Monday, July 15, 2013

Grand Rapids

This past weekend I went to the Central States Rotary Youth Exchange conference in Grand Rapids. There were about 1300 people overall- volunteers, parents, rebounds, inbounds, outbounds, and Rotarians. I met so many wonderful people and became a lot closer to the people I already did know. Here's an incomplete breakdown of what we did at this conference:

Thursday July 11th
We had a long bus ride- left Green Bay at 7, arrived in Grand Rapids at 6 (Michigan time). Registered, ate dinner, checked into our rooms, missed our first meeting because we were late, and hung out with tons of exchange students. We were all out on the lawn in the middle of the campus and pretty much just running around looking for people who were from, going to, or back from our host country. It was nice to have conversations with people from all over the world; so many of these exchange students were such great ambassadors for their countries, and I learned about countries I didn't know much about before. Over the course of the weekend I met 1 girl from Argentina (besides Flor and Paz, the wonderful inbounds that I roomed with at the previous conference), 1 rebound back from Argentina, and 3 other girls going to Argentina. Out of the 3 other outbounds, 1 is leaving in August, and the other 2 are leaving in January and don't know where they're going yet. That night we also had a dance, which was so amazing. Exchange students are great dancers, it's a fact.

Friday July 12th
I woke up early and because none of my roomates were up yet I decided to go to breakfast alone. I love that at this conference you can just sit down at a table and people will fill you into the conversation and you're instantly friends, there's no awkwardness about it. Throughout the course of the day we had various meetings, which were really helpful, but probably the highlight of the day was the opening ceremonies. This was the first time everyone was all in the same room (all 1300 of us filed into the auditorium), the outbounds carried in the flags, everyone was cheering, and the energy from this point to the end of the conference was just fantastic. We had some wonderful speakers throughout the conference, and they were great. On Friday night we had another dance which was so much fun, high energy, and there was great music. I'm not sad that I'm going to miss prom at all- dancing with exchange students is a thousand times better, plus we got to eat pizza and there was not nearly as much drama as there would be at prom.

Saturday/Sunday
These days were by far the best, and I'm grouping them together because we didn't get any sleep and they really just blend together. We had meetings which were fun, but we also had a Brazil vs. the World soccer game- Brazil won, pin trading (where I completely ran out of pins, but got some really cool ones), a "Welcome Home to the Rebounds" ceremony, a variety show with some SERIOUS talent, a great dance, and then curfew was one on Saturday, but we all went to the basement and talked all night. At 5 Sunday morning we all came upstairs, watched the sunrise together and then played a game of beach volleyball, which was definitely hilarious. It was 6:30 in the morning, and literally none of us had slept in 24 hours, plus we're not really athletic to begin with, so it started out as volleyball but ended with 'let's just chuck the ball over the net and see how long we can hit it back and forth'. We had breakfast, packed the bus up and left. One of my favorite outbounds, Christy, couldn't ride the bus, so I was kind of a mess during breakfast, and it was hard saying goodbye. We all slept the first half, but after we stopped for lunch in St. Ignace, MI, the bus was a lot more awake. We realized that this would be the last time we see each other until Grand Rapids next year, or even after that. It's so weird to think that exactly a year from today not only will my exchange year be done, but so will next year's Grand Rapids conference. We'll all be near fluent in another language, have tons of new friends and memories, and have changed for the better.

I'll be leaving somewhere around a month. That means I have less than 5 weeks in the United States to finish getting ready. I feel like I'm in between right now- Grand Rapids is over and now I'm just anxiously waiting for Argentina. I'm so confused; my emotions are being pulled in all different directions- I love the people I've met, as I feel like I've known them all my life, and I can't wait to meet more, but there are people I've actually known all my life who I'm going to miss. There's a world of unknowns, which is why I'm scared and excited and nervous and anxious and happy and sad and confused. It's only a year, but so much will change. I feel like it's all starting to feel real. The emotion that continues to overpower everything is excitement!

