Szia, sziaaaaa!

Sorry about not posting for the past few months, nothing too exciting happened in regards to exchange. And then about 4 days ago, that changed and so much started happening so quickly. Two days before my departure, I had a going away party with all my friends, my family and a few Rotarians from my club. It was an absolutely wonderful day, and I'll never forget it. It made me realize how much I am going to miss home and how much I had been taking everything for granted. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to think about that because 2 days later I was hopping on a plane to Hungary. It was hard to say goodbye, and I miss my family and my home so much more than I thought I would. This homesickness part is not fun. But, this is going to be a very positive experience in my life.

The traveling part went down without a hitch, a lot of running around from one plane to another but not a problem other than that. I got to Budapest at 2:15 PM on Wednesday, August 22nd (22 hours after I had left with the time difference). My host mom, host dad and my oldest host brother were there to meet me. They brought me a cute little flower and we were on our way. One thing about Hungary at this time of year: it's really hot. But it's a nice change to finally feel like I'm experiencing summer!  So we left the airport and went to IKEA in Budapest. Everything is exactly the same only I can't understand anything on the signs! After that, we drove around Budapest for a bit, and I got to see some of the city, which is absolutely beautiful. I think they saw that I was very tired and so we drove down to Szeged. I was exhausted so I slept the entire way. We got home at around 9PM, I unpacked and ate and then I went to sleep again and slept for a good 11 hours!

My host family is pretty great. My host mom (Szusie) and the oldest host brother (Richie), speak English so I've been able to communicate with them. My host dad (Szoly) and smaller brothers don't speak English. I think it's a good balance because I can communicate but still have motivation to learn Hungarian. Motivation. I need a lot of that. Hungarian is notttt for the weak. It's a super hard language and when they speak it sounds like it's all one continuous word. My host mom gave me a couple of kid's books with some basic words in them to start learning. It'll take a while but I'll get there! It's a little strange being in a house full of boys, something I'm not used to! But they're a lot of fun, and we're becoming good friends :)

The day after I got here, we stayed inside all day because I was still super jetlagged and it was seriously too hot to go outside. I spent some time with the family, we watched Home Alone with English subtitles and Benny, the youngest in the house, got over his shyness and we played with his train set. Today, my host mom and I went across the bridge to Szeged (we live in Ujszeged which translates to 'New Szeged') and we went to a mall and to buy a bathing suit for me. After that, I met the Australian on exchange here, Matthew, and he took me to walk around Szeged. We walked around, got some pizza which was super good and then we came back home. Using transit here is really nerve-wracking because sometimes the bus drivers will ask questions and I don't know what they're saying and ahhh.

But hey, it's a part of it.

I'll update soon!

Daniela

Hey everyone! So this is the blog that I'll use to update on all the happenings of the next year or so of my life because.....I'll be living in Hungary! Now, time for a story.

It was a cold October day in 2011 when she walked out of the interview with the Rotarians praying that they would give her the chance. It had been a long time coming, 2 years of wanting and striving for the opportunity of a lifetime. The next day, the Rotary Club of Calgary South changed her life forever....they chose to sponsor her for the 2012-2013 Rotary Youth Exchange year.

The end.

Actually, the beginning. That's where it all really began.

After that call, it was all anticipation and waiting. Filling out forms and getting paperwork ready. Then, after the new year, everything started going really fast. In late January, we had our first Outbound orientation, where I got to meet all the other kids who will be going on exchange. It was so much fun and really reassuring that I was meeting people who would be going through the ups and downs with me, even if we were spread out all over the world. 2 days later, we found out our countries. It went a little like this:

*hangs up phone*
Mom: So....where to???
Me:...Hungary....
Mom: That's in Europe?
Me:Um...this is awkward...I think so?

*after a couple of hours on google*

Me: YEAH IT'S IN EUROPE AND LOOK AT THE FOOD AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL AND EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE A CASTLE AND THE LANGUAGE LOL GOOD LUCK WITH THAT BUT DID I MENTION THE FOOD.

 Om nom nom

So yeah. Even though it was the last place I expected, it's going to be my new home! I'm absolutely psyched to be going to a place with so much beauty and history...and amazing food. The language is going to be SO difficult to learn though...le sad.

Then came the March Weekend. It was an intense 3 days with the outbounds and inbounds where we learned so much about our exchange. We talked about everything and anything that was our exchange, starting with the immediate paperwork and all that fun stuff and ending with anything that could possibly help us while we were abroad. Again, it was amazing to spend time with everyone else. :)

Last week, I received the first direct contact from Hungary! My first host mom e-mailed me and told me that I'll be living in Szeged, in eastern Hungary. She told me a little bit about them and how they will be my first host family. They have a beautiful family with 3 boys! That's gonna be a crazy change from my family where it's just my sister and I, but I'm readyyyy. More to come about them!

Szeged

And today was our final outbound orientation. We got our red blazers which is the bomb dot com. It's the last time I'll see some of the other outbounds before we all leave to our corners of the globe, and I wish them all the best of luck! I'll be leaving in 3-4 months and needless to say I'm scared out of my pants. But the overbearing excitement and anticipation is bigger than the fright and I'm just a ball of emotions. It's the most exhilarating, terrifying, overwhelming feeling ever.

I hope to be frequently updating, not only to let everyone who wants to know about my exchange in on that little piece of my life, but so I can have something to look back at when I come home.

- Daniela :)