First Month: The Home Sickness, The Adventures, The Friends, And All The In Between

When they told me it was going to be a bumpy ride I could have never imagined what it was truly like, and I'm just getting started. Since I have started my exchange I have experienced emotional and physical highs and lows.
When I arrived at the airport I was honestly in denial that all of this was happening. Some of my friends came to see me off, my family of course, and two amazing Rotarians I had met on this journey. It was very difficult for me to leave, but it was even more difficult for me to read all my letters on the plane. My plane ride to Houston was basically all me crying wondering what have I gotten myself into and how could I have left the most caring family and friends for a year. To me that was my first slap in the face of reality and good thing it hit me when it did because when I arrived to Mexico I had a very large welcoming committee of new faces and it was important that i was happy. Which I was, I was so happy and so in shock of where I actually was it was a great night.
Once I arrived I had one week of summer before school started. My one week of summer was spent preparing for school, practicing my Spanish, trying new and weird foods, and exploring a little downtown with my host sisters. My first day of school was probably the most terrifying experience of my life. Not to mention how lost I was. When I got to the school I first walked into the middle school INSTEAD of the high school so they directed me to the high school. Next I walked upstairs to find my Principal standing there speaking rapid fast Spanish to me and a few students. I of course was so shocked I forgot every word I ever knew in Spanish and mumbled like an idiot. That was followed by waiting for 20 minutes in the principals office for my teacher (who spoke no English) to walk me to the class. During this time people were staring, pointing, and saying a million different words I did not know. First class it takes about 15 minutes for one girl to break from the crowd of people staring at the "Gringa" (or white girl) sitting alone, to come sit by me. She asked me my name and I told her and I said I was an exchange student. Fast forward a few days and I have an amazing group of close friends that I would never trade. They are truly amazing and are good at English which at first was good then I realized that I would never learn Spanish if they kept speaking to me in English so I asked them plus my whole class and other people to speak Spanish to me so I can learn. So far that has lead to multiple awkward moments but I have just learned to laugh at myself because the other person is usually either laughing or just as awkward as I am. So far in school whenever someone new talks to me, they have the same remark "Everyone is staring at you" which I didn't really notice until everyone started bringing it up. One day I had a group of people I had never met scream my name to go talk to them which I did until the bell rang, then they proceeded to chant my name and walk me to the class... VERY loudly. It is weird to get so much attention, but I really LOVE it. Being the "talk of the school" or the "celebrity" has been a blast and quite the experience.
Outside of school, I have been keeping my taste buds busy with all this incredibly good new food, but also realizing, here their American food is no where hear as good as our American food. Especially McDonald's, that is a mistake I will only make once. I have attended two Rotary parties since I have gotten here and have met some other exchange students too. Including one who goes to my school, Johanna. The craziest thing I have eaten here is Chicheron. It is Fried Pig Skin. I ate in in a taco but I had no clue what it was the person just said it was pig. Once I knew what it was I was quite sick to my stomach but it was pretty good. This experience is truly amazing and though I get homesick a lot more than I thought I would, I would not trade this experience. I can already tell this year is going to be full of so many new things and great friends to share it all with.

Leaving my home in Oregon for a year.

 Watching Soccer is by far my favorite class at school.

Just a huge piece of taco meat. This is real Tacos People. <3

Just walking through downtown

Horchata: Made from Milk, Water, Rice, and Cinnamon. Surprisingly really good <3

People dancing downtown

Traditional Mexican Ladies in the mall.

Mexican cowboy rope people

Iguana walking through in the middle of a party

Some exchange students I have met at a Party. 1 from Japan, 1 from Belgium, 3 from Germany, 1 from Italy, and 1 from Finland.

Delicious Tacos at a Rotary Party. 

top 1: beef, onion, cilantro

2: Chicheron (Fried Pig Skin), tomatoes, onions

3. my favorite: chilies, chicken, cream sauce

4. traditionally prepared pork and red onions

Mango Juice. which is 100x better here and is one of my favorite things so far

Tortillas De Camaron

Enjoying the palm trees at my school while watching soccer.

Last Post Before I Board The Plane

Hola!
This journey has been such a learning experience already and I am so grateful for this opportunity. This experience has allowed me to really learn a lot about myself and my limits as to what I can and can not take. It has allowed me to work on my time management and my ability to plan and do things on my own.

Since I have blogged last so much has happened! It's crazy and exciting and sad and just a mix of everything. I am proud to say how much my attitude towards Mexico has changed. I guess I have a few amazing girls and guys to thank for that. Alyssa Williams and Dallin Mckinney really helped me get through things, Alyssa answered countless questions I had and definitely assured me I was going to have the time of my life no matter where I was, and Dallin helped me alot with learning more Spanish. Also my amazing first host family has really helped me get excited. I haven't even arrived and I already feel so welcomed. I have two awesome host sisters though one will be on her own exchange in Brasil while I am there. Carla, my host sister, is 5 months younger than me and I can already tell we are going to be really great friends. We have a lot in common and I talk to her all the time. It was really sweet the other day when she sent me a picture of her calendar that had my birthday marked on it even though I would still be in the USA when my birthday came.

By that story you already know I have heard word from my first host family. I have also heard from my second host family. I my first host family there is mama Edith, papa Carlos, older sister Anna, and younger sister Carla, but Anna will be on her own exchange journey at the time I am living there. In my second host family there is, mama Vianey, papa Edmundo, older brother Edmundo, older brother Benjamin, and older brother Bernardo, but Bernardo will be on his own exchange while I am there and the other two sons both are out of the house.

I have just received my last piece of paperwork from Mexico so now I can go forward with getting my visa and my plane ticket. Almost exactly a month away I will be boarding a plane on the way to my exchange which I feel has already begun. Still to come I have to make pins for trading with other exchange students, do some more shopping so I have enough clothes for my trip, get my suitcases, pack for my trip, and much more.

Last time I blogged, I was hosting an exchange student, about two weeks ago my amazing sister flew back to Finland. I was very sad to come home to a room with two beds but only one girl. Now I am back to only brothers in the house but Veera will forever be my sister. I miss her a lot already but we are still in touch which is good. Here are some pictures from our time together

We had our last event with the inbounds last month which was very sad for me and everyone else. I had to say goodbye to some very amazing people that I had grown very close with and I miss them all so dearly. I happy that we could have the goodbye party though it was very fun. When it came time to leave I cried a lot because I had no clue when I would see them or if I would ever see them again. I made sure to give everyone I hug before I left many of them more than one hug and went on my way the night was very emotional though. Here are the pictures from the event.

Anna from Austria, One of my really best friends. I can't wait to go visit her

 Mariel from Mexico

 Dennis from Russia and Adriana from Peru

 Paulina from Chile

 Lorenzo from Brasil

 Anna photobombing my picture with Luiz from Mexico

 My Latin Ladies! Mariel from Mexico, Alexa going to France, Isabela from Brasil, Adriana from Peru, Paulina from Chile, and Carolina from Argentina

 Priscela and Carolina from Argentina

Taiki from Japan

 Lili from Germany one of my truly best friends love her and miss her so much can't wait to see her again

 Adriana from Peru

 Gyandson from Brasil Miss him like crazy!

 Jake from Czech Republic

 Yashraj from India

 Matthieu from France

 Dennis from Russia

 Juho from Finland

 Moritz from Switzerland

 Rex from Taiwan 

 Marie from Austria and Eda from Turkey

 Nana from Denmark, we were matching

 Nathan going to France, This guy is the bestest.

Host Country :)

WOW! It's been a very long time since I have posted on my blog and many things have happened since then. I went on the Eastern Oregon Discovery Excursion with all the inbound and future outbound exchange students in February, Got an amazing "sister" who is living with me on exchange here from Finland, And found out my host country!
So first I will tell you a little about our trip in February. It was a four day trip and it was the best experience of my life. All the inbounds and future outbounds were there and they are all amazing people. We went on about a 7 or 8 hour bus ride to the La Grande area where we stayed at a camp and had lots of fun. We had lots of time to ask the inbounds about their countries. We played a cultural game that was supposed to show you if you were more outgoing or less. I found myself as and Alpha meaning I like to lead and be outgoing. This made me question my idea of where I would fit as a country. One of the youth exchange officers, Mark, had said that Alphas better fit in South America and Betas better fit in Asia and Europe. Based on this when we went out to Pizza I sat down with Mark and talked to him to see what he would think. He said if I thought I would fit for South America I should talk to some inbounds. After dinner we went to a basketball game for a really tiny high school and we were the biggest crowd they ever had. A couple of the boys even dressed as mascots. On the way to this game I sat with and inbound from Peru and she told me all about it and I fell in love. I had a hard time picking from Peru or Germany for my top choice on decision day. Decision day came along the day we went snowboarding and it was extremely nerve wrecking. Snowboarding was fun even though I was absolutely horrible. When we turned our decisions I put down Germany for number one then Peru, Austria, Anywhere in Europe and Anywhere in South America. After we put in our decisions I immediately started regretting what was on my list and going into a complete panic. Then I remembered I was the only one who picked Germany as my top pick and the inbounds from there really liked me so I figured I had it in the bag and went along with my day. then we went to an event center and had really good food. At this time I met some of my closest exchange friends as well as hung out with other exchange friends. Out of all of them I think my closest friends are Courtney, Cienna, Alexa, Mariah, Mary, August, Lili, Justus, Dennis, Mattieu, Veera, Jake, Anna, and Colton. I love them with all my heart and I am going to miss them all soo much and I hope we stay in contact even though all but seven live in Oregon. I have met so many people already who have changed my life and I am so grateful for this experience.

This Picture was on the way to the camp. From left to right

it's me, Yuksuke and inbound from Japan, Adriana an inbound from Peru, Erica, 

Veera an inbound from Finland, and Claire.

This is at the basketball game when we were cheering the team on

From Left to Right it's Alexa, Chang and inbound from Taiwan, Dennis and inbound from Russia, Alexis, Me, And Veera an inbound from Finland.

 August got very into cheering on this tiny school and decided to be one

to put on the mascot costume. This was his number buddy on the team.

 Justus, an inbound from Germany, also got in on the cheering this was him and 

his number buddy on the team

 I got in to take a picture with Justus, and August. They are so amazing and I miss them so much. They are a few of my favorites I love them.

 This picture is Alexa, outbound to France, and Justus after the game

I got an AMAZING exchange sister who I am hosting from Finland named Veera. She is very nice and is here through Rotary. We are sharing a room and she's super funny. I love having a sister even though she only moved in yesterday. I can't wait to see all the adventures we will have.

At the very end of the Eastern Oregon Discovery Excursion we got our country assignments. I was in much shock when I got mine because it was not what I wanted. I pretty much shut down. I got sick. I threw up. I cried A LOT. My country assignment is Mexico. There is nothing wrong with the country I was just so head over heals for Germany. It killed me to know I was so close. Some days it still hurts to think about what it would be like if I would have gotten picked for Germany or anywhere else. I have came very far since that day. The minute I got back home I sat on my bed crying while I emailed Two youth exchange officers, the officer for Germany and the officer for Mexico, and the youth exchange chair. I wanted them to see my pain and realize they made a mistake. I was so broken. I had never felt so much pain and betrayal. I honestly didn't know what was going to happen. I was hoping that there would be some way to get me a new country. But it didn't seem possible. They set up a meeting for me and them to talk it over in person but I stayed pretty silent because Mark, the youth exchange officer is one who doesn't change his mind. He is very determined to be right, not that it's a bed thing just intimidating. I felt like if I did start talking I wouldn't be able to stop crying. It really killed me, my country assignment. But some current outbounds messaged me and basically told me to stop only caring about me and stop being such a cry baby. This of course made me cry more but eventually I realized they were right. I needed to suck it up and give Mexico a chance. So I'm still here, still going to Mexico and taking it one day at a time. I got assigned to a district in the southern part and soon I will get contacted by my hos family. It's starting to feel extremely real. I know I need to be responsible and stick with Mexico because I haven't really been giving it a chance. I have been practicing the language a lot which helps me get excited. I'm getting there slowly, it's definitely a work in progress though. I didn't want to update my blog before this because I really had nothing positive to say but my attitude is changing for the better even if it's slowly. I also signed up for my travel agency. Which is pretty exciting. I know I'm going to love it and it doesn't matter where I go. So if I could ask your guys prayers for me to keep a good attitude towards my exchange during this hard time that would be amazing. Thanks for reading, sorry it took me so long to post I just didn't my blog to be only negative when I wrote it.

