My Exchange Year is Over!

It is crazy to realize that my experience in America is over. I'm already in Slovakia, my home country and I had a ton of people asking me how was my year? Well.. It's really hard to explain a year in one conversation so I just give them little glimpses of it or some of my highlights. How was my Halloween. What on earth is Thanksgiving and why do people eat Twinkies in America.

The first significant thing that I've done when I arrived to America was joining the cross-country running team, which I still can't believe I did. I never was a running type of guy but as it turned out, I had a lot of potential in me that I wasn't using yet.

That's one of my friends running a 5k run.

I've done many mistakes during my exchange year. I've lost my wallet the first day I got to the States. We also had a car accident, which in fact was caused by a drunk driver ignoring a red traffic light and crossing lanes. He fled the scene but was found later. His girlfriend arrived to the scene an hour after the accident. The guy that fled is probably sitting in a cell now. Luckily no one got hurt.




 But you know what? An exchange year isn't supposed to be perfect. It's supposed to be life changing and oh boy it definitely was.

Starting with my family, I had the chance to be a part of a big family  with 4 siblings and 2 host parents.

That's Jack and Abigail
I learned that the solutions to the problems are way easier than they look. If you don't know something, you stop for a second, think and maybe you'll come up with a solution. If you can't think of one then ask someone and they'll always give you advice or even help. Don't be that "I'm a cool guy, I don't need to ask anything."  I asked questions even when I knew what the answer was just so I can keep the conversation going. Even if we talked about nothing.

Thanksgiving, Halloween,Christmas and Easter. All of these unique events that I would have never experienced.
Awesome Christmas.

I learned how  nights that we as a family spent together impacted everyone. Bringing two cultures into one household is a big risk to take. But so is the reward. Getting to spend some quality time together are a huge part of your exchange year and they are vital.
That's Jack and Abigail having fun in front of the house.

I learned what I'm passionate about some ideas and I express myself when I get ticked off. It didn't just open  my eyes, it opened my heart and ultimately my whole world.

I had so many firsts in the U.S. and it wasn't my first time here.

My first High school American football game. 

My first baseball game.(With a delicious hot dog of course)




I also had the chance to go to college Baseball and Basketball games as well. I went to a local hockey match where we lost, big time, but that's okay ;). My experience wouldn't be complete without a proper monster truck show where I had seen some crazy American Monster Trucks! And then of course my first and only American prom which was a perfect experience.













Gonzaga basketball game


If you ever get to go for an exchange year, here are some tips for you ;)

1. Be the "yes" person
Say yes to everything and don't be afraid to be a little nosy and pushy. It's okay,you're an exchange student. That is your #1 excuse. Trust me. If you get invited, go. If you don't get invited , ask if you can come. These decisions can decide whether you'll go to a great party or stay home watching Netflix.Trust me it's worth it.

2. If you hit a wall, take a hammer and break it
YOU ARE GOING TO FIND DIFFICULTIES. It's a whole year in a new environment with new people. Just be open minded. Try new things, It's a lot of fun.Take me for example. I lost my wallet the first day I arrived to the States. We had a car crash sometime in October. These looked like difficulties at the time but they turned out to be life altering moments.

3. Talk, talk, talk
If you're like me and your home country speaks a completely different language you should seek to perfect your English. Talk as much as you can with as many people as you can. I know it sounds easy to say but just try to engage conversation with people. If you're talking about something funny with someone ,engage more people in it. Exchange students are perfect Ice breakers in classes. They bring the classmates closer to each other because they ended up having the same exchange student friend.

4. Find your balance
You're going to face choices. "Should I go out with my friends? But then I will miss this family event. Is it really worth it? But there's this party and I will have to miss it, do I really have to go?""
You have to spend time with your family and friends as well.

