Over the weekend, I got together with Amanda (the other future outbound to Chile), Pauli (the inbound from Chile), and Mariel (the inbound from Mexico) and we cooked some authentic Chilean cuisine. We were up until 3am on Friday night making cheese empanadas and pumpkin sopaipillas. On Saturday morning we all gathered in Canby for our first Rotary training since the Eastern Oregon trip in February. All of the future outbounds, current inbounds, rebounds, and country officers assosiated with Latin American countries (Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil) gathered around noon and everyone brought a prepared dish that was native to their certain country. Of course, Pauli, Amanda, and I brought our empanadas and sopaipillas. At the gathering, Amanda and I were introduced to a rebound that went to Chile named Becky and she told us lots of fun stories of her year abroad! At around 5:30pm, we had dinner with our parents. There was SO much food, and it was all so delicious!! I can already tell I'm going to gain a lot of weight while I'm abroad. Anyways, I passed on the option of the sleepover because I was so tired so I went home with my parents after dinner.
I still don't know where exactly I'll be living next year, or who my host family and host school will be, but I'm sure no matter what happens it will be great! I'm so excited, I just want it to hurry up and be August already. It's crazy that I'll be leaving in 4 months!
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
C-H-I-L-E!
GUESS WHO'S GOING TO CHILE?! Me! But I won't get ahead of myself. First, let me talk a little bit about the trip to Cove, Oregon (a tiny town east of La Grande).
Thursday: On Thursday morning, I got on the bus in Tualitin. In Troutdale (about an hour later), we split off into two different buses, separated by country officer. I was on the bus with all of the inbounds from and outbounds interested in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Austria, Denmark, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, France, and Italy. I spent the majority of my bus ride sitting by Pauli, the inbound from Chile. We stopped for lunch and then went roller skating in Pendleton. We finally arrived to Cove around 6 pm, had dinner, talked for a while about the plan for the next few days, then went to bed.
Friday: We woke up early on Friday for breakfast and the outbound candidates spent the entirety of the morning doing a simulation that was meant to represent some challenges we might face on our exchange. We met back up with the inbounds (who had spent the morning at a low-income elementary school in La Grande talking to the kids about their countries) for lunch and then headed out to the Oregon Trail Interactive Museum. Afterwards, we had dinner and then went to a basketball game at Cove High School. It was funny seeing everyone's reaction when a group of 90 kids walked into a gym to watch a basketball game played by a team who's school only has 114 students. We had a lot of fun, but unfortunately our enthusiastic cheering did not result in a win for Cove. We went back to the camp around 9 and talked about the plan for the next day. At around 10, we were allowed to go to bed.
Saturday (selection day!): We were woken early again on Saturday. We got all of our snow gear ready, ate a quick breakfast, and then loaded the buses and headed up to the mountain. Once we got there, everyone went and rented their equipment and began their lessons while I stayed behind and filled out my final ballot for country choices. I chose Chile as my first choice, and my four alternates were Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil. Due to my arm injury, I was unable to participate in the skiing or snowboarding, but luckily Bill (country officer of Chile and Denmark) and Barbara (country officer of Austria and Czech) were snowshoeing so I joined them along with one other outbound candidate, Sophie. We got about a mile away from the lodge before Sophie and Bill managed to get stuck in a creek and buried up to their waists in snow. I snowshoed back to the lodge to get help and everything turned out fine. Bill was lucky that he avoided hypothermia. At around 3, everyone met back up at the lodge and we left. We packed up camp in Cove and traveled to La Grande where we spent the night at a community center, participating in things such as laser tag and a haunted house. The country officers came at around 11 pm and gathered all of us. They lined up all of the outbound candidates and then whispered to their inbounds which 2 outbounds would be assigned to their country. Once the inbounds were told, they came up to the line of outbounds one at a time, circled around us, and then eventually hugged the two people that were selected to go to their country. It was a very long and exciting process, filled with tears of joy and lots of cheering.As the people slowly got selected, I was still left standing. Amanda and I ended up being the last two! At that point, we knew we had both gotten our first choice of Chile! We were so happy, all we could do was hug each other and hug Pauli and thank Bill. We danced for the rest of the night and went to bed very late. It was one of the best days of my life.
Sunday: We were supposed to be going home on Sunday, but due to weather conditions we decided it would be safer to stay another night. We packed up and headed back to our camp in Cove, where I spent the day relaxing, learning some Spanish from Pauli (I already know the basics, as I've been taking Spanish in school for 4 years), and then we all went out to the movie theater and watched Monuments Men. Later, we went out to dinner and then back to the camp. We went to bed early, which nobody protested. We were all extremely tired.
Monday: We spent Monday traveling. Amanda and I took turns sitting next to Pauli and speaking to her in Spanglish. She introduced us to some good Spanish music and taught us a few slang words used only in Chile. We arrived back in Tualitin in the afternoon and I said goodbye to all my new friends, knowing that I wouldn't see most of them again until the district conference in May.
