New Adventures

Ciao! I've never blogged before and I don't know what I'm supposed to do. So instead, I'll start at the beginning.

Last September, I decided that I wanted to go on exchange. Didn't know where or with what program. So I went to the Edwards Rotary and said, "I want to go on exchange, can you help me?" They gave me a 13 paged packet for Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) that I had to fill out. It included a letter I had to write, introducing myself and why I wanted to go on exchange. (You learn a lot about yourself in those kind of letters.) Then I went to an interview. Plain, simple, 43 minute interview. By the end, I was feeling like the Edwards Rotary would sponsor me and let me go to the BIG 5470 district interview. The next week, I'm told, 'Sure we'll sponsor you. Now go make us proud at the interview weekend in December.'

The end of November rolls around and my family is helping prepare me for my interview. It was awesome to know that they were behind me and supported my choice, even though I didn't know if I was going to be selected to go or not. Then comes the big day, December 4th. My mom picked me up early from school and we drove down to Grand Junction. I enter the hotel where everyone is staying and I honestly wanted to run back out to the car. It was so overwhelming! But instead I went up to the check in and introduced myself like an adult. I wanted this and I had to act the part. That first night, all 32 candidates met and we learned what the weekend was going to be like. The next day, I had one interview while my mom had another. While I waited for my interview, I went around all these different stations where all the countries we could go to were around us. Mostly, I stuck around Germany, Italy and Austria. After a while I was called for my interview. Trust me, it was stressful. It wasn't easy like the one I had with the Edwards Rotary. 4 people interviewed me that day and they asked some difficult questions. (e.g: What was the most difficult thing you've gone through? What do you regret in life?) After a half hour, they let me go and the rest of the day consisted of fun games and situations. That night we were given a sheet of paper and asked put the top 4 countries you want to go to. My mom and I talked for about 3 hours and I called my dad and we talked for an hour. Before I went to bed that night I put down; Italy, Austria, Germany and Denmark. On Sunday, I had one more interview with 4 more Rotarians and then I left. I didn't know if I was going to be one of those lucky 28 students going on exchange or not. It was just kind of up in the air.

2 weeks later, I got home from work and among a letter from a friend, and a DU packet was my letter deciding my fate for the 2012/2013 school year. I was so scared to open it, I read my friend's letter first and I was about to open the DU packet when my dad told me to just put my fear aside and open the letter. The funny thing is, I didn't read through the whole letter. The only three words that jumped out were Congrats, Exchange and Italy! It took me about 20 minutes to calm down and read the whole letter. By then, I was crying a bit.

At the start of March, I went down to Colorado Springs for orientation. There I met the rest of the students going on exchange and we learned the ropes of being an exchange student. The weekend was filled with information, (It was like being in school!) and it was exciting. By the end of the weekend, I knew what was going to happen and I received my blazer for exchange. (Must be worn at all times in the airport and at Rotary meetings!)

In May, I learned about my first host family, the Braidas, and where I would be staying in Italy. Marco and Claudia will be my host parents and Nicola, is my host brother along with Carla, my host sister. I've only talked with Claudia but they seem really cool. The place in Italy, I'll be living in for 11 months is called San Floriano Del Collio. It's a small village (800 people!) out side of Gorizia which is on the Italy/Slovenia boarder. I started to dream about what exchange was going to be like and how I would survive but it's just been a blast so far!

Now I'm dealing with all my visa paperwork and next week, I'll be going to Chicago to another interview for my visa. It's been crazy trying to get all the paperwork right but after next week, I should know when I leave for Italy.

Ciao for now!