On Wednesday, I got my blazer in the mail! The navy blue blazer is the international symbol of the Rotary exchange student, which made it all more real. I only have a few pins on there so far, but I can't wait to get more.
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| This is a few of my fellow outbounds and I at a Rotary meeting this morning. Left to right: yours truly, Natalie- outbound to Turkey, Leanza- outbound to Czech Republic, and Madison- outbound to Brazil. |
On Thursday, I skyped with my host mom and sister. They are so nice! I certainly have trouble with the language, and the sound quality on skype is not the best, but they are so kind and patient with me. We talked about food, and travel, and just life and general. They even informed me that I will be able to take a trip to Bariloche, Argentina with my school! I can't wait. I do hope that talking with my host family before my arrival will make the first few weeks easier.
Over the weekend, I had my second and final outbound orientation at Lake Yale with all of the other Florida outbounds. The theme for the weekend was Cultural Bootcamp, covering themes such as culture shock, ethnorelativism, and conflict resolution with host families and Rotary clubs. To further explore these topics, we were guided by Rotex and Rotarians through a variety of --mostly-- fun games and exercises. Most important, though, was the opportunity to connect with my fellow outbounds, especially the South America Squad. Notice that I don't say "future outbounds" because upon completion of the weekend, our state-level training was finished, and we all earned the full title of Outbound Student.
Enjoy the pictures below, and please share my blog!
Hasta pronto,
Max
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| All the outbounds. I'm in the back middle. |
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| South America Squad love |
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| District 6970, northeast Florida. Hands-down the best district. And the biggest. |
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| Me, Justin, and the Brazilians. |
