Today was the first day that I met inbounds, and other outbounds in my district (6250). We went to the conference talent show rehearsal, and I met around 10 or so people... which is pretty cool because I've never met or seen barely ANY other exchangers. It was really cool to talk to the people from Germany, they spoke some French so ironically we held most of our conversations in French. (which was awesome) I also tried speaking to them in German, which was really fun, and I think I asked them about a thousand times how to say certain this "auf Deutsch."

Other than that, I met some really cool outbounds who are going to really cool places, and all have amazing stories. I feel as if we all can connect on a whole new level that most people, who arn't exchangers, can't. I think the coolest part is the ease it is to meet new people. Seriously, it was "awkward" for less than a minute, and we left the rehearsal, arms wrapped around eachother, singing loudly to a song that none of us had ever heard! This small experience has gotten me very excited for the conference on Friday... I don't know what to expect... but I'm sure it will be very amazing.

MALINA GOT THE BIG NEWS TODAY!!!
For all of you who don't know, I have a really good friend named Malina, and next year she's going abroad to SPAIN with Rotary. Just yesterday afternoon, she received an email from her host-sister in Spain, who explained how they got her papers the day before and were very excited to get to know her! Unfortunately, the excited host sister forgot to mention where she lived, which left Malina in HUGE anxious BUNDLE ALL OF TODAY (While she was waiting for her host sister to respond) Around 8 or so, I got the call from Malina, " I... Know... I KNOW... my... CITY! I was SO excited for her! She will be living in Denia, Alicante... Which is RIGHT on the Mediterranean coast south of Valencia. I'm so incredibly happy for her... seriously it is gorgeous, the PERFECT spot for an exchange! I thought I'd share the amazing news!

So as I said before, this weekend I attended 3 different speech competitions, one for forensics, one for Rotary, and one for the Optimist Oratorical club. In all, I performed in 7 different rounds, and talked for more than an hour! The first competition was the Forensics State competition and it went extremely well! My school, Memorial, won state by 47 points, and I ended up taking 2nd place in Special Occasion Speaking. (As you can see... I am SUPER tired)



The next Day I drove up to Wisconsin Rapids where I attended my very first Rotary-sponsored activity- The Rotary Speech competition on "making dreams real." Unfortunately, I must have mis-interpreted the speech I was supposed to write, because I didn't place. For some weird reason, I got the impression that the speech was supposed to be about making dreams real on a global scale, and in general. I wrote one paragraph about myself, but I didn't want to say that much about me because I was afraid I would be bragging. Boy was I wrong! The two guys that won were talented, none-the-less, but the majority of their speech was about themselves... hmmm, it was a good experience none-the-less.

Besides not doing well at the Rotary Speech, I met my very first inbound Rotary Student. He's this guy from Germany, and we got to talking, and I learned a lot about life there. He lives in 1810 (on boarder of France) and I'm just excited now about going. I also got my first two pins for my blazer! Oh, and speaking of foreign exchange, like EVERYONE is finding out where they're going in Germany! I'm getting a little nervous... I'm a little scared because once I find out, I'll KNOW where I'm going! And that will be like, the PLACE where I'm going. It's super nerve-racking. Oh, and by the way This month has gone by SO fast! The Rotary Conference is in 2 weeks, and I've been studying Germany for nearly 100 days.

Well, the last speech contest was the Optimist Oratorical Speech Contest, and I got back from it a few hours ago. I moved onto the final round, which is at a resort up north, but I don't think I can go because I'll be at the Rotary Conference, so I think I'll be throwing away my chances at a $1500 scholarship, for a day at the conference... bummmmer :(

Well, my next post will be when I have more Rotary News. I'm so busy right now its absolutely CRAZY! I have no idea when or what it will be about... It may be in 2 weeks when I have the conference, or it may be when I find out Host families... this month is a month of crazy information!

