 Hi everybody!!!!
I’ve already been here for two months and I can’t
understand if it has been only a week or an entire lifetime.
I arrived in Daytona Beach on August 9th. I left from
Milan in the morning, I said bye to my family, I realized in front of the
gate that I was really leaving for an unforgettable experience and I don’t
want to leave out that I felt pretty lost in that moment.
After my longest flight alone I arrived in Atlanta and
everything was already different; I was amazed and completely scared, unsure
of what I was going to do and definitely confused, but after a huge
frappuccino the world was clearer and everything seemed better. I was ready
to arrive at Daytona Beach.
At the airport a bunch of people (my family, a lot of
Rotarians and Rotex) were there to welcome me with a huge poster. After
thousands of hugs and names to remember, my family took me home. Finally at
home.
During my first days in Ormond Beach I was always
surprised. Since then everyday the huge country has introduced me to
something new and completely thrilling.
The day after the first day of school, really confusing, a
big storm arrived, and I had time to understand that school time had
arrived.
Despite I had thought that school time would be boring I
have to tell you that in a couple of weeks I started enjoying it and now I
love it. Having 7 blocks a day I’m never bored and, since I change my
schoolmates every period, I can meet many people and have a lot of different
groups of friends.
At the end of the second week of school the other exchange
students in Seabreeze HS (Ivan,
Joonas, and Riho) and I left for the Inbound
Orientation Camp, a weekend where we would meet all the other exchange
students of the state (plus Bahamas).
Those were the most amazing days of my life. I’ve met 66
world citizens: special, interesting, wonderful people: everyone with a
different story to tell, everyone “brave enough” to leave his own life for a
new, unknown one.
But they weren’t the only special people I met in those 3
wonderful days: a lot of Rotarians were there, people that spend a lot of
time to make our dream real and that I will never thank enough for what they
have done and they are still doing for me.
Another really exciting moment in my exchange student life
has been the Rotary presentation to involve Seabreeze kids in the Exchange
Program. Jody Davis asked me if I wanted to explain to them why I’ve decided
to become an exchange student, how I convinced my parents and how I’ve been
so far.
The first block I was really worried because I didn’t know
what I was going to say but, after a couple of sentences all the words
arrive kinda magically and during the others 6 BLOCKS I was pretty sure of
myself; everybody told me that I did a great job and a bunch of guys told me
that they want to be exchange students. I felt very good because it means
that I could explain them how great I feel and how the Rotary Exchange
Program has been and is the most amazing opportunity of my life.
Two weeks ago I went to an Interact Leadership Summit with
two girls that are involved in the club. I had great time and I learnt a lot
of things about Interact goals and projects.
I went also to Joonas (an exchange student from Finland)
birthday party where I could meet a lot of exchange guys from the district
6970. We had a lot of fun in the swimming pool and in the hot tub (can you
imagine 10 kids in the hot tub in the same moment??? XD).
Last weekend I went to St. Augustine with all the kids
from district 6970. The word great would not be enough to explain how much
fun we had. I stayed at Marilyn and David’s place with
Mònika, an exchange student from Hungary; we had so much fun taking a
lot of pics (actually too many: 134 only during the first night). I loved my
temporary host parents, they had a very interesting life, they moved in a
lot of different cities and now they live in the most beautiful place I’ve
ever seen in the U.S.
I love St. Augustine, with all those ancient buildings and
churches I felt like I was in Europe. The first day we had a Trolley Trip in
downtown and then we went to the beach where we enjoyed the Atlantic Ocean
and its waves, we took a bunch of pics and we had dinner all together in a
little park just behind the beach. The day after, we had dinner with our
host parents and, then, we went to Alligator Farm where we saw a lot of
different kinds of alligators and crocodiles.
I’m so exited for Homecoming!!! It will be on November 1st
and I can’t wait for it. After that I will have my first Thanksgiving and
I’m so curious to know something more about on of the most important
American festivity.
In December the exchange students from all over the state
and from Bahamas, Wisconsin, Michigan and New York State are going to have
the best trip ever: 4 days in Disney World in Orlando!!! I’m looking forward
for December also because the trip will be only a few days before my
birthday!!!
This is only my first journal and I know it’s pretty late
but I’m gonna have another one soon so that I won’t have to write so much
about the wonderful experiences I will have had.
A huge hug
Marta
Uhhhh I forgot!!! On Thursday (Oct 23rd) Arthur, Daisuke,
Ivan, Joonas, Jorina, and I went to Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando. It
is the most amazing Halloween Park where I’ve ever been!!
The streets are full of actors with scary costumes and
terrifying make up and there are a lot of really frightening rides. I love
it; we had so much fun all together; some other friends of mine were there
but the park was so big that we couldn’t find them!!!
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Marta Grassi
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