Really exciting news! (Anna Poirot)

Hei Rotarians!

So I have some pretty exciting news! I have received notice from my host family, and I will be living in Naersnes, Norway, for my year abroad! It is roughly 25 miles from Oslo, the capital, which is pretty exciting! I was about 90% sure I would end up somewhere in the Arctic Circle, so this will be a little warmer!

My first host family lives RIGHT by the water, and by water I mean ocean! I'm by the Oslo Fjord, too! Doesn't that just sound like the most scenic thing you have ever heard of? I'm really excited. The bus stop to take me to Oslo is 2 minutes away. Not only all of this, but my host family sounds AMAZING. They all sound unbelievably friendly, and they have three kids, one of which is a daughter age 16, so hopefully that will make assimilating into school smooth!

We also had our orientation for exchange two weeks or so ago. It was great to see all the outbounds and inbounds again! The closer I get, the more real this all seems, and the more excited I get! The one thing I definitely gathered from orientation is that we are only probably going to be allowed one suitcase, so I'll be packing maybe 3 weeks worth of stuff and heading to an entire new country! In all honesty, this makes it a lot easier to think about what to bring: ESSENTIALS. I'll get back to you on what those actually are, though :)

I have to thank hugely, among ALL the Rotarians, supporters, and friends I have gained and met in this experience so far, Berry and Cornelia, because they are amazingly helpful whenever I have questions, and just generally awesome people, so thanks you guys!

Well that's about all I have for you all for now, but please let me know if you have any questions! I'll hopefully be popping up in some more Rotary meetings soon!

Anne Poirot!

Budapest! (Kelly Ernst)

Hello Rotary! Its Kelly here, just giving a little update from the other side of the pond!

Switzerland is really great. Its beginning to look a lot like summer and I could not be happier! Even though the average weather is supposed to be rainy, snowy, and/or gross, global climate change has really been kind to me for my exchange year to Switzerland! 

Although, I am not really in a position to right about the Swiss weather at the moment because, in fact, I am not even in Switzerland at the moment. 

I have been spending my time recently in Budapest, Hungry!

Yup. 

Believe your eyes dear folk, You read it right. Budapest, Hungary. 

The easter break has come and, thanks to the fact that the majority of Europe was was under some type of Catholic regime, in some way shape or form, at one point or another,  there are two whole weeks of break for Easter. Taking advantage of that, I packed my bags and headed to Budapest. 

This situation came to be because, in fact, (long story short,) my first host family had a family friends daughter stay with us over the Christmas break. The girl is my age (Vikki her name is) and is really great! We got along really well, and now, I am at her house, bumming around Budapest! The picture on the right is her and  behind the Buda Castle.

The city is really very beautiful. Last night, I ate dinner at the Buda Castle, and we walked around the city. I saw the Citadella of Gellert Hill and the Hungarian parliament building. The night before, I spent the night at another hungarian friends house in a small village called Tordasch.  There we spent the night around the fire and dipping our feet in the pond. It was really very nice. 

The really cool thing about my trip is that now, after living in Switzerland for 8 months, I am able to see this new city and new country through completely different eyes. Not only do I have the United States to compare differences with but I have Switzerland too. The different ways of life, the people on the streets the government systems, how life is run;

I have another pair of eyes to experience the Hungarian lifestyle with.