Isabell Krehemeier

2005-06 Inbound from Germany

Date of Birth: November 29, 1988

Hometown: Steinheim, Germany

Sponsor: Detmold Rotary Club, District 1900, Germany

Host: Flagler Beach Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida USA
School: Flagler Palm Coast High School

Bio

Isabell's Bio

My name is Isabell Krehemeier and I'm an exchange student from Germany, where I usually live in Northrhine Westfalia in a village called Rolfzen. I'm sixteen years old and now I'm going in the 11th grade. I actually live in Flagler Beach with a very nice family. My host father is Swiss but normally we just speak English. In Germany I live with my mom Annette, my dad Klaus and my fifteen-year-old brother Tobias.

I've got one little rabbit Maja and I just like to lie next to her and watch her. I also enjoy reading (I really love it) and swimming or just lie on the warm beach and watch the pelicans flying in a formation (there is a really nice beach in Flagler Beach). In Germany I like to ride but in Florida I prefer the beach =)! It's just too hot here. Of course I like to meet my friends and have fun with them. Additionally I like almost every kind of sport.

My flight from Atlanta to Daytona Beach wasn't without problems. The flight, I was supposed to take was moved back two times. So I had to wait in Atlanta about six hours. In all my bad luck I had some good luck and met Lee and Dori Lloyd. Two nice people who also had a Rotary exchange student once and recognized me because of my Rotary blazer!

At the moment my family in Germany is hosting Merida from Texas; I hope she's having such a great time as I do here!

I just want to take this opportunity to thank the Rotary Club in Detmold, the Rotary Club in Flagler Beach, the whole Rotary organization and my two families for giving me the chance to enjoy the experience and all the other things this program brings with it.

I'm so excited to meet you all!

Bye

Isabell

September 11 Journal & Pictures

Hey guys!

How are you doing? I’m doing great after my first month (and 2 weeks) in Florida. I already made many good experiences and I’m glad to be here! I really like my family and I feel at home here although there are so many differences and sometimes a bit homesickness. =)

My school  (FPC or Flagler Palm Coast High School) is about five times bigger than my little school in Germany. And it’s harder to find friends here because everything is so big. My teachers are all really nice to me! I don’t have to do all my work (I just won’t get it) and they always help me and explain it to me again. I switched two of my classes: Algebra 2 into Trigonometry and American History into American History AP. I’ve already learned Algebra at my school in Germany and the American History class was not as I imagined it to be. Additionally I have English 4 and Team Sports. It’s hard to understand everything because just one word can change the whole meaning!

I’ve been several times at the beach with my host family and it was always a great time! Sometimes we swam in the water, sometimes we used the boogie-boards in the waves or we just enjoyed the warm beach. Two times we watched the Turtle Patrol helping the little baby turtles out of their hole! They are so cute!

The Orientation weekend was of course a lot of fun! I really enjoyed it and found many good friends. I’m looking forward to our next meeting in October.

One weekend I drove with my counselor to the movies and we watched “March of the Penguins”. After that we went to a restaurant which was all after Forrest Gump. It was somebody’s birthday and they sang a clap-song for him. It was very funny! When it’s Lea’s birthday in December we have to do that too because she really loves that! =)

I go with my host family every Sunday to the church in Flagler Beach. First I was a bit surprised that it was almost the same as in Germany. I like it but I miss the bells ringing before it starts…

I was really shocked when I first heard about Hurricane Katrina. At that time it was in Miami and just level 1. Everybody promised me it won’t come to us. They were right but therefore it hit New Orleans and all the cities around it. I couldn’t imagine it at first because there is nothing like it in Germany. I’m glad it didn’t hit us but I feel sorry for all the people who are dead or who lost everything! I hope it’ll become better with all the help!

Last weekend I’ve been with Camilla and her family in Maggey Valley, North Carolina. It was so beautiful there in the cabin surrounded by all the mountains and woods! We climbed up a mountain (which was really not easy) and we visited the biggest house in America. It was really huge! It has 43 restrooms, many bedrooms, and a huge park. It was so much fun, I’m glad I could go with them! Thanks again!

This weekend me and my family wet to a movie in the park in Flagler Beach which my host mother and other people organized. The Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts were there and sold food and drinks. We watched “Shark Tales”. It was a really funny evening. I enjoyed it a lot!!!

On Sunday my counselor organized a party at her house for me and Geraldine to get to know the members from our Rotary club better. I also met a girl who wants to go to Italy next year. It was really a great afternoon!

I want to thank all the people from Rotary again for their big help and for their support!!! And of course my host family for being so nice to me and offering me all these great opportunities.

I’m really having a great time!

Ciao! See ya’ll in October! ( I’m really looking forward to it!)

Isabell

PS: I also sent some pictures from different events and some from my host family! I don't have a picture with all of them yet but it'll follow soon!!! I'm really enjoying to be with them! They are such a great family!

