Wednesday, June 25, 2008

hello dear readers

both of you! ;)

I thought I'd let you know that I'm going out of town for a few days, and won't be able to write.
Where is Zoe going this time, you ask? Is it rome, or paris? Copehagen? Maybe she's starting a new Asian thing and going to Hong Kong?
well my friends, I'm going to Wisconsin!!!!
I know you're all excited for me.
Farwell, I'll miss you!

ZOE

Saturday, June 21, 2008

My stuff came! :D

I've finally got some merchandise to my name! I have my blazer, my business cards, and my pins all ready to go.






My blazer...























... my pins...









... and my business cards :)





So that's one less thing for me to worry about!

Also, a few days ago my friend Nicole and her little sister Molly and I took her puppy, Lola, to the river that runs through South Bend. Well actually at bends here. south.
Anyway we found this leaf branch brush thing on the ground, and the dog went ballistic over it. It was adorable! :)




So those pink flip flops are mine, the amazing camera skills are Molly's, and the dorky laugh is Nicole's :P

I signed my family up to host a spanish exchange student for the month of july. And since I'm so adored, I got to pick the student we'd take. So I picked the one who was closest to my age, and who's english needed the most help. This way I can get better in Spanish too. :) Her name's Claudia, she's from Madrid. I'm so excited to meet her! She'll be here in like.. two weeks! I must clean.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Hellooooooo my dears!

I got this question from someone on my last post. I think he came to me from youtube, but I can't be certain!

"I also have to admit that I didn't even know what Rotary was before I read your blog (yeah I live in a cave called South of France). Anyway, I read some informations about it and I'd like to know how you see Rotary. I mean, it's an association, at least it's classified as one. But it seems to me that it represents more a certain way of thinking or seeing the world, not like a political party, but it's quite similar."
Well, Rotary International is a service organization that's been around since 1905. It was the world's first service club, actually, founded in Chicago.



Today, Rotary has made it its top priority to eradicate polio around the world. The youth exchange is just a part of it (although a big part)!
Rotary is also a way for people (especially students) to learn about culture around the world. Being sponsored by Rotary is a great way to learn about another culture and society, so you can take your life lessons home with you and make a difference in your own community.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Almost exciting!

I ordered my business cards! And they're almost here! They were shipped today!

for anyone who doesn't know (I gave this link to some youtube people who liked my now deceased channel.. so they wouldn't know).. Rotary makes business cards for its exchange students, so they can pass them out and pretend to be real live grown ups! We also get these sweet blazers, and some awesome pins to put on said blazers.
My rotary was kind of lame.. they didn't supply us with the extra fun stuff (I love them though). So I bought my blazer for 2.50 at a salvation army, I made my pins out of these little wooden poker chips from hobby lobby, and I designed and ordered my business cards from vistaprint.com. If you have to make business cards, go there. Kinkos will rip you off. Freakin bastards.

I'll post pictures everything when my cards get here! :)

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Visa Problems

I thought I'd update to let you know about my latest dilemma: my visa. Without my visa, I can't get my ticket. And without my ticket I can't board a flight to Brazil, can I?
For the past few months, I've been expecting a package in the mail, a phone call, even a friendly 'hello' in my inbox, from the travel agency that I've been assigned to. But in the last week, I noticed that most of my rotary buddies were well on their way to getting their visas, while I hadn't started the process yet. So I called up the travel agency to make my case known, and it turns out that they mailed me the forms three weeks ago, and were lost in the mail!
Frustrated, I requested they send it again. And they were very nice about it, it's certainly not their fault.. just karma, I guess.. bad postal service karma.
Anyway I got my forms in the mail yesterday, and I'm rushing to send them in by tomorrow, since I'm already three weeks behind where I could be.
I've been talking with the other exchange-students-to-be on facebook, and they've all been really nice and supportive in my most recent crisis (not that much of a crisis really, but that's what I'm sticking with). We're spread out all over the country, plus one kid from germany and one from denmark (crazy danes!). It's a pretty crazy chat room we've got going.
In other news, I think my cat got attacked by a vengeful chipmunk! Perhaps related to the one that he slaughtered last week..? I'm scared for his safety.