September 15
 At this moment I'm in Florida for six weeks and I'm feeling
home here. But before I left Germany I had a lot of doubts, like if this going
to be a great year or not or will I be homesick or not. When I was on the
airplane I asked myself if this is a good idea. Why do I leave all my friends
and especially why do I leave my family? I love them so much. Why am I doing
this? I had no real answer for this anymore. I thought I was stupid. But as soon
as I arrived at Jacksonville airport and met my first host family and Al Kalter
I knew again why I'm doing this and I knew that this is going to be a great
year. Everybody was so nice to me that all my doubts went away.
This day is over six weeks ago. Now I'm feeling as if I'm for
longer than only six weeks. I'm a part of my host family now. They are my
family. During the last one and a half month I saw so many new and exciting
places. I made so many different experiences and I made friends with people all
over the world, like with the other Rotary Exchange students from Brazil,
France, Italy, Ecuador and even Thailand! And of course all the people at my
school. It's just fantastic!
I want to say "Thank you" to all people that made it
possible for me to be an exchange student, because I'm very glad that I have the
opportunity. I knew a lot of kids don't have the chance to be an exchange
student. So if you have the chance, take this chance. I really enjoy to stay in
Florida. I'm sure that the whole year will be as wonderful as the first six
weeks, even if I know there will be days that won't be good and there will be
days on which I'll miss my family and friends very much, but all this
"bad" moments belong to all the other good moments, too! It's just
normal to have good and bad days in a life!!!!!
October 16
It's amazing, I'm in Florida for about ten weeks right now.
And I didn't even realize that it is this long, the time really seems to fly!
But I'm so busy, there are so many things to do! I mean I have Volleyball practice
or a Volleyball game almost every day right after school. And on the weekends
there are also so many things to do. One weekend for example I went to Ale's
house and met a lot of the other exchange students and other people, because she
had a party. So we had so much fun with learning Brazilian and South American
dances or just talking about our experiences as an exchange student. I think we
only slept four hours, because there were so many to talk about. The next day we
went to the airport to pick up Aye who finally arrived which is great, because
it would be very sad if she would miss this wonderful opportunity. And we would
miss her, too.
The weekend after that I went to a Jaguars game with my
counselor Carolin. It was the first game ever for both of us and it was great!
We had so much fun and the Jaguars played very good (that's a fact we can tell,
even if we couldn't understand the rules!!! :-) )
But the Jaguars game was not the only thing for me that was
new. Last weekend we had the Homecoming Dance at my school. That was really
exciting for me, because we don't have things like Homecoming in Germany. The
entire week was fun. Everyday we dressed for a special theme and on Thursday
there was a Senior auction where you could buy a senior for one day and on
Friday morning we had games. On Friday night we had the real Homecoming soccer
game which fortunately St. Johns (my school) won!!! Between the game they also
crowned the Homecoming Queen. On Saturday night I had my first Homecoming Dance
and it was really interesting. Each grade had a special theme, for example my
grade had "Cowboys and Indians". So there were Cowboys, Indians,
Rapper, Superstars and many more. I had a lot of fun. I can say even if we don't
have Homecoming in Germany, the parties and the music and the fact that
everybody has a lot of fun at such parties is the same - in the U.S. and
Germany!
At this moment I want to say "Thank you" to all Rotarian who make it
possible for me to have a great year; to my host family who is always there for
me; to my family in Germany; and to all my friends (in the U.S., in Germany and
all the other exchange students)!!!!!!!!!!!
Kathy
December 20
Hello
everybody!!!!
It has been a long time, I didn't write anything (Al is already mad! No, I'm
just kidding!!!) Since my last entry a lot of things happened. I changed my host
family the first time, there was Thanksgiving, I had birthday and I went to
Disney World (two times!!!!!!!!). But let's go in an order.
It was the last weekend in October when I changed my host family. I thought
it is going to be very hard. I mean you have to leave all the people you already
know and start all over again. But my "new" host family was so nice
from the first second on (even though the first week it was weird to have
brothers. In Germany I only have one sister and now three brothers). But now
that I'm living with them for almost two months, I'm really sad that I have to
leave them again.
:-( But that's the program and I already met my other families and they all seem
to be very nice. And just because you're not living with one family anymore,
that doesn't mean that you won't see them again. I'm glad that I still have a
good relationship to my first host family, even though I left their house weeks
ago!!!
