February 29, 2016
Wow!
It has been a fantastic month!! February marks my 7th month and I can't
believe how fast it's gone. I've reached a real comfortable stage in
my exchange. I have made great friends at school and continue to make
more every week. I am involved in many activities such as netball and
basketball as well as activities that I do not normally do in America
such as choir and drama. I continue to learn every day and I try hard to
keep to the Aussie expression to just "have a go".
One real exciting thing that just
happened today, in fact, was every five years my school Gippsland
Grammar takes a huge school photo with all the year levels from year 7
to year 12. This photo gets frames on hung on the walls of Gippsland
Grammar. I am so happy, very very happy, to have been able to come on
this fith year to be included in this school photo. I will be forever
apart of and forever remembered by this Aussie school.
Conference started on the Friday night and it was a great night. Saturday there were some really good speakers that I enjoyed listening to. Saturday night all the exchange students and I have such a blast at the dance that was held after din din. Sunday
morning the exchange students and I have a great presentation to the
Rotarians. We preformed a skit that we wrote ourselves and the Rotarians
found it real funny. I also have a little talk/ speech on the amazing
opportunity exchange is, how great it's been, and why every rotary club
should host an exchange student. It all went very well. I have become so
close with all wonderful 14 exchange students being hosted in this
district.
I
have learned so much about myself and I have learned so many good
skills for life. I feel I have developed some self confidence and have
also discovered that I am not an as organized person as I thought I was.
I love all that I have been able to discover about myself and the
qualities I think I have developed. I love all that I have learned about
life and all that the Rotarians continue to teach me.
I
have moved to my third host family. They are wonderful people! They own
a bookstore and love giving me good reading material. Unfortunately I
am not very keen on reading. Nevertheless I told them that I would try
my best to read as many books as I could for the time that I spend with
them. I look forward to all the exciting adventures we have planned
together. No little kids but they are sweet people.
School
is just mint! I love my schedule and enjoy all the classes I have
decided to take. They are all so interesting and I have fun going to
them. Again I have been so accepted by my Aussie mates but I now feel
completely apart of the group, my year level, and the school. People
tell me all the time that they can't believe that I have only been here
for 7 months because it feels like to them I have been here for forever.
They have also been recently commenting on my accent or lack of my
accent. My classmates reckon I am losing my American accent and am
sounding more and more like an Aussie. I don't know if I will fully
sound Aussie to my mates but I reckon to an average American I sound
pretty Aussie.
This
past week was our rotary district conference. It is tradition for all
the exchange students, along with some Rotarians, to ride 600k to
conference. I imagined us going from a point A to point B but instead we
drove to Wangarreta, the town the conference was held in, and every day
we would make a big loop and stay at the same caravan park every night.
Supposedly we were supposed to bike ride 100k everyday. And we did the
first day but then it got up to 40 degrees (110 degrees Fahrenheit). In
this hot weather it became a health and safety issue to ride in the heat
of the early arvo. Not only did we start our rides earlier in the
morning but we also cut our rides short. We still about an average of
70k a day. By the third day of riding your legs are so used to it that
you don't even care anymore you just pedal.
As I talked with one of the exchange
students over this week we reflected on our exchanges and how we feel
about them. As we talked about what we have loved and what we have
struggled with we realized that we struggle with the same things and
that we aren't alone in the way we feel. We realized that the 5 months
we have left are not a count down or the down hill to exchange. They are
5 new months to refocus ourselves on our goals, to see what we could've
done better in the last 7 months and now improve ourselves and make
those changes to be better. We have 5 months to make exchange even
better and seek even more opportunities and make our exchange a great
success.
Thank you so much!
Cheers,
Torri
Pic1 - All 15 of us exchange students in the green room before we went on stage to preform our presentation to the district.
Pic2- My ride to conference team in our bike riding gear :)
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