Molly Bruns

2009-10 Outbound to France

Hometown: St. Augustine, Florida

School: Bartram Trail HS

Sponsor: St. Johns Rotary Club, District 6970, Florida

Host: Creil Rotary Club, District 1770, France

Bio

Molly's Bio

“...there’s a great opportunity for cultivation of the mind afforded by intercourse with foreign countries.” (Elizabeth Gaskell, Wives and Daughters)

Hello and Bonjour! My name is Molly Bruns and I am a student at Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns, Florida. I'm an honors student and my favorite class is French, so it's really exciting that I was selected to go to France!

Family:

Right now I live with my mom, dad, and toy poodle, Genevieve. I'm the youngest in my family with two half-brothers, Keoki and Luke. My dad is a teacher at Bartram (and yes, he is my teacher) and my mom is a paralegal with Nemours Children's Hospital. My brother Keoki is an electrician in the state of Washington, and my brother Luke is currently going to the University of Alabama to get his Masters Degree. I want to do what my brother Luke is doing, which is medical research, but while he is focusing on diseases like malaria, I want to work in neurological, terminal diseases. My grandparents (on both sides of my family) live in Washington (the state), in fact, all my family (except Luke) live on the West Coast.

Hobbies:

I've done a little bit of everything in my life, but right now I am focusing on piano. So far, I've done acting, singing, dancing, modeling, swimming, gymnastics, flute and violin (and was terrible at it), tennis, painting, scuba-diving, piano, knitting, quilting/sewing and at the moment I am trying to teach myself how to play the mandolin. I also like just going to the mall with my friends or my parents. Beach-walking is also fun, and my parents and I always have a competition to see who can find the most shark teeth.

I'm really excited to be given this opportunity, and I intend to do everything possible to succeed. The closest thing I've done to this was moving across the country, from Washington to Florida, and although there is a big difference in climate and culture, they still speak English here! But I already understand what it's like to have to come out of your comfort zone and talk to people you do not know, and after a while it isn’t very hard. You just take a deep breath and dive in. You won’t know what will happen until you try!

August 16 Pre-Departure Journal

10 more days… It’s almost hard to believe that eight or nine months ago I was getting my call from Jody Davis telling me that I was going to be spending 11 months in France! I remember when I got the call I was taken completely by surprise. I was sitting on the couch texting a friend while watching “A Christmas Story” when my cell started ringing. I thought my friend had accidentally called me instead of sending a text, so I didn’t exactly answer my cell professionally. Imagine my surprise when I heard Jody’s voice on the other end! Then, when he told me my future host country would be France, the only sentences I could think of were “Really?” and “Thank you!”

Then came the orientations; the first one in January, and the other in June. At the first there was the terrifying “10 Important Phrases” we had to recite in front of everyone. At the second, were incredibly confusing card games and puzzles. In the end though, everything we did at the orientations had a purpose, and it was a great learning experience.

Now, I’m staring at a suitcase, debating over what I will and will not need for the next 11 months. I have to make my entire life here in Florida fit in one suitcase (I’ve decided against bringing 2). I’ve bought my gifts for my host family (families). This last week will most definitely be the hardest. I have to make my goodbyes to my friends, some of which are graduating this year, which makes it seem much more like “goodbye” than “see you later.” I am incredibly excited though. It sounds weird, but with my dream of going to France, of LIVING in France, so close, I feel like one of those three-year-olds on a leash trying to get to a cookie, and I can see the cookie, smell the cookie, but I still just can’t get to it. I have to wait 10 more days before that cookie is mine! So I’ll pack my bags, make my goodbyes to my friends, say goodbye to my parents, wish my host brother luck, and get on that plane.

So thank you to everyone who has made this possible! Thank you Al Kalter, Jody Davis, Daphne Cameron, Mr. and Mrs. Covington, Madame Kindell, my parents, and all the rest of my family for supporting me in this!

Merci beaucoup!

A Bientôt!

August 31 Journal

So first off, I just want to start by saying thank you, thank you, thank you Rotary!!!