I feel very inclined to write right now because believe it or not, I have a lot of time on my hands (for once in my life)! This is the second to last day of Spring Break, and today is also Easter Sunday! FROHE OSTERN! (Happy Easter) Technically, I really don't HAVE to be writing right now because I don't have any new news. (woahh I just realized that I used TWO homonyms right next to each other TWICE in this post so far...write/right, and new/news English is weird) But because I'm not doing anything exciting for Spring Break, It has given me a lot of time to think! Which is good and bad at the same time. This is a good thing because I finally get a break from my endless schoolwork, but this is a bad thing because I am constantly thinking about studying abroad. The one upside to school is that my mind is so busy working, that I don't have the time to think about Germany!

Despite the anxiousness that I've been feeling basically every day of break, I've been in a pretty good mood all of break. German is coming along very well! I'm working with a speaking program called Pimsleur (I think I've already gone over this) and so far I've gone through 45 lessons, each lesson is 30 minutes, so that's about 22.5 hours of listening, repeating, and speaking German. I feel as though I have the basics down. I'm understanding word order a lot better, and it comes much more naturally. The only thing I have to work on is writing, I've been putting that portion off for quite some time, and need to practice spelling, and when to capitalize things.

To anyone who wants to be an outbound in the future, I believe the way that I have been learning is pretty easy! It's way simple to learn the basics of a language with the mindset of, "I need to learn this language." Another key is to stay motivated! So far I've been really struggling to stay motivated with learning German, but think about the year to come and how much it will help to know basic phrases. What I do is simply listen to conversations my family is having, or phrases that people will randomly say, then make a mental note of them, and look them up! Also, I think the best time to study how to speak is at night, in bed, with the lights off, and eyes closed! Now don't fall asleep, but just relax, and listen to your headphones (if you have a listening program like Pimsleur). By doing it this way, you'll find that the atmosphere is very peaceful, and absent of any distractions!

Obviously, you may have guessed that language is very important to me! I believe languages is the key to global interaction, and overall understanding/acceptance of others. I really can't wait until I experience of immersion! If you think about it, I've worked nearly 24 hours, one full day, to learning German. ONE DAY! I'm going to have TONS of days in GERMANY, in which I will be surrounded with the German language!!! So that means I'll learn so much, at such a faster pace! Wow, that concept excited me :) (seriously you have no idea)

Well, This post is entirely for the sake of writing about what has been on my mind lately. I know there's no new information, but this is a very important time in the process of exchange. This period that I'm experiencing right now is a major test of patience, as well as dedication to what is on my plate now! I need to stay dedicated to all the things I am involved with now (school, forensics, track). To tell you the truth, I feel kind of lame having this blog, and always talking about exchange. I mean, there's only a small handful of blogs out there that go back to the time I started mine. (one of them being Allison Cramer = the most helpful outbound ever who is living in Slovakia, and is just fantastic) I feel like nobody else is feeling the same emotions I am, or at least I'm not READING about anybody else out there who is experiencing this! It amazes me that there arn't more people writing out there! Writing to me is such a stress reliever! It allows me to organize my thoughts! Anyways, I know that there are people out there, I wish that I had a more fortified mindset that I'm not the only one! (Writing may just be the way in which I express my thoughts)

Well, I have an exciting weekend coming up! The state forensics tournament is next Saturday, in Ripon, WI! I'm so honored that I was chosen to go to state with the team! I will be performing my Special Occasion Speech (A roast on Oprah Winfrey) Hopefully, the team will get first like we did last year. The next day, I'm driving up to Wisconsin Rapids for the Rotary Speech, which by the way, I just wrote a few days ago and I LOVE! Its about making dreams real! It was so fun to write! After that I have an Oratorical Speech contest (the second round of three). It will be one crazy week. I'll keep you updated.

I got my rotary blazer today!!! For those who don't know, this blazer is the SYMBOL of rotary exchange student. You basically wear it to meetings, in the airport, and at Rotary-Sponsored activities. The best part is, you get to (have to) put on a bunch of pins and embroideries that represent you, and your experiences, and other people you meet. I've been dreading this forever... I've had this vision that it was going to take forever to find the right blazer and I'd have to go to a ton of places until I found the right one, and that it would be UGLY!!! but believe it or not I found one... in the FIRST place i went!!!