Thursday: On Thursday morning, I got on the bus in Tualitin. In Troutdale (about an hour later), we split off into two different buses, separated by country officer. I was on the bus with all of the inbounds from and outbounds interested in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Austria, Denmark, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, France, and Italy. I spent the majority of my bus ride sitting by Pauli, the inbound from Chile. We stopped for lunch and then went roller skating in Pendleton. We finally arrived to Cove around 6 pm, had dinner, talked for a while about the plan for the next few days, then went to bed.
Friday: We woke up early on Friday for breakfast and the outbound candidates spent the entirety of the morning doing a simulation that was meant to represent some challenges we might face on our exchange. We met back up with the inbounds (who had spent the morning at a low-income elementary school in La Grande talking to the kids about their countries) for lunch and then headed out to the Oregon Trail Interactive Museum. Afterwards, we had dinner and then went to a basketball game at Cove High School. It was funny seeing everyone's reaction when a group of 90 kids walked into a gym to watch a basketball game played by a team who's school only has 114 students. We had a lot of fun, but unfortunately our enthusiastic cheering did not result in a win for Cove. We went back to the camp around 9 and talked about the plan for the next day. At around 10, we were allowed to go to bed.
Saturday (selection day!): We were woken early again on Saturday. We got all of our snow gear ready, ate a quick breakfast, and then loaded the buses and headed up to the mountain. Once we got there, everyone went and rented their equipment and began their lessons while I stayed behind and filled out my final ballot for country choices. I chose Chile as my first choice, and my four alternates were Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil. Due to my arm injury, I was unable to participate in the skiing or snowboarding, but luckily Bill (country officer of Chile and Denmark) and Barbara (country officer of Austria and Czech) were snowshoeing so I joined them along with one other outbound candidate, Sophie. We got about a mile away from the lodge before Sophie and Bill managed to get stuck in a creek and buried up to their waists in snow. I snowshoed back to the lodge to get help and everything turned out fine. Bill was lucky that he avoided hypothermia. At around 3, everyone met back up at the lodge and we left. We packed up camp in Cove and traveled to La Grande where we spent the night at a community center, participating in things such as laser tag and a haunted house. The country officers came at around 11 pm and gathered all of us. They lined up all of the outbound candidates and then whispered to their inbounds which 2 outbounds would be assigned to their country. Once the inbounds were told, they came up to the line of outbounds one at a time, circled around us, and then eventually hugged the two people that were selected to go to their country. It was a very long and exciting process, filled with tears of joy and lots of cheering.As the people slowly got selected, I was still left standing. Amanda and I ended up being the last two! At that point, we knew we had both gotten our first choice of Chile! We were so happy, all we could do was hug each other and hug Pauli and thank Bill. We danced for the rest of the night and went to bed very late. It was one of the best days of my life.
Sunday: We were supposed to be going home on Sunday, but due to weather conditions we decided it would be safer to stay another night. We packed up and headed back to our camp in Cove, where I spent the day relaxing, learning some Spanish from Pauli (I already know the basics, as I've been taking Spanish in school for 4 years), and then we all went out to the movie theater and watched Monuments Men. Later, we went out to dinner and then back to the camp. We went to bed early, which nobody protested. We were all extremely tired.
Monday: We spent Monday traveling. Amanda and I took turns sitting next to Pauli and speaking to her in Spanglish. She introduced us to some good Spanish music and taught us a few slang words used only in Chile. We arrived back in Tualitin in the afternoon and I said goodbye to all my new friends, knowing that I wouldn't see most of them again until the district conference in May.
(Amanda, Pauli, and me! The Chileans)
(We were a big group!)
(Me and Sophie taking a break. Snowshoeing is hard!!)
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
The Night Before Eastern Oregon
February 6th seemed so far away back in September when I was selected to participate in this exchange. Well the big day has (almost!) finally come... The day I leave for Eastern Oregon to be assigned a country. Unfortunately, I won't be able to ski and snowboard with the rest of the inbounds/outbound candidates due to a recently broken arm (ironically, caused by a snowboard accident), but I will be snowshoeing instead. I will leave Portland tomorrow morning at 7 am and I will return home on Sunday knowing which country I will be living in next year. I'm beyond excited. Every time someone finds out that I'm going to an exchange student, their first question is "where are you going?" Well, after this weekend I will be able to answer. At this point I'm really leaning towards Chile. I've been talking a lot to Gabi, the current outbound in Chile. She has made me fall in love with the country. South America definitely seems like the place for me.
Well it's getting late and I have an EARLY start tomorrow (5 am), so I will finish off this entry. I will be sure to write again on Sunday or Monday and explain the trip in detail.
Well it's getting late and I have an EARLY start tomorrow (5 am), so I will finish off this entry. I will be sure to write again on Sunday or Monday and explain the trip in detail.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
The Country Fair!
