Nathan - September 2015
Ahoj!
Since my arrival on August 30th I have been kept very busy. The Czech Republic has been much more than I could have even imagined. In the two weeks that I have spent here, I have been attending school at Biskupské Gymnasium. I have made a few friends in my class that speak English very well, they have been helping me get settled into all of my classes. I think you will be very happy to know that I am currently the top of my class, well top in my “English class”. I am trying very hard to learn Czech, but it is not easy, however I am finding that I am beginning to recognize phrases within regular conversation. I was quite surprised by the eating habits of people in Czech - they eat all day, every day – how awesome is that?! As a joke I have been calling the people here Hobbits. Personally I love that you never go hungry and as a result, you don’t over eat.
On my first Friday in the country my host family celebrated my host brother’s and my birthday. It was at this family gathering that I was properly inducted into the family. For the second week of school, my grade was traveling around the area of Hradec Kralove to do various physical activities. One day we biked to a golf course and received a lesson, another we took a train to an area known as “Rock Town” where we went on a hike. My family here is very active. We have already been on several biking outings in the nearby woods to find some geocaches that they planted in recent years.
This past weekend I traveled to Strecno Slovakia with the other exchange students from Hradec Kralove for the first district orientation meeting. All 82 students from the district were in attendance. It was a great weekend of getting to know each other. On the Saturday afternoon we took a hike up to Strecno castle for a photo op. The students here in this district are great and I can’t wait to spend more time with them in December for our Christmas gathering in Prague.
So far I have had a great time and can’t wait to see where the rest of my travels will take me. I would like to thank you again (the Woodstock Rotary Club) for allowing and supporting me in being your Rotary youth representative. I will be keeping you all up to date on all of my adventures.