It has been a little over a week since the first outbound orientation and all I can say is WOW! I mean it is absolutly insane how there are 76 other teenager just like me! So I am basically going to start from the VERY begining and see where that goes.
So the car ride up there was long and boring, and yes we did get some what lost but, we eventually found our way. So we get there and the first person I see is Steven. I then walk in and see all these bright faces and they shout "Hey, come sign in here." I find my name, sign, get my books & such. Then I head back to my bunk. All I can say is wow! Im not sure how old those bed's were but, I sure am glad I was the first one to arrive, so I snatched the single bed! Then I went back up to the check in and met my three new best friends, Nikki, Mariah, and Morgan. We talked and talked and talked about just random things. Then was dinner, man the food was blah! Me and Mariah tried to Asian Spinach Salad?!?! It was decent. So after that we all met up in a huge room and talked and talked and talked. Then we had some free time to do basically whatever we wanted to. That is where I met SOOO many people. I'm not really sure how to describe the fun I had. I mean how could you not have fun swinging, see sawing, and spinning on a huge twirly thing with about 12 of the greatest people on the planet. So then it was almost cerfew(12 am) so we all headed back to our horrid bunks. Of course my group was sooo dumb and we left the air conditioner on in JANUARY! So the first night of sleep was non exstint. The next morning we all got ready and headed to breakfast, no need to describe that. Then was the whole day of language sessions and RULES RULES RULES! That took up most of the day. I might add that my French is HORRIBLE and when I say HORRIBLE i mean it. I kind of embarressed myself on those 10 phrases, oops. But, after that we had a huge rotex session which was great. You know I always love stories about drunk exchange students, almost getting killed in a bus bomb, you know all that fun stuff. But, after that we had a bond fire and such. The next morning our parents came. I saw mommy yay! Then we listened to a bunch of travel stuff and all that fun stuff. But, it was the power point Al showed us that made everything actually come together. The qoutes he took out of the journals REALLY touched me. When he he showed the clip of Mike Williams blogs that qouted "I get it...I understand what this program is all about...understanding...An exchange never ends, it continues forever because the only thing guaranteed in life is change.... the only thing to satisfy change is understanding, and the only way to truly achieve understanding is adaptation. Rotary gives you an opportunity to WITNESS change in understanding through adaptation, first hand. And that is truly a miracle, that is how and why world peace can be achieved...It begins with an outgoing person, a shy person, a misunderstood person, to link the world together.. We are all soo different but yet soo alike, that it is actually possible to change the world, one person at a time, one year at a time.. So...who's turn is it next?? Don't let change happen without you...Keep that as a promise to yourself, and you will have the time of your life..."
and when all 76 of our pictures apared on that screen all that was there were tears. Tears I really can't even explain. More and more everyday I realize Wow, this is actually happening, I Sarah May am actually part of this absoulty WONDERFUL program of Rotary Youth Exchange. I can't thank Al enough, or Jody, or Daphne, actually EVERYONE involved in this program. That weekend showed me so much and opened so many doors. 8 months guys :)
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