Krestian Robertson

2009-10 Inbound from Denmark

Hometown: Vejle, Denmark

Sponsor: Jelling Rotary Club, District 1450, Denmark

Host: DeLand Sunrise Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida, USA

School: DeLand High School, DeLand, Florida

Bio

Krestian's Bio

Hey! My name is Krestian T. Robertson. I’m 17 years old and from Denmark. I live in a city called Vejle with about 60,000 inhabitants. You maybe wonder, what Vejle is famous for, and then I would say the chewing gum (Stimorol). Vejle is on the main land called Jylland. I live there in a very nice house with my mom Mette and my little brother Marcus (10).

I’m staying in DeLand, which I like very much. My host family is awesome, although they don’t have any children, which is too bad, because then it would be a lot easier to make friends, but I love them anyway. I love football, music (I play drums), and being with friends and family.

I’m sponsored by Jelling Rotary club. Jelling is also called Denmark’s birthplace, it was Denmark’s first capital. I am very pleased that they chose me to be their outbound. Thanks a lot!!

January 3 Journal

Hey everybody!

Now it's time to say a bit of the adventure of a Rotary exchange student... Time is going soooo fast, you don’t even take notice of it. A lot has happened since I came a few months ago. It is not all days that’s fun, some days are just boring and like a normal day where thing is just all the same. But then there are also those fantastic days when you experience something new and excited, and maybe learn new things and meet new people.

I started playing football on Deland High School. I play JV, it is really fun and I have some friends there. We practiced every day in the Florida summer heat, it is really hard and I'm soo exhausted every day when I come home from practice. It's a really nice workout, because my coaches are really good and know how to push us in the right way. By the way I play defensive tackle.

The Rotary St. Augustine weekend with my district 6970 was AWESOME, we lived two exchange students with each family over the weekend. I lived with Hiro, we had a really great time!! We got a bike so we could drive around St. Augustine and hang out with the other exchange students .. We went to the beach, the alligator farm, shopped downtown and got a nice city tour.. I'm really glad that I have been hosted by district 6970!!

Another thing here is Halloween, where we dress out and go trick or treating. It was really cool to see how much people did, almost every house was decorated with pumpkins, ghosts, and graves. it looked really cool!

Also I went to a Gator game with a friend, he took me up to Gainesville in the swamp, were the Gators played FIU. the atmosphere was so amazing, and the Gators had a big win 62-3 so it was a really great game. It was one of my big dreams that came true. I always wanted to watch a live college game :D

April 20 Journal

Yes! It is true!! Time is flying by so fast that you don’t even notice that 3 months is gone! Before you get to see yourself around it's time to go home...

Things are great in the states! That’s maybe why time is going so fast... You see new things and find out new things all the time. It makes you so adventurous! It has definitely made me a lot more mature and life loving... An exchange year abroad makes you want to see all the rest of the world...

This journal is not so much of what I've been seeing and doing, cause all the other exchange students journal is about that and with me it's pretty much the same! I can recommend you to read Zeeshan’s last journal, it explains it very good and just like I would have written it! No, I'm going to talk about how a Rotary Youth Exchange changes YOU. Yes YOU! And your whole perspective to the world... It’s a BLAST WITH NO END!

Things are going good, but not always! Your exchange is going up and down just like your normal life, but here you experience something whole extraordinary and just awesome, and you want to make the best out of it, but you learn that although you try it cannot always be that way. Not every experience is going to be great, don't be afraid of anything...! The more you try the more you are going to be stronger, "What don't kill you makes you stronger" an exchange don't kill you at all but it makes you a lot stronger and confident. "Don’t be afraid to fail, be afraid not to try". Try things! Don’t say no to an offer and give everything a try! You learn of your mistakes and the more you then try the more you learn. Things are going to turn out okay, if you have a good organization like Rotary to back you up... Don't be afraid to say something to your counselor, or ask about anything.

When you see and learn new things about the place where you live, your perspective toward people changes, sometimes for bad, but almost/mostly for good. You get a view on the same things you are doing but how they do it a different way, of course you like your own way best but sometimes the new way to try it can even be better! It can be as simple as how to eat or how to have fun.

There are many thoughts about how it is to be on exchange but there is only one real fact about how it is, it’s when you are on one yourself! It's impossible to think like and feel like an exchange student and know how it is and know how to stand in the different situations, if you have not been one yourself. Of course you can imagine, but it is not the same. That is something very important I learned because I had so many thoughts and ideas before it was my turn, but I first really found out now when it was me standing in it.

The most important I've learned is not to have to high expectations! Because if it's not like you expected it's going to turn out as something not so good. Therefore don't listen to the people that say it was the best year of their life and is going to be yours to! You make it your best year yourself; it is your exchange and not theirs. Don’t have any expectations of what it's going to be, just take it as it comes. But most of all be positive to things, everything is positive if you make it that way! Don’t except that your exchange is going to be like others exchange because it's not! Like every human is different and every exchange is it too! And if you are saying to yourself mine is going to be like that, it is not because it is not yours, it can be as good as or maybe better. Most of all!! We are all different and have a different aspect on how good this are, just try to make the expectations a little low so it can turn out a little better than expected before you set your expectations, so you can turn it out to be better than you thought and then have a good time..

I really want to say thanks very much to my District counselor Jody Davis for all he has done! He is a fantastic person with the best intentions toward to the inbounds. I’m very proud and lucky to have him as counselor. Thank you!

Also I want to thank all of RYE-Florida, all my host families and my Rotary club in Denmark, Jelling Rotary Club, to make this exchange year for me possible. I am very honored and pleased to be one of the few to experience this! Thank you all so very very much! It can’t even be described with words!