Keith Roscoe -- France

September 11, 2012

Hello All,

      Update: I am alive! The voyage here wasn't horrible. it was long, but it could have been worse I suppose.  

I have already done so many things with my host family. In an attempt to list them: gone sailing, gone to the beach house, been ice skating, bike riding along a canal commissioned by Napoleon, bike tour of town, and toured the local castle.  With Rotary I have already been to a few events, the most notable being my orientation at Le Pouliguen.  Le Pouliguen is the largest beach in Europe, and it was awesome.  There I had my first crepe in France! And, it was with a frenchman might I add.  I was taken there by a local, haha.  

School, oh school.  French school is very, very different.  After, numerous visits to the administration I believe I have finally settled all my classes. I feel like this level of school here is just like the AP version of everything back home.  That being said I am in the AP Economics French Version. Unfortunately, I decided to not take AP Econ...Anyway, I will just have to read teh textbook once I get it.

My host family has been super awesome!  They are always really helpful and fun.  So, that makes life easier.

Photos: ( in no particular order)

-One is me on my first day when we went climbing on the rocks on the coast

-Eating my first crepe with Hudson(Brazil) and Kirby (Arkansas)

-Le Pouliguen, well a part of it

-The castle

-Closing scene of a sketch we did at our orientation.

District 7190 Host Club:  Cobleskill, NY

Chris Allison -- Venezuela

September 10, 2012

 

Host Family: Frediani;  Coro, Venezuela

Host Club: 4380

7190 Sponsoring Club:  Salem Rotary

I have only been here 3 days and as such have not participated in any Rotary or school functions.

I feel great.

 

I have only been here 3 days, but its awesome.  Venezuela is great.  Caracas is a jaw dropping city built into the side of the steepest mountain I have ever seen.  Chavez's face is posted everywhere and there are many political demonstrations for the upcoming election.

On the way back to my town (Coro) we drove through tropical jungles, around the edge of near vertical mountains, and past deserted tropical beaches with no one insight for miles.  In Coro I am 15 minutes from the ocean, 1 hour from the beach (which is apparently much better than the just the ocean), and 1 hour away from mountains covered in what I can only describe as dry jungle.  I am also only a few minutes away from the Coro Dune National Park, a desert with towering dunes that roles on for miles.

I speak better spanish than I thought I did and can carry on a pretty good conversation if the other person talks slowly.  At the end of the day its hard to think or write complex sentences in English.

I don't start school for another two weeks but apparently there are sports and other activities to do beforehand.  Hopefully I will find out more about them sometime this week.

Kirsten Lomnitzer -- Brazil

September 10, 2012

Name: Kirsten Beth Lomnitzer
Sponsoring Club: North Creek Rotary Club District 7190
Host Club: Sao Luis, Sao Fransisco Rotary Club District 4490

I have been having an amazing time here in Brazil. I love the culture and the food that is so different and yet the same to the United States. I have been doing better in school but I stil have a heard time on tests. However, I am learning and I can already understand so much more than when I first arrived. On Saturday, I had my first (unofficial) meeting with the other Rotary exchange students in Sāo Luís. I had a wonderful time. I'm looking forward to the day I will understand Portuguese just as easily as I understand English and while that day isn't here yet, I can feel it coming.

Obrigada! Thank you!

Kirsten Lomnitzer -- Brazil

Name: Kirsten Beth Lomnitzer

Sponsoring Club: North Creek Rotary Club District 7190

Host Club: Sao Luis, Sao Fransisco Rotary Club District 4490

I arrived in Brazil on the 31st of July and settled in accordingly. I have been having a very wonderful time. I started school on Monday and while I may not be able to understand everything that the professor says, I get by. My host family and I get along very well, even if one of the phrases I use the most frequently means 'I do not understand'. Last night I attended a Rotary Club meeting and was able to thank them for this opportunity. Thank you very much.

Obrigada.

Kirsten Beth Lomnitzer

PS Due to the fact that no Brazilian can pronounce my name, I am called Kiki.

