Newspaper Questions for Baraboo.

Hey! I really liked answering these questions and it'd be nice for me to let everyone see everything about my life so far. It's really long ;)

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. What has been your most memorable single experience so far in the Czech Republic?
2. Is there anything you miss about Baraboo, Wisconsin, the United States? What?
3. How is it being away from your family? Have there been days or times that were harder than others? How often do you communicate with home?
4. What kinds of things were strange when you first arrived, and how long did it take you to get used to them?
And is there anything you haven't gotten used to yet?
5. Any negative experiences so far?
6. Have you switched host families yet? What was it like having your first host mother also be your teacher?
7. Tell me more about the food. Is it really just bread? Anything you like?
8. What is the school environment like? What are the biggest differences?
9. What was most surprising to you?
10. What did you do for Christmas and New Year's? Are you celebrating any new holidays?
11. Is there anything that's "just like home" that you weren't expecting?
12. Have you yourself changed since leaving Baraboo? How?
13. How do you think you will be feeling when you come back in June?
14. I'm also a little confused about where you are - are you staying in the same city? What kinds of places have you had a chance to travel to?


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1. I have gone to alot of countries so far including France (last summer with my French class) then during my exchange I have already gone to Austria, Germany, and Slovakia. I am going to go on the Rotary trip this summer to Greece and Italy... so I have many more memorable experiences that are to become. But I think the most memorable experience was rafting down the Vltava river in Šumava, national forest region of Czech Republic. Everything was so green and so beautiful and so serene and it was one of those times where you just say to yourself, "I can't believe I am on an exchange for a whole year in Czech Republic." It was really one of those moments where everything seemed as a fairytale. Not to mention it was really funny after about 7 hours of rafting with hungry Czech boys. Or when the paddles were angrily hit at the swans.

2. Phew! I sure do miss alot. One of the main things I have come to notice while being here is that I appreciate my country in more ways than I wouldn't have if I weren't here right now. I love our variety of foods--- even if they are americanized chinese resturants! I miss my family, boyfriend, friends, and pets! A few of my friends back at home are still in contact with me and I know we'll be friends forever. Me and Lydia write letters back and forth from Turkey alot because her internet use isn't as available as mine. Our friendship is still growing more and more each day because of how well we can relate, even though our experiences and the people we meet are still different. I definitely miss my transportation of cars. Haha. You can basically travel anywhere to any city or country here with bus! It's amazing that way.... but I walk to and from school every morning and I also have to walk EVERYWHERE in the city because everything is not able to be driven on by cars. In a way it's really cool and nice, but ever since it turned winter... I walk out my door and frown looking at the bare trees and white ground. It's not as cold here as in Baraboo, or as snowy (that's for sure). But it's still winter! There really are so many moments when I think about Baraboo, or Wisconsin, and the USA, and how much I miss it. But I am very content here. It really is different but wonderful in it's ways. I never thought I would miss the 10,000 inhabitant town of Baraboo, Wisconsin. It turns out I miss it.

3. I Skype with my parents. That program really is the wonders of the internet. I think if I didn't have Skype it'd be alot harder. Or if I didn't even have a telephone, and just parcel or letters. I am very close with my family more than ever now and it's really nice. I was always close with them but now it's alot different. My parents and I Skype once every two weeks or sometimes once a week. When we talk it's usually about what I did.. or what's the weather like back at home. Mothers are great for talking with just about EVERYTHING. And I love it! Haha.
The Holidays --- month of December, was seriously the most hardest time of my life while on exchange so far. It was really sad all the time and alot of the customs were so different and my family seemed like my family but it still felt like I was just a visitor there with my parents. With my siblings it was alot different because we connected on a different level. The closest of my siblings was my oldest one Jitka, she contacted me 6 weeks before I came here and till now we hang out together, get coffee, watch American romance movies, bake kolač. She really is one of the most closest people to me here. My other sister was of course just as sweet, she is the same age as me, 16, her name is Bětka, and she is exchanging to the USA next year. It's really cool because I plan on picking her up from whichever state she lives in and taking her to Baraboo for a week and showing her my home! I am very excited and so is she!
But anyways, the month of December had it's ups, had it's downs, but most of all that was when I discovered myself in ways that I never knew.