Overview :)

hi :)
So I'm not sure how many people actually read this but I know I haven't written in almost a month and a half! That's a long time! So much has happened since I last wrote so let me get you all caught up.
First of all from January 10th to the 12th we had our first outbound orientation! I met so many amazing people and made so many life long friends. I love them all and I learned a lot too. I had a lot of time to talk to different inbound students and outbound candidates like myself. It was such an amazing experience learning about all of the countries. We also had a country fair where all the inbounds talked about their countries and many of them had super yummy food for us to try. Below are a few of the amazing people I met there!

My mind changed so much about where I wanted to go while I was at the camp. As of now my top choice is Germany. Followed by Finland, Czech Republic, Brazil, Italy, France, Austria, and Denmark. Of course I will need to narrow the list down by the Eastern Oregon Discovery Excursion trip on Thursday. I have been counting down the days until I get to see all these amazing people again and I really hope we all stay in touch. I'm making sure not to lose or leave anything behind on this trip as well because at the first camp I had to sing the ABCs with 2 other girls in front of everyone to get it back.

Today I got the chance to go up to Portland with Mariah, an outbound candidate like me, Clothilde, from France and Verra, from Finland. We found this car in China Town and decided to take a silly picture with the crazy car. We also went shopping and to voodoo doughnuts and it was super amazing.

 Mariah and I with the car

I am on the left, then Clothilde, Veera, and Mariah

 Last weekend was my last school dance until I return from my exchange and I had an amazing time. I went in a group with my date, Erik, my friend, Cassie, her boyfriend, Ryan, and my friend sierra. Sierra is in the middle and Cassie is on the left. We went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant and it was so delicious. Then we danced the night away and it was an amazing night. Of course, If I get asked to Prom by a junior or senior then I will go to that, but probably not.

Again sorry it took me so long to write I have been very busy with finals. :)

Until next time,

Ally





 

Making Progress with my Sponser Club

As I have mentioned before, My sponsor club is not in the town I live in. This makes it very hard to meet with my sponsor club. My sponsor club is the Rotary Club of Salem (Downtown Salem Rotary) and until a couple weeks ago I had never met them. I attend the Dallas Rotary Club meetings every week because I live in Dallas and it works out very well. I was very nervous for my first meeting with my sponsor club because their club is a lot bigger than the Dallas club. I have to say they were actually very intimidating because they were more fancy and organized. They all ended be being very nice and welcoming which made me feel a lot better.
This Christmas was super special to me because next year I won't be here to spend Christmas with my family. I cherished Christmas so much this year and it was wonderful!!
In about 2 weeks I will be going to my first outbound orientation and excited is an understatement for me. While this whole thing is extremely exciting I'm also very nervous to meet all the other outbound candidates. I have talked to a couple people who are away on exchange right now about how the first orientation is going to work. They have told me that it is boring and awkward but I am still excited.
So that's about all that has went on, however things are starting to pick up in pace. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with my school work and my exchange work.
Until next time.
bye (:
~Ally

First Lunch With The Salem Rotary Club

Hey Guys,
Sorry I haven't been writing as much as I should but everything has been moving pretty slow since my in home orientation. Just a lot of catching up on school work and trying to get ahead in my classes. But today I did do something exciting. I had my first meeting with my club in Salem. I was so nervous that I would say the wrong thing, I felt like I was going to pass out. I had to give a five minute speech about myself and I felt like they expected me to be absolutely perfect. It put a lot of pressure on me to do good on my speech. Though the five minutes didn't "fly by" they seemed to be easy after about the first minute. I told them everything about me even some funny things that made them laugh. Everyone complimented me on how well I did which made me very happy because I thought I was going to let them down.
Today I also met two inbound exchange students. They were both really nice. The inbounds, and me and another outbound candidate, all got our pictures taken together with gifts they gave us after our speeches. It was so nice of them to give us a gift especially since we were all there to thank them for the opportunity the had given us. We all got matching youth exchange jackets. The girl from Peru was so nice and we both love One Direction. I was really nervous about no one liking me but everyone was really nice.
Thanks for reading guys I will try to keep updating more often as things get more interesting.