5.Change your habits
Do not! I repeat do not do the same routine overseas that you do home. Don't be on your phone all day in school or home. People want to talk to you. They want to know more even if they seem they don't. Just turn your phone off and be talkative to people around you. Of course take selfies and Instagram posts just don't chat with people from your home country when you're with Americans.

6. Sign up for after-school activities
Activities such as sports, interest clubs and others make you become really close to people. You will not find the same person in school and out of school.

7.Pay attention in class
Ultimately, you have gone to the U.S. to learn something. Pick classes you are interested in and make sure you pay attention there. Some classes will be life changing. Trust me.

8.Eat healthy and workout
You don't want to get fat while you are on your exchange. Try to find some healthy habits. Maybe workout a little. You'll see. When you get home after a year, your family and friends will see how much you have changed. They'll be shocked.

9.Look from a different perspective
Look behind things. Don't just look at the things they want to show you. Look at things they are hiding. Don't take this literally. All I'm saying is that know your town, know your neighborhood and know what is going on around you.

and finally...

...

10. ENJOYYYY
This is the best time of your life. Make it count.

A crazy birthday + graduation

The 18th birthday was amazing and I'll explain in a quick second why.

First of all in Slovakia you're allowed to drink when you're 18. I'm really happy that I didn't have to..get wasted and get taken home in someones car. I'm not that type of guy. 

Anyway. In June the School for the senior class was pretty much over. All we did on June 1-3 is sign yearbooks. I got a nice amount of signatures and writing in it which I'm pretty happy about. 

In a standard American High School there are 4 grades.

Freshman

Sophmores

Juniors 

and Seniors

Because I was an exchange student I had to take some sophmore classes as well in order to keep up with the material that my classmates back is Slovakia were studying. Since I have 2 more years of High school in front of me I still need to study for my classes.

On June 4th it was a really special day!

My birthday!!!

I had the opportunity to go on a trip to Silverwood with the graduating class of 2015.

Silverwood is like scarywood but it's during the day and there are no scary guys running with chainsaws ;)  We went on the fastest rollercoasters and I have to say it was an awesome day. I got to spend some amazing time with my friends and gain memories that will last a lifetime. 

I was begging Dorothy to go to Buffalo Wild Wings for a while to complete the "Blazin' Challenge" where you had to eat 12 of the spiciest wings in just 6 minutes.And she said we'll go on my birthday so I was excited about that. 

And I haven't gotten to the best part yet.

My parents have showed up! In Spokane! It was one of the biggest surprises I've ever had. It was awesome. I was so surprised. We went to buffalo wild wings with my parents and I attempted the Buffalo Blazin' Challenge in which I had to eat 12 of the hottest wings in 6 minutes or less. It was a lot of fun and guess what!? I did it!

The next day I was graduating. I graduated an american college which was one of the coolest experiences of all. I had the chance of going through the whole ceremony and I loved it. 

It was amazing. The whole graduation ceremony was amazing. The way they called each of us up there to take our diploma was simply one of a kind. Unique. 

Spokane LILAC FESTIVAL

What is Spokane Lilac Festival?

The first time I heard about it I didn't really know what it meant. I thought Lilac is some kind of flower and that we'll walk around and look at them. Well it wasn't exactly like that. 

When I researched it one of the first articles that popped up had a quote that said it all:

"Honoring our military, Recognizing our Youth and showcasing our community."

There was everything. Every single High School, including ours had their own marching band there. 

Every single part of the Spokane community was there. It was awesome. The parade went on for hours. 

I loved it

Prom!

On the 22nd of February I asked my date to prom. It was really early but she wasn't expecting it and it was perfect.

Prom is one of the biggest High School dances a High school-er can have. We started out with pictures in a very special park. I got to see my date, Rachael in her beautiful yellow dress for the first time. It looked so good on her. When we entered the park, there was almost 50 more couples taking pictures as well, but it was fine. No one was in any ones way, the park was huge. It worked out pretty well. We got some really nice pictures. Aunt Lori and grandpa took some really good pictures that I didn't actually see yet. :) I know they are going to be awesome.

