| Dear New Outbounds, Congratulations!!! I just hope that some one is going to the Netherlands because its the best country to get picked for!!!!! I'll start with the good. I have four different host families so that I can see the differences in how people in the same city live. I live in a really ideal place in Europe. Maastricht is in the South of the Netherlands. Its very close to the meeting point of 3 European countries. You can always expect the unexpected. You walk through the streets and you can here 4 different languages in 5 minutes. The people of the Netherlands believe very strongly in the bike. You use it everywhere you go. It helps you become more independent because your not dependent on anyone to take you anywhere. Except sometimes the distances are to far and then you take the train or the bus. But it still gives you alot of freedom and independence. Plus its great for your muscles. You get to learn another language and speak in the same tongue as the people of the country you live. Its a really cool feeling when you don't have to talk English anymore to communicate when you can just automatically start talking and not have to think what to say because its not English. You get really strong relationships with people you encounter. I have a host family who has done so much for me its unreal. I have an old host sister who I still see 2 times a week at dance lessons and scouting. We still have fun together even though we don't live together. You get to meet so many people and give them a little taste of where you come from. My fathers Martiniqan and I also got to share of little bit of his culture (which is 1/2 of mine) to people that I've met as well as what life is like in South Florida. The Bad and the UGLY come with it though. After moving from my first host family to the second I was totally disorientated and felt totally lost and got really home sick. I had made a really deep bond with my first host family and it was really difficult to let it go. (Don't worry you learn that you second is probably just as cool as your first, just doesn't seem that way at first) The 4 D's. Whatever you do don't break um. There was a girl that got send home for that here. Just don't do it. The kids at school at first are really fascinated with who you are because your so different. But when it comes down to it it takes a couple of months before you can feel accepted into their class. Maybe thats only here in the Netherlands because the kids in my class were together for 5 years. I was an outsider at first. There isn't as much cultural diversity as in Florida. I think its easier for immigrants to fit in or find someone of their ethnic group in South Florida but here it doesn't work that way. In South Florida the exchange students are closer to each other physically. I live in the South and I there's only one other guy that just got here from Brazil close to me. The next person is hosted something like an hour a way. A good friend of mine lives 2 1/2 hours from me. The UGLY for me was being rejected by a host family. The thing is I don't really even know what I did so wrong. I was just trying to be myself and follow the rules. The mother of the house didn't like my personality and character. These are things you can't know before hand and sometimes I guess they don't work out. It was really hard waiting those couple of days for another family to come up and take me in. I sat in a house where I know they didn't want me and it gave me the creeps! This isn't a normal thing I don't think. Most families who take exchange students are really excited to do it and understanding. I wouldn't expect this to happen to you but just be a open for the possibility and now that in the end everything will be OK.
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