Mateusz "Matthew" Kukuła

2006-07 Inbound from Poland

Hometown: Czestochowa, Poland

Sponsor: Czestochowa Rotary Club, District 2230, Poland

Host: Arlington Rotary Club, District 6970, USA

School: Paxon School for Advanced Studies

Bio

Mateusz's Bio

Now I live in Jacksonville, Florida, my host family: David and Melody Schacter. I have 2 host brothers. First brother  (Jack) is 10 years old (the next birthday in 5 days). Second is a Zach, 16 years old and going to the same grade in Paxon as me, but we don't have lessons together:)

For me an exchange is new experience. This is for my very important because I meet a lot of people and I have a friend all over the world. I like to travel and If I go to the country for example: to Japan,Taiwan, Belgium, or Brazil, I have a lot of people who I go to meet:) This is UNCOMMON!

If I came back to home I think I remember this year whole my life.

For me USA is very different because POLAND IS different. and every thing is different. In Florida it's very very hot for people from my country and me:)

My hobby: I love windsurfing, surfing, snowboard, motocross, and team sports:) Also music Reagge, and I like cars:) I like a street race (illegal is the best)

I think I am going to have the best time in my life:)

Mateusz
"Aloha"

November 4 Journal

24 July 2006 - I arrived to Jacksonville at 11 pm. The first moment was a little scary because I didn't see my host family so after 30 min I started to get frightened. Fortunately one guy (my counselor Rob Overly - ROTARY) found me so my problems and fear passed. Then my host parents and one host brother arrived. There were several questions and I went to my new house in Jacksonville. I was really tired because my flight was about 14 hours so this is a really long way from my polish home.

The next day I got to know everything in my new American house. My first family - Host Mum Melody, Host Dad David, 2 Host brothers Zach age 16 and Jac age 11.

My house looks similar to my house in Poland but is a little different. We have (all family) a lot of cool stuff in our home. The house is really big, we have a pool and a pretty dock. On the dock we have one powerboat and two sail boats. Also we have a pretty big backyard and the best part in this house- band house! My brother (Zach) has a rock band. The house has a lot of instruments. Zach's friends hang out there all the time. They even sleep there on the weekends.

7 August 2006- school. School in the USA is so much different then school in Poland. The stereotype about Polish kids is: we often going to the party and drink at a young age. But Polish schools are more advanced and I think the kids are smarter than American kids! The differences between the schools are: Middle school in Poland is 7th through 9th grade and high school is only 3 years, about 12-14 classes. We don't have a choice so everyone must study general classes like Polish, Math, English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, sport, Extra language (like: French, Russian or German) computer science, Catholic Religion, rescue and more 2 classes but I don't know how to explain them in English. We can only choose a couple of extra subjects like 2-4 more hours Polish history or math etc. I think we are smarter than kids here. The second reason why my school in Poland is different is because my periods in school are only 45 minutes. In my American school my period is like 1and a half hours. I find it really boring so the best thing to do is sleep. And third reason is in Poland I finish school every day at 2 p.m. here it is about 4 pm.

These are the biggest differences between Polish and American school.

11- 13 August 2006 -Inbound Orientation. This was the best experience in my life because it was the first time I met 25 people from different countries at one time. We spent only 3 days together but the relationships we developed were amazing because we knew how everyone felt being in a different country. Some people spoke really good English but some people had the same problem as me - bad English. Every day my English gets better so at the next meeting it is going to be great because I think we will all speak better .

I like America so far. I like this country and I will study (college) here. All the time a think about Hawaii College so this will be the best time in my life. Exchange Students - see U in Disney World. Bye bye !!!!!

FINALLY: I LOVE POLAND, USA, FLORIDA, GIRLS, SURFING, FLORIDA EXCHANGE STUDENTS 2006

February 15 Journal

First issue, which I want to describe - is my new house. After 5 months in USA, I moved to my second host family. I was excited and surprise positively. My new home is comfortable and pretty. My entire life I lived in big houses and now my host family has medium-sized house but I really love it. In the future, I plan to build or buy the kind of house where I am staying now. You know why? Because all the family spends time together and our relationships grow strong and good.

Second important thing what happened to me was a trip with my first host family to Utah. That trip was awesome. We went to the resort Sundance, which is in Salt Lake City. I like weather in Utah during winter because is similar to Polish winter. About 2 to -10 Celsius (29 F to 14 F) - in this temperature I started feeling good (not too long of course). My host brother Zach and I snowboarded every single day. I was so sore! Great mountains, awesome snow and wonderful slopes. I can say I had the best snowboarding trip ever in my life.

Last incredible experience for me was a Ziggy Marley concert. I saw many bands in my life but I never been at a concert by the son of Bob Marley! I listen to reggae music, so Bob Marley is my favorite vocalist. Bob is dead but he has sons. Ziggy Marley, 38, the oldest son of Bob Marley, came to Jacksonville and played a show. This show was the best in my entire life so far! I danced about 6 hours and I did not get tired. Ziggy has great voice like Bob so I was in heaven. Reggae music operates on me so good, and after that concert I was totally free. I went there with my host brother and my host Mum and they think probably the same like me.

Well, so far I am doing great! My school is better, my art skills doing better, and the most important, my language. My friends ask me what about homesick and missing Poland. I answer every time the same. I do not have problems with being  homesick. But I miss being total free (personality for myself: Rotary rules are good but I miss driving a car and a motorcycle). On the other hand, I will be longer young. JJ Exchange program is giving me an ability and a time to grow emotionally so I am happy about that. I am happy I am here and I don't want to go back yet. Poland can wait for me. J

I want only tp say thank you Rotary for sponsoring me and giving me a good time and option to grow. I can meet different cultures and one day that will help me to make good decisions in my future life. Thanks.

LOVE U FLORIDA!!!!!!!!