Kawisara "Kwang" Thummasaeng

2007-08 Inbound from Thailand

Hometown: Warin Chamrab, Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand

Sponsor: Ubon Rotary Club, District 3340, Thailand

Host: Arlington Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: Paxon School of Advanced Studies

Kwang's Bio

Hi everybody!

My name is Kwang <Kawisara Thummasaeng> I'm going to be 17 years old in October. I come from Ubon Ratchatani, Thailand <South East of Asia>.

I like to read books, listen to music, talk to my friends, hang out and I really enjoy going somewhere that I've never seen before. I really like to travel everywhere.

Today is 1 month that I've stayed here, that's so great. I thought before I came that I'll be very sad because I'll miss my family my friends and everybody who I left behind. But I'm not sad, I think I'm happy now. Of course I miss my family, my friends in my hometown but now, I have a new family and new friends here too, so I shouldn't think about my family and my friends in my hometown too much. Just enjoy the new life!

Now, I’m studying in Paxon School of Advanced Studies <I’m a junior>. It’s a very good school, I have lots of friends now, they are very nice. I’m so excited with all the activities in school because everything in school is very different from my hometown, like in Thailand we have a uniform and we don’t move all the time like here< sometimes it makes me so tired>.

Everything changes, I mean family, friends, school, city, food, road, life, language everything. How many people can do like us <Exchange Students> who came from far away from here to spend a whole year here? That's not easy and 1 year, it's a long time. But I think it's a good chance for everyone, you can't buy it from store, market or whatever, so I'll do best and I'll go back to my hometown with lots of experience.

GO! GO! RYE 07-08!!!
< I love everybody in D.6970, thank you for everything!>

November 13 Journal

I left Thailand in the early morning on August 8 (Thailand’s time) by United Airlines. I had my friend from my district on that flight but we didn’t sit together (he was going to CA). I sat on 49F (the middle seat) left side of the plane. I was so scared. It was my first time to go out of my country by myself. The woman beside me, she’s Thai who moved to the USA many years ago and she had come back to visit her family and she was going back to the USA. She was going to Chicago like me. She take care of me when we were in Narita, Tokyo, Japan International airport (we had to stop for connecting the flight at Japan). It was really good because I was so scared. I was so glad to meet her. It took about 6 hr. from Thailand to Tokyo. And then we waited 1 hr for the next flight, Tokyo-Chicago.

This flight I sat by the window, left side of the plane. This flight, all of air hostess and stewards are American… O_O!!! It scared me because if I have a question I have to ask them in English and they’re gonna tell me English (of course they’re not gonna tell me in Thai) and all of the announcements on the plane, time in destination that I have to follow. It made me so nervous. But I did good, I could understand them. Fortunately, I met 2 Thai girls on that flight. They are exchange students like me but not from Rotary. They were going to Kansas. I had to take the train from building 5 to building 1 with them. We helped each other. I was so glad to meet them.

My next flight was Chicago-Jacksonville at 6.40 pm (chicago’s time). I waited from 3-6 pm. At the center board, it said my next flight was on gate C3, so went to that gate and waited to 5.30. I didn’t see it said my flight on the board at the gate. It said the other city and that flight was gonna take off after my flight. So I was so wondered, my flight was gonna take off in 40 minutes. It should say my flight instead of that flight. I waited until 6 pm. I was nervous so I walked back to the center board again. It said my flight has been changed to gate B2. And gate B2 is on the opposite side of the building. Very far from where I was. It has to take time at least 10-15 minutes to get there. I had no choice! It has no announcement to tell the customers. I had to run non-stop with my backpack and my suitcase. I was like excuse me! I’m sorry! sorry! to other people along the way to that gate. Many people there, I thought we were like ants. People everywhere. Finally I got to gate B2 !!!^o^!!! with sweat, very tired but it was batter than miss the plane! I stood on a long line, no seat, waiting for something. I had no idea what was going on. My flight delayed. It took off at 7.30. It was a jet plane, kind of small. Inside the plane I thought it was like a bus. I slept all of the flight. I don’t know how long it took, the time was confusing me and I slept all flight so I really had no idea (I didn’t change the time on my watch from Chicago). When I got off the plane I felt a little bit scared like if nobody come to pick me up. My stuff are they gonna be here? If not what am I gonna do. And I’m so tired. But everything good. I had my host family were waiting for me and somebody from Rotary. Thank you. I was so glad, my longest traveling is over! I was so so tired.

My host parents are Hal and Sandy Rogers. They live in a beautiful house in Arlington area east side of Jacksonville. It’s a nice area to live, it’s quiet and there are many big old trees here. In the house we have 6 people; mom, dad, nana (mom’s mom), Katie (host sister, 23 years old), Treavor (host brother, 19 years old), Linda (host sister, 17 years old, the youngest of their children and we go in the same school). They have 2 dogs, Colly and Micky. Colly is a hyper dog. She bites everything. Micky is a very old dog, now he’s deaf and blind. He’s Nana’s dog. He has to take a lot of medicine. And they have 1 cat, Fresh. He’s a black cat. He always make me scared like jump to me! And walk on my homework when I was working on my homework on the table. And I’m a person who doesn’t like cat because of their eyes and I think it’s scary. I have my own room upstairs. I like my room a lot, it’s so comfortable.

