Ida Scheel-Bech

2006-07 Inbound from Denmark

Hometown: Aalborg, Denmark

Sponsor: Hjørring Vestre Rotary Club, District 1440, Denmark

Host: Ponte Vedra Beach Sunset Rotary Club, District 6970, USA

School: Nease High School

Bio

Ida's Bio

I don’t miss Denmark yet, I am too busy here to do that. J I really like Florida very much! The people in Florida are much like the people in Denmark, except for the fact that they are more outgoing. But the nature and the weather here are much different! I really enjoy the sun and the beach – and the fact that people my age can drive. That is so cool!

I am an outgoing person who loves parties, enjoys playing the flute, and likes to play sports – I used to play team handball in Denmark and joined the elite team. I love to go shopping and hang out with my friends. Another of my great interests is traveling. This summer, just before I got here, I went to Thailand for my second time with my family. I have been all around Europe and I was in California last summer. I am an exchange student because I think it is a great experience which will enhance my entire life, and I am very grateful to Rotary for giving me this opportunity to be a Rotary exchange student!

October 22 Journal

My time here in Florida has been awesome so far! I live in Ponte Vedra Beach. It is a beautiful area about 20 minutes from downtown Jacksonville and one mile from the beach. I have tried surfing a few times. It is so cool (and so much fun)! I definitely have to learn it before I go back to Denmark again! …And I love the weather here! I can’t believe we are in the middle of October and I can still wear shorts and a tank top! It is so nice! Since I came here I have never been out for dinner as many times as I have been in Florida – And I love it! (By the way; it is not dinner at fast food restaurants so don’t worry, I am not getting fat – yet!)

My host family here is wonderful! I am hosted by John and Carol Maurer. I love them so much. I know I have been very lucky to end up with people like them. They are amazing! And we live in this huge house. It is so much different from my house in Denmark (and about twice as big).

About a month ago I went to New York with them. It was a great experience! – I love New York! We stayed at Hilton Times Square Hotel. The lights were so pretty during the night at Times Square. During one of the nights there Carol and I walked home from a restaurant and suddenly we heard this big crowed of people screaming in front of one of the theatres. We walked over there, and guess who came out of the theatre? – Usher!! And I stood only one meter away from him, after I had pushed myself through the crowd, telling everyone that the crazy woman behind me (Carol, ha ha;) was pushing me. We really had a lot of fun that night.

We went to see “The Lion King” at Broadway too. It was so good! Very, very well done. We might go back to New York at Christmastime when everything is decorated and there will be a big rink in front of the Rockefeller Christmas tree. I hope so - I would love to J!

School is good here and very different. There are about 2000 students at my school (and 4 grades). Compared to my school in Denmark, that is a lot! We were 500 students and 10 grades (you start at the school when you are 6 years old and end at that school when you are 16). Also the fact that you switch classes is different. But I like it – you get to meet a lot of people that way. When I just arrived here my Rotary club had arranged a BBQ welcome-party for me. In that way I got to know a lot of people before I started at Nease High School. Jordan, my next host brother, invited a lot of his friends so I got to meet them. It was a great party, but of course the three hours my party lasted it rained (only those three hours and then it stopped, isn’t that typical?) Well, it was still a very good party.

Because of my (American) friends at school I have been doing a lot of stuff since I came here; I have been a lot to the beach, been out surfing, shopping and at an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant afterwards (a couple of times), to a concert (some of my friends at Nease play in a band called Honeyculture, they are really good!), to homecoming, a pool party, to a lot of the Nease football games – And to the big football game, Nease vs. St. Augustine, which was on national television. We won! For the first time in 14 years! It was so much fun! I love the high school spirit people here have, they are so much into the game and cheering and dressing up in the school colors. We don’t have that at all in Denmark.

Another of my great experiences here was the Rotary Youth Exchange weekend. It is so cool to meet people from all around the world and make friends that way. I love the idea of that. And I am very much looking forward to seeing all of you guys soon again in Daytona!

I have had so many good experiences so far and I am like; ‘I have only been here 2 and a half months’ so it is amazing. I can’t even put a number on them. I made a video I sent around to my friends, family and Rotary in Denmark (and to some of my friends around the world - doesn’t that sound cool?) with pictures from some of my experiences so far (Pictures are worth more then a thousand words, right?). [Webmaster's note: we'll try to find a way to make that video available here.]

Ida

December 20 Journal and Pictures

Hey everybody!!!

Now it is almost Christmas, and I have moved in with my new host family. They have three boys, Taylor 15, Connor 12 and Jordan 17 – all around my age so that’s great and they are so much fun. I feel welcome in their home and my new room is great.