Amy Hayes -- Brazil

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Everything here is going well. This past weekend, all the exchangers in my district (one of the largest, I think, 50-something of us) had a conference. We took a bus trip to some amazing places I would not have been able to visit otherwise. We went to an amusement part called "Beto Caharro" which was SO much fun. This was my first time meeting all the other exchange students, since I came late, and before this weekend past, I knew only three or four of them through facebook. We also went to a beach for two days, and Curitiba as well. We stayed in nice hotels and ate amazing food.

 

The district is full of great people,and I love them all. I was thinking on the trip how absolutely amazing it was that we had literally, the entire world, in a bus.

 

Brazil is so beautiful, especially when you travel it. School is great, and I always take tests with everyone and have my school supplies there. I was talking to other exchangers, and they told me at their schools, they don't do very much. Sometimes I get bored, but for most of the time, they keep me occupied.

 

I switched families in mid-March. They are COMPLETELY different, but nothing for the better or worse, every family is different. I think this family fits my personality more. I am a bit reserved sometimes, and so is my new mother. I have a little sister, and although I am not so great with kids, she is seven, but we get along. I have no internet in my apartment now, which is a change.

 

Emma Fullem -- Taiwan

April 4, 2010

Miao-li Mountain Club

In March, I attended one Rotary meeting. With the other exchange students in my district, I had a weekly tai-chi class to learn a routine that we will perform in mid-April in front of about 2,000 Rotarians. I’ve seen our costumes, and supposedly we get to keep them, which is really exciting. In the middle of March, I went on a bus trip with about 50 other exchange students to the east of Taiwan. Although the whole of Taiwan is smaller than NY, I’ve never been to the east coast before, so it was really interesting to see lots of famous places for the first time. My favorite place was Taroko National Park, which is a huge area filled with gorges, forests and waterfalls. I just wish we had more time there, since we only had an afternoon in the whole park!
In March, I was mildly sick for about a week, which gave me an insight into the Taiwanese medical system-totally different than the United States’! I think the most shocking part to me was how eager the Taiwanese are to take medicine to clear up your sickness-even a cold!
I’ve now been in my new family for about a month, and I’m really happy here. I have three siblings here and it’s really easy to connect with them so that’s helped me feel a lot more at home. I’m already worried about leaving them in June!

Ariel Dunster -- Brazil

April 11, 2010

Rotary District 4420, Santos- Boqueirão


This past month has been a lot of fun. I started surfing lessons. They´re every Saturday and Sunday from 8-10 in the morning. Surfing has become one of my favorite hobbies here. I´m part of a class of about 60 surfing students, and then we´re broken down into smaller groups based on our skill level. This week the waves have been pretty big actually. Some of the waves yesterday were 3 meters!

Last week I presented a powerpoint to my Rotary club about my life in the United States. I was happy because I actually didn´t have any trouble presenting in Portuguese. I wasn´t at all nervous either. I discussed numerous topics including Ballston Spa, Sacandaga Lake, Niagara Falls, and Dry Brook Sugar House (maple syrup).

About 3 weeks ago I was robbed while out with my friends one night. 2 Brazilians and I were robbed by an armed man. He seemed both drunk and high, so we gave him our stuff without much negotiation because we didn´t want to cause trouble. Amongst the things I lost, I lost my cell phone, camera, and R$50. Strangely enough we had more trouble 3 days later. A young girl called our house screaming that she had been kidnapped and that she was our maids daughter. The man who had "kidnapped" her stayed on the phone and demanded a lot of money from our family. He also had called my host fathers cell phone number and persuaded him that his oldest daughter had been kidnapped as well. We thought this was connected to my cell phone being stolen, but it wasn´t. The man had gotten all of our information about our family through previous conversations on the telephone. Fortunately everything turned out alright and no one had been kidnapped. Our family was shaken up quite a bit, so we created new household rules to ensure our safety.

Easter was last weekend. It´s actually a pretty casual holiday here. I woke up and went to surfing classes. Later, my host family and I went to my host grandmothers house for lunch. We had fish. But afterwards my family went to the mall to go Fall clothes shopping. Here the tradition is to give big chocolate eggs to everyone.

My day to day life has been pretty normal. The weather has gotten a lot colder. It dropped from 91° to 55° in the past few days. I learned that I have a 4th host family and I´ll be moving into their home in June. All I know about them is that they have 4 children.

Beijos!