I go to Paxon high school for advanced studies. It’s a college prep school. The school is on the west side of Jacksonville, far from where I live. It takes about 45 minutes every morning (traffic in downtown). I’m a junior in school. I have 8 classes. Leadership technique, American Government, Intensive reading, Mass media (making yearbook) Anatomy, Stagecraft, Trigonometry and Drama. I have first lunch every day. School start from 8.15-3.25. My friend, Elora takes me to school and takes me home everyday.

Places that I went in first 3 months:

• Ichetucknee
• Camp Montgomery
• Disney World (Magic Kingdom on Night of joy 2007)
• Jax Beach
• Flea market in North side
• Jacksonville zoo (Halloween night)
• Jacksonville Fair 2007
• Kennedy space center
• Orlando downtown
• Jacksonville area (the mall, park, restaurants, bowling, movies, football game at my school and other school)

On Nov. 9th I went to Disney world again with Alisha, her husband, Jo and her granddaughter, Ali, 22 years old (she’s very very nice person). I left Jacksonville around 1 pm and went down to Orlando. We went to Creek Resorts in Disney World, they are very beautiful. We went to Downtown Disney for our dinner. We went to House of Blues. It was very interesting. Beautiful place. And they have very good food too! (but we waited about an hour to get a table!) And then we came back to the room and slept. On Nov. 10th we went to Epcot by bus. We walked to see at the zone that they have many country around the world first, that was great. So beautiful. I took a lot of pictures. I think I don’t have to go around the world, I can come here and just walk, I can see around the world! I love it! (but no Thailand-----) We walked in that part all day. After dinner in Epcot we went to fun part! We went to Test Track. This one is my favorite. It’s like a speed car. We stood in line about an hour. Such a long line. We were going to see the fireworks at 9.30. But we were too tired to be there so we went back to the resort at 8.30. On Nov 11th we just relaxed at the resort, we went down to the pool and swim, reading a book and slept. At 3 pm went drove back to Jacksonville and I spent the night at Alisha’s house. Her house is so beautiful (She’s gonna be my next host family).

I had a great weekend! Thank you Alisha, Jo and Ali!

December 11 Journal

Hi Everybody!

December 1-2: I went to Outbound Interviews at Florida Community College, Palatka from 7.30 am-7 pm. I was very tired. We Inbounds helped candidates and their parents. But we had fun too. All of Inbound students who went there wore blazers with many pins, flag, and lots of stuff. We got a beautiful blazer! We worked, played around, and talked. We had 2 groups, take students to correct room and talk to parents, I was in the first group so I talked a lot to students. Most of them wanted to go to Europe. But I met the girl who really wanted to go to Thailand too! She’s very nice, I like her. On Sunday, Kevin brought his guitar and he played and sang, we all sang and danced, it was very fun. Before we left Al, Lawrene, Jody and Bill took me, Destan, Laura, and Kevin to Gator Landing (restaurant) and Al ordered gator tail for us. At first we got the plate and he told us it was chicken so we ate and then he took a picture of us and told the truth. We were like REALLY?!? O_O!!! So it was the first time of my life that I ate gator! But I think it was not so different from chicken. It was good.

December 6: I went to Bill’s office at 7.30 Max, Kevyn, and Bill were there. We waited for Phil and Charlotte just a minute and then we went to the next stop for picked up other student in Jacksonville. So there were 11 student in our van (me, Phil, Charlotte, Miranda, Kevyn, Max, Yudi, Isa, Mona, Anne and Nirali). We got to the hotel, The All Stars Movies Resort around 11 am, we checked in and got 2 dining cards (total $85), room’s key, ticket for 4 days, and shirt. After that we went to MGM Studio. We went to Hollywood Tower for the first one. We all talked, going crazy, loud, screamed and laughed all the time. I felt sorry for people around us sometimes (ha ha!). This thing is an elevator in the old tower, they have ghost and then the elevator dropped us very very fast. It was so awesome! I love it so much. Next, we went to something, I don’t remember the name, it’s like a speed car to go to concert. The car is very fast. It was so much fun. We went there, both of them twice! We saw the Parade and then we went to check with Al at 4 pm under the big hat and we saw our new friends from different districts. We went to something like going out space, I don't remember the name, and then after that 4 minutes we ran to see the show. Kevin, Kevyn and I we walked to the street that they had fake snow and big light Christmas tree, it was wonderful, pretty and beautiful. Most of us went to see the Fantasmic show at 8 pm together. It was like nightmare thing but it was amazing. After the show we went back to the hotel and we went to the pool, It was freezing! But we still played around in the pool. It was very very fun.

December 7: We got up at 6 am and went to Magic Kingdom at 6.55 (very early) because we had to go there before the park opens. We were separated in 3 groups. We studied in American History by guide of Magic Kingdom, we went to Hall of Presidents of the USA. Learned their stories. After that they took us to Splash Mountain. I really love it! (there were only us) We all screamed and had fun. Next, we went to Thunder Mountain. The last on for special program, we went back to Hall of Presidents and saw the show, all of presidents talked. We signed the copy of Declaration of Independence and rang the bell. We went to Space Mountain and had lunch. We went to Buzz Lightyear - it’s like the ride things but we can control and they have a laser gun, we have to shoot and we can get points from that, It was very fun. We saw 3D movies of Donald Duck. We rode on the boat to see Pirates of the Caribbean. We saw the parade and we all took a picture in front of Cinderella's castle (today we all wore the same shirt), and we went shopping on main street. Before go back to hotel we saw the fireworks, it was very beautiful. We went to hotel and had pizza party and it was Nanda’s birthday, and then we went to swim in the pool. I got out of the pool, took a bath and go back for played and talked. A lot of us were there. 5 minutes before midnight, we went back to our room and I slept as soon as I got to the bed.

December 8: We went to Epcot. We went to Mission Space, Test Track , beginning energy something (I can’t remember their name) and walked around the countries, we had lunch at Japan, we had sushi and then we went to Soarin'. We waited 75 minutes. That was terrible. But it was very good to go there. We saw a 3D movie (Imagination). At 8 pm all of us get together again and we talked and played around waited for a fireworks at 9.30 pm. It was amazing and we had fun and were tired today. We didn’t swim on that night, we were too tired.

December 9, The last day: We went to Animal Kingdom. We went to the biggest roller coaster of the park for the first one, we got the Fast Pass (for next time but this time stood in line for 30 minutes). This one is my favorite, I really like it. And then we went to ah…I don't know the name. It’s like a circle boat, ride on the river and then fall in the water fall, we had so much fun. We went there 3 times! At first we got wet but not much, but Laura and some of us they got really wet so we went there again, Jody went with us too but he wore the other shirt to protect him and he didn’t get wet. This time Jody got really wet and it was very funny (the first time he laughed at us that we got wet and he didn’t). So we asked staff to go again so we just sat on the boat and went again, this time all of us got really wet, everybody. We had so much fun. After that we went back to roller coaster. It was fun. After that we went to got the Fast Pass for Safari. We had pizza for lunch and we went to the 3D movies in the big tree. (Tough to be a bug) It was awesome. It was like we are ants live in the tree under the ground. And glasses make us look like a bug. It was funny. After that we just walked around and went to Safari. We had fun, we saw a lots of animals from Africa. We had to run from the back of the part to see everybody at 2.30 (we were late). And we had to leave. I hate to say Goodbye to my friends. I hate when our time’s over. We hug and said goodbye. I went back to hotel because Bill, he didn’t take the van to the park, that’s good because a lot of us went back to the hotel, so we stayed together a little bit longer. Finally, me, Max, Phil, Kevyn, Yudi, Nirali and Anne came back to Jacksonville with Bill. We all slept. We got back to Jacksonville around 6.45 pm. Our Disney World trip has gone. Now, I’m looking forward to see all of us soon!

I want to thank you for all of you that gave all of us a really great, wonderful time and thank you for everything that you’ve done for me and all of us exchange students.

THANK YOU SO MUCH.

 

March 28 Journal

Sea Camp

We left Jacksonville very early morning of Thursday, January 24, bus stopped a couple times to pick up our friends in different areas. I was so sleepy and pretty much what I did on the bus is sleeping. We met friends from other district (same group from Disney World) in Miami. And then we go straight to the Keys. We stopped to see dolphins like an hour and then we went to have dinner in restaurant beside the ocean, so windy and cold! After that went straight ahead to Sea Camp. Along the way was so beautiful, ocean beside 2 sides of the road and sunset. It was so pretty.

We met other students that were from Michigan, student from Russia and some other exchange students that we’d never met before. The first night we had a camp fire, everybody get together around fire, it was so windy and cold, we made a s'more, we talked, get to know staff in camp. And then we had to be in room by our roommate list which mean we couldn’t pick what room we want to get in. I got room number 12, last room on first floor. That was a good thing, I don’t have to walk up stairs! I didn’t have any friends from our district in that room. Only me, myself and I (I stayed with girls from other district and girls from the keys).