I was just out hanging out with one of my good friends, and were like, lets go to Savers (a second hand store). So we went and there were TONS of navy blue blazers there! Some of the blazers there were pretty nasty, but then I saw this one, sitting between an extra-large sailor coat, and a grey/brown tweed jacket from the 50's- I pulled it out, and it looked really nice. So I put it on... and SHAM-WOW it fit like a GLOVE! Yeah, so I'm pretty proud of us, we were there for like 10 minutes tops, and I normally hate shopping, but this was fun:) Do you know what the best part was? I looked at the Tag and it said $7.99. Then I found that inside there was a matching VEST! So i went to chash register and it turns out that they were having a SALE! Incredible right! I bought a perfect blazer, with a matching vest... for $4.22! NO JOKE! Isn't that CRAZY! I'm still in awe.

ITS SPRING BREAK!
MARCH SERIOUSLY FLEW BY!!!


Seriously, February DRAGGED by so slowly, then I remember March starting, and now look what month it is! March was a month when I had sooo much work to do. Mostly it was school work, but i had a ton of anxiety due to track starting and the forensics season still running (State is on April 18th). There was basically an endless amount of work to do! I would finish school, go to track practice, go home, eat, go back to school for a forensics coaching, go back home, do homework, go to bed.. HORRIBLE :/ On top of all that stuff, Rotary info is starting to stream in! I've been getting several letters and emails pertaining to the first orientation on May First. We have a bunch of applications to fill out, and money to send- thats basically it. Also, there are a few planned activities with the exchange students (inbound and outbound), but I can't go to either one because I'm busy with school/forensics stuff...bummer!


On monday I recieved a book in the mail from my outbound coordinator called The Exchange Student Survival Kit (Bettina Hansel), and it basically surveys the life of an exchange student. There was a letter with the book and my first rotary patch for my blazer(a boring Central States one). The letter was like, " you have to read this by May 1st, and do a presentation on the chapter we assign." I was assigned the chapter entitled, "settling in," and Im paired with one of my good friends, Malina, who is going to Spain. I've found this book to be pretty fun to read. It not long, and goes into pretty good detail about emotions, and questions raised about an exchange year, but to tell you the truth, its kind of just a fortification of what you already know. Its just cool to read because it gets you into that "Obsessive Exchanger" mindset, and you just sit and read, and imagine what life is going to be like next year, and then you read more, and then you go on the internet and try to see if there are any cool new facts or information that you must have skimmed over, so you end up staying online for the next like 2 hours just mindlessly looking up random stuff about your country! For me, I went to my host distrikt's homepage and looked up the list of clubs; there are 76! I then proceeded to look up the location and population and information about EVERY SINGLE ONE! ALL 76! ------I must be crazy, but hey, now I technically have "seen" my future living area.

So other than the book that my outbound coordinators are having me read, I have a few other Rotary things I need to get ready for. I have The talent show that is being held at the conference, and there's a rehearsal a week before, which is 2 1/2 hours away... whoopie. To top things off, I have to travel up to Wisconsin Rapids (2 1/2 hours away) the week before that, for a rotary speech compitition, and I also have to drive up there for the actual CONFERENCE so basically Im going to drive up to Wisc. Rapids 3 times in 3 weeks! crazyyy. The week after the conference I got invited to take part in Rotary Leaders Awards camp thing, which is about 5 hours north of my home, so the next few weeks will be FULL of travel for Rotary-Related things!

Well to sum things up, Im basically in the DEPTHS of stage #1- preparation for exchange. I know my country, I know my host district, and I know when I'm leaving (August 20-24). All I have left to find out is my sponser club, city, and family. Which I'm not SUPER eager to find out. I guess I wouldn't be too bummed if I didn't know my family till the weeks prior to my departure, but I am a little eager to find out my city. Even though I've looked up every single possible location (all 76), that really doesn't narrow it down very far. Haha- patience is SUCH a virtue!!! I'm staying a live right now by having my friend Malina to talk to at lunch every single day! She makes me feel sane because she's going through the same thing. Also, facebook groups are fantastic. So far about 20 people have joined this page for German outbounds for 09-10, and we talk about everything. So far, Im one of three who knows their district. One girl knows her host family and city. (Weird Canadian) haha just kidding. So yeah. Im hanging in there! March was a pretty exciting month, I wonder what April has in store for me!