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Download Center Rotary YE Volunteers Tours and Travel Questions?
Download Center Rotary YE Volunteers Tours and Travel Questions?
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is from Cranbrook and is staying in Costa Rica Things here are wonderful!
Costa Rica is such a beautiful, lush and amazing country! The time is flying by
but I feel like I've done a lot already! I live in a small town called Paraiso(paradise en español) just outside of the old capital Cartago. I am about an hour away from the current capital San José which is just like a large American city! Then I started school, everyone is very nice and welcoming! I am attending a small private bilingual school in Cartago about 15 to 10 min away from my house by car. There are only 22 people in my grade and the elementary school is right beside the secondary school. At first I had no idea what was going on because I hadn't gotten a hold of the language at all but now I am starting to understand a lot more! My family is absolutely wonderful! I have a little sister who is 5 (Ariella) an 11 year old brother (Aaron) and a older sister (Maria Fernanda) who is 18! So there is a lot of action around here! My father is a doctor and works half of the week in San José at a hospice treating children with severe diseases. I have had the opportunity of volunteering at this place and playing with the children all day! Its an awesome experience! The other half of the week he works in Paraiso at his private office. My mother is a stay at home mom. The food here is wonderful! In my house I get a mix of tico(costa rican) and mexican food because my mother is mexican! We eat gallopinto which is a type of rice and beans along with the traditional american foods like pancakes, bread, eggs and cereal for breakfast. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day which is similar to our dinner. We usually eat things like meat, salad, potatoes, empanadas, rice, beans etc. for this meal. Dinner is usually small or you just find something for yourself. In the middle of October all of the rotary exchange students went on a trip to Limon(a city on the Caribbean side) for a carnival! It was so much fun, they had parades and loud drums, carnival rides, and the market where you can buy all types of neat jewelry and stuff! At the end of the parade everyone joins in and dances! We stayed in a small town near Limon called Puerto Viejo and is is such a neat place! The beach was right across the road and it was spectacular! The Caribbean sea is so warm! Absolute Paradise! I have also visited a dormant volcano near my house with some of my family and am planning on going to Punteranus( a town on the pacific side) with the rotary group this month! The life style here is very laid back and also exciting! They are very patriotic and love to celebrate! Everything is absolutely amazing and going well!
Briett Wood is from Walla Walla, WA and is staying in Mexico Hey,
It's Briett Wood,
from Tepic, Nayarit! Wow, I'm am having such a good time here in
 México! I
knew that this experience was going to be a good one, but I had no idea that
it would be this fun!
The people here are always interested in where I'm from and how I became an exchange student. My parents are some of the nicest people I have ever met. When I meet family members they make sure that I know that there house is my house and I'm welcome whenever I come. About two weeks ago all of the exchange students from Tepic, Culiacan, and Mazatlan went on a six day trip to Guanajuato and Zacatecas. Besides the cultural sites, I had the best time making friends with people from all around the world! During the trip some unfortunate things happened, but we went through them together and came out with stronger friendships! I know that we only had a week to form these friendships, but you have to keep in mind that that's six 24hr. periods, because trust me, we didn't sleep much! Well, other than "I LOVE MÉXICO", I don't know what else to say so I'm gonna go back to having fun now!
¡Hasta Luego!
Briett Wood
District 5080-4150
USA-México
Hello,
Click to Enlarge
This is James
Bagan (formaly of Invermere B.C) now residing in Cuernavaca, Mor.
Mexico! Things have been going awsome down here! Im having the awsomest
time ever! Cuernavaca is know as the "city of eternal spring" because of
its medditeranian style climate (about 28 degrees c every day!). The
city is about 45 muinites south of Mexico City (yes, i am land locked in
mexico!) and it gets alot of tourists, but im used to that being from
the Columbia Valley! I`ve been having all kinds of crazy adventures with
my mexican friends and the other exchange students.
Its really
funny, because origianly I was a little disapointed when Rotary told me
i was going to Mexico. Just because its so close to Canada. But now that
im here Im reilizing the beauty and the diversity of this culture! I
guess most people think all Mexico is is beachs and night life. But try
saying that when your standing ontop of ancient aztechan pyrimids that
are bigger than the ones in Egypt!! The Food is amazing (Tacos el
Pastor!) and the people are fantastic! I am in love with this country,
Thank you very very much Rotary for somtimes sending kids to their
fourth choice and letting them discover a beautiful, culture rich
country!
Dios te Bengida Jimmy Bagan
p.s The picture
was from our rotary conference in Txascala, I am standing on top of one
of the biggest mountains in mexico! (4700 meters abover the sea!) With
R-L: Kasper (Denmark) . Laura (Arizona, U.S.A) . Francois (France) .
(Me) . & Johnny (Mexico)!
is
from Priest Lake, ID and is staying in Australia
~Hello to every one at home from down under~ I will try to keep this as short as possible even though it might be kind of hard! I have now been here for over 3 months I arrived here on the 18th of July and it is almost the end of October! I cannot believe that I only have 9 months left! When you are having so much fun 9 months goes by so fast!
Australia is great and I think I got one of the best spots in Australia. I’m
staying in Brisbane and it is only like a one hour drive to either the
sunshine coast or the gold coast (a very well know coast) and I have had a
chance to see both of them. I got to spend a week at Mooloolaba on the
sunshine coast over the September Holidays. I also got to go to 2 of the
islands off the coast of Australia. 1) Stradbrooke Island, I went camping
with my host family for 2 nights also over the September holidays and 2)
Last weekend I went for a field trip with my geography class to Moreton
Island, where I got to go sand tobogganing (way different from snow
sledding - not nearly as COLD and harder to walk up sand dunes), and
Well that is a short summary of what I have been doing and how much fun I have had in Australia. Oh and I’m going to Clayfield College a private all girls Christen School (way different from home) and the uniforms are so ugly! But that is about it. Lots of love to every one in America from Australia ~ALICIA~
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snorkeling and saw a bunch of cool fish! I have also been to the Australian
Zoo, under water world, and in the process I was trying to meet Steve Irwin
(the crocodile Hunter)