Impression of an Exchange
My name is Moritz. I was an exchange student from Switzerland and spend a wonderful year with great hostfamilies in Folsom and El Dorado Hills in 07/08, hosted by the Rotary club of Folsom (evening). I have learned, experienced and seen things in this year that I will remember and profit from for the rest of my life. Next to the language in which I became fluent, I felt fully adopted to three different families, a beautiful, safe, comfortable, and confident feeling that is probably hard to imagine unless you experienced it yourself! I had a whole new circle of friends and by the end of the year I felt more like a Californian than anything else. I even became more comfortable speaking English than my own mother language!
One of our many trips Rotary organized for us was the District Conference in South Lake Tahoe. After our Flag Presentation the audience came up with the wish that we all say what our favorite experience was so far. Luckily I was on the very end of the line because this really was a challenging question. My families already did so much with me, I’ve been in Eugene, Oregon at a Football game, several times in San Francisco, I’ve been to Pismo, Santa Barbara, LA. etc. How am I supposed to choose one over the other?Well I couldn’t, because as wonderful as these trips were, each one is just a small piece of it. Everything together, not as a thing but as a feeling, this would be the right answer. Now the problem was to put this into words. It’s still hard. I already said some of it in the paragraph before. It is to feel home in a country you’ve never been before, with strangers in the same house you’ve never seen before, strangers to each other who will become family. People that care for you as you were their son, to know and feel that uncommitted people put an immense effort into showing you around and giving you a great time. This is my greatest experience and I have it every day from the moment I get up till I go back to sleep.
Thank you California for your hospitality
Thank you Rotary
And especially thank you the Gagliardis, the Glueckerts and the Holtons
