little crappy. Is this homesickness? No it couldn’t be – I knew I had gotten over it a while ago. Then what is this, I feel like crap all the time. Well, two weeks passed and I hadn’t been to school much because I was feeling sick. I got a call from the lady at my school that handles the exchange students and she said that she had finally decided to switch my classes because I was supposed to be a first year from the beginning and I wasn’t really doing anything in my second year class. So I went to visit my first year class and I met them and they seemed really cool. I started feeling light headed and I thought I was just nervous but I knew that couldn’t be it because I have basically gotten over any public things that make me nervous so that doesn’t happen anymore. I finally knew I had to go to the doctor’s office when I went to the principal’s office and passed out in a chair.

The next day my host mom took me to the doctor’s office and they took some blood tests and said I had a minor infection which they said was no big deal. But they wanted to test me for mono too. I ended up having to take myself back to the doctor’s about a week later which was less than fun and get a blood test. Well, it turns out that I had mono and that “minor infection” they were talking about was actually a pretty big sinus infection. So that put me out of action for about 2 months. My tongue was swollen I couldn’t bend my head back or forth because there was so much pressure in my head that it hurt to do that. My throat was on fire. I barely ate anything. I basically laid there in agony for two months. It basically was the worst time in my life.

I finally got over that though and have been having a great time. My host families have been somewhat messed up. My second family had dropped out on me so I moved in with a last minute family which I think I have already told y’all. But then their next door neighbor’s daughter became anorexic so they had to take in their neighbor’s other daughter while the anorexic one went to Odense for therapy for a month. So I had to leave, so there was room for the other daughter. My third family wasn’t ready for me and because I still had mono I was less than desirable to have. I would have stayed with my counselor but he was in Austria for a week. So I was going to stay with the club president but he changed his mind at the last second.

I ended up staying on a farm for a week with two of the coolest people I have met. It was a great place to rest up and so relaxing. They had two hunting dogs that were so well trained they would do anything and they kept me company. I even got to drive a tractor almost everyday. The guy at the house whose name is Jens took me to his mom’s old summer house which is one of few that are right on the beach with a private beach. It was awesome. Even though it was winter we had a great time walking up and down the beach with the two dogs looking for sharks’ teeth and just messing around. I even got to sleep in this humongous bed which is completely different from the usually 3 and a half foot wide bed.

After that week I moved in with my counselor Erik. He lives in probably the coolest town I have ever seen in my life. Okay to start, it’s a small town on the north coast of Nordsjælland. It’s a small town so everyone knows each other. It’s right on the beach with a nice harbor and my counselor even has a small boat we fish off of. His house is on a hill about a ten minute walk from the beach looking over the whole town and the town’s lake. Waking up in the morning and going out on his deck and peering out over the sunny town and the golden lake is probably the best way of starting your day that I can think of. He is even part of the local boat club so if we go out on the boat we usually go back up to the club house and sit down at the bar and talk it up with everyone.

I was a little depressed to find out that I was going to be moving from there in about two weeks to my third host family. Well, I had a London trip in the middle of March and my counselor decided that after that I would move to my third family. I talked to him about how I would only have basically a month and a half there because my Euro Tour is in the middle of May and asked if I could stay at his house. As luck would have it, his wife and son wanted me to stay too, so I get to stay in that town for the rest of my stay here which is probably the best news I’ve gotten since hearing about Euro Tour.

Well, speaking about my London trip, it was awesome. I had to wake up at about three in the morning and left the house at four to go down to Copenhagen Airport. Needless to say I was a little tired. Our plane left at about 7:20 and we got there around 8:50. I had to stand in the non-EU line for about two hours because of all the people coming back home from spring break but I was too excited to care. We checked into our hotel which was in the middle of London by Queensway and Bayswater station. We had everything around us so we were in a perfect spot. We saw everything from Buckingham Palace to The London Bridge.

We flew back from about a week of being there and I was tired. The most sleep I got a night was at a max of five hours. I was ready to just pass out completely. After my London trip my counselor informed me that he was going on a cruise in the Caribbean and that I was going to stay with the second family that dropped out on me. I was at first very displeased with this because I didn’t want to stay with the people that decided they didn’t want to have me. But I’m here now and have been for about four days and everything is ok. I’m relaxing on my Easter vacation and enjoying the warm weather that has finally arrived in Denmark. Yes the high 50’s is warm weather to me now. I hope all the other exchange students are having a great time. I miss you all.

