Ashley Graveleau

2009-10 Inbound from France

Hometown: Mauleon, France

Sponsor: Bressuire Rotary Club, District 1510, France

Host: Ponte Vedra Sunset Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: Ponte Vedra High School, Ponte Vedra, Florida

Bio

Ashley's Bio

My name is Ashley Graveleau (yes, it’s true, my first name is American. It’s a good name, no?) I’m French and I live in a little town in France called MAULEON, in the middle of Ouest. It’s 2 hours east of Nantes and about 5 hours southwest of Paris. My village is very different than the cities in America because everyone living in my village knows all their neighbors. I have lived here almost all of my life and it will be very hard for me to leave all of my wonderful friends and family behind for a whole year. But, I am very excited about this opportunity to live in America. I will live in Ponte Vedra Beach, which is a town in Florida.

My family is composed of my father, Claude; my mother, Elenice; and my younger brother, Arnaud, who is 13 years old. My father is a cabinetmaker and my mother works for the city government. My brother, of course, is a student! We live in a lovely house that my father built for us 16 years ago. I have my own bedroom and I like to spend time there listening to music, dancing, and spending time together with my friends.

I go to school in another town where I am studying French, English, Spanish, math, economics, history, sports, management, and some other subjects. After school, I arrive home very late, but two days a week I practice fitness which I enjoy very much.

On weekends and holidays, I work. I have two jobs: working in a restaurant once-in-awhile, and also babysitting for several families. When I have free time, I like to spend time with my friends, shopping, dancing, and also taking photos. Photography is a real passion for me! One year ago, I decided to change my life. I contacted the Rotary Club de Bressuire in Bocage about becoming a Rotary Youth Exchange Student. The club agreed to sponsor me and they are all so nice to give me this opportunity. They are making it possible to spend a year in America. Thank you so much, Rotary!

So, now you know a little bit about me. In a few days I leave for America. I am excited and impatient to start this adventure. But, I am also sad to leave my family and friends. I hope that my host family will like me. And, I hope I can learn to speak English better by the time I come home again next year.

So, the next time I write, I will be in Florida!!!

Pret le jeu commence enfin …

September 5 Journal

For the last 3 weeks, I have been living in a beautiful town, Ponte Vedra Beach. I'm going to Ponte Vedra High School, and I love so much my new family. They are warm and kind, they have a big heart, I'm so lucky !!! My American mother is called Paula. She is very nice and she looks like my mother in France. My American father, John, is very fun and he always has a big smile. My little sister, Kati, is 15 and also very sweet and tries to help me learn English. I don't know how to say thank you to them, because everyday they give me so much!!!

Maybe I should tell you a little about my trip to America. It was was planned for me to arrive in Jacksonville, Florida on Monday, 10 August. However, I had a small problem. No, it was a big problem! When I showed my documents to the travel official, he said to me I was missing the original of one of my documents. I had only a copy of my DS-2019! So, he would not let me get on the plane : ( My family and I had to drive 5 hours back to my village to get the original document. My father called my host family to tell them I would be late and they called Rotary in Florida. Soon everything was fine. Then, we had to drive back again to Paris on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, I was finally on the plane to America = )

When I arrived in Jacksonville, I saw all of my new family and maybe new friends. And, also there were members from my new Rotary Club, Ponte Vedra Beach Sunset. I was thinking there were a lot of people there waiting for me! The first person I remember seeing was my new host sister, Kati. She gave me a big hug! Then everyone was hugging me!! It was different than in France when we kiss checks. I was wondering if I should kiss or if I should hug all these strangers. We took a lot of photos and then we went to get my suitcases. However, they were lost! The man at the luggage place said that the suitcases were coming on the next plane and they would take them to my new house.

Then, my host family and I drove to my new house. When I arrived in my new home, and I saw the TV, it looked just like a TV in France and I thought: it’s the same kind of house as at home! My host mom and sister showed me my new room and house. I met my dog, Duncan, and my cat, Kumar. I do not have pets at home, so this is something very different! Our house has a swimming pool and there is a lake behind the house with alligators, so this is very different from my home in France. There are many beautiful trees in this town. And, there are a lot of animals and birds here that I have never seen before.

The next morning, my host mom, sister, and her friend, Caylie, and I drove for 8 hours to North Carolina. We stayed in a real log cabin that is the home of my host mother’s good friends. We stayed there for one week. We went to see the Native American village of the Cherokee where I saw how these people lived before Europeans came to America. I also visited the town of Franklin and went to a Saturday night “Pickin’ on the Square”. In the summer, people from the village come to the town center (square) on Saturday evenings to listen to music and to dance. I saw “cloggers”. These are people who dance a special folk dance. It is a dance that started in the mountains over 100 years ago. Old people and even children were all dancing in the square together. Five men were playing violin, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and a bass. The music was called Folk Music and they also played Blues and Country Music. It was very heartwarming. I also tried my first cotton candy in America. It was so sweet!

