Ashley Clinton

2012-13 Outbound to Sweden

Hometown: North Bay Village, FL

School: Miami Arts Charter School

Sponsor: District 6990, FL

Host: District 2370, Sweden
The Rotary Club of Älvsjö

Ashley's Bio

Hello, my name is Ashley and I'm super thrilled to say that I'm going to be a Rotary Outbound exchange student to Sweden! Sweden was my last choice of country, so I was not exactly ecstatic; my sister got assigned to the same country when she was a Rotary Outbound exchange student in high school too. I am currently a junior at Miami Arts Charter School, so on my exchange I will be a senior. I am in the Music branch at school. I'm in the chorus and in jazz combo. I love to spend time at the beach; I play volleyball, and just finished an internship with Sony Music Entertainment. I live with my mother, father and little brother; have two older sisters who live in Boston and Connecticut. My sister was the person who got me interested in Rotary, showing me all her scrap books, and telling me all her adventures while in Sweden.

I am not scared about leaving my friends and family for a year, because I know that this adventure that I will take on will teach me so much about myself, and the struggles of truly being on my own. I believe that this will benefit me when I move away to college, already knowing how to take care of myself and manage my time and money. I know that I’m going to make international friendships that will last me a lifetime. So thank you Rotary so much for this opportunity to represent the United States over seas !

Ashley- Outbound to Sweden

Hej! jag hetter Ashley och jag har varit här i 2 månader. (Hey I'm Ashley and I've been here for 2 months). School started about a month ago and I have this nice little routine, gotten used to yogurt on cereal, the weird cheese slicer, and eco-friendly family....I’d say things are going well. Swedes in general are pretty shy and won't come up to talk to you. You have to go and make the conversation. Pretty much everyone I’ve met has asked me: “Do you like Obama or Romney?”, “Do you have a driver’s license?”, “Do you ”, “Is it really like Miami Vice?”, and “Can you have someone send us red cups?”. It's actually really funny hearing all their theories about the US and Miami. Swedish school is really stress-free compared to American schools. No bells, no hall passes, you just get up and go; it's great! You also have a different schedule every day. It's not block schedule or anything, there is no real structure period system or standard break length. It’s actually like college.

I could really get used to being able to get wherever I want by bus and/or train.

I am so happy that I get to live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Stockholm. Living here is like living a Miley Cyrus movie! (I'm serious). I live in Älvsjö the little suburbs but I'm 3 train stops from the city, it's AMAZING. I am so in love with the city that is Stockholm. On my 3 hour breaks I go into the city maybe do some shopping and eating. By the way did you know there are 4 H&M's on one block? It's insane! Anyway, my 18th birthday is tomorrow and I'm so excited. My host family has this whole week planned for me. I really am so thankful to have been placed with such a loving family. I have a host sister who's 17 and a little brother who is 15, and I get along with them so well! It's like I've lived with them for more than 2 months.
It's fall now and it's getting colder, I don't know how this Miami girl is going to handle the winter. We shall see!

Hej då!

There's no combination of words that can describe the past 6 months in Sweden, but I'll try.

I am so mind blown by the amount of knowledge you can instill in your brain in six months. Now, I'm not perfectly fluent in Swedish but I can understand about 89.9% of the conversations going on, and I feel like I can literally do anything. Being here for just six months has changed my whole perspective on life. I thought that I knew everything I wanted to do regarding college and things to do when I come home from exchange, but now I just feel like the complete opposite of everything I was for. You never really know yourself and what you want in life if you don't go out into the world and truly see if your opinions and plans can be altered or influenced, because mine sure are!

Being here for 6 months has changed my whole life, and it's halfway done. I have had the best host family that anyone could ever ask for. I truly believe I am part of the family and I know I will have this relationship with them for a lifetime. My friends here in Sweden have now opened up to not only me fellow Stockholm exchange students but my Swedish friends at school. They are about the best group of people I have ever met and they're so helpful with school and the language that I can count on them for anything.

Furthermore, I have come to consider Stockholm as my home city and I never want to leave. I thought I understood it, but I didn't I only understood the idea of it, how this one single year could change my whole life and it's something that I will hold with me forever and I can't thank Rotary enough for making this possible. I love everything about my host country and my city. You walk down the streets and you just feel like it' not real, like it' a movie. Being here IS surreal. I've come to love the city of Stockholm so much that I defend it against all the other cities with a rivalry against it. Stockholm is considered the Capital of Scandinavia and I couldn't agree more. When I think about going home I start to cry knowing I will not have all the things Sweden has to offer back home.
I think my turning point here was when our "oldies" from Australia left and we got a new batch of Aussie's and I've got especially close to one and I felt like I've lived in Stockholm all my life when I gave him a tour of the city, knowing it like the back of my hand.

So advice to the to-be exchange students, enjoy every minute of it, never take it for granted and never say no, say yes to everything. Try ANYTHING!