September 4 Journal & Pictures
It’s about 6:30ish in the morning in France and I feel this rush of anxious excitement and “Am I really here,” shared by the 30 or so exchange students getting off the plane. We’re greeted by a large group of Rotarians who start speaking rapid fire French to us, to which we promptly forget that one French phrase we’d practiced over and over again on the plane. I find my counselor, who luckily speaks English, and get through the preliminary questions about baggage. Then, after a two hour drive and a quick meal with my host club, I meet my host family at their/our house in Yzeure.
My town is actually three towns by name, but one town by proximity. I live in Yzeure, one of the three towns of Moulins. My host family is really sweet and my host Mom has dedicated herself to making me fluent in French. She works on my pronunciation for about 30 minutes a day if she can. This past week has not only been my first week in the country, but also the last week of Summer Vacation here in France. My host mom, who is a school nurse, has taken me on a whirlwind of activities I won’t be able to do during the school year. So far I’ve gone on a kayak/canoe trip, gone to an American Jazz concert (which is apparently very popular here), gone a horse and cart ride (which my host father drove), gone on some escapades with my host family, signed up for my classes at school (10 of them!), went to a traditional French Dance, and visited a Town called Vichy. Like I said, a whirlwind.

Vichy was interesting. They have this water there that is suppose to help you, health wise. My host mom had me try all the different types, which there were about 8, while she said, “This one helps with digestion” or “this one helps the pancreas” and so on. They all tasted like metallic, warm, tap water to me, so it was nice to hear my host mom tell me that most young people aren’t particularly fond of the taste either. The traditional dancing was also a lot of fun. Apparently, the Traditional Dance for France if a mix of the Waltz, the Polka, and Line Dancing. Well I know how to Waltz and Line Dance, but the Polka was difficult!

I haven’t had much culture shock yet, past the showers being so different. I think my biggest change so far has been me getting a cat. Yes, a cat. On my first full day in France I go on a horse and cart ride with my host family and in the woods we find these baby kittens someone has dumped. Well my family takes pity on them and me and my host sister beg them into taking one home to be our cat. They asked me to name it, and after much deliberation, I choose Florida, since it’s where I’m from and my host family’s daughter, Hélène, is staying. It’s absolutely adorable!

I also start school tomorrow and I have to say I’m nervous and excited. According to my family, I speak French OK, but my comprehension…well… that’s still coming along! Still, I’m excited to find out what this year has in store for me through places and experiences!

Hope everything is going good with all my comrades at the different parts of the world also!

Brianna

November 19 Journal
Monday you end at 4pm, Tuesday at 6pm, Wednesday at 9am (but come back for 1 to 3), Thursday at 3:30pm, and Friday at 5pm. And you start every morning at 8am, except Thursday. Then, lucky you, you start at 9am…
Welcome to the French School System, which is more confusing than I could have imagined. For a few weeks I didn’t even know I was missing a class and often I find my class has changed rooms. Also “Gym” class here, I found, doesn’t mean basketball, Ping-Pong, volleyball, or even normal athletics. It means gymnasium for the gymnast… Like the Olympics. Very Different.

Life is good, though, here in France. My host family keeps me busy with weekend trips to Lyon, traditional dancing, hiking, and movies. I went to a film festival in my town and really liked it. My host mom bought me a ticket for ten entrees plus a cine-concert, and the final film. I saw three sets of short films, 4 foreign films, 3 French films, and 1 Belgium Film, which I preferred. Quite funny.

Also the vacation just finished. My host mom kept me busy in the countryside for most of it. The first Thursday and Friday of it I walked around some small towns near Clermont Ferrand with my host family…. And hiked a Volcano. Yes a Volcano. There are actually three chains of Volcanoes in France… All relative close together and all relatively close to me… And all inactive and gorgeous. The one I hiked was called “Le Puy de Dome” and it’s 1465 meters tall. The following Saturday and Sunday were filled with family Birthday’s and the Monday I spent biking around and visiting my town. That Tuesday I went to a small Halloween party with a few friends. It was fun, consisting of face painting, eating, dancing a lot, playing charades, and singing karaoke with out the words. I then went hiking in the countryside for three days with my host mom and aunt. We hiked a lot of small mountains (or at least mountains to me) and another Volcano, “Le Puy Mary”, which is 1787 meters. The first time I hated it, but now I actually like hiking. The last two days of the vacation I rested because I caught a cold, which has luckily disappeared now.

But, alas, as I said the vacation is over and school has recommenced. This means people asking me for corrections on their English and political conversations. Politics are hot here with the change in politics in America and the upcoming election here. People often ask me my opinion here on the American politics, to which I carefully choose my response and often choose the route of “I don’t really like politics” to avoid a debate that would be very difficult for me. Though I understand most now, it’s still hard to talk. But, day by day, it’s getting better.

Now I look forward to Noel and cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. I explained Thanksgiving to them and they liked the idea of celebrating it with me so they can understand it better. I have to say, as good as French food is, I’m looking forward to Pumpkin Pie.

Speaking of food, I’ve gained weight here, so I’m now biking to school. It’s hard to resist French chocolate, and French bread. And Cheese. Yes, the strong cheese that I actually dreaded when I arrived, I now love. I guess that’s the difference. I’m changing here, but not in any dramatic ways or all of a sudden, but little things little by little. I like cooking, walking the dog, and hiking. I can actually clean the house without leaving soap suds behind. I understand things that I never thought I would in French. I’ve adapted to the French way of life and love it…

“Je suis contente de ma vie.”