We also went swimming in a river beside a waterfalls, shopping in some local villages, and visited a local university, the University of Western Carolina. And, we also went horseback riding. One of the neighbors owns horses. He let us ride one afternoon and I was afraid to get up on the horse because it was so big. But, the horse was very sweet and the man was very nice, so I did it. I even trotted alone around the ring! Another day, Kati, Caylie and I went to a place where there were a lot of different games to play. It was all indoors. We went bowling, played laser tag, rode on dodge cars, sat in massage chairs, played skeet ball, and many fancy computer games and game machines. I also went to my first restaurant in America.

We came back to Ponte Vedra Beach on Thursday and on Friday I went to Inbound Orientation with my host mom (she is the District Counselor for 3 RYE students here), and Ana Laura Nobre from Brazil and Kuan Hung Lee from Taiwan. It rained so hard on the drive to Lake Yale, mom had to stop the car and wait for 10 minutes. I thought it was a hurricane, but mom said it was normal for Florida in August!

Inbound Orientation was good. I made a lot of friends and was able to speak French with some of the other Inbounds. It was a good weekend.

The next day, I started my first day in school. The name of my school is Ponte Vedra High School. It is a new school -- only 2 years old. The first day when I walked into the classroom, I had a little trouble with the desks. They are different than in France. I put my books down and tried to sit down, but there was some kind of metal bar there. I had to walk around to the other side of the desk to sit down! I also think the students’ clothes are cool! And, there was a boy who had a very unusual haircut. Kati told me it is called a Mohawk but mom said it could be just a marine or military kind of haircut. But, Kati said it has lots of colors so it is a Mohawk!! I also like Friday at school. All the boys on the football team wear nice shirts and ties. Mom says this is because the team wants to have esprit de corps and so that all the students in the school will know which boys are on the football team. Then we can wish them good luck.

I have done many things in 3 weeks: my trip to North Carolina, Inbound Orientation, a Welcome Party from my Interact Club, starting school, going to my first football game, visiting my Rotary Club, going to St. Augustine & the airport with the Emily family, going to a pilots’ party with my host parents, sitting in my dad’s airplane, eating Mexican food, going to church, biking with Kati, visiting the beach (but I haven’t been swimming in the ocean or in our pool …yet!), riding horses, swimming by a waterfall, making new friends, learning a little more English everyday, and becoming part of a new family. Things I did not even imagine I might do just 3 weeks ago when I was still in France. But, now I am here in America. And, the year has just begun…

Je profite chaque moment passe en Floride, je ne pourrais pas vous decrire ce que je ressent, mais je realise mon reve un peu plus chaque jours. Je remercie tous ceux qui m'on permit d'etre ici, ma famille, mes amis, mon rotary club ainsi que mes professeurs qui m'ont soutenus et encourages…

Je veux juste faire de ma vie un rêve, et de mes rêves une réalité.		Welcome to Florida	My host sister Kati and me
My host parents John and Paula	Me and Cherokee	Riding horses	Swimming by a waterfall
Ponte Vedra High School	Emily family	Jet in St. Augustine	View

October 15 Journal

Hello!

It's already October, the time has passed very fast! It’s already been 2 months! I enjoy the time every day, because this life is so amazing.

This month, I’ve done a lot of things! Last week, a member of my Rotary club invited me and my friend, Lyndsay, to go boating with him and his wife. For me, it was the first time I ever got to drive a boat. I had so much fun! And I saw a lot of new birds (mostly herons & egrets) because this place where we went (the Guana Preserve) is a huge nature preserve . We also sailed south to St. Augustine, and finished the day at a restaurant along the Intercoastal.

My host dad, John, is enthralled by aviation. He has his own biplane and he goes flying every week. I also know a lot of my dad’s friends and they’ve shown me their planes inside their hangers. And, guess what ? I made my christening of l' air! Or, as my dad calls it, my “eagle flight”. Of course, I had to get my parents in France to send their ok first, but as soon as they did, I was ready to go!

You can imagine the view was awesome. I took a lot of pictures!! I flew over the city of St. Augustine which is surrounded by many marshes … My flight was full of sensations because my dad’s airplane is an open cockpit biplane and you feel the air directly in your face … especially when dad would make a diving maneuver!

This month, I also enjoyed the sun, going to the beach (in October!), or simply by going for a walk, or biking by the river which follows the city. I was also enjoyed taking photos of the pretty American homes.

Last Sunday I was spending my money at St John Town Center which is a very commercial place in Jacksonville — there are almost 120 shops. My mom told me that 3 years ago this place was covered with palms, and that every year, there has been more and more buildings constructed.

Now let us speak studies!

