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Program Emilee Goetzenberger presented the program for the meeting, talking about her year in Belgium as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student. When she arrived August 2, 2017, Emilee was greeted by her first two host families and Clem, a Belgian youth-exchange sister, who had lived with Emilee's family in Phoenix. Emilee pointed out that the entire populations of three cities the size of Saint Ghislain, where she stayed in Belgium, would fit in Cardinals Stadium. She also showed a map of Belgium overlaid to scale on the southeast corner of Arizona. Some counties in Arizona are larger than the country of Belgium, which is 9.7% of the size of Arizona. Emilee said that her first two weeks were very difficult. She quickly realized she couldn't understand the French she was hearing. She found herself unable to form her thoughts and translate them into French quickly enough to engage in conversations. She said it was a very lonely feeling. She was encouraged because she could see that her host family had a very warm relationship with one another and were friendly and encouraging with her. Emilee was very glad the Goetzenberger family had been involved with Rotary Youth Exchange and had enjoyed the opportunity to attend RYLA before going on her exchange. She was able to see old friends while she was in Europe. She went to Amsterdam with Clem and her family. There were planned trips for the youth exchange students. One such trip was to Berlin Germany where Emilee saw many historic sites. She found the trips where all the exchange students were together very helpful. With them, she found frustrations with adapting to language and cultural differences were a common bond between them. They could encourage and support each other. After Christmas, Emilee spent time in France with another youth exchange sister who had stayed in her Phoenix home. She had the opportunity to go on a ski trip to Italy. She had a second opportunity to travel to Italy and saw Rome, Capri, Venice, and Sicily. She was very impressed with the beauty she enjoyed on that trip. In May, she travelled to Paris and saw Cabaret. She travelled to Austria and saw an exchange student she knew from RYLA. On a trip to Brussels Day, 200 exchange students were present. Emilee spoke affectionately about many of her friends and host family members. It was clear she was especially drawn to a younger girl who was her host cousin. The small community where she was hosted was a cultural center, which she found fascinating, but she also enjoyed the larger city of Brussels and travelled there regularly. When Emilee discovered her host cousin had never been to Brussels, she was thrilled to take the young lady there one day and give her a tour of the city the cousin had never experienced in her own country. Emilee said she really enjoyed fries in Belgium. She thinks she may have eaten her body weight in fries daily. Among her many unique experiences was one that surprised her parents - she played tennis one season. Two days each week, she had the opportunity to attend French classes with others for whom French was not their native language. Some were refugees, others had simply relocated from other countries. She enjoyed getting to know them and hear about each of their stories. Emilee obviously grew in her appreciation of culture, art, and beauty, but she also grew in ways that will make her an asset to herself and others for the rest of her life. In answering a question, Emilee said that it was close to the holiday season when she realized she was thinking in French and even dreaming in French. When asked about any difficulty she might have experienced, she very thoughtfully shared her feelings about how it felt when fellow students at her school were indifferent when she tried to reach out to them in friendship. It was clear that she was in touch with her own feelings and able to articulate how she felt and how she learned to cope with the cultural differences. At one point, Emilee's microphone stopped working. She showed poise and "stage presence" beyond her years when she went right on with her fun and animated presentation without much apparent hesitation. When asked about her host Rotary Club, Emilee readily said that she loved the club, but that it was clear they did not share the same level of fun and community spirit enjoyed by Mesa West Rotarians. Emilee still has two years of high school remaining before starting college. The Rotary funds invested in this youth exchange experience were well spent and Emilee and her world will enjoy the dividends throughout her lifetime.
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The August 2 meeting got off to a great start with Polly Schumacher serving as the greeter. Dr. Ron Thompson offered the invocation and Ed Koeneman led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Our outbound Rotary Youth Exchange student, Yordy Miguel, arrived in Brazil on August 1. He was met by his host family. In his own words, "The airport in Sao Paulo was crazy. A lot of people were yelling and getting angry because they missed their flight. Unfortunately, I was one of the persons that missed their flight (haha). I stayed at the airport for ten hours waiting for the next flight to Curitiba. My host family picked me up at the airport. They are all very nice. I have three host siblings; Gustavo (16), Otavio (13), Vitoria (15). They also have two dogs. They showed me around the city and it's very beautiful and big. I really hope it's going to be an amazing year."
