Thank you for visiting the Blog for The Rotary Youth Exchange programmes of Rotary District 1060 "The Heart of England" - covering the West Midlands and Warwickshire, together with parts of Worcestershire, Shropshire and Staffordshire.

Rotary Youth Exchange covers a set of four schemes designed to allow young people to learn about other cultures directly and work towards one of Rotary's key objectives - that of bringing about World Peace and International Understanding.

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Sometimes I imagine you guys read my blogs and think..yeh right…what ever Lise.

 

I can assure you what I am about to tell you…is 22980318% genuine, and I have the cutting from the paper to prove it.

 

Yesterday I went to Carlos Paz, a town near my city…just to look around and have a quiet afternoon with my host mum.

 

When we got there it was jam packed with cars, and it turned out, the World Rally Championships were taking place next weekend, and the cars and their teams were all in Carlos Paz, testing their cars in the mountains.

I saw an English number plate and got very excited, so made my mum stop and we went and looked around. I asked my mum if she could take a picture of me by the lake, when a blonde hair pail skinned asked me in English if we would like him to take one of the both of us. I replied in English with yes! That would be lovely, and then translated to my mum in Spanish what he had said. So anyway, me being the shy little girl that I am started to ask questions… and it turned out he was working in one of the teams. So anyway, all this time I am talking in English with him and translating for my mum in Spanish, when he says

“hey!!! Can you help me out?!?! Our driver doesn’t speak Spanish and he´s getting mobbed by press asking questions…can you help us?”

“YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!”

So, we entered, and everyone started to say hello to my new friend (lance) and I say

“hey! You´re pretty important aren´t you!”

And he says “yeh, well, quite, I´m the boss of the Subaru team.”

I was talking with the bossssss of the American Subaru Team. Hahahahah!!! Love it. So, we enter the VIP section, and my host mum is about to wee her pants! He introduces us to all the team, and shows me the cars, and then he takes me through and I see Travis Pastrana (definitely had no idea who the hell he was.) And the poor (yet hot!) 24 year old American was being mobbed, in Spanish, and was just smiling and putting his thumb up. So anyway, I say

“hey! You need some help?!?”

And he says “yessssssssssss pleaseeeeeeeee!!!”

So I stand in front of everyone, the cameras point to me, and I get asked every question under the sun and have to translate for Travis. It was hilarious. All I can say is thank god “flip” is “flip” in Spanish too, because it turned out he used to be a biker and did a double flip on TV with his cousin, so the majority of the questions were about that. I had a right laugh. The centre of attention has always been one of my favourite positions, and Travis was really nice too so we laughed our way through it.

So anyway…I posed for a few pics…and then we was like

 

“hey Lise, you´ll never guess what! Sebastien Loeb is playing tennis over there with the Spanish driver!!!”

 

I had no idea who the hell this was, but acted really excited and went over to take a look. There were 2 guys, pretty guys, playing tennis, and they were rubbish. Loeb went to take one shot, and missed completely, and I laughed. Quite loud. And he comes over, with a smile and says

 

“hey you!! No laughing!!”

 

And everyone is laughing at me, and looking at me like, “who is she????” So anyway, I start to work out that this guy is pretty important, every time they hit the ball out of court everyone asks him for his autograph and to take a picture. After the 10^th time of this happening he replies with

 

“If I take a picture with anyone, its that blonde girl who laughed at me.”

 

Crap.

 

I look around, no blondes, and I definitely laughed at him. And everyone pushes me forward, I ask my mum quickly who is it??????????????!!! And she says…

 

“he´s a driver!!!”

 

So I enter the court, we kiss on the cheek, we stand in front of the cameras and I say

 

“hey! I hope you drive better than you play tennis!!!”

 

And everyone starts to laugh histerically. It was quite clear I had no idea who it was. He also laughed, and tapped me on the back and says,

 

“well, I am the three times world rally champion, so I hope so too!! You don´t even know what Rally is do you!”

 

I reply with…hey! Yeh I do! I´ve played Colin McRae on the Playstation!”

 

He laughed loads, and says, well “I´ll have to give you a game some time”

 

I reply with “I´d love too! But I´ll warn you in advance, I´m pretty good!