4.Well.... haha. At my first host family house I lived upstairs with my siblings and the rooms were separated. The sisters slept in one corner of the room and the one brother out of two (since one is in America) sleeps inthe middle of the room, and I slept on the opposite side of my sisters. So I was cornered off from them. But I there still was no door. One time my sister walked in without knocking and unfortunatley I was getting ready for bed so I was changing and I was really upset and just wanted a door. The bathroom had glass on it, but it had some effect on it so it wasn't completely see-through, but there was still glass so taking a shower was very uncomfortable, because IT WAS STILL SEE-THROUGH! But after 4 months of being in that house I was finally getting used to it until I had to switch families. So I was able to get over my fear before I had to leave which is good!

5. Oh of course there are negative experiences! The worst part about exchange is finding yourself more alone than you would be if you were to be back in the USA. You still have school friends and your host family and sports or things to do. But alot of the times you are walking alone, sitting in school all alone, laying in your bed at night thinking in English alone while you know the whole rest of the house is thinking in Czech or talking. Everyone has their own life here and it's hard to become a part of it only in 1 year. I, fortunately, was able to find a really close sister and a friend from school to be able to hang out with. But, especially during winter break, when alot of my classmates were gone, my family was busy with their "own" thing and my sister was studying for finals I was finding myself just sitting on my bed after waking up at 11 am and just staring and thinking for hours about myself. It was acutally quite relaxing to be able to find the time for this that I normally different have back at home because of school or always hanging out with people!
There were also alot of negative experiences within my school during the beginning and just alot of the times when you are a little bit homesick or miss doing the things you were able to do back at home.

6.
Mom: The worst thing about having your host mom as your teacher was my classmates treating me differently. They didn't want to take me out at night because they didn't want my host mom finding out anything about them. They didn't talk to me much because they thought I would tell my host mom everything they told me so it was really hard and I don't think Rotary should be placing exchangers into the house of their teachers. And it didn't help hearing things now since I have switched families that's bad about my host mom. My host mom as a teacher is the German teacher, but she is very strict. So I hear many remarks about how my host mom is bad ect. But... I do admit to actually try to be like I wouldn't tell my host mom anything I had to go along with my classmates and tell them that she is boring or cooks not too well. So it was just a really hard time with me and trying to fit in in both places no one could really understand though. Along with classmates... they always all have their seating in the computer room or somewhere in the English classroom and if I sit there then I HAVE to move, but lately I haven't so they have been getting angry :)
My class is nice to me though! They ask me questions they have hung out with me alot but... they don't seem too interested in me. I am not sure if it's beause of the language barrier or what. I will say that I have 1 very best friend in schoo, Katka. She is the smartest one in school and has a boyfriend that she's been dating and visits alot for 4 years now. How weird is it about Turkey, Lydia is in Turkey too! Alot of my classmates don't like her too much because of jealousy. But she's so sweet with me and wants to get to know me and be friends with me. So I think we both needed each other in a way.
Switching families: So I switched host families and it was really hard at first. I was starting to tear up because you know the Bockova family was my first family. That's where I got picked up by them, I knew the sister for over 6 months. I was already getting used to the no door and glass on bathroom. But I switched and it's okay. My host family now is really.... funny. The mom is hilarious and is really sweet and treats me as her daughter and makes me part of the family! We have a little puppy and it reminds me of my dog Molly and the dad is like my daddy because he has a belly and is in love with this dog. My sister studies enviromental stuff in Prague... so we have alot of organic products and milk that tastes like Wisconsin milk because they buy it fresh. It's really funny. They were talking about it and they show me this really nice milk and I drink it and I was like "WISCONSIN". They are very homey and welcoming and the mom gives me kisses on the cheek and hugs me. It is nice. We have a bird that chirps really cute... and then inthe morning it sings like a drill. I was creeping on it this morning recording it's chirping. It's kind of creepy or scary actually. It really scared me this morning. But my room is the best! I have a queen size bed. A DOOR! A bathroom that's really nice and you can't see me! I have a piano IN my room. I have such a nice sister... and mom, and dad. And just everything is wonderful there. The dad is like a forest ranger guy and will be able to take me to alot of forest regions and Cross Country Skiing. So I am more content than ever before! And I really.... needed this change. Switching families was a huge shock for me though because it made me realize how incredibly fast this exchange is going! It really depresses me alot. I still have too much to do!

