Elise Walsh

2008-09 Outbound to Belgium

Hometown: Satellite Beach, Florida

School: Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy, Melbourne, Florida

Sponsor: Suntree Rotary Club, District 6930, Florida

Host: Plombieres-Welkenraedt Rotary Club, District 1630, Belgium

Bio

Elise's Bio

Hello everyone! I am Elise Walsh and I am so excited to begin my adventures with Rotary. I was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, but am currently living in Satellite Beach, Florida. I attend Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy, a small private school, where I will be the first to participate in the Rotary exchange program

Along with school, I really like to participate in activities with my friends like my job at Jack Backers Lobster shanty, where I am a seating hostess. I also love being a part of a variety of sports like springboard diving and swimming. I really like all of these activities because of all the people I meet.

I love to be around people and I love to figure out ways of making these people happy and comfortable. I feel that traveling to a new place with this program will help me extend my knowledge of how to truly experience and understand other people's personalities. People are known to be complicated, but they really aren’t when you pay attention.

Although I realize that many people can not participate in a program such as this, I think it is really necessary to inform those who can because this is a life changing experience. I am so happy that I have this opportunity that will change my life. There is no question about how much I will mature and learn while I am away: there is no other opportunity that will change my life as much as living in another country. I just want to thank absolutely everyone who has given me this opportunity.

October 5 Journal

So, it has been more than a month since arriving in Belgium and there not much more to say than it is amazing. I’m not going to lie, Al was right; I should have learned more French. But it’s a learning experience right? Now I’m learning the hard (and fun) way. The month began with a lot of pointing and sometimes picture drawing, but now I’ve gotten to a level where I can understand most of what is being said.

School… well it's school, and it is a lot of work. BUT there are so many people that are willing to help and make sure I don’t run into anymore doors (long story, I got a bloody nose). I really do enjoy school though, simply because we do get to meet a lot of students our age that take us everywhere. There are many soirees which they will invite you to if you just open up and just try to talk to them. The thing is they want to be your friends, but it’s not their job to learn English, it’s mine to learn French and figure out how to fit it (which is half the fun). I was also very lucky to be attending a small private school (Saint Josephs Institute) where the teachers really do care if I am learning and all the students know my name.

Also, if you do ever go to Belgium, tell them you’re from Florida. They LOVE us… Every single person says, “Florida? Ohhh you are from Miami!” Its quite chilly here, about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (in the summer), and when a Belgian hears Florida they automatically assume you're freezing and give you some layer of clothing. It’s quite funny. It does rain a lot, but I’m figuring when it gets to the point of freezing it will just snow and I can (and will) make an abundant amount of snow men.

I have been very lucky with my Rotary district - they take us everywhere. We have gone to Blegny Mine (which is an old coal mine), and have gone on a couple Rotary retreat weekends as well. My club, Plombiers-Welkenraedt, has also been extremely generous and had a little barbeque for all the exchange students in the club. There are four in my club, one Canadian, an Australian, and another from the United States. So we do have a full club. Whenever we have club meetings it often ends in watching a game of futbol (soccer). The meetings are twice a month, and we normally have to say a few words in order for them to see if our French is improving.

Since I was a rebel and didn’t listen, my French was not good when I got here. I definitely have improved, but there are days when I wished I had listened to Al and conjugated my verbs instead of watching Sponge-Bob, but with my family’s help and school, I will be fine.

My host family, quite honestly… is adorable. I love them. My mom, Dominique, is literally the best cook on the face of the planet. And my father, Christian, is always joking with me, Pascal (my brother) helps me with my French and since right now I’m speaking Franglish what English he does know really helps. Furthermore, I get to play Yahtzee frequently, and I win and if they tell you otherwise they are lying! My family is also really good about finding new things to show me, like the massive outdoor markets and I even attended the Miss Belgium contest. I actually just went to a wedding with them last weekend, which was extremely modern and beautiful (but also a two hour ceremony).

I’m so excited for this year and I can’t believe this much time has already gone by. I have so much I want to do and so little time to do it. I’ll keep you posted!

November 9 Journal

Question: So what has happened in the past month?

Answer: So much, I am super happy I received Belgium. It truly is the center of everywhere I want to go. I am getting very used to the busses and trains; they are very useful when I want to go to bigger cities like Liege, Vervier, or even Brussels. And I do get to go often because schools are only half-days on Wednesday. There was one day of strike on transportation, but it was planned and most businesses and schools took the day off so not much of a loss.

My family has continued to be amazing, and although I do believe they are teaching me some dirty French words they also make sure I’m following their conversations. When I don’t understand something, they can usually explain it without taking out the dictionary. We recently celebrated my host father’s birthday, and had a few friends over. I was going to attempt to make him an American style birthday cake, but apparently my cooking skills are seen the same internationally.

This past month, I’ve gone to Aachen, Germany with some friends from in Rotary. We just spent the day and walked around eating German sausages. It was really beautiful, the streets were much cleaner than most of the bigger cities in Belgium. We actually took a bus to Germany, it was only about an hour and all three of us returned for under six euro because of a lovely invention called the family pass. Because it is a pretty large and somewhat tourist town everyone spoke English or French and we had no problems getting around.

We had a school break for a week, and I took a Rotary trip to London. I had never been there, and it was a lot more different than anywhere I’ve been so far. Everything still had that old European feel, yet it was much more modern. With Rotary we went to the Tower of London, Madame Toussauds, and a few other places. But they also gave us a good amount a free time to explore London on our own. With some friends we went to the eye of London, Shakespeare’s globe theatre, platform 9¾ (Harry Potter anyone?), Harrods, and took the tube (p.s. there is absolutely no sensor on the doors and they will close on you). We were there only three days but we tried to squeeze in as much as possible.

Belgium has also continued to offer many soiree’s which gives me the opportunity to hang out with some Belgians. They always seem to be boys though, maybe it’s because I’m foreign? But they’re really fun and it’s a good way to keep friends at school and in the area.

Until next time!