Zsolt Szöke

2005-06 Inbound from Hungary

Date of Birth: October 19, 1988

Hometown: Keckskemét, Hungary

Sponsor: Keckskemét Rotary Club, District 1910, Hungary

Host: Bartram Trail Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida USA
School: Bartram Trail High School

Bio

Zsolt's Bio

Hi, my name is Zsolt. Nobody could pronounce my name first. That was really funny. I’m from Hungary, which is situated in Middle Europe. I have got a younger brother, he is 14. And I have a big dog.

I study in Bartram Trail High School. It’s bigger and longer than my school in Hungary. I would like to be an exchange student to learn another culture and also to learn another language.

My hobbies are soccer and basketball. And I also really like playing on my computer.

September 10 Journal & Pictures

I left Hungary at 9.30am (25th July), and I arrived to Jacksonville Airport at 11.00 pm. I was really tired. At the airport many people waiting for me, my first and second host family, Fred Page, etc. Everybody was really nice. I really love my host family. They are really nice and funny. My suitcases didn’t arrive with the same plane, so my host family and I wait for them about an hour. When I got my luggage we went home. My host family showed me the house and my host brothers and I started playing FIFA 2005 on Play Station 2.

On the first day we went to the school, where I chose Team Sport, American History, English III, Computer Programming, Physics, Pre Calculus and TV Production. The school is really big. And the breaks are short so we haven’t got enough time to go to our locker for the books. The only break when you have got a little time is the lunch; I usually eat outside near the cafeteria with the same the people. The biggest different between this school and my school in Hungary are that in Hungary every day is different and you are always with the same people, and of course it’s smaller. I will go to soccer and basketball training, but in Florida they are winter sports so they start in October. I always become really tired by the end of school. It is 4 o’clock when I arrive home. In Hungary I usually make my homework by 4 o’clock. But it gets better every day. And I understand more and more. And know more nice people.

My host family shows me many places - of course we went to malls and beaches, they were really cool. We also went to St. Augustine we wanted to go a ghost tour but it rained so we just ate pizza and saw the downtown. We went to Lake City too, where it rained again but after the rain we went down the river with a dinghy, the water was a little bit cold because of the rain but we jumped down from trees and swam ... that was awesome.

I had Rotary’s orientation with all the exchange students; I really loved it. Everybody was so nice (they couldn’t pronounce my name too, but they tried hard). I made many friends and had a lot of fun.

My host and I also went to the Suns match. That was my first ballgame, it was also really cool, but the Mobile Baybears beat the Suns. And we also went to the Jaguars’ practice.

When I arrived home from the orientation my host mom said me we will go to visit my host sister (Shauna) in New Jersey on Labor Day, because she has a new apartment. And if we go up they'll show me Philadelphia, New York City, and the beach house in Delaware. I was really excited about it.

My host brother (Patrick) and I went to school on 1st September and after the 3rd period we went to airport with host mother (Mary Beth), where we met my host father (Jack). And we flew to Philadelphia, where we met old friends. We played all night with Pat’s friends. We got up early (9 am) and went to downtown Philadelphia. We saw the Liberty Bell and the Independence Hall. After that we went to the South Street and ate Cheese Steak (it was really good) after that we walk around South Street (shopping). We went to Love Park and we did the Rocky steps. After that we went to New Jersey to Shauna.

On Saturday we went to New York City by train. We went around in Manhattan by a Double Decker bus. We had lunch in Little Italy (of course pizza). We were shopping in Chinatown. Pat and I bought 6 “I heart NY” T-shirts for $10. We saw Ground Zero, Times Square, Wall Street, Broadway, Empire State Building, etc. I really loved it.

On Sunday we went to Jack’s sister’s family. They are really nice too. They had a block party. Everybody was there from that block. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs. It was cool. After the party we went to Delaware to my host family’s beach house. It was 4 hours by car. The beach house is really nice.

On Monday we were on the beach. There were HUGE waves. It was really gooood. At night we went shopping and playing some games. Unfortunately we had to come back to Jacksonville. So on Tuesday we got up really early and drove back to Philly. When we arrived in Jacksonville, it’s raining (of course).

I really loved this tour, that was freaky awesome!

November 6 Journal & Pictures

After first hundred days everything is awesome.

