Celia Suman

2011-12 Outbound to France

Hometown: Miami Shores, Florida

School: New World School of the Arts

Sponsor: Miami Shores Rotary Club, District 6990, Florida

Host: Rotary Club of Lille Nord, District 1520, France    

Celia's Bio

I live in a town called Miami Shores (which is located in North Miami) with my mom, dad, my younger sister and brother, and my dog Max. I attend New World School of the Arts; a very challenging conservatory-like arts school where I study the art of dance. I take dance classes at school every day for almost 3 hours, and I like to take dance classes after school sometimes which are more fun than the ones required at school; like hip hop or jazz funk. Other than dance, I enjoy participating in all the arts; I love taking art classes, playing guitar, singing, and acting.

I found out about the RYE from my counselor who went through the program at my age and has a son who did too. I was visiting her office one day to talk about colleges and I was telling her that I really want to experience something different and amazing after my senior year, something that would completely take me out of my element. She described the RYE program to me, and I knew that was exactly what I was craving. I never thought that my dream of living in France would become reality!

I can’t thank the RYE enough for this incredible opportunity; I know that this will be an extraordinary experience that I will remember forever.
 

Thursday, November 17, 2011

It's been 3 months!
I am having such a great time here, such a great life, and the amount of new things I learn about French, about France, and about myself every day is unbelievable! I walk around and sometimes just stop to think about how rich and beautiful the French culture is. The French way of life is the life for me!

I am living in my second host family, and what a change. I am not far at all from my first family; in fact all of my families this year will be in the same neighborhood, so sometimes I run into my first host dad on the street. My French is improving more and more, and I actually prefer speaking it to English! Writing this right now comes with a bit of struggle, because I rarely speak English anymore (unless I’m tutoring).
I am enjoying school and I have really dived into my art classes at school, I have a lot of them during the week and they have become almost like a meditation time for me. My teacher lets us listen to our iPods while we work, so I can really relax and my work is really improving! Every week I teach an English class, a yoga class, and a dance class at the school for the younger kids (le college), and it is really such a joy. They are around 5 years old, and even though communicating to them isn't always easy, they remain patient with me. I also teach English once a week for an hour to a girl who lives in my neighborhood (but our lesson always takes place while we are walking around shops in Lille), and I teach English to my host brother for an hour every week also (which includes me helping him understand his book "Diary of a Wimpy Kid").
My Rotary District is super fantastic; I've visited the most beautiful places and seen the most beautiful things thanks to them! I have also made friends from all over the world, exchange students, and we all tell each other, "If you ever find yourself in my country, you can totally stay at my house!" I've made some great French friends too, and just hanging out with them is such good practice for my French.

I take dance classes at a studio twice a week, and I absolutely adore them. I go to the studio called Crasto, which everyone says is "the best" in Lille, and I take the Master Class. I ride my bike there on Tuesdays, my host mom drives me there on Thursdays, and the director of the studio drives me home both days.
I ride my bike to school every day, which is becoming more and more uncomfortable because it's freezing outside! I am from Miami, so I am not used to the cold at all. On top of that it is super grey and foggy outside most of the time; I've really learned not to take the sun for granted. I have learned how much my mood depends on the weather: the very, very, very few times the sun is out, I am jumping off the walls with so much energy and I am full of bliss!

I go jogging with my host mom very often, we jog in the park which is very near and her friends usually come along too, and we always take the dog. I jog by myself a lot too (but still with the dog), which is very different because I go with my iPod and just admire the beauty around me without any distractions, it’s simply gorgeous. The leaves right now are all orange and red and falling to the ground---a major event for someone who is from a place that doesn’t have seasons!

The whole town is preparing for Christmas, and I couldn’t be more excited. The streets are all decorated, and a giant Ferris wheel is being built in the center of town. This weekend my Rotary District is hosting a huge feast (they invited 200 people!) and all of the students are preparing meals from their home countries. I'm teaming up with my American friend to make Chili, cornbread, and S'more's! Hope they like it. Life really is wonderful right now, and it is full of moments that I know I’ll probably never get the chance to experience again in my life. Rotary, thank you so much for this opportunity, I couldn’t be happier!

