USA EXCHANGE. OUR EXPERIENCE. Mariona E. (1r batx B)

A DREAM COME TRUE     

It all began one Saturday night when twelve students, eleven girls and one only boy, were travelling by plane to go to an amazing country, the United States of America. Fortunately, I can say that I was one of these students and this is my own story.

All of us had been accepted in the first exchange program with an american school, Our lady of Good Counsel. This had never been done before so we were very excited to go to America and meet our exchange student.

When we landed at the airport of Dulles we passed immigration and security and we met our host sister. Lizzy, my exchange student, hugged me and introduced me to her parents, John and Mary. In a few seconds everybody had met their family and we left the airport to go to our houses.  

During the first moments with my new family was so nervous, but then I calmed down and I asked so many questions. Finally we arrived at home and I couldn’t believe my eyes, the house was enormous, and her father had decorated it for Halloween. I was a little bit hungry so they offered me a delicious meal before going to sleep.Then,I gave them some catalan gifts like a Catalonia’s history book and a “Gaudi dragon”. They were so happy with them and after that we went to sleep.

On Sunday, I woke up and realized that I was in the states, it wasn’t a dream.  That morning we had breakfast and then, John, Lizzy and I, went to get pumkins for Halloween! 

At three o’clock we had a barbacue at Julia’s house, Núria’s exchange student, with all the families of the exchange program. Everybody talked about their family and we had a really good time together. 

In the evening Mary and Lizzy took me to visit Washington monuments in the night because it is beautiful. We saw the Capitol, the National monument, Lincoln, Jefferson and Marthin Luther King monuments and many commemorative sculptures of the Vietnam and Iraq wars. Finally, we saw the White House and then we went back home.

The next day we finally went to the amazing Our Lady of Good Counsel High School. It was awesome, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw all of the huge corridors and all of the classrooms. Everybody was so friendly and polite, and they were so thrilled with our stay.

At first, we visited the whole school and its football and soccer fields, and then we played an orientation game that consisted of finding different places.

After two hours, we met with our American girls and we went to the last two hours of their classes. I went to Spanish and Maths. The classes are so different than here, they can take off their shoes and go to the bathroom whenever they want. I think there’s more freedom but at the same time they have more respect among all of them. In the middle of the Spanish class we went to pick up something for lunch. They have five different menus to choose from and everything was delicious. After Maths I went with some of the other girls to buy an ice-cream because Lizzy had a math class review. When we finally left the school we came back home and we got ready to go another time to the school because Lizzy had a ceremony because she had been awarded with The National Honors Society. Next, we went to get frozen yogurt with one of the Lizzy’s friends, Megan.

On Tuesday, we took a school bus and all the catalan people went to visit the Great falls of Potomac, Maryland. I liked the fall colours and the squirrels so much, there were a lot of them! In the afternoon we stayed at home. We watched the television and Lizzy showed me her yearbook.

On Wednesday, we took the metro to go to Pentagon City. There, we stayed in a big Mall, where we could shop and eat lunch there. After that, we took the subway again and went to Union Station. There were a lot of shops but there weren’t any restaurants. We could buy some t-shirts and souvenirs, however we didn’t have enough time because we had to come back to school. In the afternoon everybody started to do their extracurricular activities. Some of the girls play soccer, do theatre or dance. There are a lot of teams and activities in Good Counsel. Lizzy plays softball but the season doesn’t start until March. We went to buy some accessories for Halloween and I bought vampire teeth because I wanted to be a vampire.

 

On Thursday, we went to visit Washington DC, the capital of the states. At first, we met at Good Counsel and we were so happy because some of the American girls; Maddie, Marie and Maggie came with us that day. We caught a school bus in the high school and after that we took the metro to the center of the city. We decided to go to two important museums of the Smithsonian Institution. 

