Emy Palmér

2008-09 Inbound from Sweden

Hometown: Sandviken, Sweden

Sponsor: Sandviken Rotary Club, District 2330, Sweden

Host: Flagler Beach Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: Flagler Palm Coast High School, Palm Coast, FL

Bio

Emy's Bio

Hi! My name is Emy and I’m a 17 year old girl from Sweden. In Sweden I live in a town called Sandviken, but the last year I went to a boarding school in Vadstena, which is a very small town.

I’m staying in Palm Coast this year, and it suits me perfect. I love the ocean, the warm weather and everything. I’m going to Flagler Palm Coast High School. During the year I will stay with three different host families in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach.

I like dancing. I have danced for almost my whole life so that is a big part of my life. At my school here in Florida I’m taking a dance class, so I get to dance every day! I also enjoy cooking and baking.

Thus far I like America; everything is like in a movie, and all the people so nice and helpful.

September 22 Journal

I can not believe that I have been here for over a month. In one way it feels like I have been here for several months and in another way it feels like yesterday I got on the plane.

I left my home in Sweden the night before my departure to spend the night at a hotel near the airport together with five other exchange students who also were going to USA. My mum drove me down to the hotel and stayed for a couple of hours before it was time to say goodbye. It wasn’t as hard as I had imagined, I think it would have been harder if it actually had been at the airport the day of my departure, but it was still hard.

We were six students who flew together to Chicago and from there we had different connection flights to our destinations all over America. I was lucky though, me and Adam had the same flight to Orlando so we had company from each other the whole way.

At the airport my family and the president of my host club met me. I was tired and confused but it was still nice to finally meet the family. When we went out from the airport I wondered where their car was, but they told me that we were going to wait for our ride. After a few minutes a limo pulls up to the side and my family tells me; “Emy, here is your ride”. At first I thought they were joking with me but I really got to ride in the limo to my new home.

My first weekend here, Jeanna, the president of my host-club, and her husband Sal took to me to a baseball game. I found out that baseball maybe isn’t the sport for me but I enjoyed it anyway and it felt very American.

A little more than a week after I arrived, school started. The first few days I can’t say I liked it, I felt so small and alone in the huge school with thousands of students. The teachers told us all these rules I didn’t understand. It was an overwhelming experience. But now I’m starting to get used to everything and it’s easier. The first week I went to school two days, the rest of the week it was closed because of the storm Fay.

The weekend after school started we had our inbound orientation which was a lot of fun. I got to know a lot of people from all over the world and we all had something in common. Everyone was so nice and I really look forward to meet everyone again.

Me and the limo

My first baseball game

Going surfing

Me and Carmen at the orientation

November 26 Journal

Hey everyone! I have been here for over three months now and I really have mixed feelings about that. In one way it feels like the time has gone so fast and it feels like I just got here, but in another way is feels like I've been here for a life time. In a weird way the American lifestyle doesn’t seem so unfamiliar any more.

My (host) family is wonderful and I feel really at home, it would be hard not to because they have done everything to make me feel at home and I really feel like a part of the family.

In school I am on the color guard team which is really fun. The girls are so nice and we always have a lot of fun. The color guards perform with the band at every home football game and being a part of that has made me really experience the American high school spirit. Unfortunately the football season is over so we don’t have any more game performances but we do other stuff, like parades, which is just as fun.

Since the last time I wrote here I have experienced a lot. One weekend some of the exchange students in my area went to Sea World with a few of the Rotarians in the committee. Sea World was so amazing and I loved it. We saw dolphins, manatees, penguins, whales, fed sting rays and the best part was the Shamu show.

A few weeks ago I spent the weekend at my next host mom, Mary, house. On Saturday night she took me to a gala for the museum at Flagler Beach. The theme for the evening was 70’s and everyone was dressed out and I had a lot of fun. Many of the Rotarians from my club were there and it was nice to see them outside the club.

On Sunday Mary took me with her to the gym. We stayed for 2 hours I think, first we were on the machines and then we took a spinning class. I was so tired after we were done but it felt so nice to have worked out.

When we got home we had dinner outside on Mary's little bridge in the canal. I had a great weekend and it was nice to get to know my next host mum a little better.

On 15th and 16th some of the exchange students went to Palatka to help out at the interviews for those who have sent in an application to be an outbound next year. It was hard work and I was so tired when got home on Sunday evening, but it didn’t matter, we had so much fun together and a met a lot of new nice people. For the weekend we stayed with a family in Palatka, we were six girls in the family so you can imagine how that was. The family was wonderful and it was really nice to stay with them, thank you!

Since Thanksgiving is coming up I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has made this possible. My parents for letting me go, my host family for taking me into their family, to Rotary for doing such a great job! If it weren’t for all of you I would not be here having an amazing time, thank you for giving me this opportunity!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!