Jonas Fritzensmeier

2007-08 Inbound from Germany

Hometown: Sulingen, Germany

Sponsor: Diepholz-Vechta Rotary Club, District 1850, Germany

Host: Daytona Beach West Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: Mainland High School

Jonas's Bio

My name is Jonas Fritzensmeier, I'm a 16-year old inbound from Germany. For the next year I will live in Ormond Beach, which is next to the great city of Daytona Beach!

I love playing the guitar, listening to music, hanging around with friends and a lot of other activities. My hometown in Germany, Sulingen, is very small compared to American cities. We have only one McDonalds there, that's why I already gained 10 pounds of weight in two weeks!

The people here in Florida are not very different to the German people - very nice and friendly. I noticed that the American teenagers are more open to new people, it's easy to make friends. But there are a lot of other things I have to get used to, for example the school (Mainland High School), which is 3 times as big as my German school! I love the warm weather in Florida, because in Germany it's often cold and rainy.

So far I had a very great time here, with a lot of fun and new experiences. My host family is great and I could already improve my English. Of course I miss my family and all my friends at home, but I think this year will change me so much and it's worth to accept some drawbacks. Even in the first three weeks I feel that I already matured a lot, and I would encourage everyone who reads this and who has the opportunity, to make an exchange year!!!

This will be one of the greatest years in my life,

Thank You Rotary!!!

Jonas

October 1 Journal

Hallo Leute!!!

1 month, 3 weeks and 1 one day since I arrived in Florida... The time goes on much too fast!!! I can still remember the day I had to say good-bye to all my friends and family, it feels like it was yesterday!! The reason for that might be that I did so many things here, everything is new and I still experience new things every day! But everything is great here!

My arrival

More than 15 Rotarians welcomed me at the airport in Daytona Beach, I didn't expect that. After we all went to an American restaurant. I had my first American Hamburger, sweetened Ice Tea and met my host family. I didn't have jetlag, and I was much too excited to think about anything anything else.

At home I met my host brothers from Mexico and Spain and got to know my host family better, which is just great!!! The next day I put all the stuff from my two packed suitcases in my room and made my first experiences of the American life. But there was no time to relax: The next day I left my new home again for one week, my host father went to South Carolina with Nathan (Belgium), Rudi (Slovakia), his host brother and me for White Water Rafting!!!! I had never done that before so it was a lot of fun!!! We also visited Atlanta and Patriot's Point in Charleston. On this great trip I also made friends with the first other Exchange Students. Back home I already had to prepare for my first day in an American High School:

School

I attend Mainland High School in the centre of Daytona Beach. I really like it, even if it's three times as big as my German school!!! Students from a lot of different ethnic groups go to Mainland, that was also a new thing for me. The school is only 3 years old and beautiful. We also have the best Football team in the area (GO BUCS!!!!!). School is always a lot of fun. It is more work than in Germany but easier. I also take some fun classes like Digital Design or Team Sports. Both teachers and students are very nice and friendly.

On the first day I met sooo many people that I couldn't even remember their names the next days. As an Exchange Student you are different to the others and that makes you interesting. That's why it's very easy to make friends. Another good thing is that most American girls love foreign accents!! ;-) The only thing I don't like at my school is that I sometimes have to get up at 5am to catch my bus! But even riding the bus is fun. I like these yellow school busses that I only knew from movies before. Like everybody has noticed, sports are very important in American High Schools, more than in Germany. When the Soccer season starts I will probably try to join the team. That's what all the people here expect from "Germanyyyy", how they sometimes call me. On school days I am never home before 4pm, so after there's not much to do after. Most of my friends even work after school every day.

On the weekends I really enjoy meeting other Exchange Students around Daytona Beach, going to the beach (I love it!!!), the movies or a Football game. Sometimes I just hang around in the pool and enjoy the amazing weather in Florida.

