Olga Bruewer

2005-06 Inbound from Germany

Date of Birth: October 13, 1988

Hometown: Bruchsal, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany

Sponsor: Bruchsal-Bretten Rotary Club, District 1930, Germany

Host: Ponte Vedra Beach Sunset Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida USA
School: Nease High School

Bio

Olga's Bio

I'm an Exchange student, because we hosted two Exchange students before and two years ago my brother was an Exchange student in California. He told me what a great experience he had. When I heard that, I was excited and I want to be an Exchange student.

I gain from this year to improve my English and to become fluent in it. I want to get to know America's traditions and different cultures.

September 8 Journal

I arrived before my school started, so my host family took me to a cabin up in South Carolina. There I played golf with my host dad and his friends. It was really fun. When we came back home I went to the beach with my host sister. We both have a lot of fun.

On August 5th my school started. I'm going to Nease High School and I am in the golf team, I'm so happy about that. But my first school day was bad, because I didn't understand anything. The teacher talked so fast. But they are very nice. They always ask you if you need help. At first it was really hard for me to make friends, but now it's getting better. The school in Germany is different, because we don't change the classroom each period. And the whole day we are together with the same people, so it's so much easier to make friends.

I also was two times at the Rotary meetings. The Rotarian people are so nice and I really enjoy the meetings.

I'm so glad to be an exchange student because I think it's a great experience.

Talk to you later, guys!!!!!

Bye :)

October 20 Journal

On October 13th was my birthday. My friends threw the best party ever!! Erica rented a huge, white limo for 20 girls. It was great! We drove with the limo to dinner in a Mexican restaurant. There was the next surprise: The employees brought me ice cream with a candle on it and gave me a Mexican hat. All girls sang for me. It was adorable! The next station was Adventure Landing. We played laser tag (my team won haha) and go cart. It was so much fun!! After that the limo dropped us at my house and there we ate that delicious cake which my host mom made.

Two days later was Homecoming. My date was the Homecoming King, isn't that cool?! I really had so much fun on this day! On this weekend I didn't sleep that much, but it was just great!

This month I also went to the Jacksonville Zoo with Doug and his wife. I saw a Jaguar, snakes (I'm afraid of snakes), giraffes, alligators and birds. It was so cool!

3 weeks ago I went to a golf manager meeting with Stephen Harrison. I thought it'll be boring, but it wasn't boring at all! It was very interesting and after that we played 18 holes.

Last week my host mom took me to St. Augustine and we shopped a little bit. It was so nice! I love this city!!

Maybe I also should tell you something about school. Well....school... ;) I'm just kidding, school is ok and my grades are getting better. But it's not that easy!!! So, since I'm talking about school, I just noticed that I haven't done my homework yet :( Yeah, that means I gotta go now. Talk to y'all later!!!

By the way, this Saturday is the Fall Outing for Inbounds and host families. I'm sooo excited to see everybody again!! It's gonna be FUN!!!

February 3 Journal

Hey everybody!! How is it going? I haven't written anything for a long time. So I guess it is time;)

I'm gonna start with Disney World in December. All the Exchange students went there together and we met Exchange students from Miami's district. We arrived there Thursday and stayed until Sunday. We visited Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios... it was soooo much fun. And I love all the Exchange students...Thank you to Rotary for this wonderful trip!!!

On December 24th was Christmas eve. In the morning I cooked with my host mom Kathy. We had a lot of fun. After dinner Kathy read the Christmas story and then we opened the "family presents". At about 9.30 pm we went to an Episcopal church. It was great. In the morning my host brother woke me up and said: "Olga, come downstairs, there is more presents." I was confused because in Germany you get all the presents on December 24th, but my host family explained me that you get the presents from Santa on December 25th in the morning. So you get presents on two days. That's really cool. I have to confess that I was a little homesick on Christmas, but I think everybody was that. Because it's just a family eve.

December 28th I moved to my second host family. At first I was a little scared to go there, because I would have three host brothers. BUT I love it so much! It is so funny and we have so much fun!!!!!!

On December 31st almost all the Exchange students went to the Jacksonville parade.E verybody carried the flag of their own country. After the parade we all went to Theresa Harrington's house and had a New Year's party there. We all dressed up. Nard from Thailand wore a gorgeous Thai dress. And she also danced for all of us. It was incredible. I filmed her and will show it to my friends in Germany;) They will love it because we have never seen this kind of dance.

My host mom took me and my host brothers to Daytona International Speedway. That is a car race. We had a tour there and we also watched the Imax about it. It was awesome.

