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.