Lorina's First Report

September 1, 2005

THANK YOU to my family and friends who made me the person I am.

THANK YOU to Rotary for giving me this chance.  

I arrived in Miami on august the 2th after a 10 hours flight from Frankfurt , which wasn’t that bad, because all four German exchange students were together and we had a lot of fun.

In Florida I stayed with Ralph & Lorna Scanga and their daughter Jamie (Outbound to Austria 01/02) for one week. They are my stand-by family, which means that I can stay with them whenever I have to be in Florida because of Rotary activities.

 I had a great time over there and got many impressions about America . Everything looks almost exactly like in the movies …and different from Germany . The most different thing was that everything is flat. Not one little hill and even the houses are flat, almost all have only one floor.

The whole week I was more freezing that sweating because of all the Air Conditioning, which was so cold!

Roy drove me around one day (I attended a meeting of his Rotary Club, RC Davie/Cooper City) and Jamie went shopping with me.

My “real” host family was on vacation in Florida and I could meet them before I went to Freeport , which was very nice.

On the 7^th there was the Inbound Orientation:  A lot of information and a lot of people. It was good to meet all the other Inbounds.

One day later I flew to Freeport , my new home, in the smallest plane I’ve ever seen. On the flight I met Donald Ward my second host father and he was very nice.

Now I am in Freeport for almost four weeks.

Everything was new here and totally different than Germany or even from Florida , but I had enough time to get used to it.

It is very quite here, most of the people are black, the streets are smaller, you drive on the left side of the road, everything is expensive, the power is out quite often, I can understand nearly everything, the accent is not as bad as I expected, and the Air Conditions are very comfortable, because it is so hot.

In Germany everybody is happy when the weather is good. Everybody is outside, just lying in the sun but here it is so normal that the sun is shining that everybody stays inside watching TV. I almost feel bad not to enjoy the sun and being at the beach the whole time.  

My host family Ivan & Linda, Adrian (14) and Danielle (17) is very, very nice!!

I want to thank especially Danielle, because she drove my around a lot, showed me all the important things and introduced me to her friends.

She is going on exchange to Italy in September, that will be very different again, because at the moment we do almost everything together. We even share one room and she is always so nice to me and we have a lot of fun. We really try not to do something stupid but it is hard…I already burned myself with the iron and she tied up herself. J

When I first came here it was strange not to have my own room. I felt more like a guest, but now I don’t know what I’ll do when I am alone.

The last weeks felt more like vacation and it is hard to imagine that this will become my new home.

The best day so far was the BASRA Swim-Marathon. My host father swam the race and we were at the beach the whole day. I met many new people and we had a lot of fun.

I attended meetings of all three Rotary Clubs of the City.

One Rotarian invited me and Danielle on his boat and we went snorkeling in the sea, which was very nice.

I also visited the Lucayan Notional Park , went shopping, bowling, to the movies, to the beach and survived a Tropical Storm. Over here it was not as bad as in Florida . Only one night the rain and the wind were so loud that we all could not sleep and the next day the power was out. It was not really dangerous.

Oh, the ones who like me the most are the mosquitoes! J They bite me so much and I am itching all over.

  The last weeks were very relaxing. Up to now it feels like my exchange year hasn’t really begun yet but this will probably change next Monday when school is finally starting.

I am a little bit afraid but I also can’t wait to go there.

I have to wear a uniform! And I don’t like it…It is much too warm, uncomfortable and makes me feel ugly!

I’ve never been somewhere, where so many black people are. Maybe I am the only white student in my class. That’s really an experience!!!

I am just sooo excited about everything because everything is an adventure!

Thank you all again,

Lorina