First day of the camp, we got into different groups. And each group we had different topic, my group was about fresh water. We had 12-13 people in one group. In my group there were me, Kevyn, Tahei, Max(German, from 6990 that we went to Disney world together), and other people from Michigan, Russia and one girl from the Keys. They gave us a wet suit and other things for snorkeling. We had a swimming test in the morning and in the afternoon we went out to the ocean. I hate when I had to put wet suit on, it was very very hard to do and it was so tight. We went to the ocean by flat boat, one group for one boat. We had to have a buddy when we were snorkeling so Max, he was my buddy and we had to go everywhere together. We didn’t see very much on this day. We found something that look like star fish but not star fish, I couldn’t remember what it called. And then we came back, on the boat it was so cold!!! We had a dance party this night after dinner. We all danced and had fun, I really liked it.

The second day we went snorkeling again, this time we went 2 different places, the second one my group saw sharks too!!! I was so excited and I was scared too! It was a huge one! It was the first time in my life that I saw a shark in natural like this. We came back to the camp and we had to prepare to do the presentation at night about our group topic. We were doing that all the afternoon. I drew picture on the presentation poster. At night we did the presentation and signed the shirt (camp’s t-shirt). And the light was out at 10pm!!!!(the worst thing of the camp is lights out too early)

The last day of the camp we just had breakfast and then we got out of the camp, go straight to Key West!!!! I was so excited!! Key West was so interesting city, I like it. We pretty much walked around and we just went to Hard Rock Café (most of us went there to had lunch together). We didn’t have time to go somewhere else (Hard Rock Café took forever!!) so we just walked back to the bus. And then we drove straight back. I got home around mid-night. Of course no school on the next day for me (it was Monday)!!!

I really had a really good time. Thank you so much for everybody that worked for us.

March 31 Journal

I left Jacksonville on 10.45, flew to Atlanta and then connected the flight to Columbus, Ohio. There were Charlotte, Isa, Anne and I. The weather it was bad, the plane was shaking because it was raining. It was pretty cold in Columbus (it was just snow 1 day before we went there so on the ground still had snow and it was the first time that I saw real snow!!!) There were 2 chaperones waiting for us and some of other student that they arrived at the airport for a while when we arrived there. We were going to go to the hotel and I was going to call my host dad, to tell him that I’m in Ohio already. At that moment...I couldn’t find my cell phone!!!! I remember that I just took it off from my jeans pocket for turn it off before the plane took off but I couldn’t find it!! I was shock a few second and then I told chaperones that I can’t go to the hotel now I have to find my phone first. So the rest of them went to the car except Charlotte still with me. Me and her went to talk to the guy from the airline and I told him what happened because I was pretty sure that I dropped it on the plane. Finally they found my phone. I was like thank god!!!!!! I would be so mad to myself if I lost it on the first day of the trip!

After that we found the group of us and go straight to the hotel. Some of students were there, so we got to know new friends, mostly from Brazil. 4 of us were in the same room (all trip) I met my friends from my district from Thailand too! There were 7 Thai people on this trip. It sounds a lot but compare to Brazilian…that’s not even half of them! There were 17 Brazilian on this trip!!!! When we first met, introduced ourselves and if he/she said that they from Brazil. Other people were like “Brazil again!?!” And when we asked “where are you from? Brazil?” It was funny. Brazilian everywhere. There were 100 of students! First night we had pizza together and we talked a lot because it was the first meeting of us. We could hang around everywhere girls room, boys room, it doesn’t matter but 10 pm we had to be in our room and the chaperones came for room check and told us the information about the next day. Even we had to be in room so early but we didn’t go to bed early. We all took a shower and watched TV so I think we went to bed like midnight or after that I didn’t remember.

We left Columbus, OH in the early morning (7.30am) of March 15 and we were on the bus, pretty much all day. We took a bathroom break, had lunch in Pennsylvania and went straight ahead to Washington DC. We got there around 3-4pm. We walked around the monument. It was so cool, I like Lincoln monument. We left the monument area at 7.30pm and we went to the mall to get dinner. We got to the hotel around 9.30pm so, this night we didn’t have so much time to hang around with friends before go to our own room.

The third day, we left from the hotel around 8am, we went to the white house, just took picture outside. It was raining, cold and windy! Next, we went to the Capitol, it was so pretty. And we did the same thing, walked around and took picture. After that we went to a navy museum, there were a inside museum and a warship. People from Bus A went in to museum inside first, of course it’s warm! And my bus, bus B we had to be outside, on the boat. Cold, rain and windy! It was a huge ship so, we were like go up stairs, down stairs all the time. After that we switched, I was so happy, I was ready to get inside, it was freezing out there. Inside we just walked around the museum, there are a lot of boat model from a long time ago to now.

