You have given me wings to explore new horizons, and home where my roots will always be.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Exchange students

Last weekend I had my first rotary orientation with all the other exchange students in my district, and it was one of the funnest times I've had since being here. Even if the weekend did start of with us missing train after train trying to get there, and arriving three hours late, and not getting supper, and taking a three hour boat ride which almost everyone got sick on.
The weekend started off on Friday night in a small town called St. Michaelsdonn, up in Northern Germany, closer to the North sea. We spent most of Friday night doing introductions (in German), then just swapping pins and business cards. There was close to fifty of us there so it was a little hectic all running around trying to exchange pins with everyone. I know I didn't get everyone, however my Jacket does feel a couple pounds heavier so I think I got the majority of everyone.
Saturday morning we got up bright and early to take an hour bus ride to Busum to catch our boat; Funny Girl. Sadly the waves were massive and I think a majority of the students got sick, including a girl sitting right beside me. So I think it's easy to say that was the low part of the weekend. We went to two small islands that day, the first one we had our lunch at and walked around the beaches for awhile. Then the second one; Helgoland, we spent about one hour on shopping. Everyone was a little excited since this island has no tax so everything is so much cheaper since taxes in Germany are around 19% I believe. To put into perspective how small these islands are know that vehicles aren't allowed on either, and the larger of the two, you can walk all the way around in less than an hour.
Once we returned back to the hostel everyone got busy preparing there songs/dances for that night. We were all required to play or sing a song, or do a dance that represents our country that we come from. It turned out to be quit an entertaining night in the end, there are allot of latin American exchange students who got up and danced, which was gorgeous to see.
All in all it was a great weekend of meeting allot of new people, and learning about all these cultures from all around the world. This is in my oponion one of the best things about the youth exchange, you don't just learn about the country your in, you also get the oportunity to learn about all these other countries as well.

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