Wow! Last weekend was a game-changer. I arrived to Salem around 5 pm with two other Lincoln kids and we were checked in and shown to our designated cabins. We completed our registration, got fitted for rotary blazers, and had our photos taken for our business cards. After some preliminary welcomes, we headed down to the dining hall for dinner. Later that night we had a chance to talk with different youth exchange officers, and I spent my time with South American YEOs. I learned a lot about South America and had pretty much decided it was where I wanted to spend my junior year. We were sent to bed around 11:30 and woken bright and early the next morning. We ate breakfast and then spent all day in different trainings. Finally around 7pm, the moment we had all been waiting for had arrived... The Country Fair! All of the current inbounds and rebounds had arrived to Salem earlier in the day and set up tables in the gym displaying photos, foods, flags, and other items that represented their country. We had about two hours to go around and talk to as many countries as we could. I immediately went over to talk to the rebound and inbound from Chile. I looked at photos and heard stories and in that moment I fell in love with the country. After spending over 20 minutes at the Chilean table, I decided to keep moving. Every Latin America country seemed perfect. I was dead set on going there... until I talked to some rebounds from India! It sounded like so much fun. I went to bed confused and conflicted. I woke up in the morning and had to select my #1 choice as well as 4 alternates. These choices didn't mean anything; they were just used so that the YEOs could get a feel for who wanted to go to their countries. I selected Chile as my #1 and then India, Ecuador, Argentina and Peru as my alternates. I still don't know where I want to go, but I will find out in 3 weeks!!! I'll check in later.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Anticipation
In a week from today I will have to select my top 5 choices of countries I want to complete my exchange in. Now, this list ins't a very important list as I can always go back and change it in February. In five days my mom will pick me up from school at 3:20 and drive me to Salem (about an hour away) for the first official district meeting! I'm so looking forward to getting to know everyone as well as learning about all of the different countries. We will attend this event called the country fair, where all of the current inbounds talk about their home country and try to persuade us to go there. We also get to meet with all the country officers. At the moment I am definitely leaning towards a South American country (Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Peru...) or possibly Denmark, but as all of the current outbounds keep telling us on our facebook group: keep an open mind and push yourself to try exactly the opposite of what you think you want. Well, I don't really know where I'll end up, but for now I'll do as they say and keep my options open.
PS: 34 days until I'm assigned a country!!
PS: 34 days until I'm assigned a country!!
Friday, December 6, 2013
Early Meetings
After I was selected as a future outbound (or as they like to call me: an outbound candidate), I was invited to attend weekly Rotary club meetings. They’re actually really fun, even though almost everyone is at least four times my age! We talk about community service as well as international issues. Everyone there likes to talk to me and the other outbound candidate, Henry. They’re first question is always “where are you going?” Sadly, I won’t know where I’m going until February, which feels like an eternity away. In Mid-October, I attended a meeting for all of the students in my district… District 5100. There are about 30 other students in District 5100, which covers all of Northern Oregon and Southern Washington (see photo). At this meeting, we learned how to fill out our 20 page long applications that were to be due by the end of the month. This meeting was strictly informative, so not much socializing went on between the future outbounds. After going home, I began to work on my application. I didn’t finish for a few weeks, but after turning it in I was scheduled an in-home orientation. In late November, a country officer (a Rotarian who is in-charge of assigning students to their countries) came to my home to talk to discuss the ins and outs of the program with me and my parents. I learned lots and it made me even more excited for my exchange. I’ve been immersing myself in blogs of current outbounds, specifically the blog of the girl from Sherwood in Argentina (http://cosetteadamson.tumblr.com) and the girl from Sandy in Finland (http://jennifersrotaryexchange.blogspot.fi). I can hardly wait until January, when I get to learn more about all the countries and meet all of the future outbounds and current inbounds (the students from other countries that are currently in the US) of District 5100.
Getting Selected
I guess I’ll start by introducing myself. My name is Kira McNeil, and I currently live in Portland, Oregon. I am a sophomore at Lincoln High School. I am what is considered an “outbound candidate” for the Rotary Club’s International Youth Exchange, meaning I have been accepted by my local Rotary Club to be sponsored as an exchange student for my junior year. To get to the position that I’m in now, a few things had to happen. First, my Spanish teacher handed out little half-sheets of paper on the second day of school inviting all sophomores interested in a foreign exchange to attend an informational meeting in October. Living abroad has always been a dream of mine, so of course I immediately ran home and begged my parents to take me to the meeting. They were hesitant at first, but after hours of pleading, my mom agreed it would be okay for me to hear more about the program. I counted down the days to the meeting, and it finally came. In the meeting we learned that in order to be an exchange student we would have to fill out an application and then go through an interview. My local club (Portland Pearl Rotary) only accepts one to two students every year. This freaked me out, considering there were probably 15 other students at the meeting. After getting home, I begged my parents for hours for permission to apply and set up an interview. Fortunately, they (reluctantly) agreed. I emailed in my application and an interview was set up. I walked into the interview with my mom and dad, but the board of 3 Rotarians immediately pulled me away from them and began questioning me. Apparently I impressed them, because a few days later they called me to tell me I was selected!!! I was ecstatic, to say the least.
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