We went to the train station in Washington DC for lunch. It’s a pretty big and beautiful station. Then we went to the museum complex. We all got a map of museum area, they let us go wherever we want around this area but the group must be more than 4 people. So 4 of us we went to National Art museum, it’s so big. Then we walked pretty far to National Archive museum. We had to be in line like 30 minute to get in there. It wasn’t a huge line but for some reasons that I don’t know why they just didn’t move, good thing was it wasn’t freezing anymore so, it wasn’t too bad. I like this museum. We met a lot of our friends there, lots of us got the copy of Declaration of independence or the constitution. I got the Declaration of independence. Charlotte and I we got one for our American Government teacher too! (We’re in the same class at school). After we done with this museum we went to National Air space museum but we didn’t have so much time left so we just went to the place that the buses were going to pick us up at 5.30pm. From the museum we went to the statue of solders somewhere, I don’t know (I know that in Washington) and then they took us to the grocery store to get something to eat for dinner. After that we went back to the hotel, we had plenty of time this night, yeah! (we actually had a party too!)

The fourth day, in the morning we went to the Airplane museum (I guess, I couldn’t remember the name of it, there were a lot of airplanes) someone said they’re fake someone said they’re real…so, I don’t know they’re real or not. It was pretty boring. We had lunch there and then we came back in to museum area again to look at the American Indian museum but most of us got tired of museum stuff so 4 of us and 10 more took the subway to Chinatown!!!! (Actually most of us went there but only my group went there by subway, other groups they just walked) It was pretty excited for me because it was the first time for me to use subway in the USA. 14 of us, got lost we were confused because there are so many lines of the train. We asked other people to tell us what we should do, we had to change the line of the train and got lost so instead of 5-10 minutes like normal, we took like 30 minutes! Haha, it was funny but we had a good time though, we’ve got to figured out and tried! I like it, it was an interesting experience!

Finally we got to Chinatown and we thought that we’re too big group, we needed to separate to small group and go wherever we want and then come back in front of subway station at 4pm so, me, Charlotte, Isa and the girl from Austria, Antonia, we walked around and sat on the second floor of Starbucks. Watching people on the street and talked. We had a good time. And then 4pm we met the rest of the group and went back, this time we took like 10 minutes to get back! So we got like an hour left, Charlotte, Isa and I we walked to Natural museum but it was closed! So we just walked back to the same place that the buses are coming to pick us up, waiting, playing with friends. This night we went to the same store to get food and went back to the hotel, we had plenty of time but we didn’t really do anything, sat in the hall way and talked.

The fifth day! We left hotel in the early morning to go ahead to New York! Everybody got so excited, including me! I was so looking for this day! We were actually going to stop in Philadelphia but if we stop there we’re going to have 1-2 hours for free time in New York so the majority vote of all of us was go straight to New York, skip Philadelphia. We went on the boat from New Jersey to Ellis Island and then we took the boat to Statue of Liberty!!! It was freezing!!!!! But I really like it. We walked around the island, of course it was so cold! For some how we couldn’t go up in to the statue, I don’t know why. And then we had to wait for the boat to go back, it was really really cold! We had to stand like really really close to each other to keep us warm and it worked so good, finally some of us started to jump, and then all of us jumped together, we called that time “penguin moment” it was so funny. I agree with the name, we looked like penguin!

We came back to the bus and go straight to NYC. At first we got into Manhattan we all were like WowWwwwwwwwwwwww O_O!!!!!oh my godddd. It was amazing. Hundreds of very high buildings and colorful by digital screen everywhere, thousand of people walking on the street. It was just like in movies. We all stopped talking at that time, just looked around. I felt so small in this city because the building are so so huge and high. They dropped us off at 49th street, 6 Avenue. And then, about 15 people in my group walked to Times Square, it’s far just a couple blocks away. It was so amazing, oh my god! It’s very colorful area and there were lots of people there. We walked around, went to Hard Rock Café but we didn’t eat there because it’s going take forever and we didn’t have time (we had to be back on the bus at the same place at 7.30pm) so, we went to pizza restaurant around that area and we ate there, it was pretty expensive. After that it was time to go so we just walked back. Our hotel was in NJ but it wasn’t very far, took like 45 minutes. There are only 2 stories in this hotel so, they don’t have an elevator. For somehow all the girls were in 2nd floor, which mean we had to carry a huge bag up stairs and all the guys just used the wheel of their bags to took the bags in the room! It was so unfair! (Normally girl’s bag always heavier than guy’s bag.)

The sixth day! This day was the day that everybody was looking for! Because we were going to have free time in NYC!!! BUT THE WEATHER IT WAS AWFUL!!! It rained all day!!!! In the morning we had a drive tour, sat on the bus and drove around Manhattan! We saw ground zero, central park, Broadway, library that they filmed “The day after tomorrow” went into Soho area and many many places. By the schedule we were suppose to have 8 hours for free time (12noon-8pm) but because of the rain made the traffic worst, they were dropping us off in Chinatown and so, we got to there so late and we had to be on the bus at 49th street, 6th Avenue (very far from Chinatown) at 7.30pm. So we had only 5-6 hours! And we were not allowed to used the subway in NYC, we had to take a taxi, the traffic was bad so we couldn’t really go anywhere. We tried to keep group small as much as we can we can because many people many problems so we just went by 4 of us (the smallest that we could do), we went shopping in Chinatown and then took a taxi to 5th Avenue, the most expensive place to shop. We walked a lot today and especially walked in the rain!!! And cold!!! And windy!!! We walked to Empire State Building but we couldn’t go up because the weather was so bad and we’re not going to see anything up there, it was foggy, we couldn’t even see the top of the building when we looked up from the ground outside the building because it was so foggy. So we just took the picture from the first floor.