For 3 days I went to 3 different high schools: Ponte Vedra, Pedro Menendez, and Clay High Schools, to explain why I wanted to become an exchange student, and to share a little about my experiences and some of my challenges here in America. This speech helped many students to understand the actions of Rotary and RYE . Hopefully, some of them will apply to be Outbound students next year. I am proud because I spoke in front of more than 2,600 students! And, just 8 weeks ago, I never would have imagined I could do such a thing.

It was a challenge for me, and I have to admit that when my mom told me she needed me and the other Inbounds at PVHS to help her make these presentations at the high schools (she is a RYE District Counselor), I was nervous and wasn’t sure I could do it — especially in front of the students in my own school. But, when the time came, it was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be and I really loved making this speech. It gave me a lot of confidence.

What else I can say … yesterday we celebrated my host sister, Kati’s, 16th birthday! She wanted tacos and key lime cheese cake for her birthday dinner. It was very good.

My German “sister”, Amelie arrives on Sunday. She lived here last year and is coming for a short visit. Should be fun with 3 sisters in the house!

That is all for today.	John in his airplane	Me and Lyndsay	Boating
At Pedro Menendez HS	Kati's 16th birthday	My christening of l'air!	View in the sky

November 12 Journal

The time passes quicker than it seems possible, and October is almost done. A lot of things have happened in such a short time …

October 10th was Homecoming, something I’ve heard a lot about since I have been here. And, it turned out to be great! I wore a beautiful dress and I really had fun that night with all my friends. It was surprising to see all of the girls wearing beautiful dresses -- all of the teenagers were very chic! My high school also looked very different, with a lot of tiny white lights in the all the palm trees … We danced outside in the courtyard under a big white tent with hundreds of little white lights. They played American music and we all danced a lot. Unlike most of the American girls, I kept my high heels on all night! Homecoming was in October but the weather was still so HOT and humid that all of us were dripping wet with sweat even though there were several fans. My dress was totally wet by the end of Homecoming. But, we still had lots of fun.

The next weekend wasn't an ordinary because Amelie, a German exchange student who lived with my host family for 6 months last year, visited us for 10 days. During this time I was very happy to meet her and to be able to get to know her. She’s very nice and we are close because we share many of the same experiences. When she was here, we went shopping a lot because many things are cheaper (clothes) here, and we just like to shop!

Also, Amelie asked our host mom to take us to look at RV campers (they went on an RV camper trip over Spring Break while Amelie and Raffaela were here; and Amelie wanted to see what a really big and expensive RV was like). I guess the RV my host family rented for their last trip wasn’t big enough for 3 teenage girls! I thought that it was just going to be something simple, but here the RV campers look like a house really! I never saw that before!!

From 23-25 October, I went to St Augustine (it's the oldest city the country) with my district, #6970 . It was just AWESOME! I find again my friends, who I met for the first time the first week when I arrived in America. And, we concluded our English is so much better that the first time! Everyone improved …

Saturday morning we visited Fountain of Youth. Then, we toured St George Street; we also visited Castillo de San Marco which is a national monument. The Castillo was initially built by the Spanish to protect their empire in America. We visited a shop in St George Street, a museum and an historic building. At the end of this wonderful day, we tanned at the beach (yes, it was warm and sunny enough to tan in October!). All of us took our cameras and took so many pictures. The following day, I saw for the first time an alligator in the zoological park (it's the oldest zoo in the country). I also discovered a diverse collection of birds, mammals and reptiles. It was impressive to see that. Then I finished this weekend with lunch on a boat with all the other exchange students. I’m so lucky because I saw a lot of dolphins.

Concerning school: it’s good! I was accepted into the Spanish Honor Society; I joined Spanish Club, Surf Club, and -of course- I am a member of Interact. I also am a member of the cheerleading team—or I will be as soon as my paperwork is approved by the FHSAA! My interim grades were pretty good, but I haven’t received my grades for this term.

On Friday, Oct 30th, about 20 exchange students from our district got together at Alvin's house to celebrate Halloween. I dressed up like an angel. I wore a white dress, a big feathered mask, and—of course—big, beautiful, white wings! At the party, we ate so much food, danced and also went in his swimming pool (yes, at the end of October, we were outside in a swimming pool and we didn’t freeze to death—but, the water was a little bit cold), and we also went in the hot tub. It was just awesome.

After we swam, we went stood by the fire to dry our wet clothes, and spoke about all of our experiences since arriving in this country. I also had a lot of mosquitoes bite me everywhere --it was the only bad thing …

The following day I went to Mr. Sam van Leer’s house. He is a Rotarian in my club and a beekeeper. He invited me and Kuan (exchange student from Taiwan) to help him harvest the honey from some of his hives. It was a lot more work than I was expecting, but it was also so much fun! I also learned how to extract the honey and Mr. van Leer gave each of us our own jar of honey to take home.

