Culture SHOCK!

   Plain and simple: Exchange is hard. Before I left, people would always say how proud they were of me and I never felt like I deserved it... until now. To me, an exchange wasn't something to be proud of, but rather something that was expected of me. I have always known that I wanted to travel and experience the world, so to me going on exchange was just part of the plan. Things get difficult, however, when certain events are realizations present themselves that were not anticipated, such as culture shock.
   Don't worry, the Rotarians warned us a'pleanty that we were all going to experience some form of culture shock but at the time I thought to myself, "Me? Not me. I can adapt to anything!" I couldn't have been more wrong. I thought that since I grew up in a Latin family, with Latin food and Spanish, I would be set, that I could practically become apart of the family and my school upon walking through the doors. When everything is different and difficult, you're self esteem begins to loose power and you enter a slight depression. You think to yourself, "Why me? I must not be trying hard enough. All the other exchange students seem to be doing fine!" but again, couldn't be more wrong! Culture shock really is just another part of exchange and one that is overcome with time.
  There are good days and bad days, and times when I miss my Mom and Sister more than words can describe, but the experience of being here in Ecuador overrides the pangs of missing I feel for my family and friends back at home.
 

   The exchange students in District 4400 were invited to attend RYLA, which stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, in Cuenca, Ecuador. The event was held last weekend (Sept. 23-25) and what a blast it was! I was worried before coming here that the Rotarians here would be a lot less open to allowing the exchange students to be involved in Rotary events outside of Youth Exchange events, but so far they have given us equal amounts of opportunity! First with RYLA and also with Interact. My friend Maria, from South Carolina, and I will be going to our first Interact meeting with our new friends from RYLA tomorrow!

   Ecuador doesn't cease to amaze me and my trip to Cuenca solidified that. The beauty of the country is so breathtakingly gorgeous that you can't help but ask yourself why someone couldn't believe in God. For example, direct your eyes to the STUNNING photo to your left. It beauty like this that honestly brings me to tears and I'm so blessed to have such access to it.
  Anyways, I'm having an absolute blast and I thought I would keep you all in the loop! More posts and pictures later

Marlee