A few weeks later, after I changed my host family, there was Thanksgiving.
That was pretty exciting for me, because I had never celebrated Thanksgiving
before. I mean we have something that's called Thanksgiving, but it is not comparable
to the Thanksgiving here. On Thanksgiving day, the 28th of November, I went with
my family to Fernandina Beach to one of my host mom's sisters. But we were not
the only part of the family that went there. Almost all the sisters of my host
mom and their families came. So we were around 30 people. It was just fantastic.
I had so much fun and everybody treated me as I would really be their cousin,
niece or granddaughter. I felt like a real family member!!!!!!!!! We watched the
Thanksgiving Football game, went to Fernandina Beach and walked around, and
after that we started to eat. There were so much good food. We had turkey, green
beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes and so on. The typical Thanksgiving meal!!! ( I
guess everybody gained weight!!!! :-))
The day after Thanksgiving there was my birthday. And I really had a great
birthday. Not only because I got so many cards for my birthday from all my
friends and family in Germany, also because my family here was so nice. Almost everybody
who was at Thanksgiving in Fernandina Beach, came to our house that day. They
all sung for me a birthday song, gave me a huge ice cream cake with candles that
go on again when you blow them out (seriously it took me forever till all
candles were blown out!!!!!) and we just had a lot of fun. My host brothers
sprayed this nasty stuff at me, you know that stuff that comes in spray cans and
it is like thin spaghettis. (if you don't know what I mean, that doesn't
matter!!!!) :-) I just had a great birthday in the middle of my "family".
A couple days after my birthday I went to Disney with all the other exchange
students. That was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all had so much
fun!!! And everybody made tons of new friends from all over the world that are
living all over in Florida from Jacksonville down to Miami. I would say after
this weekend everybody was so exhausted, but still glad that we all had such a
good time. Nobody could walk anymore, but that was ok. :-) During the days
everybody tried to see as much of Disney World as you possible could and during
the nights we just had little "parties" in our hotel rooms, went to
Pleasure Island to go clubbing or just talked the entire night. (I know from a
few that they didn't go to bed at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I wanna say thank you to all
Rotarians who were involved of getting this fantastic trip
organized!!!!!!!!!!!!! It must have been a lot of work. Thank
you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After all this big "events" in November and at the beginning of December
there were still a lot of things that kept and still keep me busy. I went on a
two-day trip with my soccer team (Oh yes, I totally forgot. I started to play
soccer. I've never played soccer before in my entire life, but I have a lot of
fun. It's a great sport), I went to Disney World again, but this time with the
St. Johns Singers (my school choir). We performed with a couple other choirs for
the candlelight procession at Epcot. That was a lot of fun, even I we couldn't
walk anymore after we had to stand and walk around for hours!!! The next day we
got to go to Magic Kingdom for free, that was the "payment" therefore
that we sung. That was even more fun and I finally could see the rest of the
Magic Kingdom that I couldn't see the first time.
And now I'm just happy that we have Christmas break. I mean I like to go to
school, but it's nice if you don't have to go and do all the homework and
stuff!!! :-) And I'm so excited that I go to Atlanta for Christmas to another
sister of my host mom and afterwards we go to Washington D.C. I'm sure that this
is going to be a great trip!!!
I wish everybody a merry, merry Christmas and a happy new year!!!!!!!!!!!
April 4
Now
it is more then 3 months ago that I wrote the last time. And I'm really sorry
about that, I was so busy. I could never find the time. :-(
Anyways, a lot of things (really, really good and bad things) happened. It
started that almost all of the exchange students in this district (me included)
went to a huge Rotary Lunch with the Rotary International President in January.
That was a lot of fun. We got to meet and talk to him. And I have to say he is
really a great man and very good International President who loves what his job.
Two days after this meeting I had to move to my third family. First I was
very sad that I had to leave my second family, because I really, really liked
them. But it turned out very good for me and I like my third family as much as I
liked my other family. At first it was a little weird for me, because suddenly I
was the only child ( young adult :-) !!!) in the house and I actually never had
been the only child. I mean in Germany I have a younger sister, but I didn't
remember how it is to be the only child and here in the USA I had younger
siblings in both of my first two families. But my host parents gave me the
feeling that I'm their daughter from the first day on. And that made me feel so
much at home that didn't wanna move when I was supposed to. And thanks to all
people who arranged it for me to stay a month longer with this family!!!! This
month is over now and tomorrow I'm gonna move to my fourth and last family, and
even though I know that I'm gonna miss this family for sure I'm also excited to
move, because from tomorrow on I'll have an older sister. I think that's gonna
be really interesting for me, because I always have been an older sibling and my
next host sister has always been an only child.
