Emily, RYE-Florida Outbound Student

Our Program

Home

About Us

News

FAQ's

Forms

Emily Ward

2010-11 Outbound to Germany

Hometown: Winter Springs, Florida

School: Winter Springs High School

Sponsor: Winter Springs Rotary Club, District 6980, Florida

Host: Bochum-Mark Rotary Club, District 1900, Germany

Bio

September 11 "I have unpacked, skyped with home, lost my handy, been embarrassed about my German, showered, and thrown up in my family’s trash bin."

Emily's Bio

Hello! My name is Emily Ward and I am currently a sophomore at Winter Springs High School in, well, Winter Springs Florida. But next year I will be spending my junior year in Germany as a foreign exchange student! I just can't fully express how excited I am. Right now I am an active member of my school's Drama department and Thespian honors society. I enjoy both the performance and technical aspects of theatre and hope to somehow experience that in Germany. Aside from rehearsals, in my free time I enjoy painting, drawing, sculpting, photography, and really just experiencing art in any way that I can. My love of art is why I plan on majoring in Art History and Archeology at the college level. It is something that is so close to my heart that I can't imagine ever not leading a creative life.

I am embarking on this journey with a little bit of an advantage being that two of my closest friends are also joining me in my year abroad with RYE. They are going to France, and it has already been helpful to have someone around to talk to that is thinking the exact same things we all are thinking at this point. I would like to thank my sister who is a junior in college at Flagler University in St. Augustine FL, she is majoring in theatre arts and pre-med. I would also like to thank my mother and father so much for letting me have experience that is truly once in a lifetime. But most of all I would like to thank Rotary for trusting me with this amazing, AMAZING opportunity. I am so excited, like I said before, I cannot sufficiently describe in words how very excited I am for this entire process. Lets do this!

September 11

It is officially my second day in Deutschland, and already I have unpacked, skyped with home, lost my handy, been embarrassed about my German, showered, and thrown up in my family’s trash bin. Yup, first thing I do when I get to the house, grab my bags and pray that I make it to the bathroom. Nope, I heaved into my hands before running to the nearest trash bin. GREAT first impression right? in retrospect it was a good ice breaker. They knew that I didn’t feel well so they weren’t offended when I didn’t clear my plate of the really delicious waffles and cherries that I would have devoured under normal circumstances.

Thorston, and the whole family really, are helping me a ton with learning German. Thorston is more explanatory about what’s going on. And Evelyn insists on speaking more in German to me. I’ve gotten to the point already where I can understand the basics of what is going on in a conversation based on mannerisms, tones, and the words I can pick out. Also when they are talking to me I can determine what they are saying mostly, but responding in German is still difficult. They also put up post-its around the kitchen and dining room with the German words of the objects they are stuck to written on them.

I got the first part of my Residence Visa done today in the most beautiful old building. It was kind of grey and rainy outside so everything looked so much greener. It was absolutely fabulous. I go to the Schiller Schule tomorrow to meet with Frau Vokoeper and Dr.Krude as well as the other exchange students.