Orla’s February report

Below is the first report from Orlaith McAlinden who is in Brazil as part of Rotary Youth Exchange. Sounds like Orla is enjoying Brazil!

After a good week of panicking about whether or not I was still going and what seemed like a lifetime of flying, I, along with the other 20 odd Australian Exchange students finally arrived in Sao Paulo. We were hosted for the night in groups of three all around the city. I then flew to Rio de Janiero with a girl from Sunshine the next morning. My first host parents and little sister met me at the airport and the first topic of discussion was “How on earth is she going to learn Portuguese?” I felt like the luckiest kid on earth. I was going to live in Rio for a month!!

My host family included: Dad- Valdo Mum-Moema Brother 1- Ilian Brother 2- Jano Brother 3- Huani and Ilian’s 5yr old daughter- Beatrice. They were such beautiful people. We went to the beach several times, visited the botanic gardins which were made for the Princess of Portugal and I went mountain climbing, harness, ropes and all with my host brother on the famous Sugar Loaf mountain. I eventually learned my way around the city with the many bike rides, death defying bus trips and car journeys to work with Moema. I celebrated Australia day with our flag on my t-shirt and some vegemite which the whole family loved?!?

Myself and Sherridan from Sunshine found out just how amazing Brasilian BBQ’s are and I spent a weekend in the nearby city of Cabo Frio where my host mum was born. The three weeks in Rio had flown by. I was repacking my bags and saying goodbye to this beautiful family to move to Teresopolis. Such a beautiful city in the mountains, it’s thankfully a bit cooler than Rio was and my host family are wonderfull. Mum’s name is Giseli and my sister’s is Tayane. Giseli has another daughter who is on exchange in the US untill July this year, Taynara.

We met my counsellor and I had one day to settle in before the at 6am wake-ups for school began. I spent 3 days in the 1st grade (yr10) and then moved to 3rd (yr12). It’s only been 2 weeks and I’ve already been to a class BBQ, to the movies with my friends and spent a night with all the girls. I’ve met with the 3 other exchange students in Teresopolis and have visited the flood affected areas of the city. There have also been a few phone calls from my first host family. I’m ashamed to say that I forgot my blazer… I also made ANZAC bicuits yesterday but only after spending 45minutes in the supermarket trying to explain that I needed bicarb soda. The language is slowly sinking in and my dictionary hasn’t left my sight.

I’ve fallen in love with the culture and food, the pure beauty of the country, the language and the wonderful nature of the people. I can’t wait to go on some of the tours to explore the rest of this amazing place. I wouldn’t trade a second of this year for anything in the world… Unless I could learn Portuguese in a second of course! There are no words to describe how much fun I’m having, how much I’m learning and how quickly it all seems to be going… I say: Bring on the rest of Brasil!

Maddy’s December Report

Maddy certainly had a great Christmas in Germany! Maddy returns to Frankston on 15th January.

On December 3rd we caught the train to Hamburg for my host fathers 50th birthday, when we got there at 5pm and checked into a VERY nice hotel called “The Hyatt” caught a taxi to “Theater Neue Flora” to watch the musical Tarzan, we got amazing seats and the musical was absolutely awesome!!

It was so well done, with monkeys flying across the audience and so much more it was truly an unbelievable experience!  I would recommend it to anyone visiting Hamburg to go and see it. It went until 10pm and we then caught another taxi to a VERY beautiful Italian restaurant where we ate a very amazingly well cooked perfect dinner.

We got back to the hotel at 1am and we were all pretty tired from travelling the whole day so we got ready for bed and slept on the amazingly comfortable beds and slept a most undisturbed perfect sleep. The next day we toured around Hamburg and visited the Hamburg Christmas market and at 5pm we caught the scaring, horrible train ride back…. Well for my host family anyway. It was such a busy weekend that to get a SPOT in the train you would consider yourself lucky let alone get a seat.

I guess that day was my lucky day because I got a seat 3 times in a row while my host family had to stand. I felt so bad because it was so packed that we all got split up and so while I’m happily sitting being offered marshmallow mice my host brother is being pushed up against a train door, my host sister and mother out of sight lost in the middle of a crowd of people, and my host dad trying not to fall out of the train every time we stop at a station, that was the thank you I gave them for the wonderful weekend in Hamburg.

