Well, I leave in one month and 2 weeks. Its absolutely insane. I have a host family. Emilie, my host sister, is going to Seattle for her exchange in about 2 weeks. She is so incredibly nice. I haven't talked to anyone but her, but I have seen pictures of my host family and they all seem so nice. I definitely need to work on my French because no one besides my host sister speaks English. That is going to be hard, but maybe, hopefully, it will make me pick up the language better.
My host family is taking me to Paris on August 1st and 2nd. I am so excited. I still have so much I have to do before I leave. Its so stressful, but I'm so excited this is finally coming true. I have been working on going on my exchange since September, and now its actually happening. I'm still not going to believe probably until I'm in Belgium, but oh well. Nobody thought I would actually do it. I even doubted myself so much. After all the hard work though, I depart from Boston on July 29th and arrive in Belgium on the 30th. I leave to come home on August 30th. My family is in Ath, Belgium. Which is a half hour from Mons and an hour from Brussels. I have been researching like crazy. I'm not sure what to think, it all feels so surreal.
I didn't think it would be hard to leave, but I've started thinking about it lately and it is going to be. I am still so excited to go. It is just going to be hard for me to leave a lot of people. I bet you I'll even miss my job. Which has been absolutely amazing about me going. (Grand opening June 21st, everyone go!! Middletown best buy...next to home depot) I've met a ton of people at work that are great!
]]>Well, last night was international night and was sooo amazing. It made me feel like all of this is really real, like I'm actually going! I met people from all over the world, Brazil, Chile, Taiwan, Belgium(!! :D), and Italy. Everyone was so nice. I had to make a little speech, which I was terrified for. I started shaking towards the end because I didn't know what to say haha. But it ended up okay. I found out the girl from Belgium lives in Newport, which is only about 20 minutes away from me! The food was great, especially the mashed potatos, I have never had better mashed potatos. I got a huge duffle bag full of stuff! It was great. I'm buying my blazer soon hopefully because now I really really want one. Anyway, last night was rediculously amazing and I had a stupid grin on my face after we left for hours. I met great people last night, I hope to see them again.
Byee!
]]>Okayyy I finally have an update on my exchange.
I got an invite to my districts(7950) international night thats on April 7th. Its basically a dinner in honor of all the exchange students. I'm pretty excited, mostly for the free dinner. Haha, no, I'm sooo excited to meet other exchange students. Yeah its at Whites of Westport so its kinda fancy. Yayyy an excuse to buy new clothes.
No updates on where I'll be in Belgium yet, but I'm patiently waiting. Yea thats funny...I'm dying from being so paranoid.
I think thats it!
Byeee,
Brittany
]]>Well, this is my first post on Vox. I had originally made my account while I still thought I was going to Portugal, but all of that changed and to be honest, I'm actually kind of happy. It isn't because I don't love Portugal with all of my heart and that I don't want to go there anymore. I just think that since no one has ever exchanged with rotary to Portugal, I'm much better off going to a more common country for rotary.
Anywayyy, I'm 17 years old, 18 in a month! My names Brittany. I love traveling but I've only made it out of the country once, and it was to the Bahamas. I love all of Europe. I don't think there is a single country in Europe that I would have been upset getting placed in. I really want to go see the Eiffel Tower, it has been my dream since I was 8 years old when my mom told me that if I didn't kiss a boy till I was 16 she would take me, but money prevented it. I would love to visit all of Europe, but there is only a few places I would like to exchange to. Belgium, Portugal, Estonia(thats a recent one, I really want to for some reason), Greece, and Denmark are those countries. Now, I ended up with Belgium. I honestly, have no clue why I picked Belgium. It just felt right. So thats all that I'm going with. I don't really know anything about it besides the chocolate and the waffles but you know what? At least it feels right.
Right now I'm currently in the process of raising enough money for my plane ticket and then everything will have been paid for. My plane ticket is going to be about $1200 and I'm really having a hard time coming up with the money. (Family or friends, if you're reading it, I love youuuuuuuu *hint*hint*) Haha, yeah, no I am going to be writing letters to all my family to see if they can contribute to my exchange.
Okay, I really need to stop digressing. I'm going to Belgium with Rotary District 7950. The wonderful people of Portsmouth Rotary Club (Rhode Island) are sponsoring me. I attend the Community College of Rhode Island.
So maybe you're wondering why I want to go on an exchange? I have had so many people ask me if it was just so that I could go out and party in another country. No, that isn't it, not saying I wont, but no that isn't the reason. The reason is because I need to experience something besides the little Rhody(as much as I love it.) An exchange would also give me so much more independence that I really need(I'm a mommy's girl.) I need to live another culture or I won't feel complete. I am tired of not knowing the world surrounding me. So this summer, when I go on my exchange to Belgium, it is the first of many of my excursions to experience different cultures.
Ever since I was young I've been watching to travel channel. I like to know about other places, what they're like, not just what its like in the good ole US of A.
So uhmm, I think thats it. My email is brittanyandrea@cox.net if anyone has any questions.
Byeee :)
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