Rotary: Exchange Student Report
Posted by Linda Balzer
on May 1, 2012
......RYLA was on my schedule, and I had no idea
This weekend was a special experience. RYLA was on my schedule, and I had no idea what was going to happen! To be honest, I wasn't that excited to go, but of course I did anyway!
Arriving at the camp made me change my mind. Being greeted by 70 warm hugs, that's something special - to feel that wanted, and to make other people feel wanted, how could I not be excited about that? All 4 days at the camp were great. Every single person was something special, and we all learned from the different activities and projects. The most important parts for many were the debreifings. After each speach, we would sit in our assigned groups of 5-6 and talk about what we just heard. This really brought everything on the table. Opinions, life experiences and emotions. It was amazing to hear the story of so many different people, but also overwhelming at times...
The evenings were always fun! We hung out, talked, played dice, had bonfires, played music and got to know each other. As you can maybe sense, not a lot of sleeping was included! Haha. The longest sleep I had was probably 5 hours.. But that was a part of the experience aswell!
The last day on the camp was so unexpected - it was filled with so much emotion, I couldn't even believe it. Seeing how all these people had grown in 4 days, how everyones points of view were changed and how confident everyone were. It was so uplifting, yet almost every single person burst out in tears when they explained how they felt about the weekend. One person described the tears as tears of gratefulness... I think that might've been it.. but also just being overwhelmed and happy.
I wasn't sure if RYLA had changed me in any way... but as soon as I got home, I saw it and I felt it. Confidence, knowledge about people, problem handling.. it all came more naturally.
Thank you SO much for this opportunity. Rotary should never stop doing these camps - they really make a difference in lots of peoples lifes!
- Henriette
Arriving at the camp made me change my mind. Being greeted by 70 warm hugs, that's something special - to feel that wanted, and to make other people feel wanted, how could I not be excited about that? All 4 days at the camp were great. Every single person was something special, and we all learned from the different activities and projects. The most important parts for many were the debreifings. After each speach, we would sit in our assigned groups of 5-6 and talk about what we just heard. This really brought everything on the table. Opinions, life experiences and emotions. It was amazing to hear the story of so many different people, but also overwhelming at times...
The evenings were always fun! We hung out, talked, played dice, had bonfires, played music and got to know each other. As you can maybe sense, not a lot of sleeping was included! Haha. The longest sleep I had was probably 5 hours.. But that was a part of the experience aswell!
The last day on the camp was so unexpected - it was filled with so much emotion, I couldn't even believe it. Seeing how all these people had grown in 4 days, how everyones points of view were changed and how confident everyone were. It was so uplifting, yet almost every single person burst out in tears when they explained how they felt about the weekend. One person described the tears as tears of gratefulness... I think that might've been it.. but also just being overwhelmed and happy.
I wasn't sure if RYLA had changed me in any way... but as soon as I got home, I saw it and I felt it. Confidence, knowledge about people, problem handling.. it all came more naturally.
Thank you SO much for this opportunity. Rotary should never stop doing these camps - they really make a difference in lots of peoples lifes!
- Henriette