Maddy, RYE-Florida Outbound Student

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Madeline (Maddy) Wolpow-Gindi

2010-11 Outbound to Spain

Hometown: Longwood, Florida

School: Lyman High School

Sponsor: Longwood Rotary Club, District 6980, Florida

Host: Barcelona Condal Rotary Club, District 2202, Spain

Bio

September 3 "The toilets have TWO flush buttons. I still haven't really figured out when I´m supposed to use one and when I´m supposed to use the other, so I just stick with one out of fear."

Maddy's Bio

Hola! Me llamo Maddy, y voy a Espana!

Hello, My name is Maddy Wolpow-Gindi, and I am going to Spain! I am currently 16 and attend Lyman High School in Longwood, Florida. Ten miles north of Orlando, Longwood is a suburban town in which I’ve lived my entire life. As much as I love my family and friends, my heart isn’t in Florida and I’ve always known I belong somewhere else. For this, I truly believe I am meant to be in Spain next year.

I love nature and all of the four seasons. The only problem is that living in Florida, I only get to experience two seasons: hot and hotter. I am really looking forward to watching the leaves change in autumn, the snow fall in winter, the flowers bloom in spring, and the sun shine in summer.

As for school, I enjoy the intellectual aspect, however, I want to be culturally stimulated as well. I am in my third year of studying Spanish at my school, and I love the language. I’ve always dreamed of being multilingual and this is where it starts.

I like to think that I have four families: the ones who share my DNA and crazy last names, the goofy girls that make up my volleyball team, the best friends who know me throughout, and the fellow members of my BBYO chapter. More specifically, my immediate family consists of two households (my parents are divorced). My father Jeff, his wife Allison, and her son Dylan make up one half. My mom Tina, and big sister Alex, make up the other. I love all of my families, and especially want this one to know how much I love and appreciate them, for I wouldn’t be writing this biography if not for them.

Ever since volleyball tryouts in the sixth grade, I have had a passion for playing. Whether it’s with my school, or my club, volleyball season is my absolute favorite part of the year. There’s just something about being on a team (or family) that makes me happy. I like being a part of something bigger than me, and working in conjunction with my best friends to reach success. I hope that my future high school will have a volleyball team and that I play on it. Honestly, playing volleyball in Spain might be one of the things I’m looking forward to the most.

I’m very involved in clubs at my school. I’m in Spanish club (and love it!), yearbook, Mu Alpha Theta (aka mathletes), Best Buddies, and the English Honor Society. My favorite club, or class really, is yearbook. It mixes the perfect amount of creativity, writing, and independence for my liking. Once again, being in yearbook is like being in a family, and working with them to reach a goal.

Now to explain my personality: Frankly, I’m a nerd. School is always my top priority, and sometimes I let it stress me out too much. My mom always likes to point out how much I persevere, even when I find it embarrassing. On a lighter note, I love playing and watching sports, I’m going to miss watching football on Sunday nights with my dad. I also really enjoy jokes, no matter how dumb, and making puns, no matter how silly. I love talking to my friends for hours, having picnics, stargazing, watching movies, seeing plays, days with low humidity, painting my nails, and eating frozen yogurt. Back to being a nerd, my favorite thing is probably learning new skills. I can sail, scuba dive, drive a manual car, change a flat tire, and I want to learn more. That includes: how to use a sewing machine, using Adobe photoshop, speaking Spanish fluently, and so many other things.

About my upcoming journey: I know it’s a cliché, but words can’t describe how excited I am to embark on this new chapter in my life. Sometimes I’ll close my eyes while I’m in class, and think about how this time next year, I’ll be in Spain, and butterflies fill my stomach as I start to smile. It still amazes me that this is happening; I hope by my first blog that it will have become real.

To my family and friends: I love you and will miss you dearly. To Liz Gatti, my guidance counselor: Thank you so much for introducing me to Rotary Youth Exchange, you are so wonderful. To the hard workers at RYE Florida: Thank you for providing me with this amazing opportunity, you are all so great, and I’m excited to share this with you.

August 3

So right now I´m writing this journal in my town´s library because I foolishly forgot to bring an outlet converter to use with my laptop. I´ve been in Spain now for four days and thankfully, this is the most of my troubles. I arrived safely in Barcelona, Spain after a nerveracking plane ride. I couldn´t really figure out what about it made me nervous (besides the fact that I was realizing what exactly I was about to do), but for the whole time leading up to my landing in Barcelona, I just didn´t feel myself. As my Outbound Student Handbook will tell me, this was my first incline on the roller coaster that is the emotions of an exchange student. Fortunately, my coaster began to decline as soon as my plane prepared to land in Barcelona and I looked out my window to see the thriving city stuck in between the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees Mountains. The sight of the two extremes are so contrasting that it was astonishing. I was utterly convinced that this was the most beautiful place I had ever seen.

