Venice, Italy
Actually anywhere and everywhere in
Italy would be nice. Home of the greatest musicians, one of the most beautiful
languages in the world, and delicious food. Italian is also on my
list of languages to learn.
Really this is redundant, because going
to France is like putting “all of Europe” on my list. (People
travel more there, since places are closer, or so I'm hoping.) I hope
to be able to see Germany, Spain, Italy, England, and Ireland because
they're all wonderful places and so close, how could you not go visit
them? But I'm aware that's a lot of travel for only a year abroad,
and not likely at all. My most realistic wish is that I'll be able to
go visit my good friend Cheryl in Heidelberg, Germany.
Cameroon and/or Senegal
One of the most special people I've met
(sort of a father/uncle/mentor figure to me, though I don't get to
hang out with him much) comes from Cameroon. Knowing one person
should not really be enough to feel the flavor of a society, but
nonetheless he showed me and told me of the wonderful sense of humor,
hospitality, and ingenuity native to Cameroon, or at least just
enough that I really want to go there and see for myself. Cameroon
and Senegal are both French-speaking countries in Africa where plenty
of my camp friends and counselors have gone, so I guess it's natural
for me to want to follow.
Switzerland
Just look at the flipping picture. Who
wouldn't want to go there? Apparently it's beautiful. To someone who
loves the outdoors as much as I do, irresistible. Also they speak
French (except when they speak German or Italian or Romansh...), have
amazing government and health care and stuff, and are just pretty
amazing like most European countries.
Iceland
Why the frig not? When I think of
Iceland, I think of three things. #1: That picture ^
#2: This girl and her awesome music: 
(EDIT: My dear friend Solange told me how confusing this is to anyone who has not experienced the wonders of Bjork. To be clear, Bjork is a musician from Iceland, and I highly suggest you go to youtube and listen to some of her music.)
#3: Because I'm a linguistics nerd, how the language is almost unadulterated proto-Germanic because of the island's isolation. Yes, yes, I know, I'm a nerd. So anyway. Iceland here I come.
#3: Because I'm a linguistics nerd, how the language is almost unadulterated proto-Germanic because of the island's isolation. Yes, yes, I know, I'm a nerd. So anyway. Iceland here I come.
Israel
Because I love history. I would say my
history, but it's not, really. I love when people insist that Judaism
is not a race, but only a religion. I'm sure I will rant about this
plenty later, but it is a culture, a race, and a religion. People
sometimes insist than when “Jewish” is used racially, you must
replace it with “Israeli.” There are several things wrong with
that: first, the Jews aren't originally from Israel. Well, yes, originally, before the Diaspora. That was a long time ago. The state of
Israel was created in 1948 – after WWII. “Israeli” is only as
accurate a term as “American” is for me, but actually less so (my
Jewish
great-grandfather came to the US before WWI, before Israel's
creation). Second, as I mentioned, Jews are a race as well-- you can
be a German Jew, a Russian Jew, a Polish Jew (generally collectively
named the Ashkenazim) or a Spanish Jew (Sephardic). My
great-grandfather came from the Ukraine, but he came because he was
Jewish and had to escape the Russian army. My great-grandmother came
with her family just before WWI in fear of political turmoil and
anti-Semitism. If you tell me I am not Jewish because I am not
Israeli, or tell me that I should label myself Israeli instead of Jewish because my religious label is atheist, I will give you the disappointed "oh, how ignorant" look. (The real reason I am not
technically Jewish is that 1) my mother is not Jewish, and Jewish tradition is that you take on your mother's religion, and 2) I didn't have a
bat mitzvah, which would have effectively negated the first
point. Ethnically and culturally, without regard to the synagogue, I consider myself Jewish.)
Anyway, enough of that, it's not terribly relevant. What I meant to say is that I love history and Israel is full of Jewish history, which I can relate to and have a personal interest in even if none of my relatives (besides a couple aunts, going to university there) have lived there.
Anyway, enough of that, it's not terribly relevant. What I meant to say is that I love history and Israel is full of Jewish history, which I can relate to and have a personal interest in even if none of my relatives (besides a couple aunts, going to university there) have lived there.
Similarly,
for reasons of family history:
The Netherlands:
The Netherlands:
The Czech Republic:
(Prague):
(and the rest of it):
And England oh and also Ireland! For much, much more than just family history.
Ireland, first of all, is beautiful. What better reason?
It also makes me think of tin whistles and haunting beautiful music, crazy folk tales, and Sir Galway.
Note:
all these probably wildly inaccurate stereotypes I'm using as reasons
to want to go places are just that – silly little reasons. Please
don't be offended by anything I say, and if it's horribly incorrect,
correct me. I'm just an ignorant American who wants to go see the
world so I can become less
ignorant.
