 Hi,
my name is Kaitlyn Morris. I like to be called Katie. I am excited about the
opportunity to be part of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program!
I will be the first person to participate in a youth
exchange from my school, Orangewood Christian School. in Maitland, Florida.
I love to play soccer and have played on my high school’s varsity team for
the past two years. I am very involved in my church’s youth group and my
school’s student council.
I love spending time with my friends. We enjoy going to
the movies, the mall, and just spending time together. I also enjoy
listening to music and spending time in the kitchen with my mom.
I have always wanted to go on a youth exchange and I am
looking forward to the coming year. I would like to thank Rotary Youth
Exchange for helping make this dream come true. I would also like to thank
my friends and family for their support and encouragement during this very
exciting time in my life. |
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WOW! I cannot believe that I have been here 6 weeks! It feels
like just yesterday I was saying <<Only 4 months till I leave!>>. But now I have
already lived here more than a month! So let me start at the beginning.
The day of departure was really hard. It was hard to say
good-bye to all my friends and family, yet I had a weird calmness about it
all. I was very scared, nervous, and excited, but it seemed like I was
strangely calm as I entered the Orlando Airport. So I said my good-byes and
I was off. When I arrived in Zürich, I was greeted by my host families
welcoming arms! It was almost as if they already knew me and I was just
arriving home. So the first few days are just a blur in my mind. Everything
was so new and there was so much information being thrown at me that I
cannot remember anything very clearly.
The first 2 weeks I was here I did not have school and my
host sisters did not either. So my host-family took me around to all the
tourist attractions in Zürich. We went to Üetliberg (It has a breathtaking
view over the city of Zürich and Zürich lake), we took a tour of Zürich, and
went shopping in Zürich. It was all fun, but life here became real when I
started school. I had a 4 week language school that I started the third week
I was here. It was with all the other exchange students that live in or
around Zürich. It was so much fun to hang out with all the exchange students
everyday. Then I started real school on Monday, Kantonsschule Enge. I
really miss everyone at the language school, but all the kids at
Kantonsschule Enge are really nice too. The Kantonsschule is really
different than my school at home. It has about 900 students. There are 17 in
my class, and I have almost every class with the same kids. They are all
really nice and funny! The Kantonsschule also gives the students a lot more
freedom. If you do not have a class, then you go wherever you want until
your next class. It is really strange to have 2 hours for lunch break, but I
like it!
The language is still really hard. I thought that I knew
quite a bit of German when I arrived in Switzerland, but I quickly realized
that I did not. Not only did I not study enough German, but Swiss German is
completely different than high German. But since I have been here I have
learned so much German from my family and language school. It is frustrating
sometimes not being able to communicate in German, but I know that soon I
will be able to. |
Kaitlyn "Katie" Morris