After thankfully retrieving my bags from baggage claim without a problem, I was met by a smiling host mom, dad, and little brother. We then drove about twenty-five minutes to our secluded town-and my new home--Sant Feliu de Codines. This town is like nothing I´ve ever seen. It literally sits on the side of a mountain and not a single road is horizontal, everything is at an incline. Something quite opposite from the flatness of central Florida, where there is maybe...I don´t know, one hill? My favorite part is that when you go to the edge of the town (or drive anywhere, for that matter) you can see all the mountains surrounding you, and the valleys in between. One thing in particular I noticed about my town is that they sure know how to save space. The roads are barely wide enough for a single car, not that that stops people from driving recklessly, and the sidewalks shouldn't even be called sidewalks, because you can´t walk on them comfortably. Most are about 10 inches wide and you constantly have to look around to make sure you don´t get hit by one of those reckless drivers coming around the ever winding roads. And on occasion when the sidewalks are wider, you still have no room to walk because cars are parked all along it. Sant Feliu can only perfectly be described as quaint. Every road leads to home. If it doesn´t, you´ll know it because there´s only empty land outside of the city (and your ears will start to pop because of the altitude). It almost looks like a diagram from my Spanish textbook during the chapter on people and places. There´s a plaza in the center of the town, and around it are several shops, each with its own specialty. La farmacia, la biblioteca, el carnisseria, etc etc. The only thing that I don´t like about Sant Feliu is that every now and then, a large truck carrying about 30-40 dirty, smelly, pigs will drive by and leave you traumatized not only by the helpless oinks you hear, but by the horrid stench which lingers in the air for about five dreadful minutes. This is especially nice during mealtimes.

My house isn´t much smaller than my home in Florida. However, there is only one full bathroom that everyone shares. This is quite different than what I´m used to, and another one of those ¨conserve space and energy¨ things that this place is so fond of. On the contrary, I am very proud of myself for cutting my twenty minute showers that my parents love so much down to about five. Being a girl, this was very difficult. My room also never looks like a tornado came through it (as my parents like to describe my room in Florida) I keep it nice and neat, make my bed every morning, and put my clothes back where they belong. My parents are probably dying of shock right now.

As for my family, they are really sweet people and have welcomed me with open arms. I mostly just hang out with my little host brother, Nestor. I´ve come to the conclusion that little boys are the same everywhere. We play video games, watch dubbed over Spongebob, and play fuzbol (or futbolinn). I even showed him some of the best games from my childhood that he´s now hooked on. I also taught him how to play Ninja and Bubble Trouble haha(or should I say ¨jaja¨). He always makes me laugh, whether its from a meow, or a random noise, or showing me his gross scratch n´ sniff trading cards...this is how I know we are going to be great friends.

In my six days in Spain, I have noticed many small, yet distinct differences. For instance, the bathroom has become a very confusing place for me. The toilets have TWO flush buttons. This was an interesting and scary experience the first time around. I still haven´t really figured out when I´m supposed to use one and when I´m supposed to use the other, so I just stick with one out of fear. Also, I don´t think Spain got the memo that MC Hammer pants are no longer fashionable. Although, I will admit that I´ve seen many people make them work. Table manners were also an interesting learning experience. Apparently it´s in bad manners to keep one hand in your lap while eating. My host dad always has to say to me ¨las manos!¨ so I remember to barbarically keep my hands on the table, hovering over my food. I certainly don´t want to be rude though and will make this a habit. Mealtimes are very important around here; in fact, I´ve come to realize that when the entire city closes down for the siesta, it´s not necessarily to sleep like I thought, but so that they can give their undivided attention to lunch, figures.

Today the other Rotary exchange student in my town and I went to our school to speak with a guidance counselor. Turns out that she is making us both specialized schedules to make our time here easy and enjoyable. You see, usually students have to choose between a math and science schedule, a history and literature schedule, or a mix of both, with few choices or electives. But for us, we hand picked the classes we wanted to take and we even have a special class with just the two of us and a Spanish tutor. This, I am most excited about. For a while there, I was afraid that since my entire peer group and school spoke Catalan, that I wouldn´t be able to become fluent in Spanish. Fortunately, this won´t be the case.

Anyway, I´ve written enough for now, no need to go off on more tangents. I always seem to write a book whenever someone asks me to write a page. I´m sure my next journal will be filled with more confusions and realizations. I have to say that my exchange is off to a great start. :)

Outbound
2010-2011

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