Anyways, this whole family changing was not the only thing that happened the
last month. There were also several trips went on. First of all there was the
trip to the Florida Keys with all the other exchange students in Florida on the
last weekend of January. That was such a great trip!!! You had to be there to
understand what we are talking about. Besides us exchange students there were
also a group of juniors and seniors from a high school in Michigan. And we had
so much fun and made a lot of new friends. The weather was awesome (I had never
swum in an ocean in January before :-)) and everybody was really sad when first
the people from Michigan, and then a few hours later, we had to leave. But even
for us, the people from district 6970 the trip was not over now. Although Gary
and Rob (our chaperones) knew it would take us forever to get home again, they
decided to take us to Key West. So we went to Key West for a couple of hours and
had lunch at the famous restaurant "Sloppy Joe's" So, finally we
arrived (very late) at Sunday night in Jacksonville again.
The weekend after the Sea Camp I went to Miami with my host parents. We went
there to visit their son and daughter-in-law and their little grandchild. That
was great. One day they took their time to show me Fort Lauderdale beach and
Miami Beach and the other day we went to a huge Outlet Mall shopping. I tell
you, we saw a third of this Mall and we were so exhausted!!!!
A little bit later, at the last weekend in February we had the USA/Canada
Rotary Youth Exchange Conference. Besides us, the Florida exchange students,
there were also a few other exchange students from other parts of the US and
hundreds of Rotarian from all over the world. For me it was really funny,
because I finally met my chairman from Germany. I had never met him before
because our district sends and hosts so many exchange students each year, so he
was just too busy, but now I know him. :-) We exchange students actually didn't
have that much to do. The first day we went to Sea World (FUN!!!!!) and the next
day we went shopping on the International Drive. But the second day we also had
a session which was fun too and also we had to rehearse, because at night we had
to sing in front of all the Rotarians at a huge banquet. We didn't sing that
good, but everybody just was so touched by it and at the end all the Rotarians
stood up and sung with us!!! It was GREAT!!!! And a lot of us (me included) had
to cry, because it was so touching and great!!!!
But besides the trips there were other things that changed my life. As few of
you know I played volleyball during fall and soccer during winter, but that was
all over now. And I started a total new sport for me which we don't even have in
Germany. I started to play softball. And I have so much fun doing it. The team I'm
on is very nice and the coaches helped me a lot to improve my play very quick.
And after a week of practice I had to play an entire game as a first base
player, because our first base player and a lot of other girls were gone on a
trip. Anyways I guess I did good, because since that point on I'm the first
player and play every game. I just love that sport, but I'm sad too, because I
know that there is only half a season left and then I'll never get the chance
again to play softball!!! So I enjoy every single day of it!!!!!
The one bad thing that happened (I mentioned it at the very beginning of this
journal) was that the war with Iraq actually started. I have to say that I'm
very lucky that nobody ever said anything to me (because I'm from Germany, a
country that doesn't really support the US). But my real mother in Germany still
was very worried about me and wanted me to come home right now. But luckily I
could convince her that I would never go home now. I just love it here too much
to go back earlier!!!! And now finally she understands me and is okay with my decision!!!
:-)
Well, I guess this is pretty much everything special that happened during my
last few months. But actually I was so busy, I could write so much more about
what I did!!! But first of all that would take forever and I think I'm just
gonna write another journal another day!!!
April 4 - New York City Journal & Pictures
This
is a journal about a trip I went on with Ling last week. We both went to
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY!!!!!!!!!!!! And we had an AWESOME time.
