Rea Vrandečić

2009-10 Inbound from Croatia

Hometown: Zagreb, Croatia

Sponsor: Zagreb Centar Rotary Club, District 1910, Croatia

Host: Venice-Nokomis Rotary Club, District 6960, Florida, USA

School: Venice High School, Venice, Florida

Bio

Rea's Bio

Heeey!! My name is Rea Vrandecic and I come from Zagreb, Croatia. I am 16 years old and am a junior in Venice High School. I arrived to Venice almost 3 weeks ago and I can say that I already consider it my second home. I have an amazing host family, great counselor and even better district chairman :)

The thing that surprised me the most is the fact that I enjoy going to school here. The school system is completely different (in Croatia we can't choose which classes we are going to take, we all have the same schedule) so the fact that I am interested in all of my classes here makes the studying part a lot easier.

I used to volunteer back home, so I'll try to continue doing it while I'm here. I am also a member of the Interact.

I can proudly say that the 2 days spent on the Inbound Orientation have been one of the best days of my life! I have met a lot of amazing people from all around the world and am pretty sure that those friendships will last a lifetime :)

This has been (and I'm sure it will continue being) an extraordinary and life-changing experience so I would like to thank Rotary for making this exchange possible for me! Well... THANK YOUUU!! :) <3

October 19 Journal

Heey guys!!!

I can’t believe that more than two months have passed since I came here!! I’ve been having such a great time!

So many things have happened, I don’t even now where to start J

Let's see… Homecoming was awesome!! I got ready at my house and then went to my friends house to take pictures. Then we all together went to the dance. After the dance we went to Perkins and had chocolate chip pancakes :D It was amazing!

Another thing that was totally new to me was the Spirit week. I got 100% school spirited (Gooo Indians!!!) :D It was my favorite week so far. The whole school was in different colors and styles every day… The dressing up was really fun J I loved the Pep Rally, Senior Parade and Powder Puff (which was hilarious J) It’s so fun to participate in events/things that don’t exist in my country, I think it’s a great way of getting to know the culture.

I’ve tried (and am still trying) to involve myself in as many activities as possible. I’m in the Interact club which really keeps me occupied: we do a lot of community service. I’ve also been volunteering in Venice Elementary School.

I never thought that I’m gonna love football but I do!! I love going to the Friday games and hanging around with my friends there!! (and not just because we have the best team in the world :P)

I’m so happy because I found friends in all of my classes, and because some of the exchange students (especially Anni and Gui) have become like family to me… I am so lucky to have them! J Love you guys!! J

I also can’t wait to go to Disney and see all the other exchange students because I really miss them!!

I’ll try to write sooner, I promise J

Pusaaaa!!
Rea.

December 19 Journal

Hey guys! It’s been quite a while again, so I decided to surprise you with another amazing report of mine! (what an awesome Christmas present! :D)

First, I need to share one sad information with you all… The football season is over  Yes, yes I know… I’ll be missing it, too. But on the other hand, the baseball season will start soon! And with it comes another challenge - trying to figure it out! It took me a while with football… but I enjoyed every minute of it! It’s funny how I continuously seem to be learning more and more about American culture and traditions even after 4 months!

Another big thing happened since the last time I wrote you. I changed my host family! It was really hard to leave my excellent first host mom (Love you Gina!! ). And just as I was getting all sad and depressed, thinking that the next family couldn’t possibly be as good as the first one I came to the Leach’s. I must have a totally awesome guardian angel or something, because this family is equally amazing!!! I have two great parents (Wendi and Glen) and two megasupercool sisters (Colleen and Anna) :D. I truly feel like a part of the family  Thank you guys, soooo much! 

Ten days after I moved to the new family, we celebrated Thanksgiving! It was sooo good! I can’t remember when was the last time I ate so much... And although I basically wasn’t able to breathe for the next couple of days, it was totally worth it! 

And then came Disney… OH MY GOD!! I can’t even tell you how much fun we had! Seeing all the people I haven’t seen in 4 months put me in some kind of a happiness shock! And although I was sick, I had the best time!

We went to the 4 main parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios). I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a ride we weren’t on… Another thing I loved was that we weren’t in our “safe groups” all the time. We were all hanging out together and “mixing” every day. I got to meet and become friends with a lot of people I didn’t get to meet in the Inbound Orientation. It was absolutely great!

Thank you Rotary, for everything!! (Special thanks to my dearest Venice-Nokomis Rotary Club )

All in all, I can say I really consider America my second home. I am loving it here! I am trying to fulfill my ambassador role and talk about my country as much as possible, which is not always an easy task. It sometimes takes patience. There are a lot of quite ignorant people out there, but so far my experiences have been really positive! It’s amazing how interested people my age are in learning about Croatia. I think I’ve started appreciating my country more since I’ve been here.

There have also been many questions that just cracked me open like:

Do you guys have ketchup? Airplanes? Cars? Pizza? Board games? Youtube? American TV?

What can I say… It ain’t easy being an exchange student :P

I think I’ve talked enough! I’ll catch up with you guys after the holidays!!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to everyone!!

Love, Rea 

March 28 Journal

Hey guys! 

I have had soo much fun in the past few months that I completely forgot to write a journal. So here we go.

I had a lovely Christmas and even better New Year’s Eve! On Christmas Eve, we all went to my host grandma’s house and had a very nice family celebration. Celebrating Christmas in short sleeves felt strange, but then again very special. On Christmas morning we opened our presents and hung out at home. The fact that both of my host sisters were home from college made everything even better! I spend New Year’s Eve with my favorite Finish person: Anni Kaisa Inkeri Haikka (I have a feeling that I really messed this up xD) who’s also an exchange student here. We went to Downtown Sarasota with her family and watched the Pineapple being dropped at midnight! (Ah, those Floridians find a way to personalize everything! :))

Not long after that, we (the FES-s –Foreign Exchange Students :)) went to an organized trip to Sea Camp and participated in the 18th International Weekend. I dare saying that it was even better than Disney! We all became really good friends, and we were truly inseparable the whole time. It was so much fun! We were split into groups that had certain topics to present. We put all of our creativity in it, and it absolutely rocked! My group prepared an awesome rap song, which I would publish here now but I don’t feel like wrestling with all of my folders in order to find it :). That was also the last trip in which all 78 of us will participate, so the last day was really sad.

Since the last time I wrote, I have changed my host family again! I live with my Rotary Club President and his family. They are so amazing! I was really looking forward to this family, because it’s the first one in which I have brothers (which makes me feel like home ). We are all having a blast!

Today is the beginning of my last 100 days in the U.S. which is making me really sad :(

Well, I have to leave now, but I promise I’ll try to catch up with you soon!!