October was a very good month for me. And, it ended with a very special event. One I had been waiting for since the day I arrived in the U.S. An event my host mom promised me would happen but I wasn’t sure I believed—at least not when I first arrived. But, now I am very proud to tell you: I had my first dream in English on the night of 30 October!!!!!! I was so excited—and so was my host mom. She and my host dad and sister are all so proud of me---but, they said they always knew this day would come for me.

Alligators	Alvin's party	Amelie and me	A camping RV
Dist. 6970 on the beach	Halloween	Homecoming

December 18 Journal

Alright, once again my month is almost done and I need to write in this journal, what has happened … Are you curious? If not, you aren't required to read this, but if you want to know what kind of things I did, keep reading =)

In the beginning of the month I went to Jacksonville Beach, were I had a chance to see the air show with Blue Angels (“The Blue Angels’ mission is to enhance Navy and Marine Corps recruiting efforts and to represent the naval service to the United States, its elected leadership and foreign nations.”) Also, a Blue Angels flight demonstration exhibits choreographed refinements of skills possessed by all naval aviators. It was the graceful aerobatic maneuvers of the four-plane Diamond Formation, in concert with the fast-paced, high-performance maneuvers of its two Solo Pilots. Finally, the team illustrates the pinnacle of precision flying, performing maneuvers locked as a unit in the renowned, six-jet Delta Formation.)

We stayed almost all of the afternoon to see this. My host mom was so excited, because when she was younger she was an officer in the US Air Force, worked in the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and she also worked in Europe with a lot of airplanes like we saw at the air show.

By the way, I was so excited, too; and a little bit afraid. No, I'm not joking! When the airplanes passed so close over our heads, we were standing right on the beach just in the center of the performance area, so they were maybe just 500 feet –less than 200 meters above us!! - it was just amazing and maybe is the last time that I can see that …

Concerning school nothing special: I visited a French class and I had my first practice with the cheerleaders. Yes, I had to wait a long time to get to do this but now I am having a lot of fun with all the girls and the coach. Coach Laura is so nice!

The following week, I went to Carol's house for the weekend. It was good. We went shopping, we saw movies, we ate in a restaurant… And she told me also that I need to do my presentation in front of my Rotary club… the next week! I know, it’s not much fun, but it’s required for all RYE students to give this presentation to their host clubs.

I think the best part of my month was my weekend in Gainesville which was so fun…

My host mom, Paula, is also District Counselor for Ana Laura and Kuan. For her job, she helps high school students figure out where they want to go to college and helps them with their college applications. She thought it would be a good idea for Ana, Kuan and I to learn about what it is like for American teens when they go on a typical college visit. So, she made plans for us to visit the University of Florida. We left the house at 6:30 o'clock in the morning– so early! And finally, we arrived in Gainesville at 10 o'clock. We went to the official information session and then on the campus tour. The University of Florida is the 4th largest public university in the United States so there was a lot to see. We also had a special meeting with the Dean of International Students. He talked to us about all the special things UF does for international students and told us that students from over 100 countries go to school there. Then, that night, Vinny and his host family took all of us to a UF basketball game. That was amazing!!! I spent the night in the hotel with my mom; and Kuan and Ana stayed with Vinny and his host family .

On Saturday, we woke up with the sun and immediately left the hotel to find a place to park the car near the stadium because there were so many people going to the football game. I think 91,000 people went to the game—and there were even more people just hanging around the stadium to see the football team and Tim Tebow, the Gators’ famous quarterback (he went to high school in Ponte Vedra!). It was amazing before the game started: thousands of people were walking on the streets, buying souvenirs, eating food, taking photos with Albert and Alberta (the Gator Mascots), getting autographs from Gator athletes, posing with the Gator cheerleaders, and “scoring freebies” like the new Gator football team belt, towels, umbrella, pens, key chains, and luggage tags. We stood in a huge crowd right in front of the stadium for the “Gator Walk” (this is a tradition before every Gator game when all the football players walk about 3 blocks from their buses down the street and into the stadium. Thousands of people are standing on both sides of the street to make a path for the players to walk through and wish them good luck for the game). I waited to see all of the players, take photos, and even shook the hands all of them … I was kind of excited not just because they are famous but because I realized that I live my dream: I had a sort of flashback when I stand up with a thousand people. You know the feeling when you see something in the TV and you keep watching and finally you turn off the TV because you known that it’s not real. But during this day I wasn't the girl who stayed in front of the TV, but I was part of the show.

The time runs so fast. I also celebrated Thanksgiving - it was so good, I mean the food, it looks like so much to Christmas, It's a kind of day, where all of the family stay together and eat, eat, and eat so much food! My host mum cooked a big turkey (10 kilos)! I will always remember this day, and I'm hoping its not gonna be my last Thanksgiving.

