Grand Rapids!

A couple weeks ago I went to my very last Rotary conference as an outbound! It was in Grand Rapids, Michigan on the campus of Calvin College. With 1,300 people involved with Rotary, (volunteers, parents, rebounds, inbounds, outbounds, and Rotarians) all in one place for 4 days, it was bound to be a good time. On Wednesday (July 10th) we left Ironwood at 5 in the morning and Dad dropped Lubiana and I off in Waupaca. We stayed the night at one of my outbound friend's house for the night. We went to see Despicable Me 2 and then went out for some really good pizza. 

Sarah Bauer and I on the bus :)

On Thursday morning we got up early again and met up with the bus at 5:30. That was just the start of the 10 hour bus ride. :) I spent it sleeping a little, but mostly talking with my amazing exchange friends! It was lots of fun, but towards the end, I really just wanted to be there. 

We got there around 6; just in time for dinner. We got registered and then went and ate. We were supposed to go to an orientation too, but we missed it. After dinner, we had time to just hang out. Then later, we had a dance! Yay for Rotary parties!

Then on Friday we had a bunch of meetings and orientations. The opening ceremony was pretty cool. All 1,300 people went in the auditorium and the Outbounds (me!) walked in in a group with their host country's flag. There were 10 of us going to Chile. We had several general sessions throughout the week and the speakers were phenomenal. The best meeting we had was with the Inbounds and Outbounds. I met a bunch of inbounds from Chile and even a girl that's from Curicó! I was pretty excited! The guy in charge would give the Inbounds a topic (like taxis or whatever) and then they would elaborate on it. The whole hour all the Inbounds were yelling at each other in Spanish. It was fun and a glimpse of how school will be in Chile! Haha. We had another dance that night or we could go swimming in the Olympic sized pool. My friends and I opted for just the dancing. It was a fun night.

On Saturday we had more meetings, a yummy dinner outside, and the greatly anticipated PIN EXCHANGE!! For those of you who aren't familiar with Rotary exchange students, you should know that we pretty much live to have a ridiculous amount of pins on our blazers. Haha. A lot of people make/order pins representing their country or region to trade with other students. I made 170-ish pins out of driftwood that said "Lake Superior USA" on them. I came back from the conference with lots of pins to put on my blazer!

Just a bit different from the picture from the last post :)

After the pin exchange, everyone crowded into the auditorium for the talent show. The students in it had to audition for it and it was absolutely amazing. There was some real talent there! Including a ton of incredible pianists. Then, we headed off to yet another dance. Sarah, Micah, and I danced for the first hour or so and then talked for a while. And then went back for the last 30 minutes.

On Saturday night after the dance we went back to our dorms and then had a 6220 district party in the basement of the dorms. There was a group of 30 or so of us and we just spent the night talking, laughing, and playing games. It was nice to hang out with everyone. I don't know what it is about Rotary, but the people I've become friends with seem like I've known them all my life. Almost all of us pulled an all-nighter. Which I kinda regretted when I had to ride to Minneapolis the next day... But it was fun. At about 5:30 we went out on the roof and watched the sun rise.

At 6:00 we tried going to eat breakfast but they weren't open yet, so we went and played some beach volleyball. South America vs. The World. S.A. lost sadly, but it was a fun game anyways.

Hannah, Sarah, me, and Micah on the roof

Micah and I <3

Micah, Sarah, and I trying to take a good picture with a timer. Baha

Part of the all-nighter group early in the morning

My visa has been approved by the Chilean embassy in Chicago as of Wednesday! So in a few days Dad and I will drive down there to make a personal appearance. Then we can make a plane reservation! I cannot wait to know when I'm leaving! I'm sick of people asking me "when are you leaving for Chile?" and having to reply "oh, just sometime within the next 3 or 4 weeks." It's almost go time! By August 5th or 6th I should know my departure date. I'll let you guys know!

Exchange isn't a year in your life, it's your life in a year

¡Hola!

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be an exchange student. Six of my siblings have gone on exchanges and so it was just a matter of time before it was my turn. And that time has arrived! In October I submitted the long and tedious application that would start my adventure. Part of that was putting a list of countries available in order of preference. Then I had to wait a nerve-wracking couple of months for my country assignment. On January 25th I got the news that I am going to CHILE! I was beyond excited. I will be learning Spanish which is nice because I have 2 years of it. My reading skills are better than my speaking, but being in the culture 24/7 will make me pick it up quickly.

The Chilean Flag!
¡Viva Chile!







In April I started getting friend requests on Facebook from people from Curicó, Chile! Curicó is a city in the Maule region and is about 110 miles south of Santiago. It has 120,000 people which will be a lot different from Ironwood's 5,400. I'll be in Rotary district 4340. 

I'll spend my year with two different host families. My first is the Duarte family. Sergio (dad), Debora (mother), Sergio (age 17), Felipe (12), and Vicente (10). While I'm in Chile, Sergio will be on his exchange to Germany so I don't think I'll ever get to meet him in person. I've been talking to my host dad and they seem like the perfect family for me. I'm very excited. I haven't heard too much about my second one yet, but I know I'll have two. This is so I get a perspective on how two different families live.

My school will be Colegio San Ramon Nonato. I don't know much about it yet... I'll wear a uniform though! I'm kinda secretly excited. Haha. Mostly because it'll help me fit in a bit more. Maybe? Being a tall, white, blonde, American in Chile won't make me stand out, will it?

I've got my passport and all of my paperwork is now in for my visa. It's being processed at the Chilean Embassy in Chicago. They'll contact me and then plane reservations can be made! Whoo hooo! I'll leave sometime after August 15th. I could be leaving in as few as 40 days! Crazy!

And here's a couple of pictures from the last Rotary conference. I went to one in October, February, and will go to one next week (July). We have a lot of meetings about culture shock and how to deal with situations we'll encounter. I'm in a group called the Outbounds (because we're BOUND for OUT of the country! haha). There are 24 of us.

And here's me in my Rotary blazer. We all buy blazers and then we exchange pins with other exchange students we meet. It's pretty cool. By the end of my year it'll be covered! And when I go on the airplane down to Chile I'll wear it. It'll mark me as a poor little foreigner who needs help! 




Well, that's all for now. I'll try to keep this blog updated with all of my adventures! Questions and comments are welcome!

¡Hasta luego, amigos!

Bienvenido a mi blog!

¡Hola! 

Hello everyone! My name is Christy Moore and I live in Ironwood, Michigan. I am a Rotary student from District 6220. I will be spending my junior year of high school as a foreign exchange student in CHILE!

A little bit about myself: I'm the youngest of 8 kids, I've lived in Ironwood my whole life, I'm 16, I LOVE my family and friends, I love going to church, I play tennis, basketball, and run, I play the alto saxophone and piano, and I love cooking and baking.

While I'm in Chile I'll try to keep this blog updated with all of my experiences, funny language problems, and pictures.

Thanks for following me on my exchange! Enjoy!

¡Adiós!