Lukas Grosse-Kleimann

2008-09 Inbound from Germany

Hometown: Steinfurt, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Sponsor: Steinfurt Rotary Club, District 1870, Germany

Host: Fort Lauderdale Rotary Club, District 6990, Florida, USA

School: Cardinal Gibbons High School, Fort Lauderdale, FL

Bio

Lukas's Bio

Hello, my name is Lukas Grosse-Kleimann, I am from western Germany and just arrived here on August 5th. I live with my host family in Oakland Park.

I really like to spend time with my host brothers, we go fishing or swimming, or sometimes, we play videogames. I also like reading, drawing and doing sports.

At first I can say, that I feel really well here in Florida. This started with the really nice welcome on the airport with my counselor, John Aquino, a really nice guy, my host father and a lot of other Rotarians from my host club RC Fort Lauderdale. Then I got really lucky because my host family was on vacation in the Keys, and I just joined them there for 3 more days, which were really exciting. At this point, thanks again to my host family for these great days!

I go to Cardinal Gibbons High, not far away from my house. It's a Catholic private school, which has a high level of education. So except for math, school here in America is not that easy as many people in Europe say. I wear a nice uniform and have every day the same classes at the same time. In this school are very exciting subjects, I hadn't the chance to take them in Germany, for example drawing. I also joined the Science & Engineering Club, which is really fun.

On my weekend I spend most time with my family. I really enjoyed the first Orientation meeting; it was fun to get to know all these people from all over the world. Last weekend I went with John to the movies and had a nice dinner after that.

So, these are my first experiences in Florida! Thanks again to Rotary for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

November 7 Journal

Homecoming, Halloween and the election

First, I still feel very good here in Florida, and I have a lot of fun! Thanks to Rotary and all the involved people again!

For those who never heard of it, Homecoming is a great dance around October, organized by the high school. Usually it takes place in a big ball room which can be in a hotel or convention center for example. Everybody is supposed to dress up properly, that means tuxedos and evening dresses.

The Cardinal Gibbons (my high school) Homecoming dance with the topic Halloween took place in the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center. If you weren't here at 8 o'clock they wouldn't let you in, so I left early and arrived at 7. Another special thing, which really surprised me, was that some students collected money together and rented a big limo or a party bus. These big Hummer-limousines looked really luxurious and were very comfortable inside. I've never been inside one before and I haven't seen those that often in general. At the Dance was a big Buffet, where everybody could eat as much as he wanted. In the middle of the big room was a gigantic dance floor, and the DJ already played music. I thought there would some kind of assembly first, or at least a little speech, but as everybody arrived, all these nice dressed people charged the dance floor. And that was basically what everything was about: A big dance party. When the event ended at eleven I was really exhausted but I had soo much fun that evening and met a bunch of new people. All these things made my first (and unfortunately last) Homecoming to a great experience! I know the tickets aren't that cheap, but I can recommend everybody to go!

Halloween is another great American event. Though I already had an idea of Halloween because it is very popular in the area in Germany I live, but it was nothing compared to the real American Halloween. Even in school we did a dress-up day, where everybody was wearing a costume. And not any costume, especially the seniors really tried to wear the best and most extraordinary one. We had a lot of fun, that day in school J.

With my host-brother I carved out a pumpkin and put it out in the front yard.

The evening was the best, trick or treating with some friends, all in a great costume is really a great experience. We collected so much candy, that our all-together-bag collapsed in the middle of the street, and we suddenly had a big candy mountain there.

Many people were sitting with a nice costume and a big bowl of candy in front of their houses, having a nice evening and giving away candy to all the people passing by. All in all another great day and evening!

I'm really happy that I came here this year, so I was able experience the Presidential Election 2008, an arresting event. At the day I arrived I noticed all the little signs in the front yards and the bumper stickers on the cars. These things, and especially the TV ads are not used in Germany's elections. In general, I never experienced so much passion for politics, I saw a lot of people standing at the highways, showing posters of their candidates. If my parents were watching political magazines on TV, even my two brothers (12 and 14) came to watch. So, we all sat there together until late in the night on election-day, waiting for the scores.

I think now, after everything is over, these passions will lose a bit of their strength, but still, politics are very interesting here in the USA!

So, these are my experiences of the last time, I hope you enjoyed reading them.

January 5 Journal

At first I want to tell you about my great weekend at Disneyworld. These four days were really amazing, not only because of Disneyworld itself but also because of all the other exchange students I met again, especially the ones from Tennessee and Wisconsin, which I met for my first and (unfortunately) last time.

The four parks themselves were very interesting; although we had one day for each park it seemed like it was impossible to see every part and to get every ride. I was amazed by the detail of every attraction, every little ride had its own little story, and the waiting areas were designed in the fitting scheme and full of little details to explore.

With the hotels where we stayed it was the same thing, they all had a special theme and were full of big reminders of the World of Walt Disney. I also really liked the special culture program we did at Epcot, it was really interesting to hear what different people think about different cultures.

The Dinner at the Epcot-lake was definitely one of the highlights; we had an excellent view of the fireworks and a really good Italian dinner J So, all together, I had a great time and it was a great experience! (and once more I realize how lucky I am being here and experiencing these kind of things J )

I have to admit, that I didn't feel like Christmas when break started, because I was just not used to walking around in shorts and T-shirt during Christmas time. On Christmas Eve, my whole family met at our house and we unwrapped presents around the Christmas tree, I had a little present for each of them, and they got some really cool stuff for me, too J. After that we went to a friends house where a really big Christmas dinner took place. We had a lot of good food, and when I went to bed, I was full, tired and happy J. The reason why we did the present unwrapping on Christmas Eve and not, as usual, on Christmas morning, was that our plane to Denver, Colorado left at 8 o'clock in the morning. Yes, I got so lucky that I would go on a Snowboarding trip over Christmas break! My parents have a good friend who has a little house in Arrowhead, right next to Beaver Creek. My mum surprised us on the way to the airport with three socks filled with little gifts such as hand warmers and so I experienced a little bit of the American Christmas.

When we arrived in Denver we rented a car and drove up to Arrowhead, where it was freezing -2 degree Fahrenheit and a snow everywhere. The next morning we rented our gear, fortunately this was not my first time snowboarding, so I had an idea what to do.

From that point we spent every morning to afternoon on the slopes and when we got home me and my brother went into the hot tub in the garden. It was great to sit in the steaming hot tub watching the 2 foot high snow around.

One day we went to dinner in a special restaurant, called the Minturn Country Club. The special thing about it was, that you cook your meat yourself on a huge grill in the middle of the room. I got some instructions and tips, and from that point I was all on my own. It was a lot of fun, and the result was very tasty, too J.

We got back from Colorado on January first, the first day of '09, and so I had a weekend left before school started again. On Saturday I went to a surprise party for Nadja's birthday at her host family's house. It was a great success and I had a lot of fun!

So, I think that was a little review over the recent things I experienced in beautiful Florida and Colorado. The second semester just started and school is waiting for me.

Thanks again to Rotary for giving me this opportunity, especially to John who is a great councilor and a great friend J And I think I got very lucky with my host family, that they took me to such a great trip J Thank you!