7. Well the food is definitely something I do not favor the most. I am not sure about the gaining weight deal because every exchangers gets it... and I refuse to actually step on a scale. As I tell myself everyday "OH I"M YOUNG"! Haha. :D So the food is bascially like this. Soup. Meat. Knedlik(dumplings). Sauce. No lie. There are so many dumplings. But they are not the flour kind in the soup, they are potato-y and bread like. It is good don't get me wrong, but I want my pasta with tomato sauce!!!! So before every meal you have a soup. It is not a heavy soup or alot of soup but a big laddle of soup. And it makes you full so you don't eat as much of the main course... which is good. The soups here are amazing though. I can't even begin describing them. I just will miss soup the most probably. Then you either have knedlik, rice, or potatoes and a sauce of some kind. Give it paprika sauce or meat sauce. Then, since it is winter time here you have alot of wild game meat. And it's exceptionally good. I will refuse though to eat little rabbit meat until the day I die. You wouldn't survive at all if you were a vegetarian! Usually at dinner you have something small... like bread, since lunch is the biggest meal of the day. Another meal that I have lived to tell is on Christmas... but I will explain that later! Fruit dumplings is very good. You have a plum.. since they have a million fruit trees.. and this meal is usually during the summer. You have a dumpling wrapped around a plum and have it with sweet sour cream. Its' delicious! But it's really sweet. My favorite food is hard to say... my father back in the states made a Czech meal called Chicken and Dumplings, it's with a paprika sauce. It's delicious and I came here and my first day in my new home I had that exact same meal and realized I was in for a great homestay! I could really talk about food forever... and I think I will. So there's this chocolate that is my all time favorite! Can't get enough of it! It's caleld Milka and is seriously the best chocolate of my life. I just needed to express my love for that. <3 There's a local Indian Resturant and the owners ARE from Nepal and alot of people who I have met and gone to India say that that resturant is like how Indian food is in India. And I am not surprised because it is so delicous! Food here is really cheap-o and I have realized it's an amazing thing!
The pizza is really funny here too! Since in Italy the pizza there is usually thin it's just as thin here when they make it. I don't like it. I prefer my homemade thick crust! Okay I will not talk about food anymore.

