Philipp Valentin Weiner

2008-09 Inbound from Germany

Hometown: Solingen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Sponsor: Solingen Rotary Club, District 1810, Germany

Host: Bonita Springs Rotary Club, District 6960, Florida, USA

School: Estero High School, Estero, FL

Bio

Philipp's Bio

What's up everybody? My name is Philipp Weiner. I am 16 years old and from beautiful Germany. In Germany I live in Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Solingen has more than 160,000 inhabitants, is located in the west of Germany and is called the "City of blades", since it has long been renowned for the manufacturing of fine swords, knives and scissors. If you have a really good knife in your kitchen it is certainly from my town ;-).

I live in a house with my parents, Antje and Peter, my younger brother, Nicolas (13), my sister, Laura (7), and our cat. I love sports and I play tennis in a club. In my free time I like to play Basketball, Soccer, listen to music and meet my friends. As well I love to ride my motorbike and bicycle.

I decided to become an exchange student because I met a lot of people who took part in that great adventure. I was always interested in their experiences. Furthermore an exchange student from Brasil lived in my family. My first bigger step was when I went to Mexico for 4 weeks with a Rotary exchange. My stay was amazing and after that I wanted to be an exchange student for one year. As well I love to travel and to meet people.

I hope to make a lot of new friends, learn as much as I can about the American way of life and gain experiences for my future.

Now I live in Bonita Springs with the “Fabulous Fabioun“ family and go to Estero High School. I really enjoy my stay. Since my arrival I have already experienced so much. It is wonderful.

If you have the opportunity to be an exchange student, you HAVE TO use it. It is your chance to have the BEST year in your life you will never forget. You will gain experiences for your whole life. You will meet a lot great people, you will learn about a different culture, learn a different language AND you will be part of a big fantastic family. The Rotarian Exchange Family. J

THANK YOU ROTARY AND EVERYBODY WHO ENABLES ME THIS GREAT EXPERIENCE.

December 3 Journal

By now I am about three month in Florida and I can say I am really glad and happy that I came here. There is only one thing that I really dislike, the time flies much too fast. I cannot believe that it is almost Christmas. I can say already a lot happened during my stay in Florida, but I definitely keep on experience...

I left Germany August 9th and said goodbye to my family and friends. This morning I was kind of nervous but got really excited to arrive in Florida. After about 9 hours in the airplane I landed in Ft. Myers. All I thought was: "Let's start the adventures." I sensed the hot temperature and this awesome smell when I stepped out of the airport. I felt very welcome by my family and Cyndi (my Chairperson). After a nice dinner in an American Sports bar, we finally went home and I saw my new home. I can say that I am really lucky and glad because my host family is awesome. I love them. They are so good to me and treat me like their own son. Fortunately I had some days vacation before I went to my new school for the first school day in America.

My first week going to Estero High school was okay. The most exciting thing was when I arrived at school with around 1000 new faces out there. But you know what, that 's what I like. Those challenges make your life exciting. So time by time I talked to nice people and made some friends. Now most people know I am "the German" or how some call me "Germany". Of course many students can at least say one German word and the often ask me about my country. Most impressive for them is when I tell them I am allowed to drink beer and go clubbing. The first days I got lost in school because every corridor looked so much alike. However, now I know where to go and I can laugh about the time I got lost and had lunch twice because I had no idea where to go and what to do.

A few weeks after my arrival I went to the Inbound Orientation Camp and met all the other exchange students in Florida. That was one of the best weekends so far. It was so nice to talk with so many people from different countries about their experiences and their home countries. It just amazed me and would say everybody really enjoyed this weekend. On my way back I went to Captiva Island in Southwest Florida with Laura, Shinobu, Vivian and Bianca, who are Inbound students, too. We had some good food, went swimming in the Gulf with big waves and enjoyed the sunset.

I love to go to the beach so I really loved it when my host parents went with me to Sanibel for some days vacation. We lived in an apartment really close to the beach so I spent a lot of time at the beach and in the water, although there was a tropical storm and the beach was pretty much gone.

The following weeks I did a bunch of other stuff. Just to mention a bit, I went fishing on a boat for the first time, I went to my school's Football games, saw a Baseball game, and more and more and more. And by the way I won the Spirit award of Bishop Verot High school, which is not my school, and took a nice picture with the cheerleading team. Being an exchange student has some big advantages. ;)

End of September I visited, with the Inbounds of my District 6960 and District 6930, the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. And I can tell you they have some weird and crazy stuff there, really interesting and of course a lot of fun with all the other people. Did you know that a suit, that an astronaut wears, costs some million dollars?

I went to a Miami Dolphins game with my host dad and some friends, went to Orlando for three days to cheer for friends at a swim meet, see the city and go to the Halloween Horror Nights. The Halloween Horror Night in Universal Studios was amazing, kind of scary but a lot of fun with around 10 people.

Finally Homecoming week started at Estero High. Probably the funniest week of school I ever had. I just wanna mention that I was dressed up as Spiderman one day, with a whole body costume and mask. So pretty much nobody knew who was under the mask but everybody was like, "Hey Spiderman!" :D At last we had the Homecoming-Dance on Saturday. I had dinner with three nice girls and went to the Dance with them. People called me 'Pimp' and told me that it is not allowed to have more than one date. But firstly I am German and secondly that was the only Homecoming I ever went to. ;) I had so much fun and am happy to have experienced it because we don't have something like Homecoming in Germany.

Just one week later the next big event was waiting for me. Halloween. First real American Halloween. So I dressed up as Joker from the new Batman movie and went with Vivian and Bianca to Shinobu's and family Kobbie's house. Everybody was dressed up pretty good and they had awesome decorations around and in the house.

Some weeks ago I went to Orlando again with my host mum to visit my host brother in College. I had the chance to walk around and get an impression of a college with almost 50,000 students. I was only there for some days but I am sure, it is amazing to live there on campus. You are just with young people and you have everything you need on Campus. I would love to live there. Why isn't there something like this in my home country?!

This week I went to Ft. Myers Beach with my parents for Thanksgiving break. We stayed straight at the beach in our motor home. I love this place and everyday was just beautiful. I fell asleep with the noise of the rushing sea and woke up hearing the rushing sea. One step out of the motor home and I stood in the sand. This was my first Thanksgiving ever and I loved it. We made some pie and food for the big dinner with the whole family. Of course we ate a lot of turkey. During the sunset we took nice and funny family pictures, all dressed in white shirts. I was kind of sad that we had to leave on Sunday because it was a nice week at the beach and I knew on Monday I would have to get up at 6 a.m. and go to school.

You see I feel pretty comfortable and good. Unfortunately I am not allowed to be part of any Sport team in my school which is kind of weird but not everything can be perfect.

Now I am really looking forward to meet all Inbounds in Magic Kingdom. It is going to be an amazing and unforgettable weekend with the big Rotary Exchange Family. Like I already said in some weeks we will celebrate Christmas and soon the year 2008 is over. I do not really feel like it is Christmas time. I am used to have bad and cold weather with snow and rain but here it is still warm and the sun is shining. How cool is that sitting under the Christmas tree in shorts and t-shirt. This year, time is flying, I can exactly remember how I wrote my application and dreamed about being an exchange student. Sometimes dreams come true...

Thanks again to everybody who makes my stay so nice and awesome. I cannot thank you enough. I am grateful to be in Florida to live the dream being an exchange student.