And then we walked to Rockefeller square, took picture with the water fountain in front of the building and walked back to 49th street, 6th Avenue. The reason why we had to walk in the rain because we were waiting for taxi like 20 minutes, of course in the rain. All of the taxis, they already had passengers! And there was one taxi, he had no passenger and we were like ^o^(happy mood) oh yes!!! But when he drove to us, he didn’t stop, he had his window down, he was smoking and he blew the smoke to us!!!! he was so mean!!!!! We were like !!!what the heck!!?!!?!! We’re girls and we all wet in the rain! What was he thinking!?! I was so mad. So finally we had to walk. We all came back to the hotel and didn’t care about hanging around in this night because all of us got so tired.

The seventh day! We left NY in the early morning go straight to Boston!! Oh yes!!! We stopped to had lunch on the warship. In the schedule it said surprise from Bill!! At first we saw that we were kind of like,.. wowwwwwww what’s going to surprise us!! When we knew that we were going to have “fast food” on the warship. We were like…….is that a surprise in the schedule? So, it wasn’t very surprise and it was so so so so cold!!! And windy!!! After a “very surprise” lunch we go straight to Boston!! We got free time today!!! But we didn’t have any map and we didn’t know anything so we walked along the freedom trail (red brick on the side walk) we went to Hard Rock Café (again) and went shopping (again). It was freezing and windy! We had a very nice hotel in Boston!! My room can get through the next room and we had a couch and big bed and big room! important thing there is a pool inside in this hotel!! It was awesome! Some of us went in to the pool but I didn’t because we got like 30 minutes before 10pm so I was lazy to go to change and 10 minutes later have to get out so, I just hung around the pool with some of my friends.

The eighth day! we went to Salem city! A witch town. It was so so so so cold this day. The temperature was like below 0c and it was so so so so windy, I was flying~ I’m serious, it was kind of hard to walk! We could go everywhere we want in this town and come back to the bus on time, the first museum that we went we have to pay $8 to get in and Bill said it’s not worth to do so Charlotte, Anne and I didn’t get in there. The rest of us, pretty much everybody tried to stay inside the building because it was freezing. So they went to coffee shop. Only 3 of us wanted to walk around because we already came here and I didn’t want to loose my time in coffee shop that I can go whenever I want in Jacksonville. We walked to many places and they were all closed! oh my godddddd!! We walked in freaking cold weather to see them and they were all closed!!! So we stopped by dunkin donut to get hot chocolate. The way back to the bus, it was really windy then my scarf was kind of like flying away from me so I tried to catch it and I forgat that I was holding a cup of hot chocolate….i splat it on my coat!!!! Like all on my arm!! I was like . . . .. . O_O!!!!! shocked for 5 seconds. Ahhhhhh I was so mad that morning.

In the afternoon we had free time again!!! They dropped us off at the park, in the middle of the city! So we walked in to downtown, Boston it’s very very beautiful city. I like it so much! Bill said it’s the most European city in the USA. We walked into the mall, and we lost Isa O_O!!!! we were looking for her like an hour! Walked back and forth, we were like about to call the chaperones! Because she didn’t answer our phone! We were like so freak out, I was afraid that something happened to her or something. We were in the second floor, women’s clothes and Charlotte, she already came down stairs but she said she didn’t go the other side because that side it’s a men’s clothes, Isa shouldn’t be there and then we finally walked down stairs we saw Enrico (Brazilian boy that went to Disney world with us) and I asked him about Isa, he told us he just saw her in men’s clothes, she was looking for us like crazy!!! And he was like, go go go!! Go find her, we all so happy in that moment!!! Oh my god I was so scared! When we found her she said she came downstairs for looking for some men’s clothes for her dad and then when she was going to call us, she couldn’t find her phone, so she walked back to the bath room because she though she forgot it there, and it was there! In the same time that she was going to call us after she found her phone, we saw her, we were like thank god!!!!! we were about to call the chaperones!!! And the really bad thing is when we asked for help from the store to make the announcement for us, they said they’re not going to do for a person who not a kid or like really young, we were like what (the heck)!?!?, And Charlotte was about to tell them that Isa couldn’t understand English and needs help!!! It ‘s kind of funny to think about it now but at that moment it wasn’t funny at all!!

