Monday, June 4, 2012

Hey y'all!
  Got home from the District Conference at about 2:00 yesterday.

DAY1, Thursday- All of the exchange students (inbound and outbound) arrived in Medford, at the Red Lion, at about 4:00. We practiced for the flag ceremony the next morning. We lined up by country, and practiced carrying our flags across the stage. There are about ten total Spain people. Four long term outbounds, 4 long term inbounds, and 2 short term outbounds. We got picked up by our host families around 6:00. I stayed with Juliana (also from Albany, outbound to France), Mary (inbound from Bolivia), and Maiah (short-term outbound to Italy). We stayed with a family of four in Ashland. They lived on a very forest-y hill, so i came home with lots of bug bites. They made us burgers, and then we walked downtown.

DAY 2, Friday- I woke up around 6:30 and we were at the hotel by 8:00. First thing was another flag practice, then we walked (dressed in heels and very hot/heavy blazers) to a nearby college. There we put all of our purses and such. We walked back to perform the presenting of flags. After that we walked BACK to the college to change and hang out. We got $10 each for lunch and were let loose in downtown Medford. I walked around a bit with different people but ended up going to mexican with Maiah and (Rotarian) Holly's daughter who is short-term to Spain. We were to be back at the college by 1:45. From then on was talent show practice and break out groups. When the interact group got there we started improv activities out on by people in Jessica's improv class. It was mostly fun but was long. Following that we started getting ready for dinner. I was in charge of filling a water cooler with water and ice. After the water was halfway I started putting ice in, but I noticed black things in it, bugs. There was more than one in this bag of ice. The rotarians told me to dump it out, and stop using that bag of ice. It got solved, and we had a nice dinner of Costco pizza, chicken, and salad. Our host parents picked us up around 8

DAY 3, Saturday- We got to sleep in until about 8:30 and were at the hotel around 9:40, a little late. We brought all of our bags because that night would be the all night party. If you were in the talent show you stayed to practice. If you weren't in the talent show you took your belongings to the college, and hung out, I think. I was told I was in the talent show THURSDAY. One person in our dance group was told to contact everyone else, unfortunately she could not remember all of our names. We practiced the whole talent show once, then the Rotarians started showing up. Two exchange students were allowed at each table, and we had to be sitting across from each other. I had some hilarious rotarians at my table. One man, Pat, even interrupted a speaker for a flash dew rag. (He gave a bunch of people dew rags, and we stood up and put them on, then sat back down.) 3/4 of the way through lunch the exchange student got up and got in our places for the talent show. When it was my group's turn we awkwardly ran on stage, messed up, finished, and embarrassingly ran off stage. Our dance consisted of a dance, interrupted by a French rap, then more dancing. IT WAS AWFUL. At the very end we all stood up to do the chicken dance and sing It's a Small World After All. Following the talent show was the world fair. This is where all of the inbounds and outbounds gather together by country and display their flags, books, and trinkets from their countries. The rotarians got a passport and got a sticker from each country. Following this, we loaded our luggage onto a bus and were shipped to 3 different service projects. I was sent to a farm to clean up after a children's heritage event. After about an hour we were bussed to South Medford High School for our "all night party." There was dinner and music. When it started getting dark Jessica and Alexis karaoke-d 'I Like Big Butts.' Jessica then announced that we could be attending the Luminarai Ceremony for Relay For Life, at the high school's track. We took one lap, then sat in the stands, and listened to a speaker talk about the hardships of having cancer or knowing someone with cancer. We then took one more silent lap and headed back to the school. After that everyone was either crying, horny (some kids started making out), or in a sad mood. I danced a little but ended up in the sleep room by midnight, asleep by 12:30.

DAY 4, Sunday- Jessica woke us up around 7:30, and of course I'm trying to had hide on the way to the bathroom to do my hair, wash my face, and apply a little makeup so I don't give anyone a heart attack. We cleaned up then had breakfast at 8:20. We had a friendship circle with the interacts, and that's when the crying started. A little later we had another circles with just the exchange group. The inbounds not going on the year-end trip to Vegas, LA, and Disney Land, were given Oregon flags for everyone to sign. There was LOTS of hugging and crying. Juliana and I hitched a ride back to the hotel because we couldn't get a hold of the rotarian who drove us, Dave. We found him still in the main meeting room listening to an inspirational speaker. He took us to put our bags in his car, then we went to listen to the speaker, at this time it's about 9:20. He wanted to stay till the end, which would be 10:30. I stayed fora little but then went out to the lobby. I recognized a foot hanging out of a chair so when i rounded the corner there was one exchange student from Finland, and another outbound to Denmark. I talked with them about the party and how they were feeling about getting ready to go home and LEAVE home. They left, and the speaker was sone about 15 minutes later. We were on the road at about 10:30. I slept all the way to Eugene. Got home around 2:15.

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