After my last journal I did a lot of good stuff. We went to Bengals - Jaguars match. It started at 8.30 so it was dark and in the half time there was a laser and fireworks show. And fortunately JAGUARS WON. They were good, not like last weekend.

I had my birthday (October 19) in Dave and Buster's - this place is more than awesome J. I had a lot of fun there. I ate a double cheeseburger (as usual) and I got a $10 card. My host brother and I after couple hours playing get 1309 points and I spent 1300 in the shop J. So next time we will start from 9 points.

Next weekend Fall Outing at DeLeon Springs State Park. That was really good to meet again with the others. The pancake breakfast was awesome (with chocolate chips), but water was so cold. After my double cheese burger J we went to the Biketoberfest with some Rotarians… it was… funny … or crazy… or …

A week after that there was Halloween (my first Halloween ever). It was awesome. My host mother made pumpkin pie J She the decorated the house indoors and the children decorated outside. My host brother and I carved pumpkins in mischief night J. That was a little bit nasty, but fun. On Monday we met at 4:30, everybody dressed up in jeans and black shirts and at around 6 we started trick or treating. We got a lot of candy. At seven we started a little bonfire at my friend house. It was fun - at the end of bonfire there were like 30 people at the house.

My host family also brought me to the Barracudas’ game. I was in a burrito eating game. It was cold and I lost. But the hockey game was really good. Barracudas came back from 2-0 to 4-2. And they won.

Oh yesterday the biggest game in the whole year Nease @ Bartram. The games are always fun, but yesterday there was more people, cars parking outside the school next to the road for miles. We played OK and in the half time the score was 3-0 for Bartram. Nease didn’t do anything, just carried the ball. We had another field goal, 2nd minutes of the 3rd period. (6-0) And Nease had an interception and after that a run and touchdown. 24 sec left Bartram Trail had a 4th down on about 25 yard. Everybody saw that the kick was good (a guy with a camera at the goal line saw it in too). One of the refs said it wasn’t, so we lost the game.

Today we went to the air show at Jacksonville Beach. The weather was perfect. It was a little bit loud and there were a lot of people on the beach. The best part of the show was the Blue Angels. They are awesome. The show ended at 4 and we arrived home around 7, because of the traffic.

Only 4 weeks for Disney World J. It will be fun.

More pictures: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zsottee/my_photos 

January 3 Journal and Pictures

My holiday ...

Today was my first day of the second semester. It was so hard to get up after this pretty awesome holiday. Where should I start? Last day of the exams I had only a US History exam, after that my host mom picked me up and we went to mall for Xmas shopping, actually that day I couldn’t find anything. I needed another day in the mall J. Before Christmas my host brother and me went to a couple bonfires in the nights and slept usually until noon. We also went to another Cuda’s game, and Jaguars’ game in the rain, it was wet and chilly, but still so much fun. Probably that was my last Jaguars’ game, but maybe they will have a home game in the playoffs.

On Xmas Eve we went to the church with my host grandma, after that we had an awesome dinner and we started to open the gifts. It took a little while. I got a sweet t-shirt from my host brother and a sweatshirt from my host grandma.

In the morning everybody slept for like 10 because we went to the bed around 1. So in the morning we woke up and opened Santa’s presents. I got tons of stuff (Matt Jones jersey, invitation to a Red Sox spring training game against the Phillies………) On Xmas day we ate all day long, I made poppy seed cake (I had some trouble with it but my host mom liked it). In the afternoon my host brother and I started a tournament in NHL 2006 (we never finished). After the dinner we started to fix his computer. There was tons of dirt in the computer. For the next day we finished reformatting the hard drive and installing a new Windows, so the computer is fast again.

Next day we flew to Hartford, CT. When we arrived it was snow all around so we went to sliding in the night, it was a little bit cold, but fun. Next day I got a coat but snow started melting. But we still had a snowball fight with almost all my host cousins. Oh and I got a bunch of stuff again J (Patriots t-shirt, wallet, pajamas, gift card…)

We helped to move to my other host grandma. Because of the rain all of the snow melted. By the way we went up because my host grandma had a huge birthday party with like 70 people (6 dozens, it sounds less) so in the afternoon everybody tried to get the stuff to the party. In the night we played poker, unfortunately I lost.