On January 26th all the Exchange students went to the Keys. We had an about 14 hours ride, with a lot of breaks of course. That might sound bad and really long, but just to be with the Exchange students, my best friends, just made me happy. When we arrived there we met a group from Michigan. They were not Exchange students, they just had a school trip. They were awesome and we had so much fun with them. Before they left we exchanged numbers and e-mail addresses so we can keep in touch. Anyway, at the Seacamp we were divided in 7 different groups. In my group we learned about "biodiversity". We had boat trips and snorkeled, while our group leaders Tara and Holeigh taught us about biodiversity. On Saturday night we had a round table discussion. Everybody's group had to give a presentation. And of course everybody was included. At first I thought that would be boring, but it wasn't boring at all. It was so much fun. But on Sunday we all had to say good bye to the group from Michigan, which was really so sad. We became so close in just three days. That's unbelievable, but true!!!!!!!!! But a big consolation was that we went to Key West SHOPPING after saying good bye. And I love shopping. We had two hours and then we all went back home. It was the best trip ever and I had lots of fun!!!!!!!!!!!

My first semester in school wasn't really good. I didn't get the grades that I wanted to. So I decided this semester to study more. And today we got Interims. I got a B in American History, an A in Algebra II, a C in French:(, an A in team sports and an A in Spanish. It is not the best, but it is getting better!!!!!And I will keep studying!

So y'all, I gotta go now, because I'm gonna go to a symphony tonight and I have to get ready for it. I'm excited!!!

Talk to you later! Take care!!!

Byeeee

 

Olga's Seacamp Photos

April 19 Journal and Pictures

Hey guys!! And again I'm sorry for taking so long. But you know as an exchange student you are always busy. And now unfortunately school started again... the good thing is 4 weeks left to the summer break, but the bad thing is that also means the year is almost over and we all have to leave again. Of course I'm looking forward to see my family and friends again, but to be honest I don't wanna leave my host family and all the new friends I made here.

Ok, now I wanna tell you about the last couple of weeks. First of all I participated at the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. I was in the French team and it was so much fun. On March 17th all the teams gathered at Nease High school at the football field. And we all walked the track... of course not at the same time...but it was always at least one of the team walking. We walked until the next morning at 6 o' clock. Before that event every member of the team had to raise at least 100 dollars. So one day my host mom sent e-mails to all members of my Rotary Club (Ponte Vedra Beach Sunset) and when we went to the meeting everybody gave me money for the Relay for Life. It was amazing how everybody supported me and wanted to help!! In the end I raised 600 dollars in one night for the American Cancer Society. It was incredible and I wanna thank my Rotary Club and especially my host mom for their help again!!!!

On March 17th in the afternoon my host family took me to Orlando to watch the baseball spring training. It was the first baseball game I went to. It was really cool. But it was soooo hot that I got a sunburn.

On March 23-26, was the PGA Tournament Players Championship in Sawgrass. And guess what?? I got to be a Standard Bearer. Probably not all of you know what it is. It is the kids that carry the sign with the score for the players. And that means you are really close to the players. It was so much fun. At the end the players that I carried for gave me a signed ball. I was so happy:)

On March 25th I had Prom. So my friend picked me up at the tournament after I was done working and we went to a hair salon to get our hair done. After that we went to the mall and got professional make up. It was so much fun. I've never gotten professional make up before. Well and after that we put our dresses on and our dates were already waiting for us. We also rented a limo. We ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday and then we went to the dance. I had a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!

On April 8th my one of my host brothers had his eagle project (he is a boy scout). The project was that we had to plant some plants at the YMCA. It sounds easy, but it was a lot of work. We got there at 9 in the morning and we finished it at 4pm. It looks very nice now!!!

On April 7th the spring break started and in this week my host family decided to paint the house. So we were busy three days painting the house. It actually was good... I had so much fun with my host brothers and the house looks gorgeous now!!!!We did a good job:)

So, Easter Sunday on April 16th was much fun. The day before that we painted eggs and they looked so cute you don't even know. Look at the following pictures;) On Sunday we all went to church and then we had a nice breakfast and after that we all went eggs hunting...I guess I was a little slow because my host brothers found everything before me...But my host mom helped me... haha... I don't call that cheating;)

So and now the spring break is over...no good..

I just wanna say thanks everybody who made that year possible for me because it is just amazing!! THANK ALL OF YOU FOR EVERYTHING!! I really appreciate it!!!!

I'll talk to you later! Take care!!!