All right, so I left good old Jacksonville, FL on August 25th which was incredibly hard. I got up at 4:30 in the morning, put on my blazer, put my bags in the car (surprisingly enough I had absolutely no problem getting my bags under 50 pounds; my biggest only weighed 32 lbs!), and held back the tears for as long as I could. When we (meaning me, my mom, my dad, and my host brother Erik) arrived at JAX airport, we found out my flight had been delayed an hour and forty-six minutes! That wait was incredibly hard. It was finally time to go, so I made my final see-ya-laters to my parents and wished my host brother luck on his exchange. I found my gate relatively easily, and a few minutes later I was joined by Chauncy and Simone (two other outbounds to France), and then Sarah and Sierra (two outbounds to Croatia). There were no more tears after that! Finally, about 10 or 15 minutes before we were going to be allowed to board our flight, we were joined by another outbound to France, Bridget! We boarded the plane for DC, and were finally on our way.

It was so exciting!!! The other French outbounds and I met some 50 odd other outbounds from across the USA, including Katherine and Lanny, two fellow Florida outbounds. Then finally at 5:40 P.M. we boarded the plane that would take us to Paris, France. After almost 7 hours in the air (and an hour or two of sleep), we landed! We went through customs and got our bags, and despite being a little queasy from lack of sleep, feeling absolutely disgusting in yesterdays clothes, and wishing I had worn a more comfortable pair of shoes, I was beyond excited!!! My host mom was caught in traffic though, so I had to wait a few minutes but my District President was very nice and talked to me a bit, and another fellow exchanger I had met in the airport was also waiting for his host parents so I was not alone! Finally my host mom arrived, and I could not have been happier. She took me home, where I immediately slept away most of the afternoon. When I finally woke up it felt like I had slept for weeks, not hours.

Most of that first day was spent sleeping, and then I went with my host mom, sister, and little dog, Azure, for a walk around the neighborhood where my host mom pointed out where I could go running.

So far my experience has been so wonderful. Everyone has been so nice to me, and since I don’t want to bore you with the same mindless details I included above (and I seem to have lost the ability to remember what day I did what) I will just highlight (this will also include some random thoughts I had):

-Played tennis with my host mom

-signed up for classes at my new lycée (note: I like the word lycée better than high school, so I would love it if the US adopted this word); I am an L which means I take language classes and I will be in premiere which is like our equivalent of junior year

-We had a picnic with the three other American exchange students by the horse track. There weren’t any horses running that day.

-I learned that an Arab prince has his headquarters here. I walked past his grounds. You should know though, he is very secretive. Hence the 12 foot rock wall that encloses his property. You MUST have an appointment and bring your passport and identification with you upon entering, according to my host mom who has been in once.

-The people who live on my street are like family and are super nice. We had a party at my host parents’ house where they all came over. I am the oldest non-adult on the street. The second oldest is 14 and she is very nice and speaks very good English.

-My host mom speaks fluent English, but she usually speaks to me in French unless I get completely lost. Then she translates. Also, if someone else is having a conversation at one of the parties, and they are speaking too fast for me to understand, she translates. My host sister has only had one year of English, and the two of us have turned meals into language lessons. I ask her what something is in French, and then she asks me what something is in English. Then my host dad quizzes us at dinner to see if we remembered our new words. I consistently forget how to say spoon. My host dad does not speak any English, but he is very expressive when he talks, and if I am still confused he acts things out.

-I have been to the horse races, and I when I went, I was very proud that I knew who owned one of the horses. The horse didn’t win but I was proud all the same.

-I ACTUALLY BOUGHT BREAD BY MYSELF IN FRENCH!!!!! This I am even more proud of than the horse thing.

-There is a beautiful chateau that is 10 minutes away from my town by car. One of the host dads of another American exchange student works there and is trying to arrange a private tour for the four of us.

-There ARE pools here!!! Like OUTDOOR pools!!! At people’s houses. No joke!

-I have discovered that a lot of people here speak English. Funny story, the first time I met my host mom’s British friend, I did not know she was British because when she came into the house she was speaking French and SOUNDED French. You can imagine my shock when she flipped from the easy flow of French, to a heavily British-accented English. I thought my jaw would hit the ground!

-One of my favorite things about living here is that family and friends are welcome at any time, no calls, no plans, just drive or walk over. My host mom explained to me that this is not a French custom at all, but an Italian custom. I should have mentioned that my host family is Italian. I always feel ridiculous when I am struggling to understand something they are saying at lunch or dinner, only to realize they are speaking in Italian and I do not speak Italian.

-My host family did not know that you can eat alligator. So when they jokingly asked if I had eaten alligator, they were shocked when I responded that fried gator tail is very good.

à bientôt!