Next day was the party (the night before New Year’s Eve). Everybody worked to get everything together for the night (posters and balloons all over the wall, get food ready…). We speak with Mike online (he is my host brother; he is an exchange student in France). He really wanted to go to bed because it was the middle of the night over there. During the night I met like 6 dozen people, it was fun. The party was great. After the party we played poker again, and this time I won.

Around noon I woke up and it snowed (about 4”b y the end of the night). Everybody was tired on New Year’s Eve, because of party last night. But we started the party over but “only” with like 30 people. We played screw your neighbor - I never win in this game. By the time finished the game it was almost midnight so we waited for big countdown, drink champagne, wish happy new year… and we fall asleep around 3.30. In the morning I made a snowman :D and after that we went to the airport to fly back. When we left Ct it was around 34 degrees at 3 o’clock; at airport in Jacksonville it was around 64 degrees at 10 pm. Yesterday I just tried get as much sleep as I can (I couldn’t do it). I think that’s everything about my wonderful holiday.

April 1 Journal

This is my 246th day in the US in the last few months I did tons of things.

First of all there was Sea Camp. It was pretty awesome, met again with every exchange student from Florida, and made some friends from Michigan.

My family brought me to the Billy Joel concert, which was really good: and we went a Hockey tournament in South Carolina.

I changed families in January; this is a totally different family than my first one, but I’m enjoying it too. This is the time when I have a sister, I guess I’ll survive J

With new family after the 1st one Italian exchange student came for 2 weeks. He went in classes with my host brother in the school and we went to Disney World (that was my 3rd time in Disney, and I still love itJ) and we also went to Kennedy Space Center, on way back we stopped at Cocoa Beach to dinner and went shopping at the Ron Jon surf shop.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zsottee/album?.dir=/52dc&.src=ph&.tok=phfH8bEBFnRg2nPK 

After the Italian exchange student went home we flew to Nashville to visit colleges. We visited Vanderbilt, which was really cool. And we went to Alabama to visit Samford. In Nashville we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and to the Grand Ole Opry.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zsottee/album?.dir=/69ce&.src=ph&.tok=phBI6eEB7awJuAOf 

For Xmas I got a ticket for the Red Sox – Phillies spring training game, so last weekend we went to Tampa, where we went to the Lightning game. They played the Rangers. It was a really good game. It was 3-3 so it went overtime, and then the shootouts. After that the Lightning won by 4-3. Next day go to Clearwater to the ballgame. The second Red Sox player hit a homerunJ. The whole game was pretty awesome. Red Sox won by 3-2.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zsottee/album?.dir=/5227&.src=ph&.tok=phGh0nEBdVe8l4g7  http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zsottee/album?.dir=/6af8&.src=ph&.tok=ph1i0nEB9RxqaDFn 

I joined the track team. I’m really enjoying it. And yesterday I ran 11.6 for the 100m in the Bear Relays.

Now I’m looking forward to the Spring Break so I can get some sleep. Oh and my name day is coming (April 10th)

Well I guess that’s it for now…

July 15 Journal

MY LAST TRIP

My host mom and I took trip up to north. First we flew up to Beantown (Boston), and drove all the way up to Acadia National Park in Maine. The park was amazing - it smelled all piney. :D  We went hiking and we went for a whale watch, which was pretty cold. After our trip the lobster population dropped in Maine.

The next stop was New York City, the city that never sleeps, well actually that’s sometimes not true…

Our hotel room was a little bit larger then a closet, but it was on 50^th and Broadway. We walked and walked all around Manhattan. The weather as they called was “tropical”, but actually it was pretty nice. My host mom got into Macy’s on the first day. Well, she would spend the entire day in the one store. It was 10 levels of clothes.

We saw a Broadway show, which pretty awesome. Every night we were on Times Square.

Finally we went back to Boston. We walked again - it was on the Freedom Trail. In Boston Common and Public Garden they sold fresh squeezed lemonade, which was refreshing. We did a Duck tour, which was almost pretty cool like the whole trip.

One night we went to see the Blue Man Group. But our last night was our best night, when we saw the best team in baseball (BOSTON RED SOX). They played against the New York Mets, and Pedro Martinez was pitching for the Mets, and Beckett was pitching for the Sox. Our tickets were priceless, we were sitting in the 4^th row. Of course the Red Sox won by 10-2.

And now I guess it is time to go home :’(