It started that we went on an airplane to Pittsburgh on Wednesday morning
(26th of March). At the airport in Pittsburgh an exchange student from that
district there picked us up. But we had to wait for six more exchange students (Mayuko,
Kathi and Celine, all from Florida districts, and three girls from a district in
North Carolina) that we had to pick up. I think it was 4.30 pm when we finally
left the airport. From the airport we went to a Mall, because the bus to New
York wouldn't leave until 8 pm. Before we actually went to the bus the Rotarian
who took us to the bus drove us into downtown Pittsburgh and showed us
Pittsburgh at night. The rest of the night we spent on the bus which stopped
several times to pick up more and more exchange students all over in
Pennsylvania. It was fun on the bus, but we couldn't really sleep and were very
tired when we finally arrived right outside New York at 6.00 am to have
breakfast.
At the breakfast we also met the most of the other exchange students, because
there was another bus. But we still were not all. We should meet even more
exchange students in Manhattan itself. From the breakfast we went directly to
Battery Park from where we took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. I have to
say that that was the point when I finally believed that I was actually there -
in Manhattan. We spent ca. a hour at the Statue of Liberty (she is much smaller
than you always think if you see here in movies) until we left to go to Ellis
Island. At Ellis Island is a museum about the history of immigration to the
United States which is a really good museum. At 2.00 pm we met again at Battery
Park to walk first to the Wall Street and from there to Ground Zero. I thought
it was very depressing to be at Ground Zero and to think about this horrible day
the World Trade Center was destroyed. After we were there for a little bit, we
took the subway to our hotel where we finally arrived at 4.30 pm.
By now we met all the other exchange students and we were a huge group. We
were almost a hundred exchange students from every continent of this earth!!!
After we showered and unpacked we went for dinner and from there directly to the
Empire State Building. I think it was 9.30 pm when we were on top of the Empire
State Building and it was already dark (of course). It was a great view over the
city with all the lights everywhere. When we came down from the Empire State
Building we had time to explore the area on our hotel on our own. But the most
of us went back to the hotel pretty soon. But even on the way back to the hotel
you saw a lot. Our hotel (which was a very fancy one) was on Times Square,
Broadway. That was really cool, because you were in the middle of everything.
On the second day (Friday) we first went to the headquarters of the United
Nations and got a guided tour through the building. That was really interesting,
too. At noon I would say we went to the South Street Seaport and walked around
there and had lunch. Later at 4.00 pm we went to Rockefeller Center and from
there on everybody did something different (actually almost everybody went
shopping) I was with a bunch of people who went to the store H&M. I don't
know if most of you guys know what that is. It's a clothing store which is
really famous in Europe (or at least Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France,
Belgium). I have to say it's my favorite store, I go there all the time in
Germany. But anyways. At 6.00 pm we had to be back at the hotel to get ready for
the evening. We went to see a Broadway musical. Everybody could make wishes
which musical he/she wanted to see. The choices were "The Lion King",
"The Phantom of the Opera", "Aida" and "Urinetown"
. And I actually got my first choice!!!! I went to see "The Lion
King". And I really can't possibly describe how good it was!!!!!!!!!! It
was so AWESOME that I cried!!!!!!!!!!! After the play went with a group of
people to the Madison Square Garden, but at that point (it was already 11.30 pm)
there was nothing. So we went back to the Times Square and Broadway and spent
the rest of the night (until 2.00 am when we had to be back at the hotel) there.
We had really so much fun.
On Saturday morning we went to Central Park and had breakfast there.
Afterwards we made a tour through the Park. It is really amazing. You are in
this huge Park and everything is green and so on, but you can see the
skyscrapers in the back. That was weird but cool, too. Before we left Central
Park we also saw Strawberry Fields and the house where John Lennon was shot.
From there we went to Chinatown and had the rest of the afternoon just for us.
The little group I was in had lunch in Chinatown first and walked a little bit
around until we decided to leave Chinatown and just walk back to Broadway. For
those you haven't been to Manhattan yet, that is quite a way. And we didn't walk
straight. We walked a little bit through Little Italy and So Ho and saw several
other sights before we went shopping to Macy's. But you know what. We didn't
even like Macy's that much. I mean it is very famous, but for us it was just too
HUGE. I would never find anything there!!!! So we just made our way back to the
hotel. Unfortunately it started raining so when we reached the hotel after hours
of walking we totally soaked!!! We just had time to get ready before we started
a Scavenger Hunt. We were divided in teams of 9 persons and every group had its
own limousine. (yes, that's right: I said limousine!!!!!) that was so much fun
to have your own driver and to drive around Manhattan in a limo!!!! After this
activity we had the rest of the night (till 2.00 am) on our own. So we took a
chance and walked around the area we stayed. That was nice. But I can tell you.