After the pictures were taken, we went for dinner. Melting Pot.
It was a fondue restaurant that serves fondue, whether it's chocolate fondue, cheese fondue or meat fondue.It was a great experience. We spent so much time in the restaurant that we missed the beginning of prom which is fine. Prom went from 8PM to 11PM and it was awesome. It was pretty much a disco party where people picked pop music to dance to. I thought there will be like slow dancing but it was a party and it was super neat. I danced with Rachael, my prom date :) , like the whole night. It started out slow because we didn't really dance together before  but after a while we got pretty crazy and wild ;) .:) It was so awesome!! Best dance ever.The hall was medium sized with a balcony on one side. Some people spent more time on the balcony than on the dance floor. The balcony was a quiet place where we could just kinda chill from the loud music and talk:). Prom was a wonderful experience with wonderful people and it will be never forgotten!! 

Track meet/crazy decisions

This track meet was crazy. There was so much stuff going on and some decisions that people may or may not regret the other day. I'm a thrower.  I'm not a runner. I was a runner back in September and October when I was running on practices every single day but now? No no no. So how it works is that there are two categories of people for track. Varsity and  Junior Varsity (JV). If you make varsity in an event like Shot or 200m sprints or anything else, the coaches don't want you to do different events. However if you're JV... They don't care. You can do as many events as you want. But with decent practice of course. The throwers are the furthest from running. We do minimal practice for running. It's all about the technique and focusing our power in specific points of our body so we can throw the furthest. We don't run at practices at all.

At the meet we were lined up waiting for our turn when the person that starts off everyone said this:"One more person needed. Anyone?" I didn't hesitate 'What could 100m do to me?' I jumped up , got into my position and prepared for race. The guys from other school were making fun of my shoes that they are not for running. They were not even for throwing. I didn't care at all. People that throw with me were laughing. It was really funny. Then the race began.

When the gun went off I felt so much adrenaline in my head. It was crazy. I was keeping up with the guys for like the first 8 seconds of the race. Then I just couldn't they passed me. No practice no victory. 

But what happened after was even funnier.  Two guys. 3 times my size went for it. One of them was a lineman in Football I'm pretty sure. He should be a comedian. When we went past the crowd he pointed at them like LeBron James does and just finished last as I did.

My feet got so stiff. It hurt so bad. Was it worth it?  Definitely! Will I do that ever again without practice?  No. Never.

Best meet ever!

McFarlandUSA

So. Yesterday I had the chance to go see one of the new movies called McFarland. I have to say it was a great movie. It was based on a true story and I have to say it made me tear up. It was awesome. I recommend it to everyone.  

Track

Track just started. What is Track? It's a sport after school with many events that the students can choose from.
-high jump
-long jump
-shockput/diskis
-pole vault
-long distance running
-short distance running
-javelin
There are so many events you can choose from. I tried almost all of them with my friend Charles. I'm doing shockput/diskis. It's really cool and challenging.  I really like it. Yesterday we had "team bonding" which basically meant no practice we just worked together and talked a lot so we get to know each other. Afterwards we had a huge team dinner at the Coaches house. Everyone brought something so there was plenty of food. It was awesome.
Afterwards I got picked up by Charles , we got some smoothies and and they gave me a ride home. It was awesome!

Jackson Hole Wyoming

What is Jackson Hole?

The Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is a ski resort in Teton Village, Wyoming. Located 12 miles northwest of Jackson and due south of Grand Teton National Park in Teton County, it is named after the historically significant Jackson Hole valley

I left on Saturday and got picked up by uncle Paul, his son Michael, their german exchange Student Sascha and of of their friends Ben. It was a long road trip fulfilled with a lot of crazy stuff.

We were driving down the highway when we had to stop because of a traffic light that showed where the construction area was going on.There was a bunch of cars in front of as well as behind. It was a very long red light so we turned the music on really loud and danced. Paul stared to give us challenges like everyone had to get out of the car and run around it on the middle of the highway. Then another challenge was to get out of the car and do 10 push-ups. It was awesome. People in the cars behind us were laughing and giving us thumbs up it was so funny.

Later we arrived to our apartment, dropped our stuff off and headed for dinner. We stopped by a small place with burgers and of course I had to order one and Maan. That burger was the BEST burger I had in my whole entire life. It was perfect!
After dinner we headed back to our rooms and got some quality sleep. We had to prepare for our day on skies.

The Hill. Oh my gosh! I know I sound like a little girl but I can't help it. It was so amazing. A full day of skiing.
Before we left Spokane Dorothy already purchased my ski ticket however I bought another one so I had 2 ski tickets. Anyway problems were solved really easy. They just refunded Dorothy's purchase. So it was okay.
It was so amazing. I was skiing with Sascha(Blue/black jacket) both days. We skied all day.He's an excellent skier. That day I also bought a ski mask. It looks pretty cool. I had to buy one otherwise my nose would fall of :) I was skiing without poles so my confidence wasn't high enough to ski reckless but maybe that's a good thing. I didn't injure myself :)

The next day I woke up soo sore. Sascha skied at 49 Degrees North pretty much every day. We skied in groups. Me and Sascha, Michael and Ben and Paul skied alone or sometimes with the other guys not with us. Sascha is more of a freestyle skier, while I'm a carving skier. I love speed! That's one of the main reasons why I love skiing. I bought a dope sweatshirt from Jackson Hole and it looks really cool. I love it. Anytime I look at it, I'm like:"Man that was a perfect weekend." On the way back we watched a couple of movies and tried to get some sleep. We were exhausted.  I got home around 2 o'clock at night and had to go to school on Tuesday morning. I was falling asleep in class. Haha. But it was all worth it.

Thank you Paul, Lori Dorothy, Duane for letting me go.

Ben Sascha Michael - thanks for the guy toad trip!!

Prom

On Sunday I did something that I'm really proud of. I asked a girl to prom.It is the first and last American prom that I will go to so I had to make sure It would go perfect. I was planning this for weeks. At our school there is a class where Cheerleaders make signs for different games,sport activities to support their players. And I went there the other day and I asked if it is possible to make a sign that  would say- "WILL YOU GO TO PROM WITH ME?" The cheerleaders were extremely helpful. They are very nice and did it without any irritating questions. I went to ask in the morning before school started and it was done by the school ended. The sign looked amazing.

Afterwards my plans of Calling my date to prom were delayed because the plans changed however 2 weeks later it became true. We went to a symphony concert where she, 2 of her siblings and their exchange students were performing. Before we left to the concert I took the sign,some tape and we stopped in the store to buy some flowers :) The concert was brilliant. After the concert we went to get some diner. Prospectors. It was a nice place, they cooked well. Before we finished with our dinner Me and my little host brother ran out to the car to get the poster and the flowers. We taped the poster on their side of the car so she would not see it right away when we walk over there.(I walk and she goes with her crutches since she broke her foot a while ago..). When we finished with our dinner and paid the bill our whole group was getting ready to leave. She needed to use the restroom , which was perfect so I had time to organize my little brother where should he hide. When  we walked out he ran and gave me the flowers which I was holding while we were walking to the car. I was talking to her on the way to the car about different things trying to distract her which worked perfectly. We approached the car and when we were really close , she saw the sign.