January 24 Journal

Hey guys! Happy New Year 2010! Merry Christmas!

The New Year is coming soon and December passed so fast, so let me tell you about my latest adventures!

I had the chance to go to Disney World with all the exchange students from my district and some kids from Tennessee and Wisconsin (or maybe it was Michigan--I'm not really sure). Anyway, it was awesome!

We slept in the Disney hotel and every morning we visited different attractions. The first day we went to Disney-Hollywood Studio and got to got to a lot of different stuff there like The Elevator which I thought was the best one! It could be down, then up, or maybe down again, or up and up. It was so exciting-- and a lot like a roller coaster. The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom, posed for pictures with Mickey, watched 3D films, marched with the characters of Disney, and that night we saw a show where they decorated all the streets with over eight million tiny lights.

Saturday was one of the best days even though everyday that I spent there was awesome! We were in EPCOT-CENTER. It's the reconstruction of several countries, and it's done so well. I had the opportunity to take a small turn in "France" and to have the pleasure of coming back into a bakery and smell the good, hot, fresh bread. Something which I have not been able to do here.....yet. In the evening, we ate beside a small lake and watched splendid fireworks. On Sunday, we ended our weekend in the Animal-Kingdom park.

This month I went to soo many Christmas parties. In the beginning of December, I went with all of my cheerleading team to their party. It was almost like a TV stereotype to see all of them dressed up. OMG I love soo much be part of this culture! I had so much fun! Picture, cake, gifts all of these things were there to make this memorable for me.

Of course I celebrated Christmas with my Rotary Club. It was an occasion to hear some Christmas carols, a pleasure to eat some good cake and to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Also at this same time, I discovered in my neighborhood a lot of houses decorated with thousands of lights, each of them are more beautiful than the other. It's like a competition between neighbors. Some people spend a lot of money to have the best decorations for their houses. What else .. Oh guess what I saw? So many amazing cakes! My Rotary Club took me to see a big display of gingerbread houses. It was a competition to see who is gonna make the best one, and some of them were very different and interesting to see .

Other things I think you need to know about is our family Christmas tree. I thought that it's gonna be a regular tree like I'm used to having in France. But, I was wrong! My family bought a tree that was the biggest tree I have ever seen! it was over 3 meters tall! Sure don't forget we are in America =) On each branch, there were so many ornaments that represented different parts of my host family's life and family memories. I mean each decoration is kind of important. It's why, on each Christmas Eve, our family exchanges ornaments with each other. It's a family tradition that started when my host mom was an RYE student in Sweden. So, now each Christmas, each family member gives each other family member 1 ornament. That ornament represents something special to that person. For example, I got the Statue of Liberty, ballet shoes, and butterflies! All of those things mean something special to me and remind me of my RYE year here in America.

On Christmas Eve, I went to the church. Not so many differences. The only ones which got my attention were … I saw some people in flip flops! Yeah, I'm not kidding. Never forget that we are in Florida! Oh, that and my host dad was also wearing a Scottish kilt! My host family's ancestors are from Scotland, so every year at Christmas church services, they all wear their Scottish clothes--including my dad in his kilt. I even wore a Scottish sash and broach, just like the rest of the Roderick daughters. After that we ate a good meal. Thanks, mom, who sent me Du foie gras and a good bottle of layon through the post! All of us really enjoyed a taste of France on Christmas Eve!

The following day, I was surprised to see soo many gifts around the tree! Santa Claus was generous and we had a lot of fun opening gifts and eating cinnamon rolls, fruit, and other things together before we cleaned up all the gift papers and ate a big brunch! Later that evening, friends of my host mom joined us for a big Christmas dinner. Also, my older host sister (who was my host family's first exchange student back in 1998-99 from Russia) was there with her mother, who was visiting us from Moscow.

On December 29th, I jumped into the car, direction Atlanta for 3 days before the New Year!

It's almost 5 hours by car. In Atlanta, I did a lot of things. I went the the Olympic Park where we could see where they awarded medals during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. I also went to visit the biggest aquarium in the USA. It was interesting and I saw a lot of specimens that I never had the opportunity to see before in France . After that what else ... Oh I visited CNN: it's the international news television channel...and for ending this visit to Atlanta, I went to the World of Coca Cola. It was like a museum with the recapitulation for the whole story of Coke for more than 1 century .

I came back to Florida on December 31st at 5 oclock. I was expecting to do a service project with all of the other exchange students in Jacksonville, but I was too late. They were in Jacksonville to cook a meal for a lot of homeless people who live on the street. I wanted to do that but I didn't get a chance since we got back from Atlanta in time.

Ok, now let me talk about New Year's Eve. It was the best I have ever had. Why ? Because I was with all of my RYE friends. We are like maybe 20 teenagers in Leandro's house. The house was huge and the kind of house everybody wants: swimming pool, hot tub... and a great view, right on the river !

