Monday, February 25, 2013

One more!

Just a heads up, I hope to eventually turn this in to a mostly French blog! SO, enjoy all this English while it lasts :) (It'll be a long time before the solid French happens, don't worry)

Encore, Au revoir et merci!

Andrew

Friday, February 22, 2013

Last Post Today

OK! Last post today. I'm going to make this kind of a Q&A/Request blog as well as a regular blog. We'll begin with requests since I am not there yet, OR, if you are a person looking to study abroad through Rotary and have questions, they can be put in comments placed on any of my posts and I will respond. SO! Tell me what you would like to see posted on this blog below in the comments and I'll do just that! :)

Spam

Wow. So, I really like to spam my own blog. Awkaarrdd...BUT! For those of you going TO France, I found the school calendar for next year :D Anyone from France viewing this, if this is wrong, correct PLEASE! I think I can live with this :)

French Districts


So these are the 19 Rotary districts in France, the ones with the little red lines are the ones I want to go to :) When I learn where I will go, I'll post an updated picture :)

Let's Start This!

Well, here we are. You, staring at the screen, and me, well, I'm going to France in about 5 months :) The biggest questions I've gotten so far are:
"Why did you decide to do this and what program?"
"Why are you doing this?"
"Won't you miss everyone?"
"Do you speak French?"
"Random attack of questions about culture and family things bllllllaaaah blah blah"
SO! Let's answer these suckers!

1.) Why did I decide to study and what program

I decided to study abroad because I wanted to try something new, and I was called to do it. I had two friends who studied abroad, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever! I had always wanted to do something like this, and now that I was learning French (back in 9th grade) I wanted to be able to go, use it, and become immersed in the culture and "become French". I would have to say that the biggest factor though  was my call from God. I was waiting for a sign and have been asking him what he wanted me to do, and this was placed in front of my face. I looked at programs and thought about it for a while (even though I knew I was going to anyway) and then went. I researched programs for about 3-4 months and when all hope was given up (from the financial stand point since big name exchange programs cost literally, an arm, a leg, and a kidney), Rotary Youth Exchange emerged out of the dust. Not only was it affordable, but their message was AMAZING and I fell in love with the program immediately, and here I am :) I worked on my application for SIX MONTHS talking to Rotarians and families of rebounders. I turned my application in in September, and in October I went to a special conference and there I did my interview and was accepted. I waited forever and had a couple problems along the way, but I FINALLY got the news I was going to France and I almost peed my pants. Y'all don't even know (well, Outbounders will). Also, I'm one of TWO people from Kentucky going. TWO! The other Outbounder is going to Switzerland :)

2.) Why are you doing this?

Woops, answered that above (see that big 'ol mess ^)

3.) Won't you miss everyone?

Yeah, I guess I will. I know it'll be hard, but eventually we'll get older and be on our own, and this trip will help me ease my way in to that. This trip will also help me make NEW friends and be connected globally :)

4.) Do you speak French?

Oui. Je parle un peu de français, mais, je ne parle pas bien (ou écrire lol.) J'ai étudié fraçais pendant trois ans et je suis heureux d'en savoir plus (tort.)

5.) Random questions about culture and blah blah blah

Well, I know VERY little about their culture other than some traditional holiday stuff and they like wine and bread *insert cheesy french laugh* but, soon, I will be able to answer all these questions :)

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell, that's about it for my first blog post and I'll keep you all updated about everything (such as, WHERE I'LL BE GOING! (still don't know ://))

Bye Y'all!