I couldn't walk anymore. My feet and knees hurt so bad!!!!
On our last day (Sunday) we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the
morning. That was a nice experience, too. But to see the whole museum you have
to be there a week. It is just too big. After a lunch it was already time to say
goodbye to our new friends that we made over the weekend. That was really sad,
even though you didn't even talk to everybody because we were so many, there
were a few that became really good friends. But we exchanged our cards and pins
and I'm sure we will never forget the GREAT time we had together!!!!!!! The rest
of that day we spent in the bus to back to Pittsburgh. Whereas all the others
went home, we girls from Florida and the three girls from North Carolina spent
the night at a Rotarian's house, because we wouldn't fly back to our cities
until the next day. In the morning we brought Mayuko and the three girls from
North Carolina to the airport, because their planes left earlier. The after four
of us (Ling, Kathi, Celine and Me) went to downtown Pittsburgh with the woman we
spent the night at. So she showed us a little bit of Pittsburgh until it was
time for us to go back to the airport to fly back. So at 10.00 pm Ling and I
finally arrived at Jacksonville Airport (totally exhausted). And we had an
AWESOME time, but we were also glad to back with our families here and glad that
we could finally sleep a little bit :-)!!!!!
June 9 - A camping trip, a high school prom, and more
It's
been a long time since I wrote the last time. It has been a little bit more than
2 months. And in those two months I experienced so much new stuff and did so
many things. It is amazing. Five days after my last journal (April 9th) I
changed to my fourth and last host family and even though I was very sad about
leaving my third family to which I got very close I also was excited. Because
now I have an older sister that goes to my school, has a lot of friends and is
always very fun. Actually I almost have two host sisters because Jackie, her
best friend (remember Jackie? She went to France last year), is always at our
house. :-) And we have so much fun together. For example, we went to a concert
down to Orlando. We saw O.A.R. and it was great!!! I don't know how many of you
know O.A.R.?! I didn't until that concert, but I had a fantastic time. It is
just great to have somebody almost your age to hang out with and who takes you
everywhere. :-)
A few weeks later I went on the camping trip with a couple the other exchange
students. And we really had a good time (even though we didn't really camp -- we
slept in a house, because of the rain) :-) We went canoeing, had a barbecue and
a fire, we ate marshmallows and talked almost the entire night (although our
chaperones wanted to sleep)!!! :-)
From May 16th till Friday 18th I was at the District Conference in Savannah,
Georgia. Even though I was the only exchange student that went I had a blast!!!
My club president Helen Williford had invited me to come with ca. 20 other
people from my host club (Rotary Club of Orange Park). I attended a bunch of
meetings where they presented projects and stuff and the Orange Park Rotary Club
actually won the Award for the Best World Service Project in the District. But
besides the meetings I also took the time and got to know Savannah a little. And
it definitely is a beautiful city!!! It reminds me a little bit of Europe
because it is so old and there are all those pretty old houses and streets. I
wished I had had more time to see more of Savannah, but our busy schedule didn't
really give us the time to do so. But still, I can say I fell in love with
Savannah. If I ever get the chance again to come to the US I'll try to go to
Savannah!!! Anyways, the Conference basically ended with a very nice banquet at
Saturday night. After we had food they gave a couple of speeches and they gave
out Awards, but after that was done they had a band playing. Supposedly this
band was very famous in the States years ago, but I hadn't even heard of them
before. But oh well. it was nice!!! :-) Oh, and did I mention that there was a
group of group study exchange people from Germany? So, there were ca. 10 people
from Germany who spent 4 weeks in the States. And of course I talked to them,
but believe it or not: I had the hardest time ever to talk German with them!!!!
I always started to speak English again. As you can see I had a very interesting
and fun weekend!!!!
