Review of March - Present

March ~

On March 13th I had my last outbound Rotary Orientation. I received my official Rotary blazer, it's navy and very snazzy. I will wear this blazer while traveling to Poland and at most Rotary events while in country. At this orientation each outbound student presented a prepared speech to our country groups. When I arrive in Poland I will give a speech to my host Rotary club and this was a practice for that occasion. I managed to get a few laughs, especially when I took out my life size Joe Mauer face on-a-stick... Overall, it was a wonderful ending to my outbound orientations. What I love about orientations, is that I get to meet so many other exchangers going all around the world. I always come away re-realizing how small and connected this world really is.

April ~

I turned 18! Yes, I'm now an official adult. Other than that, I started taking a Polish language class once a week. I found the class through the Minneapolis Community Education website and it was great to have an actual Polish speaker in front of me. The first night of class I left with a huge headache, but am happy to report that this symptom of learning Polish faded and I did manage to learn some important things!

May ~

Decision time arrived. Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, MI was my choice. I spent the night in April, really had a good time and came away planing my next study abroad country (over 85% of Kalamazoo grads study abroad during their college careers). Plus, what other college has songs written about it?! May 21s was my last day of high school, May 26th I graduated. It was an extremely bittersweet time and I'm still not sure I believe that it's all over. CDH and the people in it have been significant and incredible sources of encouragement, guidance and wisdom. I'm sure I wouldn't be where I am today without my experiences there. For my senior speech I wrote about my exchange - why I am going, what I'm afraid of and what I promise to be - the best person I can.

June ~

Finally, the day I had been waiting for - I received an email from my Youth Exchange Officer (YEO) in Poland! I had previously found out that I would be heading to Kielce, Poland, but this email confirmed this fact and was the beginning to all things wonderful - host family, departure date, visa, airplane ticket, trips. The email was formal, but welcoming. I couldn't stop smiling.

Within the next few days I heard from my first host family! Marta i Pawel and their only daughter, Ola. Ola is 16 and will be starting high school (lyceum) in the fall, though we will be attending different schools. Ola speaks incredible English, a life send for the first few days and weeks. Marta also speaks a little English. They seem to be genuinely excited for me to arrive and Ola always emails me back and answers all my silly questions!

The last weekend of June, my family and I hosted two Rotary students who were traveling around the US with their Rotary district. The two girls we hosted, Samantha from Chile and Kasia from Poland, were wonderful. We had so much fun, site-seeing, watching one of Aidan's baseball games and the world cup, and eating root beer floats. Exciting news that I just found out is that Kasia will be helping out at my language camp in Krakow! I can't wait to see her again and it will be nice to already know someone from the beginning. Plus, she said we might be able to go to a Krakow football game... : )

July ~

I have received my official itinerary and tickets, so I really am leaving! On August 13th, with arrival in Warsaw at 12:30pm on August 14th. I am in the process of applying for a visa, not the most fun thing I've ever done. Hopefully, the visa will be sent off on Monday and returned to me within three weeks. I bought luggage, I had my first exchange dream and I am beginning to freak out that I only have a month left. Only a month to get everything I need and pack it all?!

Throughout this all I have been extremely blessed with the support and encouragement of so many people. Their enthusiasm always lifts me up when I start to get nervous about what the next year brings, I'm so luckily to have them.