The first 5 days

The thing about foreign exchange is you think you have time. You think because you left your old life behind, and you're creating a new one, you suddenly have time. The truth is, you don't. In fact, the only thing you don't have is time. You want to take in everything, and when you realise, the day is gone, you're in bed, laying there at 2 in the morning, and thinking, "Oh, shoot, I forgot to share what I did today with the world."

So today, I start my blog. I arrived on the 21st of August, and my first entry will be about the first 5 days of my American life.

21st of August, Thursday

After 20 hours of hell, I finally arrived to Rochester. Thanks to Delta and Air France, I experinced what it's like to have your flight delayed, connections changed, nail ripped off, yelled at for no reason (by a cross-eyed Delta employee) and luggage lost. I'm sorry, both luggages lost.
  So I finally arrived to Rochester. Being through all that stuff for a day and putting up with everything, it was nice to be greeted by my host family (Herb and Anne Parker), and four members of my Rotary club.
  I filed a claim for my baggages, then went home. By the time I fell asleep, it was already 2 am, which would have been 8 am at home. 25 hours awake.

22nd of August, Friday

The only good thing there was in not having luggages, was not having to pack out.
In the morning, we went to Greece Athena to register. I finally saw my school, the one that I was fantasizing about for half a year. It was big, wealthy and very empty. I wondered what it's like in schooltime. I guess I'll see in 2 weeks.
  After registration, we had lunch at Olympia restaurant. It's a cute little place in Greece, very american. I decided to have a salad, I wanted something light. When the huge bowl the size of a bucket full of lettuce and ham was served, I didn't believe my eyes! SUCH BIG PORTIONS! I could barely eat half of it. I took the rest home, and never finished it.
  Went to visit Charlotte lighthouse and the pier later in the afternoon. We went on a merry-go-round with Herb, it was a lot of fun.
Then we popped by at Wegmans to buy a few things. It's a pretty awesome place, but I find it a bit more expensive than a grocery store at home.
  At 10 pm, we went to the airport. Sun, a south korean exchange student was supposed to come, my host family also took on hosting her this year. We waited for 1,5 hours, but she just never got off the plane. Her brother will also be here on exchange, his host family waited at the airport as well. After 1,5 hours, we decided it wasn't worth waiting around anymore. Turns out, she had some problems in Korea with the paperwork, so they're due to arrive next weekend. Communtication has never been a strong suit of that family (we tried to make contact but she just didn't reply).
  But - at least - my black suitcase was at the airport, so we could take that home.
We also saw a soldier come home. It was very moving to see all his family and friends greeting him.

23rd of August, Saturday

Rotary orientation in the morning.  I met all the inbound students, they're all so nice and sweet. I can see how excited everybody is. The pin exchange went down, but I couldn't give anybody any, because they were in my other suitcase. I made a promise to give them next time.
  We took an English test (piece of cake, although I did misread one), and listened to a presentation about the rules of this year. We finished the whole thing off with a delicious lunch.
  Herb took me to her aunt and uncle (technically his mom's cousins), who are 87 and 89 years old. We had a cute little conversation. On the way home, we had a debate on evolution.
  In the afternoon we went shopping a lot. Wegmans, Sam's club, Aldi .... We went to the mall to have some taco dinnet at Taco Bell. Despite it's reputation, I found it good.
   We placed an order for a cookie cake for the next day. My other luggage arrived thankfully.

24th of August, Sunday

Sunday morning, we went to church. Herb and Anne are protestants. Herb is the principal of the Greece Christian, a school right next door to Athena. American church and mass is nothing like European. First, there is no altar, there's a stage. The first thing you see is a huge FREEDOM sign on the stage, and a projector counting down to the start of the mass. Funky lights, light pop music. It's much more entertaining than I'm used to. Then when mass starts, the first 30 minutes are just singing. But not the usual 'alleluja! or Kyrie ... . Christian pop songs, with a keyboard, guitar, drums, the whole package. Everyone's clapping and randomly shouting 'Yeah', 'Thank You God' and 'You're awesome Jesus'! I have to admit it was very hip.
  Then everyone sat down, and a young guy talked about how christians should teach muslims to believe in Jesus rather than Allah. He talked a lot about false religion and the examples were of course muslim, hinduism and buddhism. I personally found it a little too much, but that's just me.
  After church, we got ready for the party. Anne's and Carol's (their daughter's) birthday was coming up, so we had to celebrate. I baked muffins and made some corn salad. I met two of Anne's sisters, Carole and Ellen, their husbands, Mary, a sweet elderly woman Ellen and her husband are taking care of. I met Xynan and DJ, my host parent's grandsons, and their mom Bevin. It was a fun party with way more food than needed. We eat some of the cookie cake, which turned out to be very yummy. Even some Rotary club members dropped by, but sadly they didn't stay long.
  I gave my presents to my host parents today. Some Rubik's cubes, paprika, chocholate. All the usual Hungarian souvenirs. I gave Xynan and DJ Kinder surprise eggs. Xynan was thrilled, Dj, not so much. Just before I went to bed, we all watched the season finale of The Last Ship together.

25th of August, Monday

My mom's birthday! I thought a lot about her today. I miss my family a lot. We celebrated a bit before I came here, but today was the actual day. As chance has it, Anne's birthday is on this day as well. They were born on the same day, 7 years apart.
  From 8:30 to 12, I had volleyball practice. The first official school program with Athena. The girls were really nice to me. I was told I should make friends with the volleyball girls, because they're very good guys, and everyone was right. We had picture day and we were given our uniforms. I'M NUMBER 10!!
  After two horrible laps on the court, we finally played volleyball. The girls are pros! They tried to make me feel better, but I knew the truth. I appreciated it though. I'm gonna get better, that's sure. My lower arm hurt after 30 minutes, but I kept going. It would have been embarassing to quit on the first practice. I served a lot.   At 12, the practice was over. Herb took me home. We had lunch, and I was left alone in the house while the host parents worked. When they came back, we had a small dinner, and we watched the Emmy's in the evening. It was a lot of fun. I was suprised how many people I knew! It seems I'm really updated on American pop culture, Herb says he never knew anybody who knew so much about movies and tv series. I count that as a very nice compliment. A lot of my favourites won, so I was happy for them.