The time leading up to Christmas was an amazing time, being able to open a daily treat from the advents calendar my host mother made herself, spend lots and lots of time in different cities enjoying the SPECTACULAR German Christmas markets and enjoying drinking a nice hot punch in the freezing ice cold, and making snow angels in the snow. We also this month went Christmas tree shopping which included the following:

• Finding a Christmas tree
• Wrapping the Christmas tree
• Discovering that to continue the tradition you must WALK back home with the tree even though the car has the ability to get us ALL back.
• Attaching the Christmas tree to 2 sleighs
• Watching your host parents drive away in the warm car
• Being left behind in the cold, snowy, very windy day with your host brother, the Christmas tree, 2 ropes, 2 sleighs, and Maddy with her camera..
• Walking for 2 hours in this horrible weather trying to remember why life is worth living while the tree falls off the sleighs again.
• Taking the longer way back home in order to drink a watery hot chocolate.
• I discovered that day that American movies do indeed lie.

As Christmas day arrived (December 24th in Germany) We spent the day with all us enjoying each others company and my host parents organizing the dinner for that night. A turkey being cooked in the oven for the WHOLE day!

At around 5pm my host Grandmother arrived and at 6pm we were all sitting down eating a delicious home cooked meal of turkey, potatoes, and salad. At 8pm my parents called everyone VERY tired considering my 10 year old brother woke them all up at 5:30am because Santa had come.

We chatted for about 15min then I enjoyed the rest of the night with my host family. We opened presents, I made my host mother a photo album full of everything we had all so far done together, I made another photo album for my host dad full of only our Fuerteventura trip. I bought my host brother a gumball machine and my host sister a magnet tree full of pictures of us and a lot more side little Australian presents.

The most surprising, generous present of them all was a present I received from my host parents, they bought me an iPod touch! I was so amazed at their generosity I was in complete shock for about 5 min it was also among other generous, beautiful presents. This Christmas in Germany will never be forgotten, I celebrated it with an incredible family, understands the German Christmas spirit and had my very first white Christmas! I love exchange!

