 I arrived in Florida the 11 of August 2008, after a long journey
I was finally here, the place where I’ve been spending the last 5 months
dreaming about. I arrived in Pensacola Airport and was greeted by the airport
crew saying “welcome to the sunshine state”. Unfortunately there was no sunshine
that day, in fact it was raining tropical showers.
As I stepped out of the
airplane I could feel that I was definitely not at home anymore, the temperature
was high, the humidity was high and it was raining. Apparently my flight was 20
minutes early, the greeting committee with my host families, members of the club
etc. was nowhere to be seen. I decided to go downstairs to claim my luggage
which had now been following me through the long journey of 14 hours from
Copenhagen, Denmark. On my way down I suddenly saw a lady with balloons and a
big sign saying “Welcome Frederik Kehler!” This was Angela, my first host
mother. Soon everybody was there and I couldn’t barely focus on talking in
English to one person before another came in and congratulated me in coming to
Pensacola!
The first day in school.
The first day in school was weird,
everything was different. This was exactly the challenge that I expected to be a
part of when I first started filling out the applications back home. I remember
myself thinking “wow, this is awesome!” a big high school full of students with
the school busses coming in and all. Just like the movies. Finding friends is
very easy the first couple of days when you are an exchange student, people are
very interested in what you have to say. Of course being from a country like
Denmark where rules are much more loose and teenagers generally have more
freedom, I fast became a hot topic around the table in the cafeteria, things
like drinking at 16 and be able to go clubbing etc. was very well appreciated by
American teenagers.
The diversity between white Americans and Afro-Americans
meets me at the first day in school and is clearly illustrated by the example of
where
people sit at lunch. There’s obviously not “hate” but people just feel naturally
appealed to one another, of course there are exceptions, everybody is still
friends!
One of the things in school that annoys me the most is that we have to
wear ID badges and if you want to go to the toilet, the teacher has to write you
a pass for walking in the hallway. This annoys me but is also quite interesting
because it makes you wonder why it's necessary. The first week of school there
was a “Code Red Lock Down”, it was during my 3rd of American Government and
suddenly the speakers go “Code Red, Code Red – This is a lockdown.” At first I
was wondering what was happening but then I was told that “Code Red” means that
there is somebody on campus that has a weapon!!! I was totally freaking out
after all the things I had seen in the media from back home. We were all told to
go in the back of the room and turn off the lights .. Luckily it was only a
drill! It was quite embarrassing, I bet everyone could see in my eyes that I was
scared!
The family
My 1st host family is awesome! My dad is named Robert, Mom is
Angela and host brother is Stephen. Stephen just came back from Stetson
University near Orlando and is now spending some time at home here in Pensacola,
it's nice having somebody who grew up here to show me around. My mom teaches
science at a middle school in town and my dad is a financial advisor. At first
it’s always awkward being a part of a new family but after a few weeks I
actually ended up feeling more and more like a part of the family.
The Inbound
Orientation Camp
This was an absolute awesome weekend in Orlando, FL. Although I
was driving all the way from Pensacola during a hurricane it was all worth it.
Essentially nobody knows each other and this makes yet another new opportunity
to make new friends! I feel like I got 66 new friends in only two days! It was
awesome, thanks to everybody for making this a nice experience and I can only
say that I’m really looking forward to the next trip with you all! I would like
to take a moment to say thank you to all the RYE volunteers that is making camps
and this program in general possible for kids like myself, this is very much
appreciated and will never be forgotten, hopefully you get all the recognition
you deserve for this awesome job! If not, you have least got all of mine.
Homecoming, football and much more.
In the United States, school and sport is connected with
each other in a great way that makes it possible for people to get together.
Going to the game is almost a standard among high school students and is
lots of fun. Playing and supporting the different school teams whether it’s
a home game or away game is an awesome feeling, you really get to be a part
of something! Homecoming is also a very cool tradition, it’s basically a big
dance which is usually on campus or in rented property outside of school.
You dress up and go out to eat! I have included some pictures of my
homecoming and some of the games too.
I have also joined the school FBLA (Future Business Leader
of America). This is a club that promotes students skills in every aspect of
leading a group or a business. We, among other things, volunteer to work at
the Pensacola Fair, to cooperate with the Interact club (which I'm also a
part of), hosting the “Make a difference day” where we read books to kids at
elementary schools, etc. My biggest milestone in FBLA is that I’m currently
part of a team that is aiming for going to the state or maybe even national
competition in the category “Web design Innovation”, hopefully we will get
off to a good start in early January! More about this at that time.
At last I would like to express my deepest gratefulness to
both my home and host Rotary Club. Thanks for giving me this extraordinary
opportunity to fulfill my dream of being an exchange student and facing the
challenges that might come along the way. I could not have done this without
the supports of both clubs and of course my counselors within the clubs -
Axel Petersen and Scott Grissett deserve a big hand for helping me through
this rather long process of making this possible. Thank you!
To all of you prospective exchange students, whether you
are going to Florida or considering being an outbound student with the
support of RYE team, I can only say one thing – Do it. I myself had my
doubts whether it was worth leaving family, friends and maybe even a
girlfriend behind. After only 2 months here I can say that so far – it has
been worth it indeed!
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Frederik Kehler