After we found her we went out of that store and went to had lunch, we all were tired! (except Isa) and we walked around downtown and walked back to the same place that we went on the day before (hard rock café area) and we figured out that we should go to Harvard University!! So we took a taxi there, $5 each. When we arrived there we saw some of our friends and they came by subway so they told us we should take subway the way back because it’s a lot cheaper and it’s faster. So we walked around Harvard square and we walk into the campus, it’s very pretty. We took a picture with a statue of John Harvard too! We didn’t have so lot of time so we took a subway back and we had to run!!! to the place that the bus’s going pick us up. We came back to the hotel like 8pm. We were hanging around first and then went to the pool. So, this night I went into the pool! We were playing in the pool to 10pm! Such a tired day…

The ninth day! We left Boston in the early morning went to Cooperstown, to see baseball hall of fame. I didn’t really pay attention that much because I don’t even know how to watch baseball so how could I know these people. After that we had lunch in that city, pretty expensive. It was freezing!!, there was snow on the ground! And then, we straight ahead to Auburn, NY. The hotel it’s very nice, there’s pool inside too but we didn’t have a chance to get in because this night we had a talent show. All 17 of the Brazilians sang a Brazilian song and danced, it was fun. And some of us played the piano. After that we signed the trip’s shirt and trade card and pins. It was the last night for the Ohio kids (Ohio kids they didn’t have to fly back so they didn’t have to stay at the last hotel) So it was pretty sad. I got a lot of pins more!

The last day! We left the hotel and go straight to Niagara Falls. We got there before lunch time. We couldn’t go to Canada side because some of us couldn’t go (about visa) it was freezing, I had my gloves on but my hand still couldn’t feel anything, it was so cold, there was snow everywhere! The fall it’s so so pretty, the color of the water and it’s so huge, and it’s so pretty! After that we stopped to have lunch and straight back to Columbus. We stopped one place to dropped some of my friends off, and they all on my bus!!!! It was so sad because we’re very good friends and I like them all! When they all gone the bus was like, quiet! (because they’re loud group) and then when we got to the airport hotel, all of the Ohio kids had to leave, lots of us cried but I didn’t because mostly people from bus A that I don’t really know them. And Bill, he disappeared too! I didn’t even say thank you to him! He was just gone!?! He said he wanted to go back home to see his dogs---I don’t know he was joking or not but no one saw him. This hotel it’s open area, not in the building. It’s going be nice (because we can be loud) if it wasn’t snowing. And it was snowing!!!!!!! My first snow in my life, pretty excited and very cold! We were hung around to midnight this night!! “very nice” because Bill wasn’t there and we asked the chaperones that this is the last night and we’re not going to see each other again in the rest of our lives (it’s a little bit too much but it worked!! We could stay together to midnight!!) It was fun and sad in the same time, I really hate leaving!

The day that we had to go back! Some of them had to leave the hotel like 4am!! But mine was 8am, my flight was 10.30. Anne didn’t come with us, her flight was in the afternoon so 3 of us left before her. There were like 10 people in my group that had to leave at the same time. We got back to Jacksonville around 2.30. Charlotte’s host mom picked 3 of us up and took all of us home

**the funny thing on this trip were**

Charlotte: for some reasons she woke all of us up in one night, she was like… Charlotte: KWANG!!!(why did she has to call me ?!?) wake up!! We’re gonna be late!!! (I didn’t even sleep on the same bed with her, Isa did) She laid down on the bed, didn’t get up, So we heard that and we all like !!!O_O!!!what!!!!!!!!! Really!!?!?!?!?! OH MY GOD!!!(stared to freak out) and Isa was like Oh my god!!! did the bus leave?? They left us??!?!?!?! And then we looked at the clock………..it was 4.45am in the morning . . . .. . . . .. . . . we were like…Charlotte—it’s just 4.45 ……… ……………. ………………… And we all laughed it was so funny, and Charlotte was like..sorry~ I’m pretty sure she was dreaming about something

Anne: for somehow (again) when we all sleeping, but I wasn’t, I went to bed the last one so I still up Anne:  Kwang Me: what? Anne*^*)@!^$*YT:UOIRKL G:UL(FT*^R#(@*#$*_(_!#%^&(_(@^$!$@(@))!___ Me: ………..Anne?........................................ I was pretty sure she just said something in Danish…because I couldn’t understand what she said, any of them, none! Me:…..ahhh..Anne?..Are you talking to me?..Anne?!? Anne: (she woke up know, I guess) what? Me:..did you just talk to me? Anne: No..No, I didn’t.. And then you went back to sleep, very fast Me:………………………….. …………………………………. She was sleeping and talked to me... in Danish!!!! So I started to laugh, Charlotte heard it and she though that I’m crying she was like !!Kwang?!?! are you crying?!?!? Kwang???? What’s going on???? And Isa woke up too, so everybody woke except..Anne….

Isa : on the plane, Columbus-Atlanta Isa was sleeping and her face was on the magazine that she had been reading before she felt sleep and when she woke up, the ink on magazine was stuck on her face, all her forehead turned to black and some other stuff from the magazine and all of her nose turned to green. We didn’t see at first because we all slept and she woke up the first one and she asked us about her face, she said some guy told her that she has magazine on her face, when we first saw, Charlotte and I were like !!!O_O!!! what’s going on?!?!?!??!?!?! What have you done???? It was so funny, we all laughed.