Maddy’s Report October 2010

Mentally preparing myself for the last 2 weeks before my Australian parents visit was a very nerve racking time for me, I have learned this year how to become so independent that my parents are really not as much needed than before in Australia, I have grown up. So I didn’t know what to feel, I felt excited, but felt also a bit of dread, I resolved in my head the possibilities of what might come in the next to 2 weeks when I travel with them: I might realize- 1-         That I miss them a lot and become homesick when they leave or 2-         That I love my parents but want to stay in Germany more than go back. Those were the main 2 thoughts that had been running through my head giving me a lot of headaches. So on the 24th September my wonderful host family drove me to Amsterdam. We arrived in Amsterdam at 2am, checked into a hotel, slept for 3 hours, then at 5am headed our way to the airport to pick up my parents and Oma. The waiting at the airport nearly killed me with anticipation that lasted for an hour longer because of course my parents flight was delayed, but seeing them finally walk out the big doors filled me with happiness I couldn’t explain at the time, though later I worked out that I had been so anxious and worried about the reunion that I had completely over looked my simple delight to see my family again. I don’t know how I got to them so quickly but I suddenly found myself embraced in my familiar, loving dad’s arms. It was then my mum’s turn, I hugged her tight and seeing my mum cry tears of happiness was not what I expected! When I saw my beautiful little Oma in the sidelines I couldn’t help but squeal with joy. I also noticed that we hadn’t even been together for 10 minutes but it felt normal, like I’d never been away, just dropping off cookies to the next-door neighbour and being sidetracked for a while. With my real and host family we drove to one of my Dutch families house and we all enjoyed an early morning coffee and either catching up or getting to know each other. At around 10am my host family left to tour the city while we were going to Kuuk and Lucas’ (other family members) departing separate ways from my host family surprisingly hurt a little, it was with them that I always left with but this time they were leaving me behind with my other family. We then made our way to Kuuk and Lucas’, we learned that they live right in the middle of Amsterdam which would be perfect for us. We travelled and experienced Amsterdam for the next 2 days. Kuuk who doesn’t work anymore showed us all around the city telling us information not many people would know about. Kuuk for a hobby simply walks alone or with Lucas around Amsterdam and examines the city and history and when he doesn’t know an answer goes to the city library and researches. An example of this would be me picking a beautiful flower and asking kuuk what this flower is called, and because of him not knowing he later on that night researched  Internet to find out the answer, he is a man of knowledge who loves his city. On early morning Monday we made our way to the train station to catch a train to Paris! Already in Paris was my old host parents- Daggi and Günther, they love Paris so we decided we would all meet up there and get to know one another. Daggi and Günther found a beautiful little apartment in a perfect spot so we all stayed there. On the second day in Paris i met up with Hannah Alexander (from Australia) who is in France right now on exchange, it was wonderful seeing her again!! The days we were in Paris we did a lot of walking and sightseeing, we saw Conciergerie Ste- Chapelle with the gorgeous stain glass windows aging over 800 years, we saw the Eifel Tower, The Moulin Rouge, and even went to Sacrecoeur where Amelie was filmed where Hannah and I simply sat there and caught up for a few hours and admired the view. On the last morning in Paris while waiting to be checked out I discovered a book with questions and answers and discovered the best question and answer: Q: “Do female black widow spiders kill and eat their mates after sex?” A: “Sometimes. What makes them decide to do so is uncertain.” That gave everyone a laugh. We then made our way to Gallery La Fayette where the last time mum was in Paris was in 1983 she had bought a coat. So in 2010 mum returned to Gallery La Fayette with the same coat and bag the coat came with and took some nice photos. It was then time to come to drop off Hannah at the station; it was a nice farewell knowing we were going to see each other in 3 months time and not 1 year. Then at 5pm my parents and I said goodbye to beautiful Paris and caught the train back to Amsterdam. We then spent the next week touring wonderful Amsterdam and I made up my mind that I’m going to study in a university in Amsterdam after school. We made bike tours around the city and also outside the city and we were all amazed at the beauty Holland holds, did you know that Amsterdam has more water canals than Venice? They call Amsterdam “The Venice of the North.” I have been to Venice too but I find Amsterdam much more beautiful, it’s a shame but I find that Venice has become only a tourist attraction, though still very beautiful, Amsterdam has it’s independence and it’s not so commercial. But the most memorable thing was I got to see my stunning Oma again and spend time with her, and learn about her history about Amsterdam when she lived there during the 2nd World War. She told me about the different rocket bombs- V1 and V2 that flew over Holland- England as their target but sometimes not making it, so when you heard the loud sound fly over Amsterdam you WANTED to hear it because if the loud sound stopped it meant a rocket was falling….. but you don’t know where! Oma once had a bomb land 500 metres from her and the impact slammed her into a door. We also walked along the old Jewish area and visited the Jewish theatre that the Germans rounded them up in to ship them off to Auschwitz (the concentration camps). Amsterdam was amazing I love it there and can’t wait to go back! After our week in Holland we drove to Germany where my mum and dad saw my town Wilhelmshaven, where I live and where I used to live and that was nice, to show my parents my life in Germany.  Then on the Saturday I said goodbye to my parents, it was a very odd saying goodbye to them again knowing I was going to see them in 3 months. But I didn’t have time to dwell on that because I then had to pack for Spain and the next day we were off to Fuerteventura (Canary Islands) for another 2 week holiday but this time just with my host family. We stayed in a beautiful apartment with a gorgeous view of the beach. We would then walk our way everyday to the beach, my host sister and I would go shopping or visit a cute little zoo where we befriended the zookeepers and came nearly everyday so we became more locals than normal tourists and that felt nice. We spent one day also simply driving around the island; we visited the massive sand dunes. Fuerteventura is a volcanic Island so the landscape is pretty much baron, that is until you hit the Sand dunes, The sand blows across from Africa! So the sand is actually from Africa! So during the day we would relax at the beach, shop, explore, and swim, then during the night go we would all go to a Spanish bar and listen to AMAZING Spanish music. It was unbelievable, the way they played the guitar and sung was pure talent. So we spent our 2 weeks up in complete relaxation, it was the day before we were booked to leave we wanted to double check what time our plane was to leave. We had flown up with the Hamburg International airlines; I don’t know if you heard about this but they decided while we were in Spain they would go bankrupt! So we were stuck in warm, beautiful Spain, what a horrible situation! We were going to be there till Thursday but found a replacement flight on Monday, though flying to Saarbruck- and that was 4 ½ hours away from our original airport that our car was looking after, we had then planned to hire out a car and drive but caught a bus instead that took a little longer but a lot more comfortable. We finally at 4am in the morning arrived, collected the car then drove our way back to Wilhelmshaven that was another 3 ½ hour drive. We finally arrived at 9am in the morning on the Tuesday. Full or exhaustion we finally got to sleep in a real bed! I had an awesome time on my 1 month travel to Amsterdam, Paris and Spain! It was an experience I will never forget!!!