A week after the Conference I had a very special weekend. It was the weekend
of my prom. Already weeks ago I had bought a very fancy dress and now -finally-
I got to wear it. The entire Saturday my host sister and I spent to get
ready!!!! ;-) No, that's not true it "only" took us the afternoon. So
at 6 pm our prom dates (I went with a senior from my school) came and picked us
up. But instead of just going to Dinner we went to a Yacht Club where we met
around 30 other people and then we went out on two huge Yachts on the St. Johns
River. After cruising a little while we went to Downtown Jacksonville and had
Dinner on the boats. That was awesome!!! We almost didn't wanna go to prom. ;-)
So we docked at the Radisson where our prom was and walked in. And from the
second we were in that room until we left we were dancing. We had so much
fun!!!!!! The music wasn't that great but it still was great in some way!!! ;-)
The prom was over at 11 pm, so we went back on the boat and went home. My prom
date took me back to my house so that I could change and then we went over to
another Senior from St. Johns CDS who had a huge after party. And the party was
almost better than everything else that night. We had music, we had a bonfire
and we were so many people. It was just perfect. Maybe that's why I didn't get
home that night until 5.30 am. ;-) Well, I was pretty tired that week.
Five days after the prom the day was there: my last day of school. The first
two hours the entire school had to go to the gym, because we had an award
ceremony. So I was sitting there (and actually it was kind of boring) and
suddenly they called my name. So I had to walk up there in front of the entire
school and they gave me a farewell present. I thought that was so cute!!! I
didn't expect that at all and I was very touched. I got a shirt, post cards and
a sticker of my school. :-) Oh, well after the award ceremony we had a little
bit of every class to say bye to the people and then at 12.00 pm it finally was
over. And I couldn't help it anymore. I had to cry so bad!!! :-( It was just to
sad to say bye to so many of my friends and people I really got close to. But I
mean the people I really wanna see and stay in contact to I'll see and stay in
contact with. So it is not too bad. But who is thinking rational in such
moments??? ;-) The next day I already saw bunch of people again, because it was
Graduation and afterwards Project Graduation. At Project Graduation we were
locked in at the Adventure Landing till 4.00 am. So we played games, rode
go-carts and stuff. It really was fun, but I was glad when I got home because I
was very tired!!!! :-)
And now this past week has been my first week break of summer here in
Florida. And I did a lot of stuff. I went over to Ale's and we had a party. That
was a lot of fun as usual. We danced to Brazilian music and talked and and and.
Unfortunately I couldn't spend the night though because the next morning I went
down to Orlando with a very close friend. We went to Islands of Adventure. I had
never been there, so I had a blast. We went on all the rides there are, sprayed
water at people, took pictures and so on. It was great, but then it started to
pour down rain and I mean it still was fun but we were soaked!!!! :-) We even
went on a ride while it was raining so bad. We thought it would be funny and we
already soaked so that didn't matter, but what we didn't know it really hurt and
you had to have your eyes closed. But we survived!!! :-) After we left the Park
we went to have Dinner at Margaritaville and that was definitely an
experience!!! It really is awesome there!!!
So, I still have four weeks from today until I'll arrive in Germany, but
unfortunately this four weeks will fly by, especially because I'll leave to go
on a trip to the west coast which is 2 and a half weeks long. So I'm gonna write
you guys again when I'm back from that trip and tell you how it was!!! :-)
Before I say "bye" I wanna say "Thank you" to all
Rotarians and other people who are involved in this!!!!!! I have had the best
year of my life!!!!! Thank you for everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love, Kathy
July 1
Hi
everybody!
How are you all doing? I'm doin' just fine. But in only five days I'm
sitting on the plane on my way back to Germany. :-( I can't believe it.
This year just went by soooo unbelievable fast!!! Oh well. At least I had
an awesome year here in Florida. And I also had a great end for it. :-) I
went on a West Coast Trip with 88 other Rotary Exchange students from 27
different countries. I actually went together with Ling from this
district. Anyways, the trip was two and a half weeks long and it started
in Las Vegas. But let's start at the beginning. :-) On June 9th Ling and I
flew over to Las Vegas where we met all the others. And that day we didn't
really do anything, we just started to get to know each other and stuff.
But then the next day was very exciting: we spent the entire day on the
Las Vegas Strip. That was cool. We looked at all the famous Hotels and
Casinos (remember the "Bellagio" and the "Mirage" in
the movie "Ocean's Eleven"? Well, we actually walked through
those casinos). But unfortunately we were not able to gamble. :-( You have
to be 18 years old. Anyhow so walked that entire day along on the Las
Vegas Strip and looked at all the sight, saw Sigfried's and Roy's White
Tigers, rode rollercoasters and so on. Then at night we (the entire group)
met again to see the show "Blue Man Show". That was a very
different but awesome show!!!!! After show was over we went back to the
casino "Bellagio" and saw the water fountains in front of it.