The trip was over, I really like this trip, It was fun, cold, crazy, tired and sad (in the last day). I’ll never ever forget this trip. I had a very good time, a lot of fun and a got a lot of friends that I’ll never forget even one of them, I’m glad that I decided to be in this trip.

Thank you for everything, everyone and I want them to know that I love them!

May 25 Journal

After my awesome trip, I went back to my school for 2 days! And then I had spring break! Whoo hoo~ First weekend of my spring break, I went to Orlando with Al, Lawrene, Kevin, Max and Charlotte, for help Outbounds in other district. There were just 8 outbounds there. But I had a good time

In April, my host mom took me to St. Augustine. In St. Augustine we went to Ripley, believe it or not museum. It was so awesome, there were so many strange things for all over the world, like the tallest man in the world, Lizard man who turn himself to be a lizard!!! He has green tattoo on all over his body and he actually cut his tongue to make it look like lizard or snake tongue. When I first saw I was like O_O oh my god!?!?! this is so crazy, he doesn’t want to be a human anymore!!! After the museum, we went to Alligators farm. It was so cool!, there are lots of fat alligators. They are so big, I mean huge. It was kind of scary too. Then, we went down to Orlando, we got in the hotel and then we went out to the Wonder Works! It was the coolest building I’ve seen! It’s upside down building! I mean, only outside. It was so cool, I love it! And inside, it was kind of like Ripley’s museum. But there were lots of fun stuff to do!

The next day, we went to Universal Studio!!! We went to Islands of Adventure. My host mom bought us an express ticket, so we didn’t have to be in a normal line. But we could use it only one time for one ride, but still. Who wants to be in the line for hours? So I got to get in every ride!!! My favorite is dueling dragon! I sat in the front row with my host mom. It was awesome! I love Roller Coasters!

We went to Sea World. My host mom bought us a VIP behind the scene tickets. It was so good. We got to go with the guide and saw every attractive thing in Sea World. We could get on the rides without waiting in the line and we had lunch in backstage of Shamu show! We fed penguins, and some other animals. We had a really good time! And it was very tiring day!

We went to Clearwater for a day, we got there 3-4pm and we spent time on the beach, we stayed in the sand pearl hotel at Clearwater beach. And then we had to leave to go St. Petersburg to see my host brother’s band that he had a show that night. It was in a bar called The Garage. It was very fun, his band was so good, lots of people liked them, and then we came back to Clearwater and came back to Jacksonville in the next day.

I had my prom on April 12th. It was fun, me and Charlotte danced together and we had a good time (I didn’t have a date or anything special about my prom at all). After prom me and my friends went bowling and I got home like 1.30 or 2am and the next day, Bill took me to Sea World!!! I was so tired and tried.

The next weekend we had a district conference in Jacksonville, it was so good for me because I live in Jacksonville and it was in downtown, which is 5 minutes from my house! All of us were there and outbounds and some of Rotex. We got to hold our flag. I didn’t do it, I let outbound who is going to Thailand hold it. We had lunch together and then listened to speech form Kevin (for inbound) from Linda (for outbound) and Rebound, Hannah. We met Charlotte’s family from France and Max’s parents from Austria too! It was very nice to see them. After that we came to my house for a party and sleeping over night. We were in the pool and hot tub for the rest of the day, we had so much fun and then we just hung around the house, ate, talked and some of us went to the band house and play music (it’s a very small house in the front yard, it’s my host brother’s. He uses it for practice his band and there are everything in that house for practicing) at night we watched movies and talked and slept!

The next day we went to plant trees in downtown, area called Springfield and we helped them plant trees and did some other stuff like pull out weeds, etc. we had a good time like we always did. I’m so looking forward to see everyone again. And that weekend Isa came to stay with me over the weekend so after everything had gone. Isa and I went to Jax beach! It was so much fun, we tried to get in the water but it was too cold so we were laying down on the beach and then we walked around. The next day we went to the mall and at night we took the boat to downtown and had dinner in Jacksonville landing. It was such a fun weekend.

Last weekend, I went to Bartram Trial prom with Chris (outbound to Thailand), Isa, Mona, Kevin, Destan and some of their friends. We took a limo from Kevin's house. It was so much fun. Prom took the same place, same room as our district conference. There were tons of people there, so crowded but we all had a very good time! We met Miranda and Yudi there too! We all looked so nice! And I got back home pretty much the next day, early in the morning. And then my host family took me to Epcot Disney World and I was so dead, I was so tired! But I had fun! (I had to drink coffee and energy drinks to keep me awake)

The last 2 months I had lots of great experience, great times and so much fun. Thank you so much to everyone that had done something for me, I’ll never forget it!

See you next time!