Preparations

Preparations

Finally is it so far! I am going to do for a half year an exchange in Canada. I am going to the airport 28 January 2016.

Exchange is something where I am looking for,for 3 years now. I want to learn the adventure, how it is to live in another country. To learn how it is to go to school in a foreign country. How is the normal life, enjoy another beautiful landscape and to do things as sport and to eat strange food. There are so much thinks you can learn there and to make a good live story. You are living in a country with another language. Now in Canada, for me is that English. I want to speak fluently English, but It is difficult for me to learn a language, because of my dyslexia, but It is not a thing to say not to try it. You're going to another family, you're host family. I am looking forward to learn how it is in another family and what the another things are. You're school is different and everything what you normal do outside school is different too. So I am very excited! I always say, that I want to go to Canada. Canada seems like a really good country for me. It is very beautiful and you can experience the things that you see in movies. I choose to do it with the organization YFu, because my sister also went with Yfu to South Korea.

I decided with Yfu to go in January to Canada. I didn’t know very much about my adventure in Canada until January. I got a call in the beginning of January, because they asked me or I want to do a dog sledding trip with other exchange students. I was very excited for it. I didn’t had a host family yet, but I know that I go to Canada. I got a call about my host family a week later. The asked me or it was good for me to go in a host family with a host mam and another exchange student from Germany. I agree with it and was very excited and also nervous haha. I must to give agree for it, because it was only a host mam and because it was with another exchange student. I was fine with it, because I live now also alone with a father and I thought that it was maybe nice to have another exchange student to talk about the exchange stuff, because you have a little bit the same experiences. I heard in the same week when I went, that I go to school in Petrolia and that I will life in an Oil spring city. Petrolia is a small city ca 5500 people and Oil springs is a smaller city with ca 700 people. It is half hour drive to a bigger city, called Sarnia with ca 7000 inhabitants. Petrolia is 2 hours drive from Detroit (The United States) and 4 hours drive from Toronto. 

To say goodbye in the Netherlands was weird. With friends I did sleepover or we went to the city centre. We had a welcome (for my sister) and goodbye party for adults. Friends of mine organized a surprise party for me. It was very sweet and I didn’t know something. I thought to have diner with a friend of mine, but when I was at the restaurant and I walk up the stairs I didn’t know what to do, I did not believe my eyes, because there were standing a lot of friends of mine.  I go for a half year to another country, but it is a half year and not 10 years, so after that I will be back to school. I don’t have to do a year again, but I had to do more homework in the beginning of the year. I also go in Canada to school and I will learn better English and maybe a little bit of French. As a person I learn of course very much.

Three days before I went, I got a food poisoning. It was so a bad timing! I had a very big schedule, because I wanted to see goodbye to friends and my hockeyteam. Also to pack my suitcase. I didn’t do it, because the only thing what I was doning was sleeping and feeling very sick.

And then was it 28 January. We wake up at 5 o’clock to go to the airport. It was a very weird feeling, but I was very excited for it of course. It was so weird to say goodbye to my family. Airports are not really my thing and had a transfer in New York. I didn’t know now how it works with airports, so I was nervous haha. I had to fly for 8 hours to New York, then I had to wait 3 hours in New York and haad a 2 hours flight to Toronto! When we landed in New York it was so nice to see the skyline from New York!  There where very nice people that helped me at the airplanes. I was very happy that I sat to a woman from Amsterdam to New York, because she was very nice and she walked very long with me at the airport in New York and explained how it works to do a transfer and what I had to do witj my suitcase. After waiting in New York I went in the airplane to Toronto!