Now talk about the New Year's Eve! 20 teens who came for the same reason: party! We did a lot of things: eat, celebrate the birthday of Manon who turned 18 this day, sing at the karaoke, etc. What else? Oh, we enjoyed the hot tub, because the swimming pool was very cold even if it wasn't so cold this night. A bonfire, too. For the conclusion, we spent an awesome night, at midnight we went over the bridge in the back of the house and saw the fireworks, all this with a view on Jacksonville, which made us realize that 2009 was definitely over.

My wish for you is that 2010 is sensational, even more sensational than the previous, and almost as sensational as the one which will come after!

May 3 Journal

January

Hey! I'm here to just to talk about my month. I started to write in this website since I’m here, in the US and I’m proud that I have never given up … YET Right now I’m just unpacking my stuff from Key West, Yes I traveled again, but unfortunately it was my last trip with the Rotary! I spent my 4 days in Key West. If you don’t know where it is, is an island in the south of Florida, actually it the most southern part of America. I left my house the 28th of January, and traveled a long time in a bus. The first day we had put off all of the suitcases and baggage in each room. We shared a room with almost 8 girls, and some of them came from Key West. It was an occasion to know new people! We attended a camp fire. It was nice!

The second day began well because I had a good night. I had some rest from the day before, and also because I went snorkeling for the first time of my entire life. We were in a little boat with an instructor who showed us what it’s like going on into the ocean. We were to divide into several teams of 10 persons and were on a small boat trying to discover the underwater world. The water was not very hot but mostly transparent, I saw some interesting things. I tried to collect some coral, to see fish and some other specimens that hide in the underwater world. That day we had a nice evening. We went dancing with American sound. By the way. I’ve started to memorize some of them =)

On Saturday, we were divided into several groups to speak about problems which confront the marine world. We introduced the results of our research in the evening during a conference. This weekend was the last one for me to visit with the other Rotary students in Florida, and I realize how much I love some of them. More than 6 months has already passed and I don’t have so many months left! It freaks me out. However I continue to enjoy every moment that I spend here. This month was calm, I took my midterms during a whole week, which wasn’t very fun...

During a couple of days, I visited one little city called Fernandina Beach. It is in the north of Florida, very close to Georgia. It was a very nice place to see. Actually, it reminded me of France. We were looking around the street, going to some shops...

Also January was kind of scary, because I didn’t know who was going to be my second host family, but in the past 2 weeks, I can tell you that I’m moving out, to a new host family, called Fitzpatrick, I am very excited even if I’m sad to leave my first family, that I love so much!!

Little diary, that sums up what I did. February, is going to be more exciting because I will have a lot of things to do, So see you next month!!

February

February means a lot for me because 18 years ago I was born in France and now here I am in the United States celebrating my birthday, with my first host family. I went to have dinner at the Sawgrass Country Club. It was also the last dinner with my first host family, because I move out the following day. I had to pack my suitcases! So, my birthday cake was so good, the chef made me the best PARIS BREST ever! It consisted of a circle of choux pastry, filled with whipped cream humm ..The next night my first host mom Paula gave me a surprise party in a French restaurant with some of my friends. We spent a good night with my older first host sister Katia who was also here!

So now let's talk about when I moved to my second host family! The departure was pretty hard even if I knew that I was still in the same neighborhoods. I will not talk about my luggage. I needed more than 4, not kidding! So my new American house is very good. Now I have 3 sisters, only 2 still at home, Brigid the oldest one is 23. She works at the hospital, with my host dad Peter, who is a kidney doctor. My mom Cathy works at a museum in Jacksonville. She is vey good at art. Sometimes she paints. When she has time she is a substitute in different schools, including Ponte Vedra high school. I have another sister named Anna. She is nice too. She is my age. So we have a lot in common. We don’t go to the same school, but each time that she doing something fun I’m always welcome to come with her. So I met some of her friends who are very nice. And ..... the one who doesn’t lives at home is actually at UF (University of Florida). Sometimes she comes home during the weekend. It’s a very simple family, very nice!!! I love them. They look like my family in France too =) Sometimes I go with my host mom to yoga class. She really likes yoga and she wanted to share this with me. Also I took some belly dance classes and really enjoyed it; something that I always wanted to do.

February 6, I had the opportunity to attend to the Rotary gala, from Ponte Veda Beach Sunrise Club. I helped to set up tables and decorations. It was fun! Also we had the job to sell some raffle tickets. We made a profit of more than 1000 dollars, just in tickets. All of this money goes to charity. This gala was unforgettable, because its was very fancy and I had the chance to get a pretty dress, I have so many pictures!

So what else ... just thank you for everything that you make me discover!

