 Hi!
May I introduce myself?My name is Thomas Haunold,
I’m 16 years old and I am here from the very heart of Europe – Austria.
Austria is a beautiful (unfortunately landlocked) country on the river
Danube, with its significant vineyards and truly majestic calm and shape a
life-donor for everyone and everything amongst its curves. Two thirds of
Austria’s surface is covered by the Alps, making us the far best ski-nation
of the world. Ski-Tourism is mostly famous for the states of Voralberg,
Tyrolea and Salzburg.
But as far as my family lives in UpperAustria, which is in
the northwest (capital Linz/Lentia), I am not very into skiing. My mother
teaches Biology and my father teaches Religious Education, is running a
little bookkeeper company and is responsible for the (roman-catholic)
Christian community in my hometown, which is Zell an der Pram, a “village”
with a population of 2227 people. My family is also running a very little
“farm” with some sheep, horses, donkeys, dogs and an uncountable number of
chicken and cats…
I also got two sisters, an older and a younger one, making
me a “sandwichchild”… My older sister is actually 19 years old and attends
the Johannes-Kepler University in Linz for social work including social
management; my younger one attends the same school as I did, which is the
‘Gymnasium Schaerding’, a school which is pretty much about languages
(English, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Latin…).
I am now in sunny Florida, and I live in Ormond Beach and
attend Mainland High School, a school with almost as much students as my
hometown’s population…
After all, I’d like you all to know, that I’m really
enjoying Florida, it’s absolutely unbelievable (ok, the water is too
salty…), and I’m looking forward to a great year!
And good luck to Elliott, who’s actually staying with my
family… Hope he enjoys it! |
 Awright
fellas, first journal o'ready :D
America is different. When I considered this phrase months ago, I thought of
junk food, big cars (big streets), big buildings, fast life. Altogether to
me America was bigger and a whole lot faster...
That this "faster" would include top wind speeds up to 160 mph, that was
definitely not what I thought of. :) There has not been a single hurricane
in Daytona for years... just when I came to visit, mother nature felt kind
of obligated to send me some greetings...
Well, the first two months now, of being an exchange student in Florida was
mostly a desperate try to get acclimated... After all, the tropical climate
does have at least some differences from my good ol' snowy Austria.
The fact that schools over here are about the sizes of the village where I
come from is not actually helping me a lot to get myself organized with the
completely different school system... Maybe a compass would be a good
idea...
So far, I'm really enjoying my stay... the beach is beautiful, the sunsets
most impressive and the people just great...
Florida's great. |
Thomas Haunold