Speaking
of good music... it's always been on my bucket list to learn
bagpipes. Alors:
The Scottish highlands:
The Scottish highlands:
That's
more than enough for now. Right now I just have to work on getting to
FRANCE, stop number one.
Onward to the content!
The good news: The office finally agreed to let me go! It took five months for them to say yes and sign a piece of paper. 5 months. For my short proposal with only a word and a signature needed in return. What confused me was this: every person I talked to (and I talked to many, since the first people I talked to were quite unhelpful) was reluctant to say yes, because there aren't any actual rules about exchange programs in this very American school district where no one would consider such a strange notion. So, if there are no rules... why would you say no? It's so easy just to say yes, sign my forms, and approve my credits as valid for Homestead. Why not? Regardless, I finally won them over, and learned a lot about the value of persistence and ignoring social norms (not leaving them alone when they tell you to stop bothering them, etc.). I asked two of my favorite teachers to write me letters of rec, and I'm done with most of my application. Will send it in sometime next week.
Onward to the content!
The good news: The office finally agreed to let me go! It took five months for them to say yes and sign a piece of paper. 5 months. For my short proposal with only a word and a signature needed in return. What confused me was this: every person I talked to (and I talked to many, since the first people I talked to were quite unhelpful) was reluctant to say yes, because there aren't any actual rules about exchange programs in this very American school district where no one would consider such a strange notion. So, if there are no rules... why would you say no? It's so easy just to say yes, sign my forms, and approve my credits as valid for Homestead. Why not? Regardless, I finally won them over, and learned a lot about the value of persistence and ignoring social norms (not leaving them alone when they tell you to stop bothering them, etc.). I asked two of my favorite teachers to write me letters of rec, and I'm done with most of my application. Will send it in sometime next week.
Bad
news: I still have to get accepted. Which I'm not really concerned
about; I'm sure they want my money. Other bad news: It's kinda sad. I'll miss my friends. Since when've I had friends? Good timing, Ikwe... get better, closer friends right before you're about to leave and never live near them again unless you coincidentally go to the same university or eventually settle back down in Sunnyvale (bah, yeah right).
I thought it was interesting that the hardest thing so far, harder than telling my best friends, my flute section, or pestering the office staff, was telling my esteemed band director. Band has been my entire life. And now I'm leaving? Right before senior year. Right before I would be section leader – in fact, the only student leader with a year of experience (this year I'm assistant section leader and the other three leaders are seniors). Right before being first chair in wind ensemble – in fact, the only returning member of wind ensemble, as I'm the only junior this year. Will band fall apart without me? Almost scarier, will it function as normal, completely unaffected because let's face it Ikwe, you just aren't that important? Will I be able to find friends without marching band? Mr. Burn, who I hold in high regard but is extremely socially awkward, looked disappointed but accepted it in the same quiet, supine way he does everything.
One more good thing: I don't really know why I did it. I purposely didn't tell my director where I was going, explaining only that I was signing up “to go abroad,” to see if he would ask. Partially because some people think he doesn't care about his students, only about band, and the response to a question like that (irrelevant to band) provides some small proof one way or another. Partially because I didn't want to make it seem like a big deal, like, oh, look at me, I'm so special and have better plans than band – I actually talked more about band than France, thanking him for the amazing experience and telling him who should be section leader next year. :P In any case, he did ask, and somehow it made the overall rather depressing encounter a little better. “I'm going to France,” I said. “But I'll miss band so much.”
I thought it was interesting that the hardest thing so far, harder than telling my best friends, my flute section, or pestering the office staff, was telling my esteemed band director. Band has been my entire life. And now I'm leaving? Right before senior year. Right before I would be section leader – in fact, the only student leader with a year of experience (this year I'm assistant section leader and the other three leaders are seniors). Right before being first chair in wind ensemble – in fact, the only returning member of wind ensemble, as I'm the only junior this year. Will band fall apart without me? Almost scarier, will it function as normal, completely unaffected because let's face it Ikwe, you just aren't that important? Will I be able to find friends without marching band? Mr. Burn, who I hold in high regard but is extremely socially awkward, looked disappointed but accepted it in the same quiet, supine way he does everything.
One more good thing: I don't really know why I did it. I purposely didn't tell my director where I was going, explaining only that I was signing up “to go abroad,” to see if he would ask. Partially because some people think he doesn't care about his students, only about band, and the response to a question like that (irrelevant to band) provides some small proof one way or another. Partially because I didn't want to make it seem like a big deal, like, oh, look at me, I'm so special and have better plans than band – I actually talked more about band than France, thanking him for the amazing experience and telling him who should be section leader next year. :P In any case, he did ask, and somehow it made the overall rather depressing encounter a little better. “I'm going to France,” I said. “But I'll miss band so much.”
