#20 Meeting a Complete Stranger.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Week 20: That time that you met a complete stranger.
I feel like I don't have a good enough story for this one... What am I expected to write about? That one time I feel madly (head over heels) in love with a man that was once a stranger but due to clashing personalities (and overall lives).
I think to keep this quite upbeat (unlike the aforementioned situation) and talk about my experience going over to America on my school exchange programme.
When I was in Grade 11 (so around the age of 15), I was told about this super cool experience that my school offered where basically during the summer holidays (January) we would spend around 23 days touring a couple of American cities as well as spending a week with a host family. This was the first time I'd ever done something like this and was a complete out of my comfort zone experience. It was the first time I had travelled internationally without my parents and I was beyond nervous thinking about the whole experience. Before we'd even left for America we met a few other school groups who were coming along with us - and even meeting those strangers for the first time, for me, was daunting.
A few months out from travelling over and we received an email from our host students. Here comes Morgan into the story. (You'll know who Morgan is from my previous posts whenever I head over to Seattle). I remember the day I received the first email from her; I was sitting in a cafe doing an English assignment (nerd) when I heard the ding from my laptop. It was a totally surreal feeling and something that I'll never forget! I had just got an email from someone living in America, who I was going to spend a week with!
I immediately replied and was so excited that this was becoming so real. Basically, over the next two or three months Morgan and I emailed and sent brief videos to each other talking about our excitement!!
Once landing in America, our first stop was LA but we were all secretly counting down the days until we met our host families. We were all standing in their school late one evening after arriving in from Los Angeles, getting our names called out and actually seeing each other in person for the first time is another pretty cool memory that I'll never forget. Mom and Morgan were there to pick me up and from the moment we got in the car until the early hours of the morning we (mainly me) didn't stop talking. It was an instant feeling of belonging and family.
One of my favourite memories of us together is a road trip (with mom) to Forks for the last weekend of my stay with them in 2014. No one else's families did road trips and they totally didn't have to do this, but they're aren't words for how grateful I am for that trip. We sang loudly, laughed lots and had the most fun! All without internet/phone reception for the weekend. The place we stayed at was out of range, but the reception desk stored loads of card and board games. We played Uno for ages and I was introduced to JiffyPop a popcorn that goes over the stove (WHHAAAATTTT?!?!)
Since then, the memories have been countless and the laughs uncontrollable!!
Morgan is one pretty cool stranger, who has turned into the best sister I ever could have asked for - thanks for making my life better.
Here is a photo from each trip I've spent with Morgan; I can't believe I've known her for only 3 years!
XO
I feel like I don't have a good enough story for this one... What am I expected to write about? That one time I feel madly (head over heels) in love with a man that was once a stranger but due to clashing personalities (and overall lives).
I think to keep this quite upbeat (unlike the aforementioned situation) and talk about my experience going over to America on my school exchange programme.
When I was in Grade 11 (so around the age of 15), I was told about this super cool experience that my school offered where basically during the summer holidays (January) we would spend around 23 days touring a couple of American cities as well as spending a week with a host family. This was the first time I'd ever done something like this and was a complete out of my comfort zone experience. It was the first time I had travelled internationally without my parents and I was beyond nervous thinking about the whole experience. Before we'd even left for America we met a few other school groups who were coming along with us - and even meeting those strangers for the first time, for me, was daunting.
A few months out from travelling over and we received an email from our host students. Here comes Morgan into the story. (You'll know who Morgan is from my previous posts whenever I head over to Seattle). I remember the day I received the first email from her; I was sitting in a cafe doing an English assignment (nerd) when I heard the ding from my laptop. It was a totally surreal feeling and something that I'll never forget! I had just got an email from someone living in America, who I was going to spend a week with!
I immediately replied and was so excited that this was becoming so real. Basically, over the next two or three months Morgan and I emailed and sent brief videos to each other talking about our excitement!!
Once landing in America, our first stop was LA but we were all secretly counting down the days until we met our host families. We were all standing in their school late one evening after arriving in from Los Angeles, getting our names called out and actually seeing each other in person for the first time is another pretty cool memory that I'll never forget. Mom and Morgan were there to pick me up and from the moment we got in the car until the early hours of the morning we (mainly me) didn't stop talking. It was an instant feeling of belonging and family.
One of my favourite memories of us together is a road trip (with mom) to Forks for the last weekend of my stay with them in 2014. No one else's families did road trips and they totally didn't have to do this, but they're aren't words for how grateful I am for that trip. We sang loudly, laughed lots and had the most fun! All without internet/phone reception for the weekend. The place we stayed at was out of range, but the reception desk stored loads of card and board games. We played Uno for ages and I was introduced to JiffyPop a popcorn that goes over the stove (WHHAAAATTTT?!?!)
Since then, the memories have been countless and the laughs uncontrollable!!
Morgan is one pretty cool stranger, who has turned into the best sister I ever could have asked for - thanks for making my life better.
Here is a photo from each trip I've spent with Morgan; I can't believe I've known her for only 3 years!
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| January 2014 |
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| November 2015 |
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| June 2016 |
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| October 2016 |
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