Drumroll Please.......

Ever since I found out that I was going to Italy, my mind jumped from the constant "which country am I going to?" question to the "but where in Italy am I going?". Unsurprisingly, not only were these questions constant companions in my head, but they were also ever-present as a question I got asked in daily conversation. By the District Conference at the end of April, not only was I tired of explaining that "no, I really have no idea where I was going", but also a tad bit jealous of everyone who did know.
Ever since I found out I was going to Italy, my daily email checking always began with a speedy scan of my emails, picking out anything out of the ordinary, any emails from senders that I didn't recognize, and getting extremely excited with anything out of the ordinary, only to realize after opening that it is not, indeed, communications from Italy, but instead a reminder to create a CollegeBoard account from my history teacher. Just a bit of a letdown.(ok. not going to lie...this kind of makes it sound like I ready to step right into a junk mail scam...but I'm careful! Promise!).
So it was with much excitement and hyperventilation that I opened a short, simple email from a supposed "Clio" on April 29. The subject was simply "Trieste!" so I really had no idea what it was, but upon opening I immediately was flooded with a similar excitement as finding out I was going to Italy. The email read,
"Hi! I'm Clio, your next family's bigger daughter. I'm going abroad too next year but we wanted to contact you to let you know our family. We also wanted to know what subjects you'd like to study here in Trieste so that we can enroll you to the most appropriate school! Let us know as soon as possible. Add me on facebook so that we can communicate with no problems! Hope to hear you soon, bye :" 

So, without further ado, I am ecstatic to announce that I will be spending the next year in Trieste, Italy! So where is Trieste? As soon as my eyes had bounced off of the email, I immediately went to my trusty friend google since I didn't even recognize the name "Trieste" let alone know much about it. As it turns out, Trieste is a port town of about 250,000 in very very very very very northeastern Italy, so extremely so that at first glance it doesn't actually appear to be a part of Italy at all! It is right next to the borders of Slovenia and Croatia, and should be a wonderful melting pot of cultures. Here's a little visual reference:

See the little red dot next to Slovenia? That's Trieste!

Here are some photos compliments of google images

See! Right next to the ocean!

Looking forward to the architecture....

While it's not Venice(venice is about a 1.5 hour drive away according to our other good friend google maps), Trieste does have one (I think) large canal.

Anyway, I do not know much about my host family yet other than the name of my host sister who emailed me (Clio) but will also be on exchange(in Mexico) next year, and the name of Clio's mom (my first host mother), Ilaria. I know very little about Trieste, so feel free to chime in if you know more than me. 

~Ciao!

Rotary District Conference--Yosemite!

After about a month of studying Italian, the Rotary District 5130 Conference was the last weekend of April. The district conference is an opportunity for all of the rotarians from District 5130 to gather(this year in Yosemite) to discuss the year in terms of rotary. All of the inbound and outbounds, along with a few rebounds, came to the district conference to present about Rotary Youth Exchange, explore Yosemite, and have one last orientation/get together before we all either leave for our host countries or return home. It was a great weekend full of driving, smiles, laughter, great people, and more driving. Picture time!(because everyone would rather look at pictures than read lots of writing).

Our crazy bus ride to Yosemite--first we had to drive 4 hours to meet the bus, then we drove 5 hours on the bus. 

Playing with our flags in the gym that we stayed in--very blurry since we were all running to get in the picture.

Practicing for our district conference presentation--most of us are still in PJs!

In Yosemite! We got to take lots of group pictures. It was raining even though there was some snow on the ground.

Buddies!

The whole group (everyone else at the falls was giving us some strange looks...though for the most part people found it pretty entertaining).

It was gorgeous in Yosemite!

    

Our whole group of exchange students during our official presentation at the district conference.

Final group photo at the district conference...this time we are all in our blazers!

All in all, it was great weekend. It was so hard to say goodbye at the end knowing that there are some people that we may never see again, but I think we were all grateful for the amazing friendships that we made.

March in Review

It honestly seems like I was just at the February RYE conference in Ukiah...I'm not completely sure where March has gone! It hasn't been a super eventful month in the way of my exchange, but I figured I might as well sum it up anyway. Here goes!

• I went to two rotary meetings this month...both the second and last weeks of March, I believe. On the most recent meeting, I had the honor of being named a Paul Harris Fellow, an award often given to rotarians once they have contributed $1000 to rotary, but sometimes given to community members or others who they believe show outstanding rotary-like qualities. Anyway, my club(Arcata Sunrise Rotary) names all of their outbounds Paul Harris Fellows, and I was certainly honored to join their ranks. Along with the certificate, I also got a wonderful pin that I can't wait to add to my RYE blazer!