Just like in that scene at the end of "Ocean's Eleven" when they
all look at the fountains and then leave one after the other. It felt as
if we would have been in that movie!!! :-)
From Las Vegas we went on and spent a day in the bus and
then we went to Grand Canyon. And I can honestly say, I've never ever seen
something like that. It is so huge, it doesn't even seem real anymore. You
get that feeling that it is just a huge picture. But it isn't. So we went
a little bit around and hiked in Grand Canyon. That was so overwhelming. I
seriously loved Grand Canyon. If you ever get a chance to go there, take
the chance and convince yourself!!!! :-)
Unfortunately we didn't really have a lot of time in Grand
Canyon, because we had to travel on to get to San Diego in time. In San
Diego it was a little different from all the other towns/cities we had
been in before, because this time we wouldn't stay in hotels but stay the
weekend with host families. So I ended up in group of six girls. We were
from Romania, Denmark, France, Thailand, Belgium and myself from Germany.
The host family we had was awesome. They were really, really nice. And
they had a house on the beach and with a hot tub and a swimming pool. Of
course we went swimming. But the next day our host mother showed us the
famous parts of San Diego like the Cross from where you can look over the
city, La Jolla (famous Beach), Horton Plaza (shopping Mall famous for it's
architecture) and at the end she took us to the world famous zoo. The zoo
was really amazing. We had a great time there. We saw animals we had never
seen before. :-)
Anyways from San Diego we went on to Los Angeles. The
first day we did a bus tour through the oldest part of LA and from there
to Beverly Hills and the Rodeo Drive, but unfortunately you are not
allowed to get off the bus in those areas. So we only could take pictures
while driving by. :-( But it's cool to see it. The next we went of to
Disneyland. But I have to tell you after Disney World here in Orlando, I
really was disappointed and not impressed at all. Of course, it is the
original Disneyland but it is tiny and there is not a lot to do. Besides
that the park was extremely crowded when we were there. So if you ever
have to chose between Disneyland and Disney World, choose Disney World.
;-) The day after Disneyland we went to Venice Beach. That is a very nice
beach. But the weather was not outstanding that day, so the most people
just walked at the beach and look into all those stores there. Fortunately
later that day the weather got better and a lot of the other exchange
students went swimming and surfing. But for me it was just too cold being
used to the warm Atlantic Ocean. :-) Anyways. After the beach day we went
to Universal Studios where spent the entire day. And it was really
cool!!!! Not only do you have all the rides there and stuff you also can
do a studio tour where they show you the studios and places where they did
a lot of famous movies. It was really interesting to see how small same
places are that look huge in the finished movie. It was definitely worth
seeing that. But we didn't see an actor or actress. :-( Then our last day
in LA we went to Hollywood and walked there on the Walk of Fame. Actually
a few of us even saw the singer Lionel Ritchie who got a star on the Walk
of Fame that day. :-) We also saw the Chinese Restaurant where they have
all the hand and foot prints of a lot of famous stars. And we walked past
the Kodak Theater where the have the Oscar Ceremony.
From Hollywood we went on to Ventura where we spent the
weekend with host families again. But this time nobody of us did actually
do something. I was with two girls from Australia and from Brazil in a
family and we had a good time just relaxing. It felt really good after two
weeks of running around just to hang out for two days. :-)
From Ventura we went on to the last city we should
visit: San Francisco. In San Francisco we had a lot of time to explore the
city on our own. So we took the famous cable cars and just went around in
San Francisco. But we also did stuff together with the entire group. For
example, we went to the Twin Peaks (two highest mountain from where you
can get a beautiful look over the city), to Alcatraz Island and went on a
tour through the old prison. That was awesome to see. And later I had
Dinner with a couple of friends in the "Bubba Gump Restaurant"
(has everybody seen the movie "Forrest Gump"?). The next day we
all went to the Golden Gate Bridge where we took a group picture. :-)
After that group picture got to go to the Exploratorium and spend some
time there. That was cool, but I never quite got how all that stuff works.
:-) Anyways, after the Exploratorium they took us to China Town. Actually,
I have to say that after I already saw China Town in New York this one was
not that impressive but you really could get good deals on everything you
wanted to buy there. :-)
Unfortunately that day was already the second last day
of the tour, then the only thing we would do after that day in San
Francisco would be to travel from San Francisco to Barstow which took ca.