I'm just SO EXCITED.

Here's a picture from the conference with some of the most amazing people ever. I really wish I had a picture of all of the outbounds, as they're all so great, but here's 5 of the 24. Photo credit to the wonderful Sarah Bauer.
Hopefully the next time I'm writing it will be to tell you when I'm leaving!
I love you all, 
Micah

Friday, July 5, 2013

Another Update

I can't believe I'll be leaving in less than one and a half months. It's so surreal, but at the same time I'm so excited, and I can't wait for this summer to be over.

I've added a girl on facebook from Switzerland who will be in the next town over in Argentina. We've been talking a lot and both can't wait to arrive! We'll only be a few miles away from each other, and there are some other students that will be in the area, and my town, as well. The girl from Switzerland is arriving in Buenos Aires on the 16th, so I think I'll leave somewhere around that time, too.

To be honest, having a tourist visa is so much easier at this point. I didn't have to fill out a million things and have them notarized or have an Apostille attached. I only needed to send in a copy of my passport, a permission form, and then Rotary will send in my host guarantee form. When this is approved by the government, I will be able to plan my flight and eventually leave! Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that everything is smooth-sailing from here on out.

On July 8th I have to give a presentation to my local Rotary club as a practice for the one that I have to give in Argentina. The only difference with this one is that it will be in English and I'll be getting advice from the Rotarians to help make it better for the real one that I will eventually have to give in Spanish. Because the purpose of Rotary exchange is partly to be an 'ambassador' of your country, the presentation is just about the United States, Wisconsin, and De Pere, as well as life in it. It'll mostly be pictures, and I'll (hopefully!) be able to block the misconceptions that many people from around the world have about the United States. When I get back from Argentina, I'll do the opposite- I'll give the De Pere Rotary club a presentation about life in Argentina.

Also coming up is the wonderful and much-anticipated Central States Rotary conference in Grand Rapids! It will be the last time to see all of the Outbounds from Wisconsin before we're dispersed off all around the globe. We'll also have the chance to meet many other kids going to or from our host countries. Overall there will be around 1500 past, present and future exchange students. I promise I'll take lots of pictures!

Another major thing that happened recently was saying goodbye to my sister, Kaylee. She is in Malawi, Africa now with the Peace Corps doing some wonderful things. It was really hard because my exchange year will be sandwiched right in between her two years, and it will be strange not having her there when I leave or there when I get back. I miss her so much, but I hope she's having the time of her life and learning a lot.

I don't know if you've noticed, but the title of my blog is "Exchange isn't a year in your life, but your life in a year". This is the (unofficial?) Rotary Youth Exchange motto. So many great things will happen this year, and I can't wait to experience them. Yes, I'm scared. Yes, it will be hard. But I know that I have loving friends and family back home who will be there to help support me and send me letters. I've only been on a plane twice (to Washington D.C. and back), I've never left the country, I've never been away for more than a week, I don't know Spanish, I'm going to be living with people I'm never met, in a country that I didn't know much about until a few months ago, and I'm not the most outgoing person ever. This sounds crazy, and yes, I might be a little insane, but this next year will be one of the absolutely best years of my life. Everything that is normal and familiar will be stripped away from me, and I'll learn so much about myself and the world. And while I will be back in De Pere in about a year's time, I will have very limited opportunities to travel back to Argentina, let alone get up and leave for a year to travel somewhere new. While I do hope this year begins a lifetime of travel and new things, there are so many unknowns. I hate to be morbid and cliche, but nobody knows how long they're going to live. All of those overused quotes are right: we have to live like we're dying, living everyday to the fullest. While I know some people are perfectly happy staying where they are, I don't like that there are about 196 countries I've never been to, or that there are more than 7 billion people I've never met. De Pere is great, it really is, but sometimes I think it's holding me back. This year, it won't.