 

He had great banter and laughed loads. We posed for the press, god knows what they must of thought of me!

 

But anyway, this all happened on the Sunday. Monday morning I get 7 messages.

 

“Lise!!!!!!!!!! You´re in the paperrrrrrrr with the world rally championnnnnnn!!!”

 

Hahahaha, I think

 

“yeh right!!”

 

By Monday afternoon I had a message from nearly everyone in my phonebook, so I went to check it out, thinking, yehhhhh bet there´s loads of pics of everyone!!

 

Nope.

 

2 pictures of him on his own playing tennis, then one with a little blonde English girl. The article finished with

 

“…and loeb…the world rally champion, stayed to sign autographs for everyone, but chose very well when picking who to have a photo with.”

 

I´m not sure quite how I do it.

 

But  I Love it!

 

I translated for Subaru at a World Rally Championship, gave the world champion banter about how rubbish he was at tennis, challenged him to a game of Colin McRae, and ended up in the national newspaper. I never in my life thought I would be able to say that.

 

This exchange gets better and better!!!!! And today I´m off on my North Trip so prepare yourself for 43728947238947829 photos, and a distraught little girl at the end of it when I have to say goodbye for the last time to all my exchange friends.

 

I loveeeeeeeeeeeee you guys!!!

 

And I am back veryyyyyyy soon.

Far toooooo soon!

 

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So, this is it. I'm definitely moving toward the end of my stay in McMinnville, Oregon, USA, and it has been the year of a lifetime! I'll stay away from doing a complete summary, but instead, let you know what the past few months have held for me.

Some of you might remember the fact that I had auditioned for the school musical Guys and Dolls and that I got the part of Nathan Detroit. (Those of you that don't know the play- it's the comic lead!) So, I've been in school from about 7am-6pm most days since January- which, as you can imagine has been tiring, but, overall, very rewarding.

Initially, we were due to perform at the end of February, but due to cast replacements and severe snowstorms that kept us out of school, it was postponed until Easter weekend.

I'm not going to lie, it got to the point where I wished it was over already, for the entire duration of my stay with my second host family I was in rehearsals every day, which ruined any chances of getting out of McMinnville, and it turned out that the whole rehearsal process took about 4 months (which, at the time, was about 50% of my stay in the country).

When it did eventually arrive, however, it was a great success, (despite my questionable ability to maintain a consistent New York City accent) and the friends that I've made from it are some of the closest I have here.

Also, I went skiing with all of the Rotary district's Inbound and Outboud YE students in Eastern Oregon in February, which was incredible enjoyable, despite the fact that it was my first attempt (my balance is hardly first rate, but unlike iceskating, snow is nice and cushioned when one falls on it!). We also visited an elementary school, and it was amazing to be able to tell the kids about my home country, and have them be so interested in it. I've recently mailed the huge thank you poster/card they made me for when we left. Pictures of the insanity that is an American school 'recess' are included.

Next week is the Rotary District conference, that all exchange students have to attend. I know this is going to be a quite difficult time for me, as it is the penultimate time all of the students get together, and it is these people that I am truly going to miss- it is highly likely that I'll see my friends from McMinnville again, as I foresee visiting in a few years time. However, it is likely that I'll only see a handful of the exchange students again, and even that will only be if I really apply myself to having them come to the UK, or organising a trip for myself.

At the end of that week, on May 5th, is the great American institution- Prom! I have my tickets, I'm ordering my tuxedo tomorrow, and I have a date. (and that is a completely different story altogether- but just know that it involves getting her friends to spy on her, serious planning, and more nerves than before performing Guys and Dolls) It will be great to see all of my friends, amazingly overdressed, for one of the final times the whole Senior class is together.

But even now, when I think of it. I can't quite believe that Prom is just under 2 weeks away, and, as sad as it is to admit, the end of my year is rapidly approaching. Not that I'm not hopeful for the future, a busy summer, and a university await- for the start of a whole new experience of living away from home... just with debt!

Merry Christmasssssssssss :)

Well that was the biggest New Year disguised as a Christmas I´ve ever experienced in my whole life...