8. I think I explained clearly about my classmates and teachers and a little bit about my schedule. I go to a business academy. It's has alot of math classes and weird classes I wouldn't even beging to understand even if I could understand czech fluently. So I am glad I don't have to do the school! Well I don't like the schooling system here personally. It is way more advanced and instead of picking your classes they have at least 14 fixed classes and each one is different everyday and the school goes till 4 and it covers alot. But with out schooling system it's different because even though we don't have as many classes we can go more into depth with them and understand the concept more fully. I also approve how we are able to pick some of our classes with what we enjoy doing in life instead of being forced to take all the same since we are at an age that is acceptable to decide for ourselves. Their Phy-Ed classes here are a joke though. It's always volleyball everyday and they line up and have to have their hands at their sides and say: "The class number 3b (our class number) is ready for lessons of sport. We have (#) of persons and this (#) of them aren't at sports." and then the teacher goes "Nazdar" and it's like the equivelent of "Hello" and then all of us go "Zdar" which is like the second part of "Hello --- llo". Before every class starts the teacher walks in and you must say Good day and then stand up and wait until she lets us sit down. Their testing is really different too because they take just ONE individual and test them while the other class quietly waits or studies. I don't like it because it takes way the whole class learning. That's about it for school though. I can't think of much more... I get out of school at 1:15 everyday and it's really nice and I go to the school cantine outside of the main school. I don't like their food too much. haha. It's just really traditional czech food. At least the soup is good. Oh!!! An addition to the food. We have tea and coffee about all the time. It's so common to just go to a cafe with friends and drink tea or coffee, and you must wear house shoes or they think you will get sick! You have certain shoes for the house only and must wear them. It's disgusting to wear your outside shoes in the house. On the original topic. In America... we definitely have more of a relationship with our teachers than here. Teachers in America really care about their students and the relationship is funny or just really nice. I still talk to my Band teacher Mr. Lang and my Biology teacher Mr. Widner and my Guidance counsler. The relationships are the major difference.

9. Well.... alot of surprising things have happened to me.

10. So it's a tradition here in Czech Republic to go hiking or biking or some sort of physical activity outdoors on New Years eve, because it entitles better health and good will for the New Years. You shouldn't drive AT ALL on New Years eve either. We hiked up the Písek mountain and it was funny because we get to the top and there's about 20 people surrounded around just one fire and cooking weiners. It was HILARIOUS!!!! Then this little boy comes and has a piece of bread on a stick and just starts cooking it up. And it starts on flames and then he started to cry. It was so funny because he was trying so hard to cook it and covering his eyes. Then there was a horse we got to pet and then while me and Hilary (the other exchanger) were just eating our weiners this donkey comes and just starts walking down the steep hill.
Hilary's response was, "What the HECK!?!?!"
And then we stalked it trying to get a picture!
IT WAS WEIRD.... haha. So it was a nice hike and then afterwards we went to the pub and I got some Cactus Juice... mhmhmhm. Dobre. So anyways.... that's how it went for my New Years. There was part 2 when I went to Prachatice for some other exchangers hosue and spent the night there and went to a Czech Party... it was lame, so we left and ate a bunch of food! At the stroke of midnight it turned out that everyone does FIREWORKS! So there were fireworks just going everywhere in the city!!!
It was a really good New Years... except when it turned 2010. It wasn't that exciting for some reason. Maybe because I was spending it in a different place?
Well not much to say about this Christmas Break, or is there?! I celebrated Christmas here and it was really very interesting! I woke up and traveled downstairs to find two carp swimming in my bath tub. I named them Denis and Captain Larry. They WERE my friends... but then about 6 hours later I have a friend over and am so excited about the fish I took them to go and see it and the bath tup was EMPTY! I travelled now back to the sink and there they were... chopped up and gutted out. And the guts... cavaier soup anyone? Yes that is what I had for Christmas dinner. Carp and cavaier soup and potato salad. Luckily the potato salad was good. But the soup... it ended up in the toilet. Haha. It didn't taste bad... but knowing I was eating little fish and the texture... yea... it wasn't too good. The reason why they had fish in the bath tub because there are ONLY fresh fish markets in teh main square and you buy them live and then put them into your tub until you are ready to cook them... and just to think.. I TOOK A BATH IN THAT TUB!!! AHGGGG! >.<
I got some nice gifts from my host family. It consisted of a scarf, earrings, necklace, t-shirt, rubber ducky(host brother inside joke), panda boxers (host sister inside joke) and a couple other ornaments and reminders of my Christmas in Czech Republic. My host family loved their gifts~ I made my host mom a hanging paper crane mobile! She loved it alot. I got my host brother a satan ducky. My host sister I made her a scarf (crocheted) my other host sister I made socks with buttons on them. She loves socks. I painted my host father a picture. I figured that homemade gifts would be the best because really... me buying czech gifts for my czech family? I would utterly fail at it. But they enjoyed it so much. My real mom made them a little door hanging thing with snowmen and having all the families name and last name. My mom is so handy! My host mom was thrilled by it. It is now hanging on the door. Sadly... it was a bad Christmas day. Christmas eve is the biggest day of the 3 days of Christmas since the day after Christmas day is a Saint day here. But I pretty much spent Christmas day in my bed... thinking about all the special programs on TV. My family... friends. It was a hard time. But I figured that my Christmas eve was wonderful so it's alright! And I opened my "presents" from my parents back at home on Skype with them. So my Christmas was STILL more than I could have asked for. I enjoyed it alot. On Christmas eve we put up the tree and decorated it with ONLY food. It's so crazy they sell these chocolate ornaments at the stores for your tree! Haha. Who would have thought.. screw those glass ornaments! And we made ginger bread and decorated it also and put it on the tree! My favorite was the so-called baby ginger bread ornament. Personally I thought it looked like an icecream cone... but you can be the judge of that now ;)
There are ALOT of baked goods. And sadly it isn't good there's so much. But another sad note is that I love baking here because I am bored alot of the times and now I don't think I should bake anything considering there's a 3 box full of baked goods. Oh dear....