Photos of the trip to North Carolina with Camilla (and Camilla's host family)

October 30 Journal & Pictures

Hey! I can hardly find the time to write this journal. =)

I am having so many adventures and new experiences in sunny Florida. It is actually getting colder now, I could not believe it at first. When you listen to somebody who tells you about Florida, he tells you about the beautiful, warm weather, the nice beaches, the friendly people, the beautiful flowers or the sharks which "usually don’t bite" and when, then they are "too little" and just take a "small bite". That is all fine, although I am a bit scared of the sharks but nobody told me of alligators which look like crocodiles and are as huge as a canoe. I met one in Juniper Springs. I went there with my family. It was just one or two meters away from us. It really scared me (and I guess the others too) much when it came, moving towards us. Probably his babies were behind us in the "jungle" because we heard a noise. Maybe somebody will call me a fool because I did not take a picture but IT WAS JUST NOT THE RIGHT TIME!!!

It really looks like a jungle in Juniper Springs. There is a small river running through the wild nature with trees that are leaning over the river so that you have to hide in the boat to go on and giant spiders which look poisonous. If you are lucky none comes into your canoe but that almost never happens. When our journey began and we were about ready to leave after putting on bug spray and sunscreen, we were standing in the sand in water which went halfway up our calf. I was not feeling good in it because my feet sank in a bit so I wanted to make sure to get as soon as I could into the canoe. Just one last step and I found myself up to my hip in quicksand. After that it really took me a while to step out of the boat again… But after all I thought it was a great adventure and I really want to thank my family to have taken me there!

My Mom organized the movies in the park once again and it was as funny as always. But it was not meant to be, so it began to rain and we had to stop it. We would have watched Grease that night. Matching to Grease, there was also a 1950s dance in our town and me, Bernadette and her friends helped. We all dressed out for it. It was so much fun!

One time me, my sister and two of her friends went on my Dad’s plane and we flew over a part of the ocean and a part of the land. It was really fun! Normally he flies "Angel Flights" with it. He takes poor, sick children to hospitals in other states.

In my school I am involved in the Interact Club and I also had to make a presentation about John Quincy Adams once. I was really nervous before it! My math teacher is a really funny guy and always tells us of his adventures fishing sharks or whatever. One time he draw a problem on the board. It showed Osama bin Laden standing on a tower and another guy standing in front of the tower holding a gun. We had to calculate the angle he had to hold the gun up =). I thought it was funny…

Some days ago it was Grandpa’s birthday and I had the chance to get to learn the family a bit better. They are all really nice! And Grandpa is the best cookie maker ever!

I really love the long, interesting conversations I sometimes have with Bernadette. But they usually come when it is late and we are supposed to go to bed or when we both have tons of homework! I really enjoy when we exchange each other's opinions about politics, God and the world. Sometimes we also go jogging. It’s good for me…=). My two brothers always help me when I have problems understanding something. It is really nice to come home after school when you had a really bad day and your mom makes you happy again and watches a good movie with you in the evening!

Yesterday I went windsurfing with my dad and my sister. I did not actually windsurf because it was really windy and I never did it before but we also did boat sailing. It was really fun but also really cold in the wind! I normally love to go to the beach but I am also afraid of the rip currents which pull you out so I would never go there alone!

Homecoming, everybody talks about it and I have never heard about it before… I was really excited about it before! Bernadette went to my homecoming and I also went to her homecoming later… so we could go to two! Some of her friends came, too. We went to the hairdresser first to get our hair and make-up done and just this part was so much fun! The actually dance was awesome. We had a lot of fun dancing. Her homecoming was a bit smaller because her school is smaller but it was also really fun! My homecoming game was the day before and probably one of the best sport events I have ever been to. Everybody cheered and we got much supplies to support our school…. we won!! Go Bulldogs!!!

One weekend I spent at a different family, the Bevels. I enjoyed my time there. It was a bit exotic because they cooked food from Antigua, West Indies for me. It was delicious! I never knew before that there are different kinds of bananas…it was funny.

We Rotary Exchange Students from District 6970 met again in DeLeon Springs. It was wonderful. I really enjoyed meeting you all again! First we ate breakfast in an old Sugar mill. We could make our own pancakes with different toppings =). We also had a lot fun driving canoes in a huge lake with weird green plants in it which stuck on you and splashing around. Swimming in the spring was also cool but very cold! I cannot wait to see you all again in December!

Now I am really excited about tomorrow… Halloween! We don’t have this custom in Germany, so I can just guess what it is like to go trick or treating but I am sure it will be really fun!!!

Thanks again to everybody and especially to my family for hosting me the whole year!!!

Bye bye

Isabell

December 27 Journal & Pictures

Hey! Na, wie geht’s?

I have been in Florida for almost five months now and the time is running and just gets faster whenever I try to stop it. …you can see the results: no report in November; but I will try to make it up as good as I possibly can! =)

Bernadette and I were invited by a nice Rotarian from our Club to learn how to do stained glass. We really enjoyed it! We value it more, now that we know how much work it is to first figure everything out and then to melt the parts together. We each made two angels, which were nice presents for Christmas.