At first, we went to the National Air and Space Museum. It was fantastic and we could see a lot of spacing artifacts and all of their history. Then , we went to the National museum of Natural History and we were so excited because it is the museum from the movie " A Night at the Museum 2". We liked it so much because there were a lot of galleries and different animals to see. We also saw the Hope Diamond, one of the biggest diamonds in the world. After visiting both museums we ate our bag lunches from Good Counsel. To finish the trip, we went to the Washington  Monument, it was so tall and awesome. We saw the Lincoln monument and the White house but from far away because we did not have enough time to see the rest of the monuments, like Martin Luther King, Jefferson, etc, so I was so happy to had gone before with Mary and Lizzy.  When we came back to school, Lizzy and I went home. Then, we walked around her neighborhood and she showed me her Elementary school.

On Friday, we stayed all  day at school and we had been introduced to the entire school in a morning assembly by our exchange student. All the students and faculty members attended the meeting. It was a little bit embarrassing but funny because the theatre group performed to announce the differents plays that they’re going to do the whole year. Later, we went to the rest of the classes with our american student. At night, some of us went to Field of Screams, which is a place where people go and have terrifying moments. We enjoyed it a lot there and it wasn’t scary for me.

The next day I started my best two days in America because I went to New York with Mary and Lizzy, by car. We drove four hours and, when we arrived, we checked into a hotel called The Lucerne. Later, we bought a hot dog, which is a common thing there, and then quickly took the subway to go to Times Square. When I saw all the biuldings, lights and people I was over the moon because it was like a movie. We went to different stores: Forever XXI, Disney, M&m’s world,etc. We had dinner at a busy and fancy restaurant and then we went to see the Lion King musical. When they told me that we were going to see it I couldn’t believe it because it is one of my favorite movies and I think it has the best soundtrack ever, so when I realized that I had the opportunity to make one of my dreams come true I burst into tears. Moreover, they got free tickets because Mary’s brother has contacts. So, we went to watch it and when I saw the first scene with all the animals singing together I had goosebumps. I enjoyed all the songs a lot and I was so happy because I understood the whole play.  After that, we walked around the streets and went back to the hotel.   

On Sunday, we checked out and went to visit the Top of the rock, where I had the opportunity to see all the city from the sky. Later, they brought me to meet the other students that went to New York that day and I spent the whole day with them. We saw the Statue of Liberty from far away, we visited the National September 11 memorial, and finally we went to Times Square. At seven o’clock we caught a bus to come back because hurricane Sandy was coming.

The next two days we were at home due to the hurricane. Fortunately, we didn’t have strong weather compared with other places, and we could go out on Tuesday. Those two days we spent a lot of time with our families and we had a good time. On Tuesday afternoon, we went to the cinema and Mary showed me her office. She’s an attorney. Later, we ate pizza at a nice restaurant.  

On Wednesday all of us met again at school and all the students, catalan and american, went to our last excursion. We visited the aquarium of Baltimore and we enjoyed it a lot because there were so many types of animals. 

That day was very special because it was Halloween and, at night, we went to a Hallowen party. Everybody wore a custome and we went Trick or Treating and people gave us candy! Later, we went back to the house and we danced, talked, played some games and enjoyed our last minutes with everyone.

The last day of this story started with a cold and grey day of Thursday. We stayed the whole day at school and everybody was so sad because in a few hours we were going to leave that amazing country and say goodbye to our friends. When we ended the school we had to go home and pack up our suitcases. In the evening we had a farewell dinner in the Good Counsel dining hall and all the families came to say goodbye. The Spanish teachers of Good Counsel, Ben and Laura, made a photography presentation with pictures of the whole trip. It was an unforgettable and emotional dinner. Then, each family drove to the airport and we said our last words to our family. We were so sorrowful and we were thinking about April since that moment. We get on the plane and looked through the window because it was our last moment in the United States of America.

This experience has been amazing and nobody can take away these twelve days with a family that gave me everything. I feel like they are my second family. I am looking forward to seeing Lizzy  again and I’m sure we’ll keep in touch forever!

 MARIONA ESTRUGA VINYALS

1r  BATX  B