Rotary member Terri presenting me with my Paul Harris Fellow certificate and pin.

• Of course I've been working to learn as much Italian as possible. I've been using Rosetta Stone, Duolingo, and my favorite of late, Memrise. I like Memrise because it presents the information in tiny segments which I can literally make progress on when I have just 5 minutes...one of the major bonuses of all three of these programs is supposed to be the "learn on the go" ability to just pick up and use the app/website in a few minutes of free time, but Memrise is the only one that I truly feel I can do this with. Memrise also pairs new vocabulary with user-created "mems", or visual memory cues, which are quite helpful for me. One of my recent favorites was an illustration of a spartan warrior with the caption "Questo è Sparta!!!" in Italian, and of course "This is Sparta!!!" in English. I don't think I'll ever forget "Questo è" ;). Unfortunately, Memrise is mostly a vocabulary building tool, not so great for the grammar aspects. But still, it is a fun tool to use in conjunction with my many other language resources.

QUESTO È SPARTA!!!!!!!!!!!

• Paperwork wise, we have decided to use the travel agency "It's Your World, Travel" to assist in the logistics of a year abroad...I'm antsy to get started on the process, but Italy still hasn't finalized its requirements visa-wise, and its pretty hard to collect paperwork to submit to an embassy when you don't actually know what paperwork is required.
• Overall, I've just been extremely busy, with spring season of Crew and preparing for my exchange adding to the already time-consuming schoolwork and other life. As my mom put it(talking to me): "Yeah, at one point you just stopped playing me in Words with Friends. I think that was around the same time that you were told you needed to learn another language and started traveling every weekend for crew". Gee, I wonder why I've been a little busy lately :).

And that was my March, exchange-wise! Coming up next at the end of April: Rotary District 5130 conference in Yosemite!

February RYE Conference: Nitty Gritty Details

After a month of being super excited about knowing our host countries, all of the outbounds gathered again, this time with our parents, for a one day meeting in Ukiah on February 28. It was a very long day(from 9-5) of information about the more technical details...visas, tickets, communication, what to do between now and then, and stuff like that. At one point in the day, we were split up into two groups: the outbound students in one room, and the parents in another. We got to talk about common problems that occur on exchange, and brainstorm solutions with each other and some helpful rebounds. While the overall meeting was a bit tedious, it was really great to see everyone again--after all, we had met each other for only about 48 hours before we had to separate for a month.

I also learned that some of the students have already began receiving communications from their host countries...eeeek! As far as I know, I could find out exactly where I am going anytime between now and June, so I just check my email faithfully and hope for the best. It is quite torturous...I wait months to find out what country I am going to, and then I wait for an undetermined time to find out exactly where I am going. I can't wait to know exactly where, and I also am very excited to learn who my first host family will be, as I will likely learn that when I find out my placement information.

For the February conference, I had to purchase a navy blue blazer. This blazer starts out all neat and pretty, and is worn to rotary events throughout my exchange year. On my exchange, I will bring about 200 pins, either handmade or bought, that represent me and my home country/state/area. As I meet other exchange students, we will trade pins, and slowly my blazer will turn into a crazy collections of little memory pieces from around the world...cool, right? Also, the blazer is worn in airports and such as you are traveling to your host country so that you can easily find and meet up with your fellow exchangers. Anyway, at the conference, I received my first 2 pins for my blazer...the first being an "I Heart My Rotary Club" badge, and the second being the 2015 rotary motto, "Be a Gift to the World". Yay! I can't wait to fill up my blazer.

January RYE Conference Part 2: Exchange Student Bonding+Orientation

After finding out my country(the previous post), we still had the next day to get to know each other and get all sorts of exchange student-y information.

The next day, we woke up early(ouch!) and all carpooled to a zip lining and conference facility in the redwoods, where we spent the day in an orientation and zip lining.

In the morning, all of the outbounds had our first orientation where we were given all sorts of pertinent information about prepping for our exchanges, as well as our host country assignments: a big research paper about our host countries. It will be a lot of work, but I'll sure arrive in Italy knowing all sorts of random info!

In the afternoon, the outbounds split into three groups to go on a zip lining canopy tour. It was a lot of fun and gave us a great chance to get to know each other even better.

My new friend Esme(right) and I(left) at "ground school", all suited up and practicing basic maneuvers before we had to do them way up in the air!

From left: Allison, me and Esme getting ready to depart for the trees!

Our whole group on the spiral staircases that was part of the tour...the tour included several zip lines,  this staircase, and two sky bridges.

Exhausted but excited, we all got to bed a lot earlier than the night before, and the next morning we all dispersed and drove home.