11. Well... nothing is just like home. I can relate things... but that is so hard to say it's just like home. This is my home now and it is JUST LIKE HOME! haha. Everything that I do here or spend with my family... it is just like home. I will say my last host brother spent alot of time on the computer like my real brother at home.. and was weird like my brother... but very cool like my brother Kyle. My sisters were just as kind and patient and able to talk with just like my sister back at home. If I were to relate here and home... only people you could fully relate because everything here is so different for comparing. But it is my home. Czech Republic has become my country :)

12. I have definitely changed myself in numerous ways. I think exchanging, any exchanging to anywhere will change you and it does. If you're quiet you come back open and friendly, if you're too wild you come back more mature, if you're not anything you always come back knowing who and what you are. I really understand myself more than ever and I know what I do that's wrong and I know what I do that's good. I am probably alot more mature now than alot of my friends and I just have experinced things that you can't really experience in high school and to top it off... I am experiencing these things alone. I still am able to write about it to people or ask my parents... but when the event happens you are BY YOURSELF and you have to figure it out yourself. You also have no drama over here and it's really nice because you know how to not make your own drama. My ideas on matters have become foot strong and I know where I stand in the world. I realize school isn't everything that just living life to the fullest and doing your best is really all you could ever ask for in life. I have realized that happiness here is obtained... but it would mean everything more if I had those close people here that I love to experience it with me. I have just realized so much.

13. Bitter-sweet is the perfect term... I will be sad of course. OF COURSE!!!! I will be crying myself to sleep wanting to do everything before I leave wanting to stay crying... staying up all night. But at the same time.. I have alot of plans for the summer when I return. I have my family waiting for me. I have my very best friends waiting for me! I have Lydia and Madison to catch up on life about! I have my boyfriend! I have MY SENIOR YEAR!!! Which will be not that anticipated... school. But I know that leaving here is just another path to my endless forest. I am supposed to leave and I accept it. But at the same time being here...I won't forget anything and I can always have a place to stay in my heart of Europe-- Czech Republic. I have made exchanger friends here I can visit all around the world for! I am able to go anywhere in the world all because of this exchange. I never really realized until I am writing this about how lucky of an opportunity I have... being able to do this so young and being able to see such different things. Wow.

14. I am living in Písek, Czech Republic. It's a city of 30,000 people and 1 and about 20 minutes away south from Prague. I live in the South Bohemia! I have 3 or 4 host families. I already switched from my first and now I have one family during the week and another I stay with in Prachatic. I have visited the countries I have listed up above.