Hadley Peterson

2012-13 Outbound to Argentina

Hometown: Jacksonville, FL

School: Stanton College Prep

Sponsor: District 6970, FL

Host: District 4845, Argentina

Hadley's Bio

¡Hola! Mi nombre es Hadley Peterson. That is how you introduce yourself in…ARGENTINA. Yes, I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to Argentina on exchange during the 2012-2013 year. I am a senior at school at Stanton College Prep in Jacksonville, Florida. The fact that I am going on exchange instead of to college next year always gets me weird looks and tons of questions. However, I am so thankful for this experience and so excited.

As I said I live in Jacksonville, Florida; but I wasn’t born here and didn’t grow up here. I moved around a bunch as a kid, being born in Arizona; then moving to Germany, New Mexico, and India. I think the fact my family and I moved, and travelled, has made me want to explore other cultures and see new things- that is one of the reasons I am so excited to be an exchange student. However, besides the time I went on a short term exchange to Germany through Rotary this will be my first time ever really travelling alone without my family. Here in Jacksonville; I live with them (my family), that means my dad, my mom, and my two younger sisters, Breck and Casey. We also have two Golden Retrievers, Winnie and Trixie, and two cats, Ramona and Finnegan. I love living with so much going on. I am thrilled to be going to Argentina, which I have heard and read is a very bustling and family-oriented country.

Besides being close to my family; I have a job at a local amusement park, and I spend a lot of time involved with school. I am on my Student Government, I play lacrosse, am the vice-president in my Interact Club, and I am involved in my schools’ theater program. I am very excited to go to Argentina, and see how the school, and everything else, there is different than here. Luckily, I have taken four years of Spanish in high-school due to being in the International Baccalaureate program but I know this still will not be enough for the fast talking culture in Argentina, so I am studying even more! In school here, I like history and science (weird right, they are kind of opposites?) but I just like learning new things. I am nervous, and excited, about having to go to school in SPANISH and in ARGENTINA!

The more I think about it, the more excited I get. There is so much I want to see and do in Argentina. Next year at this time, it will have been nearly half-way through my exchange. That already makes me sad to think about. I wanted to do this exchange to learn another culture, another language, and help share a little bit of the United States. I am so proud and blessed to have been chosen as an exchange student for the 2012-2013 year. I am so grateful to Rotary, both here and all over the world, just for making this possible.

Hadley- Outbound to Argentina