As you will read below we have certainly picked a wonderful young woman to send away on exchange.  I hope we will all get to know her before she leaves for a year, but I'm sure we will have notes from her throughout her exchange in France.

The conference was great. I'm glad to have been able to spend time with the other exchange students (both inbound and outbound). Arno, who is from France told me a lot about France and helped me with my French. Our orientations were also helpful in terms of how we are going to prepare for the exchange. 

Since then, I have received a couple emails. My first host family emailed me. I found out that I will be going to Mende, Lozère, which is a small countryside town in central south France. My host sister will be going to Taiwan while I'm in France. I had the opportunity to Skype with her and her brother. I found out that my French DEFINITELY needs improvement! I also just heard from my third host family, surprisingly.

I'd like to make at least one more meeting before I leave, especially after I finish my presentation. Right now, I'm pretty busy with school exams coming up. However, it'd be really helpful if you could send me some information about what kinds of projects the Port Moody club does, and perhaps some pictures too. I'd like to put them in my presentation.

One more thing: I was thinking back to my elementary school days, and I remembered that I was really lucky to be able to go to Camp Jubilee! I remembered that it was the Port Moody Rotary club that sent my friends and I to have a blast at camp. I'm really grateful for that experience, and also for being able to go on exchange next year. 

Sylvia Zhang