Pre-Exchange Trips

These are some of the things that we did before my exchange to prepare me for what to expect on my year in Austria!

The Inbounds are the kids from other countries here in Canada for their exchange 2011-2012 (26 of them, 20 different countries)

The Outbounds are the kids from USA and Canada leaving for their exchanges 2012-2013 (26 of them)

The first weekend Algonquin- There was two separate trips, I was on the second one and i stayed with 25 of them. This was one of the most amazing weekends that i have ever had in my life! Such an unforgettable experience. We went show shoeing for 9 hours during the day attached to ALL 25 people on a rope, played games in the snow, did 7am runs across the lake(in full snowsuits), learn to make fires, swam in the lake (-20 degrees), and made friendships that lasted a life time. When I went and told me friends back at school about my trip they didn’t understand why it was so amazing. A lot of people don’t understand. But for us exchange students it meant the world to us. Never forget that trip and those people it was spent with. Greg Norton our leader of this trip has a lot to thank for that. Going to miss him.

The second weekend Jamestown- This was an orientation weekend that we stayed overnight with a host family and with an Inbound from the country that you will be going to next year. I stayed with a very close friend Mirjam who will only be living about an hour away from me in Austria!! She and I you can say had an interesting host family ...uncle henry was a character and our host mom dropped us off at the wrong places. But other than they had a beautiful home and a great cat. We had a dance their and it’s not like any other dance you would go to...exchange students are crazy. I love it.

The third and last weekend :( was Niagara on the Lake Hike- We stay again over night but this time we got put in with random people, but i was lucky enough to be put in with Mirjam again! And 4 other amazing girls! This weekend was so much fun it was more of a fun weekend to get our blazers for the outbounds and say goodbye to the inbounds. The first day we went on a Historical Hike, played a big soccer tournament and had a dance. On the last day it was goodbye. I seriously haven`t ever had such a hard time saying goodbye to these people. I’m going to miss them so much its crazy.

Those are just the start of my exchange adventures and trips!! And I’m still in Canada!
Austria is coming quick!!