Hello
everybody, sorry that I didn’t write earlier.
So
here is what I experienced so far:
I
arrived here August 5th and came to a very nice
family, that made me feel being welcome right from the
beginning.
They
are called the Corredor family and they have two sons and one
daughter.
Nathalia
is the oldest, and then comes Alejandro and then Daniel.
Alejandro
went to Austria a few months ago, to stay there for a year,
but fortunately I got to know him before he left.
Daniel
his little brother volunteered to give me his room and he
slept on a couch for all the time that Alejandro was still
here, that was very nice.
The
whole family is very nice and I ‘m very happy, that I
won’t change families before January or February of next
year, Because I really like them and it seems to me as if I
became almost like a member of their family, I got to know
about their traditions and I never stop meeting new aunts,
uncles or cousins.
I
enrolled in the Cypress Bay High School as a senior and I
joined the American Football team. I had never played football
before and I didn’t really know about the rules, but my
coaches and teammates didn’t get tired of answering all my
questions, so that I soon figured out that football is the
best sport ever.
Now
the season is over, so I have a lot more free time, but still
I don’t get homesick, because there are always a lot of
things to do and see to distract me.
But
of course I miss my family and some traditions during the
holidays, but I think that’s normal and as long as I
don’t miss them too much it’s OK. It’s great to
experience a different way of celebrating Christmas, without
snow, but somewhere in a swimming pool.
A
lot of people ask me about the main difference between Germany
and the USA and I think it is the size. Here everything is
huge. There are over 4800 students enrolled in my school and I
come from a school with about 600 students.
And
I think I’ve never seen a street before that has seven lanes
going in the same direction.
I
really like my group of exchange students, we are meeting
quite often and we always have a lot of fun.
We
went to Disney World and to the keys, with the Rotary club and
it’s nice to see a group boys and girls from all over the
world that never met before, all speaking the same language
and talking about their experiences in America or on the
Bahamas.
A
lot of us experienced the first hurricanes in our lives, and
it was exciting. Fortunately nothing really happened.
I’m
so grateful for this opportunity offered by the Rotary club
and I would recommend it to everybody who thinks about
spending a year in another country.
I
think it will be the best year, or one of the best years in my
life.
Thank
you all who made this possible. And if I don’t talk to
you before, I wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new
year 2005.
Yours,
Peter (Germany)
