Friday, July 14, 2017
Friday was the first official day of Calvin. This meant that newly come home rebound, Gavin, my parents, and I, all had an early morning start. I can't really complain, our drive was very close compared to what some people had to endure. Once we got there, we all checked in, I signed up for a talent show audition, and we headed to the dorms.
After the dorms, I quickly met up with Macie. Macie is an outbound going to Peru with me (she lives in Wisconsin). After we met for the first time, we walked around the campus of the college and I met other girls in Macie's district. Eventually, we went to lunch, where I met another outbound going to Lima (Malin is actually being hosted by my Rotary Club). Also at lunch, after talking with Malin and Macie, we found Courtney (another outbound going to Peru). After we had finished eating, all of the outbounds going to Peru walked around campus together (and got nicknamed the Peru Crew).
There was a quick video speech that day and we got to meet with all the Peruvians and rebounds to Peru. They answered our questions and we all just talked about life in Peru and what to look out for. While the time was useful, it felt short and a little rushed.
After that, we met with our districts. I got to meet the kids that had gone out with Gavin, and also got a t-shirt. We all took pictures before I left to go audition for the talent show.
After wandering around the Fine Arts building, I got to the audition. I warmed up in a janitor's closet, and filled out a form I had forgotten about. The form was information for the MC's to read, so it was needless to say, a little hard to fill out. I went and auditioned (which went fairly well) and then went back outside to finish filling out my form. It ended up that the man helping with the auditions (the husband of the woman organizing the talent show) filled my form out for me (because I don't like talking about myself).
With my audition done, I went to enjoy the rest of my Friday. I can't really remember what speeches were given but the night ended with a dance and pizza. While I didn't actually have any pizza, I did (attempt) to dance. It was really fun because Macie and I were hopelessly trying to dance like the latinas (I failed, will work on it in Peru).
Saturday, July 15, 2017
The next day, I woke up as late as possible and got ready so I could go down for breakfast (even though I didn't eat breakfast because I'm not a morning person). My real reason behind going down for breakfast was to look at the door where the talent show auditions that had made it would perform. After looking at the list, I realized I had made into the show, which meant that my schedule would be changed so that I could audition.
After breakfast, I met up with my mom because we had to go to a correspondent meeting. In the meeting they answered our questions. It was beneficial to go, but I felt like parts of the meeting were useless and not all of my questions were answered. Nonetheless, I headed afterwards to the auditorium so that I could drop off my music that would be played for my performance. After walking around the building a few times with my mom, we finally got to the booth. We played around with the music a bit, before heading to a meeting about anxiety. While I don't suffer from severe anxiety (thank goodness) everyone gets a little anxious before their flight or while they are on exchange. The lady that was teaching about anxiety knew a lot and was very personable; overall, I would say this was one of the more enjoyable sessions.
Next was lunch (an important part of the day). Macie and I got ice cream (because you gotta treat yourself) and we enjoyed the weather and met up with other girls from her district. I hung out with them while Macie walked around (I love sleep alright). We all sat in the grass and talked about where we were going and overall differences between our districts. It was really interesting how little things are vastly different between the districts of Central States. We all talked until we departed ways (they had another session, I had talent show rehearsal)
The rehearsal went pretty smoothly, as most kids had turned in their music prior. We all learned/reviewed the song we would all be singing that night to close the show (I still don't know the lyrics). After our cram learning session, we started going through all of the acts. I was second to last, so it took what felt like forever to go. Each act had specific lights or placement, to make the show even more special (although it took longer to rehearse). After I got up there, I sang the song, 2 1/2 times before we had it right. I was singing Bel Piacere (a classical piece) so we were unsure if we should give me a mike or not. We ended up deciding that the song was better without the mike. After my act, we all waited for the last performance (a boy dancing to Kpop) before we went out to sing the closing song. Everyone was pretty over it at this point because the rehearsal had taken a long time. So we all sang it really fast, and then all booked it so that we could go to an exciting part of the conference, the pin exchange.
To anyone unfamiliar with Rotary Youth Exchange, one of the more fun aspects that sets it apart from other exchange programs is the Rotary Blazer. Every Rotary exchange student buys a blazer (in my case, a navy blazer), so that they can fill it up with pins. So, as an outbound student you make a ton of pins so that you can trade with other students. The result is a blazer filled with pins from all over the world. Everyone's blazer is unique, and everyone has special pins for their blazer. To get back to Calvin, it is understandable why everyone was anxious to get out of rehearsal so that they could trade pins.
Once the pin trading began, it was a bit chaotic. For me, I wasn't only trading my pins, but I was also trading Connie's pins (Connie was a Chilean girl in my district that had to go home before the conference). The amount of times I had to explain to people I was trading with that I was taking two pins from them because I was trading two pins, was too many to count. But I made it through the pin trading, traded every pin I had, and had a quick dinner with my parents before I headed to the auditorium for the variety show.
Backstage behind the show was a little nerve-racking. Some of this could be explained by the song I was singing. While it wasn't particularly difficult, I needed to be warmed up before going, so I had to keep going out of the room to practice. Eventually, I went out to sing my song and got to hear the chants of the girls from Macie's district and from my own district. It was pretty cool to hear the MC say District 6540, which isn't a large district or district that got a lot of attention at Calvin. Overall, my performance was good. Calvin remains the biggest audience I have ever performed at, while also being one of the most welcoming. I got a standing ovation at the end of my song (I'm pretty sure everyone did though, so I am not tooting my own horn). After I walked off stage, everyone waited for the last performer before we all went out to sing the closing song. While I don't remember all of the words, it was pretty cool to see the entire auditorium swaying with us as we closed the night.
After I got changed and refreshed, I went to the dance with Macie's district. I only danced for a little while because I was tired, so I left with the Argentinian outbound and went and ate pizza. We talked some more, and were joined by a Brazilian outbound and a Paraguayan outbound. We talked until curfew, where we all went back to our dorms for a district party.
The party was in the basement of the dorm and we all just hung out and ate junk food. I mostly talked with Mike (German outbound) and Elizabeth (Japanese outbound). Mike had some interesting music (very not mainstream but mostly good songs) and Elizabeth and I had a good chat. Eventually, I left with Elizabeth to go upstairs and join the other girls (who were all putting pins on their jackets). All of us girls ended up listening to Latin music and talking until 4 am. I sorted my pins from Connie's, before falling asleep with the Lithuanian flag wrapped around me.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Sunday was the last day of Calvin. I woke up a few hours after falling asleep, got around, and then went to breakfast looking like death. After breakfast I went around saying goodbye to all of my fellow outbounds and inbounds. I wish them all the best luck on their travels!
No comments:
Post a Comment