by Loay Abdelnaby, Egypt 05-06
hosted in Paso Robles, CA
Well i can’t believe how amazing my year was. The year was perfect. It was not just one year, it is for me even over 10 years. The year started with being chosen one of the Egyptian representatives in the US and all the orientations and all AFS egypt great efforts…they really worked hard with us to make us ready for being young leaders and ambassadors. Finally we started our actual year ……
Meeting with my nice host family in the US—well, it was actually kind of a normal meeting! I got home and they showed me my nice room. I slept all the night.
My english wan’t that good to help me through big conversations. It was very hard for me. But i was lucky because my host mom was a teacher of english as a second language, so she helped me so much. I found my english improving in great speed. Not only did my host mom help in my learning english, she also helped me understand the American culture. And the rest i got from my host dad and my school and by myself. she was a great mother.
I did have some hard times with my host family, even though my host family was great and so i always wanted to do my best for them. But we had some troubles during the year especially in the 2nd and 3rd month. It was hard understanding each others cultural differences. In my view, the cultures are about 90% different from each other.
I can give a picture about my experience and how hard it was by colors:
first 3 months was BLACK! The 4th,5th, 6th months were GRAY! The 7th, 8th,9th, were LIGHT GRAY! And the 10th,11th months were ALMOST WHITE!
That is a simple picture about what I felt through the good and hard times!
by Aludia Grace Nola, Philippines 06-07
Florence, SC
Bahamas…… With the help of our Local Coordinator/Regional Director, Melissa Gulledge, we were able to go on a cruise. A cruise that I and all the other exchange students who went will remember forever…
We were on board the Carnival Fun Ship Sensation on Sunday (Easter). And I was like at home because I met a lot of ‘kabayan’ (Pinoy/Filipinos). We met a lot of other students from all over the world and learned a lot in our conversations with them. We saw more of the world as we went to Nassau and Freeport. And of course the awesome snorkeling wouldn’t be forgotten from the list of great activities we did. We had such a great time. The Bahamas is truly a wonderful place and you’ll feel closer to nature through such excursions. God has blessed us on our trip with beautiful weather and wonderful experiences together. If Disney helped us tighten the bond, we had the Bahamas to help us get closer and have fun all the way.
Our stay here in the United States as exchange students wouldn’t have been so great without our host families and of course the support, care and fun our Local Coordinator gives us. Truly SC students are blessed to have her as our LC… RocK oN!!!
Photo: (Counterclockwise) Aludia (Philippines), Chaiyawut (Thailand), Bright (Ghana), Mariya (Ukraine), Leira (Russia), Berkay (Turkey), Yurike (Indonesia), Lisa (Germany), Franziska (Germany), Amon (Philippines)
A poem by Ms Shreya Parikh, 06-07
Ahmedabad, India to Ann Arbor, MI
Violence
The shattering of a glass, the blast of the bomb,
The horrors of fear killing people’s minds
The burning of flesh, the spills of blood,
The blades of hunger tearing down the belly.
Why is a teenage mind, a full bloomed flower
So attracted to violence
Like an iron to the magnet, like a sunflower to the sun
Why, why is my mind so unstable like a radioactive atom?
Emitting negations all over for an unachiveable purpose.
The passion in my heart, like a bird in the cage
Never learnt to fly, never learnt the directions
It wants to be free and shine itself
But where to shine it does not know.
The greed for fame, my anger holds:
Blinded by its blackness
Held like a puppet in its hands
Jumping around under its brainwashing influence
I am now violent, my life charged with sins
But I blame on those caged birds
Who never learnt to fly, never learnt the directions
Dreaming to be free and touch the sky.
Cut me and the blood will not flow,
Burn me and there will be no smell
They call me a homosapien
But where is that sap of love within me
Where is the human in me?
Deskinned to the core
Where is the heart?
Still restless to satisfy the thirst of questions
Caught in the storms of life.
To all the laughs I laughed, to all smiles I smiled
To all the gentle words I said
Fake, artificial
Just to cover the ugly me
Who told you you know me
I am still a mystery to myself
Living two different lives every moment
A slave to decieved impressions
This is all a slow poison
Eating me slowly, the big gulp coming soon
And when I am gone
Who will remember me
No friends of mine
All foes I have.
Who has ever loved me?
To fill me with those emotions
Evoking the human in me
All I ask is for acceptance
Before I explode
I was once a human, not a stone
Even rocks have melted that way.
By Aludia Grace Nola, 06-07
Philippines to Florence, SC
What’s come to amaze me as months pass by and I mingle with other foreign exchange students and Americans, is how diverse every country and every culture is. I come from the Philippines, and, as most Asian countries are, our culture is highly conservative.
Other students and I had to undergo changes in order to cope with the very different culture of Americans. For example, the way you deliver or say something is very different; body movements and mannerisms have to change in order to avoid being misinterpreted. And as my Local Coordinator said, we might not experience or realize how much we changed now, but sooner or later we’ll find out for ourselves that we are no longer the same person as we were before staying here in the States. And honestly, even though I haven’t left yet I already feel the changes in me. Well, physically I really changed, gaining more than twenty pounds (hahaha). But it wasn’t just the physical change that really thrilled or rather amazed me but the emotional and the spiritual change. And there is only one thing I don’t want to rub off on me while here and that’s the famous talking back to your elders thing!
Just this morning in my Physics class, one of my classmates asked me if I’m ready to go home. And as always my answer is NO. Which is the truth. But as I sit here and think about it, I finally realize that maybe in my mind I really don’t want to go back but a part of me says I can’t wait. I don’t know why but I really miss home. And I really miss food a lot lot lot and I miss my parents so much and of course school activities that suit me well.
The past months have been really fun. I have fun with my family, my friends, but most especially with the other exchange students and my Local Coordinator.
But now we’re really looking forward to prom. The nine or so exchange students from my school decided to invite the other exchange students from other schools so we can enjoy each other’s company and at the same time have fun in a once in a lifetime prom here in the US.
So far, everything’s quite fine here and though I want to stay here I also want to go home. But whatever… I’ll just make the most out of my experience here. And whatever I did here, good or bad, mistake or not, I have no regrets ‘cause it’s a part of me and a part of who I am and it’s a part of the experience of a lifetime.
To all the other exchange students: have fun and enjoy the next few weeks of our stay here. And of course thanks to our Local Coordinators. They made this year in the US so much fun and so cool and awesome. To our Host Families and to our Host Schools (West Florence High School) thank you for giving us a chance to have a wonderful stay here!
by Isslam Kamel, 05-06, Egypt To Rio Vista, CA
Before I went on my exchange experience, I was put into the position of being a leader many times. I can’t say that I liked it so much. You know, being a leader isn’t an easy job, even if it’s just leading a small group of kids for an hour. I’ve always thought that I didn’t have the right qualities to be a good leader. I felt that I lacked something. Then, when I went on my year in the USA, I was given the big responsibility of being a young ambassador of my country. Then, when I got back I noticed that I became a good leader. Now, I volunteer to be a leader in anything. I discovered that what I was lacking wasn’t good leadership skills. What I was lacking was the courage to be one. I’ve gained so much courage and so many skills during my year that made me courageous enough to lead and start anything that I think will do good. I’ve actually noticed that we, YES students, have something special— courage and understanding of opinions different from our own. These are great and important qualities for any leader. There are a lot of people out there who are waiting for a leader to lead them to anything that would improve their community. So, why don’t we be that leader that they are waiting for? I think that we have been back for enough time that we should now be able to use our skills. So, go out there and show them that we can be the leaders for today. And finally “Be the change you want to see in the world.” -Gandhi, India
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