Our third day

Written by: Lotte

Hello folks! This day was different from others. For me, this trip feels like a vacation, although I know it’s an honors program. Which means we have an exchange with another school. So yeah, we have to go to school! And that’s what we did today. It felt a bit off, because we didn’t even think about going back to school, but it was so fun to take part in the activities the Valencia teachers created for us.

SO WHAT DID WE DO?

It was an early morning. Jamie and I thought we had to be ready at 7:45, but boy, were we wrong. Ah, well. We had an early breakfast which was nice. At 9:15 in the morning we were picked up by Suzette and driven to the Valencia Winterpark College. We were welcomed by Valerie (who teaches centuries humanities) and students. The tables were covered with snacks and drinks! We even had donuts, oh my!
Around 10 in the morning, more students came in and joined us at the tables. Valerie gave us a presentation about the American Dream, and asked us what we thought it meant. We all agreed that the American Dream is having a family, a house, a dog, a big white fence, etc. But Valerie explained to us that this dream has changed over the years. It was very interesting. I’ve heard of it, but never knew what it ment.

We wrote down our dream and put those on a big, red paper which was put against the wall. After that, we turned the classroom into a museum. How? Well, Valerie placed papers on the walls and tabels. There were time periods printed on them. We had to form groups again with the Valencia students. And then we had to implement the time period. So for example: my time line said “the immigrants coming to America”. So we acted as if we were on a boat, seeing the statue of liberty and saying out loud that we hoped to find a job and trying to pursue the American Dream. I felt awkward, as it was out of my confortzone, but I had a good laugh and the students were so nice and fun to hang out with. A couple of teachers and students came to look at us. It was great.

TOUR AROUND CAMPUS

After that lesson, the school provided us lunch. After the lunch we went back to our fancy cars and drove to the other campus, which is new. We were guided around by the school principal. He showed us where the students follow their classes and explained to us why the school had such inspiring quotes on the walls. The buildings were big and I am sure I would get lost walking there by myself.

When the tour was finished, we went to a classroom were we listened to Professor Darden. He gave us the most inspiring lecture I have ever witnessed. Man, this man knows how to keep a class entertained. We talked about gender and racial inequality. A student from us gave him a package of stroopwafels after that. He liked that a lot. O! And he pronounced the word Noord-Brabant as if he was a Dutch person himself! Amazing!

TOUCHED BY KEYCHAINS

In the evening we had a group dinner at Ace. Some Valencia students joined us and gave us cute keychains. I was touched. It comes in handy though, my sisters complains that I need to change my keychain, so now I don’t have to go find a new one.

A GIRL NEEDS HER HOT TUB

Back at the hotel I went in the hot tub and pool with other students, while the rest of the group went to Target. They are still there while I am writing this. R.I.P. their wallets.

Okay, so that’s kinda it. I hope you like reading about our journey and the things we’ve done so far, as much as I like writing about them. Stay tuned for more!

If you want to see some pictures of the journey, you can see those below this post.

PS, we have a photo album now! You can find the link to the album on the homepage!