Sorry for the absence (again) but I've been very busy over the past couple weeks, mostly with events that will be in the blog for the next half dozen entries. First though, I'm going back to the first weekend that I met my fellow exchange students at the international university in Augsburg.
There is no group dynamic like a bunch of exchange students. I've been on sports teams, clubs, Student councils, and band trips, but there is really nothing like the first time that a Group of People from different countries, with different languages, interests, likes, dislikes, and motivations, stand in a room and realise that all of these other people are in the exact same situation. No one will understand what is going on better than those people who are with you at this moment. Regardless of what you have done in the past, these are the people who will become a second family to you while you are on exchange. It's a situation that can never be found amongst any other large group of people, certainly not over the course of 30 hours. There is really something inexplicable about it. As I write this, one of the students himself is on the other side of the room. Newson Cruz, a student from Brazil, is the other Exchange Student who goes to my Rotary Club in Freising, and I'm sure you'll hear his name in the future.
In Europe, it is fairly uncommon for Europeans to travel to other European counties on Rotary Exchange, so it is not surprising that we have no Rotary Exchange students in the district from Europe. The vast majority of the students come from the Americas, with Brazil and Mexico being the most heavily represented countries. There are also exchange students from Taiwan, Thailand, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Peru, the US, and of course Canada. Shoutout to Christina Hertner for being my fellow Canadian on Exchange here. There are also 2 students from Texas and one guy from Sweden here on private exchange, and its really awesome having those guys around as well. Here are some photos from the weekend.
The Americans and Canadians (minus Taylor from Oregon)
Here is a group photo of all of us with our flags
As always, if you have comments, suggestions, or recommendations, post it in the comments. Next time, an update on school...
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