June 11 Journal

MARCH

Hi everyone! This month was so busy so I didn't have enough time to write my diary like I used to do every month. =( I am doing so well, haha, so let me see...

In the middle of March, I spent some time where my host mom Cathy works, at MOCA Jacksonville. I saw an exhibition about the life of Marilyn Monroe. It was actually interesting. I also worked with her, and got to see what she was doing! I helped arrange a display for shoes in the museum shop. I had a good time!

A few days later, my school was in exam time, and I wasn't expected to take the FCATs so I missed 2 days of school. During that time, I spent time in different offices where some Rotarians of my club work.

On one day, I went to a design shop with Nancy Breshaman, who taught me a lot about her job. Also, the following day, I went to the Hilton Garden Inn to see how a hotel works. I met 2 girls who work there and they were very nice so I spent most of my day with them.

Now the sun goes down later so the days are longer and we can do more stuff. I've gone to the beach a few times in the last couple weeks. The parents of my new host family rent a house at the beach every year, so we spend a lot of time over there, reading books and getting a tan like a holiday! By the way, I got a sunburn recently, first in my whole life, so since that day I will tend to favor sunscreen.

Let me tell you the funniest part of my month: guess what everyone waits for impatiently during April? You don't know? SPRING BREAK, of course! One week of vacation! So, the day after we got off of school, I went with my family and Kuan, the boy who used to live with my second family, went with us! That also made our trip more funny. He is so nice, I can't imagine the day that we are going to leave and go back to our own countries; same thing with Ana (from Brazil).

Anyways, I was just talking about spring break! We visited St. Petersburg and we rode bikes almost 60 km, with some breaks, of course! Each day we stayed in a different hotel. One morning I was brushing my teeth and I heard a strange sound that sounded like a car race was taking place near the hotel, so I jumped to tell my host parent this but nobody believed me! They told me it was probably the woman upstairs cleaning with the vacuum, haha. And guess what? One hour later we were going to a car race! It was amazing! It was so loud that I kept putting my hands over my ears. So, afterwards we got to visit a museum with an exhibit featuring costumes that a lot of actors wore in movies!!

Oh, one more little thing to tell: you can see a picture of me and an alligator below. It was taken during the bike ride. We stopped at a zoo and a woman asked me if I wanted to hold this little alligator in my arms. Of course, she had tied its mouth but I was still not used to seeing alligators so it freaked me out, as you can see, haha.

On the last day of our trip I had the opportunity to take a tour of Anna's future college. I got to see where she is going to attend next year! I'm excited for her. It seems to be a very nice university. Afterwards, I got to see my first baseball game with Kuan and my mom Cathy. It was fun and pretty hot, too. I was using the game program to cover my head from the sun.

What else to say? On Easter I went to see the sunrise in the morning and to attend a church service at the beach! This was probably the only time in my life that I have done that so, I enjoyed it! I have the feeling that I have talked too much so this should be enough for today! By the way, I'm so excited for all of the exchange students who are going to live in Florida next year. I'm kind of jealous that they are going to have this experience. I have talked to 2 of them from France, (....). Both of them are very excited. They asked me a lot of questions about Florida, American culture and other stuff!

I would like to say thanks to everybody who is doing a great job for us Rotary Exchange students. Without you guys, we would never have gotten to have these wonderful experiences.

APRIL

Hi everyone, here we are getting closer to the end of my exchange year, May is coming soon, So what did I do this month?

First and foremost I attended Prom at Ponte Vedra my current high school! I guess I don't have to explain to you what it is. I went with Ana and Kuan. It was actually pretty good! We took a lot of pictures as usual, pretty dresses, tux, tie... everything like America. So afterwards all of us went to the Marriott Hotel. (It is the one that I went for Rotary charity a month ago.)

So the party started, food as much as you want, music ... Conclusion American dance is shocking, there is no other word haha. Beside this it was awesome and I had a really good time !!

Let us change the topic. Let's talk about Easter, an important event for a lot of Christians. Easter Sunday I woke up around 4 of the morning. The service took place right in the middle of a sunrise. After this service we returned home for a good breakfast to which all of us were looking forward. We should know that 44% of America's population practice a Christian religion. Therefore having this different type of service at the beach was great!

As you know from my last mail, I am taking ballet lesson since I'm here in the US. I took the opportunity to teach some French to 20 little ballerinas at my current studio. Almost one year has already passed overseas. I can tell you that French is a language that a lot of people try to learn. During this year, I met so many people who were trying to speak to me in French even if most of them knew very little.

During this April month, I was kinda busy. A member of my Rotary asked me to do something for him , and I didn't think, I just said ''YES'' I want to do it !! I didn't realize at the time how much work it would be, and how challenging it was going to be. So the project was to translate a DVD in French to English, a thing that I had never done before ! He was in Afghanistan last month for a humanitarian project. He met a French couple, who gave him this DVD. So I translated it. After I did this, I saw it few weeks later with my translation as subtitles. It was AWESOME to actually give some of my skill to someone else.

What else, the school is almost ending and my exchange year is too =(

July 9 Journal

Once again I didn’t enough time to write down my diary, so let me try to remember what made this two last months just as wonderful as a dream come true!

First of all at the beginning of May; I had been selected to be the exchange student of the years 2009/2010, which was a huge surprise to me, I still remember when we were standing in the room, everyone was listening with attention the story of one of us, and that was me.

And the best thing happened no later than 3 weeks after, I received a huge envelope by mail, I couldn't tell what it was. When I opened it I saw this diploma with my name on it which made me a Paul Harris Fellow! What a honor to be part of this!! My year has been so amazing I did so many things through this year. I accomplish all my target!

Afterwards I came to experience what it is like to see the most popular golf tournament in the world. Welcome to TPC. Right! I never was a big fan of golf but to tell you the truth I really enjoyed being there watching and following all those players. Of course so many tourists came there to support their favorite player. During these 4 days I got to see one of the best players, Tiger Woods!

June

June was the end of my year at Ponte Vedra High School. I went to my sister's graduation at Nease. It was the first time I saw what it looks like to graduate. Everyone was wearing a dress with the colors of their school and long speeches were said. Shortly after, the graduates threw their hats in the air which means they will no longer be in high school! How exciting, like in the American movies. I really enjoyed it and I keep thinking why we don't do that back in France?

Also I did my performance at my ballet class, It was awesome to see. I ask someone to take pictures and they came out good! I was wearing this big puffy skirt and those flowers in my hair; I felt like a little fairy. My ballet teacher Miss Down gave me a scholarship this year which gave me a chance to take ballet lesson with her! For this reason she was selected to be a hero in my community, a few weeks before my performance.

I also took a day trip to see something so spectacular, the Shuttle launch! I went down to a very small city called Cape Canaveral, which is 30 miles away from my current town. Every year this city has hosted thousands of tourists for this event! It was so amazing to see this. It's like being a child who sees Santa Claus!!! Seeing what human beings created through this past 20 years. It's just unbelievable!

Now that I'm out of school, let me tell you what I have been through. A lot of different trips have happened. First I went up to Washington DC, to visit the capital. So I went with Kuan and Cathy (my 2nd host mom.) It was awesome! I've been inside of all of the famous monuments like the capitol, the supreme court, the Vietnam wall, Lincoln Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Washington monument ...We did this through a bike ride which took us around the city. To end this trip we got to visit inside the White House!!!

Afterward when I got to Florida, I packed again and went to Chicago! It's kind of far away so we took the airplane. My host mom had grown up there so she knew all of the best places which make our trip even better!

The city of Chicago has many buildings which where designed by important architects. However most of them were built after the big fire in Chicago in 1871. Chicago is reputed for their originality rather than for their antiquity. For example many modern sculpture are downtown.

To summarize I attended to a concert of piano and violin in the cultural center of Chicago. The architecture was splendid. Above our head was a dome of stained glass windows encircled with sculptures!

I went up in the Sears Tower, 103 floors. Isn't that incredible, so I took the elevator, which gave us a great view of Chicago! Besides this we went inside this little box made with windows and you can go into this box and see down to the street. That was scary ^^

One of the things which make Chicago unbelievable was the lake, Lake Michigan, which fascinated me. The city is edged by Lake Michigan which attracts many tourists. It gives an access to the beach, and we can even take the bus by the lake. Original no? The museums of Chicago are numerous, I visited one of them ''museum of sciences and industry''.

I visited famous sculptures of the millennium park. I didn't miss the Cloud Gate which is a 110 ton sculpture which reflects the famous outlines of the city and clouds. This monument counts among the biggest (20 metres long and 10 metres high) The Crown Fountain represents another panorama of this park. It is two glass blocks 15 meters high, with some faces of the inhabitants of Chicago showing on it. The Pritzker Pavilion, is an open air music center.

So now here I am getting close to the day I will take my airplane back to France. I feel so heartbroken to leave all my new friends and family. This year has been so wonderful because I was with people who care about me and wanted to help me during this year. Both of my two host families (Roderick and Fitzpatrick) had given me all their love and added me in their family as a new daughter. So for me it was easier to adapt myself into a new American culture. The Rotary who hosted me has given me more than just a host club. They were and still are my heart family. This year was more than an accomplishment in my life. I have grown, and learned about what I can do with ambition. The Rotary is an amazing program. I am so thankful to be part of that.

Thank you again and remember, life's too short for you to give up on things you think you cannot do. There isn't enough time in your life for you to regret the things you have done. It's too short to let the special people pass you by. Finally don't wait for things to come and find you!