I was so happy, I had the chance to go to Gulten's birthday party to see you guys once more! It was really fun to talk to everyone, play soccer on the golf course until the police came, and watch the movie together! And I bet Gulten enjoyed it too. =)

One time I went with my Dad to work for one day, just to look how it is to be in a business and to help out a little. I really liked it and my day went over faster than in school, but I guess that was just because I was so excited.

My high school, like many others, prepared a musical. It was called “Brigadoon” and was about a Scottish town which is hidden and just appeared every 200 years. The actors were very good, almost like a Broadway play, except that I knew them.

Thanksgiving, the big American holiday – now I know why it is so famous. I really enjoyed being together with the whole family! In the morning, as a family tradition, we went hiking in the woods for about 3 hours. We had an excellent time, until we almost ran into a rattle snake and then found the bridge we wanted to cross, broken. But we managed it, no matter what, and had a great time after all! Later we had turkey (of course), stuffing, mashed potatoes, jello, and all typical American food. The dinner was really big and very delicious! To go shopping the day after Thanksgiving is also part of the tradition I learned. I was a little tired waking up at 6 in the morning and the stores were a little crowded too, but it was funny and a good experience! =) That day I found most of my Christmas presents.

Like every American house, ours is lit too – now all the Christmas lights are up. But hanging them up was another story. It took us the whole day to get them up and we cut our palm trees along the driveway. But it was worth it! It looks very pretty now! As if snow would come from the sky.

As I may have written in one of my previous reports, my Mom plays the violin. But not just ok, she does a really good job playing it. We went to one Christmas concert where she and others played and sang wonderful Christmas songs. It was really amazing.

November 29th - my birthday =). My day started as usual. I went to school but when I came home I could open a package from Germany and many phone calls waited for me. That was really nice that everybody thought of me! Than we prepared for my party later. We had Mexican food - my favorite!!! Many Rotarians and friends came. I had a great time and I’m sure the others did, too. Many times thanks to Roseanne and everybody else to make this all possible!!!! I loved it!

As a matter of fact, track conditioning started at my school and I joined the team. It was hard the first times but it gets better and when the season really starts we can see each other in meets! =)

December 1st – my Mama thought of us and sent Advent calendars from Germany. Thanks! =)

And the big adventure began … Disney World. We’ve been to MGM studios, Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Which one was the best? I’m not quite sure about that question, but MGM studios and Epcot were my favorite ones. I loved their shows, especially the fireworks and the rides! But what I like as much as going to Disneyworld is just hanging around with you guys and meeting new people. I enjoyed running around in Disney, having fun learning new words and visiting their own countries. Although not everything there is quite right, I heard about things I’ve never heard of before and I don’t believe they are true… I’m sure Sea Camp will be awesome!

St. Nikolaus didn’t come right on time on the 6th but just because there was too much snow in Germany and Switzerland… =) Thanks for the German Chocolate! I really enjoyed it!

The next weekend my family and I drove another time to Orlando. We stayed in a really cool hotel and had a fun time. We went together to MGM studios and walked through the lit street and enjoyed being in the snow, although it was fake. What a wonderful weekend!

Midterms - not as bad as I thought they would be but definitely a nightmare. I was really happy when they were over and the Christmas vacation finally began!

Project Share - an idea of my Mom to help poor Mexican children to a happy, merry Christmas. It was planned for months and with much help we could give children in our area presents and bikes for Christmas. This year they did it for the 7th time. We gave gifts out for about 1000 children. It was a really good experience and it also felt really good, to know how to help. On a Saturday the families came to get their gifts and were very thankful for our help. It showed me that not everything is easy and that life is hard but also that a little treat from one person can change the lives of many other people and mean the world to them! I am just really glad I could help!!!!

First of all I hope everybody had a happy Christmas! I did!!! I thought I would be very homesick or it would be different from Christmas in Germany. I was surprised, it was not! My family gave me the chance to experience Christmas in Florida and I am very thankful for that. It is one of my best Christmas memories and I will never forget it! We had a great time together and I loved to be with my family. On Christmas Eve we had a nice dinner and went to church afterwards. We also decorated a tree in the forest just for the animals. Christmas day we visited the grandparents and the whole family came together. I really enjoyed it! Just like in Germany. Thank you again Santa Claus for all the nice gifts!

I really really enjoy my time here. It’s like a dream that came true but is actually bigger and better now than you ever imagined it to be! I’d love to thank my family for all the things they do for me, for letting me stay with them for the whole year, for being so nice and friendly to me all the time, for treating me like one of their own children, … for just everything! Thank you very much!!!!!!! I love to be with you!!! I also want to thank my Rotary clubs for all their support!

Another big adventure begins for me tomorrow – the ski trip with my family to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. My first time skiing and I know it will be the best time ever, together with my family! I hope you all have a happy New Year, may all your wishes come true!

Have a wonderful New Year,

Isabell