First things first...we had a Christmas barbecue at 11.00 pm with the entire family on the 24th...

no turkey..

no chrismtas hats...

no crackers...

rubbish

We finished at about 11.50 and everyone was like...woahhhhhhhh...10 minutes to go........fill the glasses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i thought...fair play...they have a toast at midnight to welcome in christmas day...but oh no...there was not just a toast...

As the clock stroke midnight..i have never seen so many fireworks in my entire life...I was scared to death...i thought i was being shot...they were everywhere...and everyone had a huge toast...hugged and kissed everyone..cried...and sung...it was incredible!!!

then everyone started passing round presents..everyone had 1 each..and everyone opened them together...and then at about 1.30 am...everyone was like woah....what a lovely xmas that was..

i was extrememly confused. there´d only been 1 and a half hours of it. :S

but apparently in South America thats the way it rolls...xmas is like a new year celebration on the 24th...

We came home at about 2am...and the heavens had opened...the streets were like rivers..and everyone was sad because ur meant to go out to clubs and celebrate with your friends...but the parties were all outside and it was raining really hard...

but about 3.30am i got a phone call from one of my best friends here bruno..and he was like lise!! what u doing???!! i´m outside your house..lets go clubbing!!! You cant spend your first xmas in argentina in bed...lets goo!!

So i did!! I got ready and we went to Infierno..my favourite club..and we began to hit it hard. possibly harder than ever before. You know its guna be a hard night when you start dancing at 4am. at about 6 am other friends of ours arrived..and we partied hard...danced  all night... like it was 1999

you know your in trouble when the sun comes up and your still dancing...and when the music stopped at 9 am and we were still dancing...i knew id partied hard.

We got home at about 9.30am...it was crazy...the sun is pretty strong at the moment..and i had strap marks from the top i´d gone out in from being in the sun. ive never in my entire life got a tan on a night out before...love it.

and then i made the worst decision of my life. It was about 10 am and i decided it was far too late to go to bed, so I just didnt.

RUBBISH IDEA

when you´re trying to have your first christmas away from home...being sleep deprived is a rubbish idea.

The 25th of December here is like a Sunday...people sleep in...do nothing...I just sunbathed with my family outside all day...was ace...but weird...

I spoke to the family on webcam which was really hard..especially because i hadnt been to bed yet..so i had a good cry when i saw them all...

but that made my Christmas...

infact 3 things did

3. The fact that everyone in my family here got 1 present each....and appreciated it way more than any of us do when we get loads. My brother got a pair of swim shorts and you would have thought he´d been bought an xbox..he ran round the house showing everyone... I guess I kind of realised that money isnt anything... infact its nothing..its who gives you the present and what it is... my family bought me a bikini because theyre taking me on holiday to the beach in January...and the tag said "To our beautiful new daughter... we´re so happy to have you with us in our house..you´re one of us now...hope you enjoy christmas with us and your holiday in January" and that meant a lot to me.. 

2. My best friend called me to wish me happy christmas.... I miss him a lot..and it was quite possible the best present ever...infact I instantly cried when i heard his voice...but bare in mind i was still extremely emotional as i still hadnt been to bed yet...

1. I had my first heart to heart with my dad...which at the age of 18 I guess is kind of sad...but at the same time was extremely cool...sometimes it takes something rubbish to make things better..and i´d made him angry..shock..and I´m kind of always nasty to him and I guess we don´t always see eye to eye... but we kind of worked out that we do both love each other very much...we just have rubbish ways of showing it...and our relationship thats pretty much based on jokes and banter and being horrible to each other kind of got too much...and for me... to admit that to each other..and to tell each other that we do love each other on web cam on xmas day a million miles apart was definitely the best present I could have had.

(I´m not guna lie..the bikini came a close 2nd...its really nice...but dad just won by a slight margin)

 

so anyway once again I´ve left a massive blog...

and they´re getting soppier and soppier.. :S

I hope you all had a wonderful christmas...

god knows what new year is going to be like here...

No doubt I´ll leave you another 5 hour blog to let you all know...

i miss you all...

but my first mile stone was xmas..so its all going to be down hill from here!!

I love you guys xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx