Mallory Richey - Hey There!

Hi everyone,
 First of all,  if you happen to be a Rotarian reading this post, thank you so much for this amazing experience, I cannot express my appreciation enough! I am the third student to be traveling abroad this year with the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. I am 18 years old and this will be a gap year for me as I graduated high school this spring. Like Hope, I will be living in France but in a northern city called Bruay la Buissière. It is a little more than an hour north of Paris and is located in the Pas De Calais region. I have been doing some research and the town looks fabulous with a population of about 25,000! I have talked to all three of my host families and have skyped the first a few times, and already can tell that we are going to get along just fine. My french was a little rusty at first but talking to them beforehand has helped a lot. I am looking forward to finally meeting them in person! The current students have also been great with helping me out too, so thanks guys!
Through this exchange I hope to enhance my sense of the French culture by improving in the language and taking the time to immerse myself completely (and maybe do a little eating along the way). I feel that through this I will not only find a degree of self discovery but also improve my perception of the world outside of the United States. In the grand scheme of things, I think that everyone should take advantage of opportunities such as these to improve a sense of communication and understanding with the other cultures of the world. Having said that, I hope that through this program I can do my part to contribute to this idea. As they say travel is the only thing you can buy that will make you richer.
I will face challenges, but also I think a lot of joy...and through this blog I hope to share with you all a little piece of my experience.
Bisous et à bientôt
Mallory
PS I leave the 27th so plan to get my arrival post soon:)

Kestral Johnston - Arriving in Atibaia, Sao Paulo

 A Igreja Matriz de Atibaia in the town square of Atibaia.

My arrival in Atibaia was extremley exciting and very tiring. After about a 4 hour plane ride from Denver to New York, I had a 9 hour plan ride from New York and an hour and a half delay. I was definitely ready to sleep, but it was only about noon here on Thursday. The first thing I noticed here was how all the people are so friendly. Everyone greets everyone with a hug and a kiss on your right cheek. They also have told me that "minha casa é sua casa" which loosely translated is "my house is your house". The weather is super nice here, about 23.5 C during the day, which is about 74 F. It isn't too hot, or too cold, and the best part is that this is winter here! Of course the biggest difference here is the language. At the beginning I was only understanding like a couple of words, one of which was my name, but now I'm starting to get what everyone is saying. The hardest part is being able to answer people. Spanish is only slightly helpful. My host sister speak a little English which helps, and I have a private tutor which I will start on Monday. I also start school on segunda-feira, Monday. I'll probably start playing soccer, futebol, here with my school too. My first Rotary meeting is on Wednesday night, and that should be fun.

My host sister Lívia and I in a town square in Atibaia.

The first thing I ate here was Brigadeiro, which is a sweet dessert type thing that is slightly like pudding.

That's all for now. Beijos!
Kestral

Kestral Johnston - Hello!

Hi everyone, my name is Kestral Johnston, and I am currently a rising junior at Steamboat Springs High School. This fall I leave for Atibaia, Sao Paulo, Brazil for almost a year!  Atibaia is a city of about 120,000 people and located about one hour north of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo and an hour east of Campinas. So far, I have begun to learn Portuguese, which is thankfully similar to Spanish. I’m hoping this will help me through Portuguese. I have also gotten my first host family and my school, and I am currently emailing my host mom to learn more about what my life is going to be like.

I’m very excited to be spending my next year in Brazil because of the amazing culture I have encountered through the current Brazilian exchange students here in Rotary District 5440. They have been so helpful with any questions I have, and overall, they are some of the warmest most welcoming people I have met. When I decided to go to Brazil after my first country didn’t work out, all of the Brazilian exchange students immediately swarmed me and began talking about Brazil all at once. It was great to see their interest in my exchange, as well as the pride of their own country.

My overall impression of the orientation weekend was that it was a very helpful and insightful experience. All of the Youth Exchange Committee members were very upfront with any concerns we had and didn’t sugar-coat anything, especially the homesickness all the Outbound students (kids leaving the country) will feel. I learned how homesickness is a step in the cultural emersion process, and how most kids who have really bad homesickness in the beginning are the ones who thrive the most in the end. Personally, it made my exchange all that more real, and all that more exciting. We also learned about the 6B’s of an exchange, which are Be First, Be Curious, Be on Purpose, Be Grateful, Be of Service, and Be Here Now. It made me realize how I have to be proactive in my exchange, and in general, anything I want to do in life. As a group of 19 students leaving for countries all around the world, we all had common concerns, fears, anxiety, and excitement. It was great to find a community and a support group through the orientation weekend as well.

I hope that my exchange year brings me a new perspective on the world and connections that will last a lifetime. The people, both Inbound students and Outbound students, I have met so far on this journey have been amazing, and I can’t wait to make more connections with people in Brazil. I also hope to become at least conversational in Portuguese and closer to fluent than I am in any language.

My exchange year, I know, will not be the easiest thing in my life. It may even be the hardest thing I ever do. In the end though, I will know that I can get through anything life throws at me. I’ve begun my first steps on my journey to see the world, and now I’m so excited to take off running!

Anna Poirot - Påskeferie!

This month's entry is about Easter break or Påskeferie where I went to a cabin for nine days with my host family and lived without power (we just had a little solar power and a gas line), and without running water. Outhouses and crazy Norwegian mountainside in consideration--it was a very fun trip. We went hiking every day, ate lots of delicious food, found out chocolate sauce goes good on everything, played board games, and went to church on the night of the last supper. We had some exciting times "in town" in the small town of Veggli with mini golf when we needed to grocery shop, and drove through a place called "Lampeland" which translates to Lamp land. There were a lot of red lamps there. I also drank from the stream on the mountainside because the water there is so pure it is fine to just drink right from there--that was pretty cool! I went running and bathed like a viking in the river, and had pretty much an amazing time! In Norwegian Easter, you get a big egg that holds all your candy and you are supposed to eat it throughout Easter, which is like a week long for Norwegians, so that was pretty different! Not to mention that my host family is quite religious, so I really learned quite a lot that i didn't know before about the Easter holidays. I also got a lot of homework, knitting, and reading done, so that was good! Coming up, we have our Europe trip in a week, and then my family is coming to visit for almost three weeks, then it is summer, and then I am home July 13th, so time is just flying by!! We also have the 17th of May to look forward to, and unfortunately quite a lot of news about Anders Breidvik, the guy who was responsible for the Utøya tradgedy last summer. He is now in the process of going through Norwegian trial, so I am learned quite a lot about the justice system as well. Follow with the news going on in Norway--it is important stuff, seriously! Anyway, I hope everything is great in Steamboat and that the Rotary exchange student there is having as amazing time as I am!!!

Anna Poirot - Oops! Time

Alright so I missed February, and now I know why! Everyone always says that the second half of the exchange goes by SO much faster, and maybe that is because Rotary has planned like 10x
more activities for us for the second half, but I think it also h
as to do with the fact that I officially LOVE it here and don't want to leave!! And therefore time has decided to play its evil trick and make time fly. Here is a list of a few of the things I have
been up to since my last post:

• Ski trips with friends!
• Winter ski camp with the exchange students!
• Winter Break trip to Sweden!
• Hollmenkollen sightseeing!
• Sightseeing with friends!
• Seeing the Sun! (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!)

To shorten what could be a very loooooong and tedious description of each of these activities, I

am going to make it fun and try to put up a very descriptive picture of each.

Ski trip with friends:

Winter camp with the exchange students:

Winter break trip to Sweden:

Hollmenkollen sightseeing:

Did a mention a Steamboatian won the Nordic Combined competition that day?? Couldn't be more proud :)

Sightseeing with friends:

Seeing the sun:

Lysere og lysere hver dag!

Here's a picture from Bergen at Christmastime. I am pretty sure it was the middle of the day, early afternoon--check out that darkness! Plus, check out the Smartwool socks I found in the window! Steamboat is international :)

Every week since December 21st the sky has gotten markedly lighter every day! This is great because although the darkness was durable, it sure is nice to remember what the sun looks like! Christmas in Bergen was fantastic--my host family and all of their extended family is just wonderful. I really love it! We had a wonderful day (Christmas Eve is when they celebrate here) of singing in the Church, afternoon grøt (something like grits and porrige?), and an evening meal of pinnekjøtt which is rib of lamb! It was pretty incredible--now I understand why family and good food are so important at Christmastime in Norway! It is so dark out, I think everyone is always excited for Christmas because it brings a little bit of light in even the darkest of dark days. I didn't even get the worst of the dark, either. Up in North Norway they get next to none, so I actually felt pretty lucky in that respect.

Plus, now we have SNOW! I have gone skiing twice already--once in Kongsberg (it was really pretty epic with the landscape and how truly cross-country it was) and it is so much fun :) Even if I do tend to fall quite a lot--I know I should be a pretty decent skier since I come from Steamboat but in all honesty I have always snowboarded, and had almost no recollection about how to ski! But I still love it though! New Years was pretty fun, too. My host family had a party at their house with tons of delicious desserts, and it was pretty fantastic. We only had about nine days off of school, but it felt like quite a long time because now I've only got about five or six weeks until our winter ski camp with Rotary, seven weeks until our winter break, and we take our Eurotour in April! I've been so busy with friends and family that I don't know how I am going to manage to come back to the U.S. Especially with all of the things I need to experience before I get back! I am so worried the second half of my exchange is going to fly by before I even get a chance to catch my breath!

I feel as if every step I take towards becoming fluent in Norwegian, the more homework and schoolwork I have because I understand it all now, which is good and bad. This is sort of bad because I no longer have the "I don't understand" excuse--not that my teachers ever REALLY let me use that one. This is great!! as well because it is wonderful being able to speak another language and understand what everyone around you is saying when you thought it sounded like gibberish just five months ago. I have also learned how much language says about the culture. In Norwegian, there are so many words that mean "nice," or just have euphonic sounds to them, and it really says a lot about the positivity of the Norwegian culture. Another wonderful thing about the New Year is that I can officially say I can joke in Norwegian. There are definitely still some jokes i just haven't gotten yet, but I'm to the point where I can thoroughly enjoy the language for all that it is. Plus, translations are just hilarious sometimes! Trust me!

Anyway, as I begin my second half of my exchange, I just want to state a few things:

• I really apologize if my English grammar and spelling goes completely down the tubes--except for skyping my family I speak Norwegian to everyone and have for the past three and a half months or so, but it is REALLY beginning to take it's toll on my English!
• I plan to do everything positive and possible to make the second half of my exchange full of experiences, travel, and just to take every opportunity I am giving as a challenge and succeed!
• I promise I still love Steamboat, and I won't walk around moping when I get home, but I think I will have quite a bit of hjemlengsel for Norway!!

I hope everyone in Steamboat had a great New Years, and everything in general is just going well! Wish me luck, I am presenting to my fantastic Rotary club this Monday about me, my life in Steamboat, and OUR Rotary club!

Nisser!

So just checking in from Norway! It is now Christmas time or 'Jul' which is a really big time in Norway. Every night at 6 pm everyone gets together and watches 'Blåfjell' or Blue Mountain, which is a children's TV series which involves 'Nisser' or Gnomes who live in the Blue Mountains and come out every day and mess with the locals and hang out with each other--it is pretty awesome.

We met in Oslo with all the other exchange students the other weekend and had a blast, we went to the statue park (Vigelandsparken) which was awesome, ate some rockin' sushi, went to the Opera House, the Rådhus which is sort of like the town hall, and just had a great time around the city! This trip wasn't organized through Rotary, we all just decided to meet, but it is amazing how that first Rotary Language Camp really bonded us all together :)

On another note, Thanksgiving was, as you all know, about two weeks ago, and MacKenzie (other exchange student from Washington State) and I made Thanksgiving Dinner with my host family, and served it to 25 Rotarians and host family members! It was seriously a massive meal--never made Thanksgiving Dinner before in my life but I am officially a pro--the things one learns on exchange!

Anyway, happy holidays and I hope all is well with Steamboat Rotary!! I will hopefully have some photos and stuff about Røyken Rotary for a bit of Norwegian Rotary Experience for you guys! Hade!