Amelia's Travel Blog : 8 month report

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

8 month report

8 months. It's crazy to think I will actually be going home soon. The closer I get to my departure date the more real it all feels. It's a very similar feeling to how I felt before leaving. The closer I got to leaving, the greater the excitement and anxiety became. Getting my guarantee form, and receiving my return ticket. But it's also different, because the idea of going home makes me somewhat sad. Having my parents with me has really made me realize a lot. Not only how much I've missed them, and home, and everything "familiar" but also how what was familiar isn't anymore. It also opened my eyes to how familiar I am with life here in kinmen. Showing my family around and introducing my life here to them has made me realize how lucky I am. I will miss this island with all of my heart and the people that have been my second family. Sometimes the thought of not having them with me any longer is really scary. Anyway, this month has been very busy for me. I continued to pack my schedule with more activities. Now on Wednesday's I volunteer at the local orphanage with some of the english teachers. We mostly just play with the little kids. I have only been going for 3 weeks now but I feel like these experiences have already helped me to improve my Chinese immensely. I have also continued to help out in my host family's restaurant. This month was also the district assembly in Taipei. We were able to meet so many Rotarians and exchange students from all over Taiwan. Including outbounds heading to Ohio this fall. It was a really wonderful experience. Two weeks after I returned to kinmen, my parents arrived! It was so amazing to see them after 8 months. My host rotary club was fantastic. They took my family and I all around the island to go sightseeing. I was also able to show them my school, town, favorite places, food, and activities. My school even let me bring my little sister to meet my classmates! We are now in Taipei for another week before they return to America. It has been a wonderful month, now I am just trying to savor my time here. I love Taiwan!

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Notre Dame

Today we visited notre dame. Notre Dame is a gothic cathedral in Paris. Once we got to Notre Dame we had to stand in a large line. it took about 15 minutes until w actually got inside. Right away we started to climb the 400 steps to the top of the church. We climbed and climbed and climbed and pretty soon we got to the first level. it was a pretty good view but the top was much better. Once we got to the top we had a spectacular view. Not as good as the Eiffle tower, which you could see, but still a view of the river and below Notre Dame. Inside the church the priest was preaching and there were candles lit everywhere. We walked around and looked at statues like the sculpture of Joan of arc. Once we left we headed on looking forward to the rest of the day.

The Patisserie

Today after we got back from are big museum walk my brother, sister, and i went to the Patisserie to get dinner and dessert that night. We walked around the corner towards a little shop that was down the street from our apartment. they had decorated treats like pie with the fruit in beautiful designs and they had treats that looked like they were a big glob of whip cream. We ended up getting one tiny pizza and a bunch of little pieces of pizza. For dessert we got to pieces of berry pie and 2 pieces of apircot pie, also an apple pie. The pie looked so pretty you didn't want to eat them to destroy the designs. they tasted just as good as they looked. when we got back we feasted on pie and pizza.