Christmas here in Florida… Well, first of all I really can’t believe it is Christmas:)! I mean, for me the time has just stood still like it is summer all the time and then in one sudden we are in December but it is still warm and sunny weather (I love it!).

I think this was one of my greatest experiences about Christmas in Florida; I was laying at the pool at our hotel in Disney World, eating breakfast with Emilie, Mattia and Joran while we were tanning in our bathing suites and I suddenly realized that it was the first of December! I have never been tanning the first of December before. It was sooo great!!! That’s the fun thing about a Christmas in another part of the world – if you can’t have the same as you are used to at your home in your country - you are trying something completely different. I love it! The Americans really try to get you in the mood for Christmas - Some of the houses here are all decorated with blinking colorful lights – it looks amazing! The palms are all lightened up with small lights and there are big, inflated snowmen or Santa Clauses in front of the houses. It looks so funny!

Yesterday I helped out at a Christmas party my Rotary Club had arranged for the foster children and their families. It was just great to see all these adorable kids so happy. We had a dinner for them and Santa Claus came with presents. It was a good evening and it felt so good to see all the kids so happy and excited.

The Rotary Disney Trip was just awesome! It really, really was. We had so much fun there and the four days passed way too fast! All the parks were great but I prefer Epcot. That was the park with all the different countries. Perfect for us, all the different nationalities together at one place – like us. That night’s show was so beautiful. The fireworks were in the background while a big globe was passing over the lake with a lights show. It was beautiful. In the show they were playing “Let There Be Peace on Earth”. That is just so much us and what we Rotary exchange students all will represent and help making that hope come true in the future by knowing about each other's culture and understanding our differences - all with great thanks to Rotary!

Thanks you so much for everything Rotary!

Have fun and enjoy life (I do!) Ha’ det godt alle sammen! Love from, Ida

January 11 Journal and Pictures

First of all: HAPPY NEW YEAR to everybody!! I wish you must have such an amazing new year as I am going to have - I love my life here in Florida! When I look back on the half year passed I realize I have had the greatest adventure with so many incredible experiences. I have seen and done so many new things it is crazy to think about – and I absolutely LOVE it! And I’m unbelievable happy to have 7 month back!! I'm gonna enjoy them so much. As Al told me; Your adventure has just started! J (which I really can’t believe cuz this can't get better!)

The 29th of December my host family took me with them to their condo at New Smyrna Beach. And I brought my surfboard! The place is wonderful. A place my family in Denmark and I would go by plane to visit and spend thousands of dollars as vacation! Here we just took the car for like an hour or two. It was the end of December but I was lying in the sun (and got bronze tan!) with the blue sky over my head and the sun shining. I tried skin boarding which is so much fun - and of course surfing. I love it! Laying on my board out in the ocean and just trying to catch a wave! It’s wonderful.

Well, two days later I was on my way (with my blazer) to Jacksonville, to the parade. The parade was SOOO cool and so much fun (and wow you got hot! – about 29 degrees Celsius – still December!) We are two people from Denmark, as you know, so I got Frederik to hold our wonderful flag. Ooo, I can’t describe what a wonderful feeling it was to see our proud flag again (I’m sure Frederik agrees)! I really didn’t expect that but it was wonderful to see our beautiful red and white flag again! We were SO busy at the parade. We had 10,000 lollipops we were going to hand out to all the people who were watching us. It was crazy! I was running around with Edgar and Elena, we were way behind our car, and we were to trying to keep track with it. For a moment I suddenly stopped and looked around. I realized I was in the middle of the street in Jacksonville, surrounded by thousands of people who were standing by the street and looking at us, all the tall buildings and in front of me were all my amazing exchange friends (unnecessary to describe how much I love them) waving with their flags and all the tall buildings which were surrounding us. Us, from all the different parts of the world. Together in this crazy place on earth. America. We are so lucky people! That moment was something special. Something I never will forget.

We had a great New Year's eve party at Mike and Debbie Lindell ‘s house. Thank you by the way, it was great we could have our New Year's party at your house! So much fun, and love your huge house (the pool was pretty great too). 5:56 o’clock I tried desperately to get everybody up on a chair. Because 6 o’clock it would new year in my lovely country (of the happiest people in the world) Denmark and properly some part of Europe too. We have the tradition in Denmark to stand on chairs (or whatever is there) and jump into the New Year. A great tradition. 

A great New Year and I can’t wait to live out the rest of my American life here. Take care and enjoy life! Ida