January 31 Journal
Host dad pulls jokes on me all the time!
January: It’s finally happened! One week ago I wake up and my thoughts are something like “It’s the weekend! No it’s Tuesday. I hate Tuesday’. Blah. It’s such a long day. What’s that I smell? It smells like wet dog. I bet it’s the dog. Or maybe some old socks. Etc, etc.” You get the gist. I stumble out of bed and, after dragging myself into the hallway next to the door to the outside, my host dad asks me if I’ve looked outside today. My thought: “No of course I haven’t. I just woke up.” He then opens my door.

A slight gust of wind blows in and I look outside and one word fills my head. It has first filled the outside, and continued to fill the outside for the ENTIRE day. It trickles down quickly to my mouth as I (some what scream) the words: NNNNNNEEEEIIIIGGGGEEEEE! (Which translates into: SSSSSSSSNNNNOOOOWWWWW!) I made snow balls, had snow fights, made snow angels, and tried to make a snowman… All without gloves, since I’d forgotten them at home.

End of the day comes at 6pm and I wait outside the school for my host mom. The busses aren’t running, too much snow. Though aren’t running today either. Anyways, I wait for 40 minutes, and my excitement for the snow has died out. I now just want it to stop. It doesn’t, of course. I try calling my host mom’s cell. No answer. I call the house. My sister answers: “The car isn’t working, can you catch a ride?” My response: “Everyone’s gone.”

“Then you’re going to have to walk home. Sorry.” That’s a 20 to 30 minute walk. I’m freezing. So I stop into my counselor’s house, who lives in town, and ask for a ride. They say yes, thankfully, and I get home around 8pm. Anyways, because of all the snow I officially had my first snow day. :D! I was very, very happy. Yeah for Snow!

Then last weekend I spent the weekend with Rotary! It was so much fun to spend the weekend with all my different Rotary friends again, seeing how we’ve changed, and meeting the Rotex here! I met two old exchange students who went to District 6970 (one in Jacksonville, one in Gainesville). But I have to say my high point of the weekend was when I arrived and got to spend some time with my exchange sister, Emma Roux! She looked so different! I only stayed with her for 30 minutes, because she had to go, so I didn’t get a picture of her. But I’m hoping to spend a week with her in April!!!

The saddest thing that happened is my host sister in my new family just left for a year in Canada. That was sad, because I really got attached to her. But I’m hoping to see her this summer and she says she’ll try and make a trip down to Florida at some point…. Still it was hard to see her go.

I have now been here 5 months, though it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long. I’m starting to think about when I’m going home now and it’s a scary thought! I don’t want to leave! I’ve heard other exchange students say that before, but it never felt so real until now…

But I must think of other things, and there are plenty of other things to think about. Oh la vie, la vie … la vie of a Rotary Exchange Student…. A year that is unforgettable.

A bientôt !

Brianna

June 1 Journal & Pictures
Every day I walk to the same school, go to the same classes, see the same people. I know what stores I like, which clubs have the best reputations, and where to go when I need a quite place. I know the local sport teams, the market workers, and the local political subjects. I know about cheese, bread, and wine tasting. If someone stopped me on the street, except for my “petite accent”, they would think I’ve lived here my whole life…
And every evening when I open my window to close my shutters, and I hear the bids singing and I feel the spring wind, and see the cute house tops of the neighbors, I think: “Do I really have to leave this in two months?”

Yes, my dear readers, I have fallen into the typical Exchange Student pitfall – not only have I fallen in love with my country, I feel like I am French. I’m having the typical mixed feelings of wanting to come home and see my family and friends and at the same time not wanting to leave. I’m nervous about being accepted by my friends, knowing I’ve changed and that they must have too. And, in the middle of all this confusion inside my mind, trying to stay concentrated for the end of the year exams. Life, as usual in May, has been hectic.

My days are filled with reviewing for the final exams, theatre, and “football”. I am currently performing the theatre here with a local troupe. We have four shows, total, and my family, who came to see me about two weeks ago, even got a chance to see one. They were very surprised to see me performing the theatre…In French! And yes, this sports-hating, theatre girl has now become a soccer fan. I now often help my little brothers, ages 8 and 12, with soccer practice, before heading to my accordion lessons.

I am also with my third, and final, family now and quite happy. They treat me as one of the family. I even got a birthday card from my “French Grandparents”, that I’ve never even met, who said that “Our daughter considers you her daughter. She loves you very much. Therefore, we are your grandparents”… Yes, I’ve had a “successful” exchange – a new family, life long friends, and a new country that I now call home. I often get asked, now, “When are you coming back?” And, as much as I’m looking forward to my return to the US and continuing my life there, I answer:

“Soon. Very Soon. Now that I know the France, how can I live with out it?”