January Rotary Youth Exchange(RYE) Conference Part 1: I find out my country!

On the weekend of January 23-25, I went to Rohnert Park for the first official District 5130 conference for the 2015-2016 outbounds(and inbounds this year too). The main event of this conference was FINDING OUT YOUR COUNTRY!!! More on that in a moment.

Anyway, the conference was held in a Boy's and Girls Club where we(the 50 or so inbounds and outbounds) stayed for a few days. To me, the most remarkable thing about the whole weekend was the fact that 50 random teenagers from all over Northern California and all over the world could come together and become great friends in 48 hours. It was astounding to realize how much we all had in common, and everyone was instantly friends...I mean, I seriously couldn't find anyone who I didn't like!

On to the festivities. The evening that we arrived, we had a few hours to socialize, then we had dinner, and finally we found out our countries. As we met each other, it went something like this(we all made name tags with our name, and "inbound from _____" or "outbound").

Person 1 "Hi! I'm ______"
Person 2 "Hi, I'm ______....what are your three country choices?"
Person 1 "(insert 3 random countries)...what about you?"
Person 2 "(insert 3 random countries)...nice to meet you!"

Again and again and again...everyone agreed that those three or so hours before we found out our countries were the longest of our lives. A group of us would get together, frantically try to play a game to pass the time, and nervously check our phones only to discover that about 5 minutes had passed. Pure torture.

Everyone was doing all right up through dinner until the tables were cleared and chairs began to be set up. Once people began to prepare for the ceremony, we all LOST IT. Eventually, all of the outbounds were called to sit in a circle, and were surrounded by a circle of the inbounds, and finally a circle of rebounds/parents/other rotary people, and we were given a spiel on Rotary and trust. At this point, I'd say a good 50% or more of us were quite close to tears...emotions were running high.

Finally, all of the outbounds lined up on one wall, and all of the inbounds/rebounds on another wall. There was a big bag of wonderful handmade cards with an outbound's name and county, one for each student. The cards were drawn randomly, so you didn't know when you would be called. When you were called, you walked up to stand in front of everyone(some people literally had to be pushed out of the outbound line...they were frozen), and a rotary member opened and read your card for you. Next(the sweetest thing ever) the inbounds and rebounds from the country that you had been assigned to burst out of the inbound line and give you a huge hug...a wonderful welcome into your new life.

Luckily, I was called towards the middle of the pack, and I was seriously in a trance-like state walking up to get my card. As my card was opened, I can only remember immense happiness and just a huge general sweep of emotion as I read "ITALY".

My card! My name is beautifully written on the front part that you can't see

The next thing that I knew, a rush of cheering Italian girls were running toward me and engulfing me in a huge Italian embrace, and hustling me over to the inbound side of the room. I then got to watch the rest of my terrified friends find out where they would be spending the next year of their life.

If you can't tell, I'm the one in the blue jacket, and the people running at me are the wonderful girls who are exchange students from Italy in California right now.

The line on the left is all of the freaked out outbounds, and the line on the right is all of the excited inbounds who can't wait to figure out who is going to their country.

For the rest of the evening I was on an incredible high of indescribable emotions, excitement, and adrenaline...everyone feeling the same way was absolutely infectious.

Choosing Countries

So let me just start this post by saying that I don’t think that I’ll ever be able to count the number of times that I have been asked where I am going. The conversation goes something like this every time:

Friend or Parent’s Friend: “Trula! I hear that you are going on exchange next year!”

Me: “Yeah, I’m really excited, but also pretty terrified.”

Friend: “Wow, where are you going?”

Me: (launching into my well-practiced little elevator pitch) “Well, I’m not sure yet, but I will learn in late January at a Rotary orientation. I get to give rotary my top three choices, but I’m not guarenteed one of them and really they can send me anywhere. I’ve chosen France, Italy, and Brazil, but who knows where I’ll actually be going.”

So yeah. It gets a little exhausting. It’s November now, and I have to keep this up until the end of January! My friends in my carpool to Crew after school have already heard me say it enough just in the carpool cars to be able to repeat it just about word for word :).

As far as my top three countries, I picked France, Italy, and Brazil. I was given a list of of 16 countries, divided into two lists: European and Non-European, and I had to pick at least one from each list. I was interested in France from the beginning, having taken French for two years. Italy seemed appealing for their beautiful language and delicious food. Then I had to pick one non-european country, and I chose Brazil based on recommendations from family friends who have been to Brazil. I’m crossing my fingers for France or Italy, but I know that they are both very popular choices and it’s kind of unlikely that I will get them. Luckily, I really would be fine with any country on the list. I would just be more ok with some than others ;).