Teaching dance to the little ones- trop mignonne!	Me, my host sister, and friends in Angers, France!	Often when all the students are together, each country is asked to stand and sing their anthem. I love this time so much, I'm very proud to be American	Just one, ONE of the beautiful cathedrals in France, they are really everywhere, and all so breathtaking.
From all over the world, and united in the fantastic country of France!	Iconic

April 4, 2012

I have about 3 months left of exchange! Wow, what a journey this has been. One thing I will say right off the bat is that I never expected this exchange to be as much of a challenge as it is, especially emotionally. I know I have a new maturity now that I never could have obtained if I hadn’t done this exchange. Being immersed in an environment that requires you to be so independent makes you come to learn about yourself on such a deeper level-because the only person you brought back home that you can always feel comfortable with and always rely on is yourself.

At the moment, I teach two girls English every week, I teach yoga once a week to the little ones in elementary school, and I babysit from time to time. Being in France has actually inspired me religiously, and I have decided to get confirmed in the Catholic church while I’m here. This means going to special church services every Thursday night, discussing and praying with the counselor in my school, and meeting up with the group full of people once a week who are also interested in doing their confirmation.

I am coming to the end of my second month living with my 3rd host family, and I could not be more in love with them. With me, we are a total of 7 people! I have a brother and sister whose ages are very close to mine, and a younger brother and sister who are in elementary school. Altogether we are a very noisy, crazy, bunch but they are so wonderful and loving and I feel so comfortable with them. The house is a huge loft with 4 floors and an elevator! It’s beautiful and spacious and I am right in the center of downtown Lille.

The most bizarre coincidental thing about this family is that they will be moving to live in Miami! My hometown! It was a decision they made before agreeing to welcome an exchange student into their home, and what a surprise when we all came to find out! They’ve even met my American family on a trip to Miami they made recently; I provided them my contact information and they stopped by my house. This family loves to try to incorporate American traditions in their lives, and all over the house you see banners for the Miami Marlins baseball team, for the Florida gators, and lots of other Florida décor (including preserved dead crocodiles from the Everglades and starfish from Key West.) The neighborhood they want to live in in Miami is not far from the one I live in, so I really hope to stay close with them after this exchange and get to show them around after they’ve made the big move.

My French has improved a lot, and sometimes it takes effort to speak and write in English. I can understand movies, songs… it’s amazing because I had always dreamed of being able to say that. I love French and learning it got so much easier a long time ago after I realized a few simple things- there are some things that just don’t translate (it used to bother me because I would always want the equivalent meaning in English, and you just have to let it go), directly translating anything almost never works, and you have to not care about how silly you sound, you just have to speak and speak as much as you can. My Rotary district interviews us from time to time, to check on us and how we are progressing in our French, and I received a 9 out of 10!

I have had some amazing adventures; traveling and going to parties, and making new friends- it’s been wonderful. Last week I went on a big trip with Rotary, and I had seriously the best time ever. It was a gigantic rendezvous with all the Rotary exchange students in France- I saw my friends from Florida who I haven’t seen since I came to France! We danced, sang, stayed up too late, laughed, and finally cried when it was all over. I got to visit Switzerland, Luxembourg, Annesy, Alsace, and I saw the Alpes, it was all so gorgeous. We were such a huge number of students that we ended up making it into the newspaper, all 400+ of us!

I do not like writing these journals AT ALL because I know there’s so much I’m leaving out and that I could never express how incredible and life-changing this experience is. But I am so happy to be doing what I’m doing and I can’t believe how quickly the end is approaching. On the 20th of April until the 1st of May I will be on a huge bus trip tour of Europe and I CAN NOT WAIT! I'll visit Prague, Vienna, Milan, Venice, Monaco, just to name a few!!!!!! Also, I am changing my host families really soon and it is so sad, this family is so incredible, but I’m sure with my next family comes new experiences and French culture to discover, so until then, PEACE!