Inbound Orientation

Meeting all the other Exchange Students at Camp Montgomery was one of the best things so far! Even after a short conversation I already liked all of them and made friends. They are all in the same situation as I am so it was never boring. It feels great to know I have friends all around the world, some friendships that will probably last forever!!! I already look forward to the Inbound Fall Weekend in Daytona!

The same weekend I have my Homecoming Dance at school. I will go there with 11 friends in a LIMO. I think that will be an amazing night! Tell you about that in my next journal!

I think I was very lucky with my host family. My host father Tom already had 26(!) exchange students so he has a lot of experience in that. I have two "host brothers" from Mexico and Spain. They are older than me but they both are pilots, so sometimes I can fly with them e.g. to St. Augustine or Melbourne. That's soo much fun!!

I really miss my family and friends back in Germany, but I'm not homesick because I will see them all again in only a few months!!! And I am usually much too busy to really think about home….

So, that was my first journal, but the next will come soon, it's already October!!!

To all other Exchange Students: I miss you all and look forward to meeting you again at the Daytona weekend!!! Have a great time, Jonas

January 6 Journal

Hi everybody!!!

I have been living in Florida for about 5 months now, and again I must say that it feels more like 5 weeks! I think that I'm pretty comfortable with the American culture and language now, but everyday I still see new things that are different to my life in Germany, things that amaze me. One example, I start to understand the English music, even without concentrating on it, that is so amazing! I begin to feel like a real American now, but it still feels good to say "I am foreign" because it makes you something special. People in my school start to become really interested in my country and whole Europe. At first they asked me a lot of "stupid" questions about Germany, but these questions are becoming more and more interesting. It feels great to tell the other teenagers about what I know. Some are becoming really jealous when I tell them how great it is to be an exchange student. I tell them "Well, do it yourself" but most teenagers don't dare to do it, it was the same in my home country. They think they can not can not try to learn something new because it is too hard. In fact, sometimes it is really hard to be an exchange student, but you can't imagine how much you learn and profit on that! And even when it's hard, it is always a lot of fun. I did a lot of fun activities here, but even my everyday-life is fun, because it is so different.

Here's a list of what I did in the past couple of months:

- Even if it's becoming more cold, I still love going to the beach. I even made it to surf!!
- I made more and more new friends at school and some of them are becoming really good friends!
- I went to Disney with all the other Inbounds, which was one of the greatest things! Later I also visited Universal Studios and went on all the rides
- I went to some Interact actions, for example in nursing homes.
- I went to Miami, one of the greatest cities ever!!! I love South Beach and the Ocean Drive!
- I made a SCUBA diving license, together with Nathan, Laura, Niky and Phil. We went on two dives already and that was just great…
- I saw a Space Shuttle taking off in Cape Canaveral
- I celebrated my first birthday away from home
- I went e.g. to the Biketoberfest or the big car show in Daytona Beach, and I already look forward to the Daytona 500 in February and Bike Week!!
- And I experienced all the events like Halloween, Christmas and New Year's.

Those are pretty much the same as in Germany. The party for New Year's in Jacksonville was really cool. My Christmas was really, really nice too, but unfortunately I didn't have any Christmas spirit this year, it was just too warm for me. Before I never had a Christmas without freezing temperatures or even snow. Also it was the first time without my family, that was hard for me, of course. But I still liked it a lot, we went to my host father's family near Orlando.

I probably forgot a lot, because there is just too much to do. And still the most important thing I did is that I just lived here and learned more about the life in America. I also learned more about myself in these 4 months, about other people and even about my country. I learned how to see things from different points of view, I became much more self independent and more open minded than I was before.

I appreciate all those many people who do things for me, especially Rotarians, and most of all my host father Tom. It is really hard to say Thank You for everything they do for me, but I think the best thing is to just show them how I enjoy it and that I profit a lot of this year.

Tomorrow it's time to go back to school, and there are more exciting events coming up, the Seacamp for example is just in 3 weeks.

By the way, in these 5 months I took almost 2800 pictures!!! I think that's proof that I really enjoy my stay here in Florida.

Auf Wiedersehen!