Rotary Youth Exchange is a study-abroad
opportunity for young people who spend anywhere from a few weeks to a full year
as an international student hosted by local Rotary clubs to foster world peace,
understanding and goodwill. Rotary
International started this program in 1929 and District 6220 started it in
1970. Annually, over 30,000 students
from 78 countries share their culture with one another.
Elinor Bell spend last year in a small
village called Maglod near Budapest, Hungary.
Ellie talked about the culture and how families including extended
families are very close. There is also
the fear of getting sick. Public
transportation became part of her everyday life and it gave her freedom. The food was the favorite part of the culture
which was heavy on spices and carbohydrates.
All the food was homemade and not out of a can or box. The people in Hungary are very proud of their
country which is like no other. Hungary
was part of the socialist regime. The
people in Hungary celebrate Christmas for 1 week (December 24 - January
1). Each day family gets together to eat
a massive meal and give gifts. St. Stephen's
Day is celebrated on August 20 and is similar to the 4th of July where
fireworks are displayed over parliament.
During St. Nicholas shoes are put on windows. The official language is Hungarian which is
said to be one of the hardest languages to learn. There are 44 letters in its alphabet. Ellie stayed with one host family during her
year in Hungary. They took her to
everything worth seeing. She went to 2 different
schools since the first one did not go so well.
She took piano lessons, went on a European tour of 11 countries and
Ellie's family came to visit her. Ellie
participated in a competition with a one hour test, singing, acting out a
scene, writing a poem, speaking Hungarian only for an entire week and writing a
speech. She was the first American to
win this award.
Flora Prada is from Berazategui, a town in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Berazategui has a population of 320,000 people and Buenos Aires has a population of
about 13 million. During the winter, temperatures are about 34-40 degrees and
in summer 100-110 degrees. She was born on December 23, 1995 and is
the youngest in her family. She has 2
step brothers, 1 step sister, 2 cats and 3 dogs. Her family travels to their beach house for a
couple of months each year. Flora's
hobbies are dance, choir, musicals, painting, field hockey, Rotaract and
learning the English language. Elementary,
middle and high school are in the same building. Flora went to a private fine arts school
where there were about 300 students. During
her trip to Appleton, she didn't sleep on the plane, got sick, missed her
flight because she was buying a t-shirt and got lost in the Detroit
airport. Flora's first host family was
the Cross'. In the beginning of her
stay, she was very homesick. The Cross's
took her to Henryville, Indiana, and Sarasota, Florida. Flora then stayed with the Taylor's who took
her to the Mall of America. Her aunt
came to visit and took her to Atlantic City and New York City. Flora then stayed with the Helein's who took
her to Upper Michigan, their cabin, fishing and held an Argentina night for
her. Now she is staying with Carol
Busey. Flora attends Appleton East High
School and is involved in choir and went to homecoming 2 weeks ago.
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