9 hours. So when we arrived in Barstow in the afternoon on June 25th we
had a huge farewell party and everywhere you went you had to take pictures
and had to sign shirts and books and so on. But it was a lot of fun and an
awesome end for and awesome tour!!!!!!! And it was really hard to say
goodbye to all the people that you got so close with in those 18 days
traveling together!!!!!!!!!!!!
Imagine that that was already hard I don't wanna know how hard it is
gonna be when I have to say goodbye to all my families and friends here
this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!! :-(
To come to an end I just wanna say "Thank you" to Al Kalter,
our beloved chairman, :-) , to Carolin Helbig, my counselor, and all my
host families, my friends and all the Rotarians who are involved in the
Youth Exchange and all the people I forgot. :-) I LOVE YOU ALL AND WILL
MISS YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 26
Hi
everybody!
And hello from Germany. Yes, it's (unfortunately) true. I'm already
back in Germany for almost three weeks. And I really didn't wanna leave
Florida. I didn't wanna leave my families, I didn't wanna leave my friends
and so on. I had such a great year but unfortunately everything has to end
some time. It was really hard for me saying goodbye to the people I got so
close to. My best friend, her mom and another good friend even came to the
airport and spent my last two and half hours in Jacksonville with me. On
the one hand I was glad that they were there and the other hand it made it
even harder to leave. I was crying so much!!! Even when the plane left
Jacksonville I had to cry again. A few people asked my why I was crying so
hard. And I told them that I had to go back to Germany but they couldn't
understand me. I guess you really have to do it by yourself to understand
how hard it is to leave a place that is home for you and you never know
whether and when you will be able to go back.
The flight itself was good but I had a lot of time to think (especially
because I couldn't sleep). And the entire time the only thing I wanted to
do is fly back to Florida. That feeling was there till I arrived in Bremen
(my final destination). When you leave the plane in Bremen you are already
able to see people standing outside. So when I left the plane I saw almost
25 people standing there and waving with little American flags. At first I
was so overwhelmed because I hadn't expected anything like that but then I
was really happy. They all had come to welcome me back in Germany. From
the airport we went to our house where they had organized a welcome home
party with even more people. And everything was decorated with little
American flags. It was a lot of fun even though I was extremely tired and
exhausted. And besides that I had the hardest time speaking German. I
started to speak English all the time and most of the time I didn't even
realize it. It was really weird. Actually everything seemed more like a
dream to me. I didn't believe I was back in Germany. I felt I would wake
up and the next moment I would be in Florida again. And I had this feeling
for almost a week.
The next few days I went to school (in Germany they had school for
three more days and then they got finally out for summer break) to see all
my friends and teachers again. And it was nice to see everybody again. But
at the same time I missed my families and friends in Florida as much as I
was excited to see my family and friends in Germany again. Besides that I
got terrible headaches every day because I had to speak German but I still
was thinking English. And I was tired. It definitely took me a while to
get used to everything here again. And I did things I hadn't done in a
year!!! I took my bike and visited friends, went shopping, went to Bremen
and the beach on the train and so on.
Now after my first three weeks back here I would say I'm pretty much
back into everything except that I'm still looking for certain letters on
the keyboard. :-) But as much as I like being here again, as much I'm
wishing to go and leave Germany again to see other countries and so on. I
think it really is like Al always said: "Even when you're back in
your home country and your year is over, by your attitude and everything
you are still and will always be an exchange student". You can't
settle down. You always wanna see more, meet new people from other
countries and make new experiences. That's the way I feel right now. The
good thing is in a week a Brazilian Rotary Exchange student is coming to
live with me and my family, so I can share my experiences with him.
Besides that another friend of mine is back from England after a year. So
I haven't only somebody I can share experiences with, I also have somebody
I can speak English with!!!! :-)
To come to an end, I wanna say thank you to everybody who is involved
in this program!!!!! I had the best year and experience of my life!!!!!!!
I love and miss you all!!!!!!!! Al, you are a great chairman and
friend!!!!!!!
Two things are for sure: I will definitely come back to Florida as soon
as I get the chance. And I'll never forget you all. You are in my heart
forever!!!!!!!!
Kathy |