She was shocked. She had no idea about anything which was exactly what I wanted.
It was perfect.
Here's the video

Laser Tag

We went to laser tag on Sunday . It was pretty fun. We played one round where Angel won. Me Jack Abi, Angel , Thomas and Duane were playing and then a whole bunch of people. We got our vests with attached weapon. We got our little trial. Who? What? When? Where? Why? And then we went into action. The area was big. If you got shot in the vest or gun the whole thing vibrated and you were unable to shoot. I was sticking to Abi so she wouldn't get lost. There were 2 types of people in the Arena. The people that were running around shooting at everyone or hunting in pairs and people that stood in the corners trying to pick of people. Me and Abi were running around. It was so much fun.
I played Airsoft before and Laser Tag is the cheaper easier way for almost the same experience.
Afterwards we got our scores and Angel was the best of us :)
It was neat.

Monster Jam

OMG
Yesterday I went to one of the most American things that I could have gone to in Spokane. MONSTER JAM with monster trucks. Oh maaan. Before we entered the arena a guy at the entrance was giving out free ear plugs. I was like whaaaat? I don't need them I'm too cool for them. We sat down in our seats and prepared for some heavy duty cars, Monster Trucks. Maaan those trucks were loud. And when I say loud I mean loud. We saw some cars being crushed to pieces, some bikes jumping around and racing.
It was awesome

Red Robin Help inpact a childs life

Today me Jayce , Alec and his girlfriend ( I can't remeber her name I know I'm a bad person ) went to a dinner. It was an event that our school organized. We sat down, ordered some awesome burgers and ate every single last piece. It's awesome to hang out with your classmates outside of school. You'll get to know a completely different side of them, their personality. After we ate everything we sat there and talked 2 hours straight talking about random things. At the end the waiters gave us looks that it is time to leave but who cares right? I met there a bunch of our seniors since it was a school event. Burger was excellent.  Loved it as always. I know unhealthy but once in a while won't hurt you right? Anyway it was an awesome night. We're definitely doing something like this as soon as possible.
Red Robin Rocks!!!

Experience that I got from this half year.

     This half year went by super fast. There is so much to talk about. I'll make a small summary of my experience so far.  My first experience that I can think of and really proud of was Cross Country. It was amazing. I understood something. If you work hard you can push your body to the limits. That it's not always about the strength but about the will and how much are we willing to sacrifice for success. Competition is a strong component in life. Some of us might say they are not competitive, that's what I though but I was wrong.
     The feeling before the race started your whole body feeling the excitement, people around cheering, yelling your name and the name of the school. It's just an amazing feeling. The Cross country was a big part of my after school life. When it ended I started to feel that the days were the same, same routines every day. I know one thing about myself that I figured out. I hate routines. Routines make the days different from each other. Everyday is a different day. It's hard to make a day different but when you pay attention, it will. :)
       I'll be honest the school lunches suck. Kids and youth, say whatever you want to say meat and rice in school, vegetables or soups. Man form now on I'm going to eat every single soup I'll be given. In school we had one soup. Only One during this year. Which blows. Students here are unsatisfied with their lunches which is completely understandable.
         The student diversity is amazing. The school has many different types of people which add up to an amazing school. I never thought I would realize how is school so awesome in general. People get free education, the ability so socialize, talk to people with different beliefs different views which may open your eyes. People are not afraid of expressing their beliefs. Dye their hair, piercings, t-shirts that may be inappropriate but they wear them because they believe in them. Of course there are limits but most people seem to know them.
Which teachers impacted me the most?
It was Mr. Jeffrey Naslund , my Citizenship teacher and Miss Stockdale my creative writing teacher.
In my Citizenship class we do a lot of awesome stuff. For example this week we were analyzing the world population, statistics about the world population.
         In my Creative writing class what we do is read/write. We read in silence a book of our choice for 25-30 minutes and then we write on a topic of her choice. Yesterday I skipped breakfast so I wasn't feeling very good in her class. I said that and she went to her room and brought me food. I GOT FOOD FROM A TEACHER! That's just mind blowing. I was shocked, so were the others. I stopped reading a while ago but I got into it again. Reading is awesome( I sound nerdy :) but I'm not.
1st semester was full with new and unexpected experiences that when I look back I'm happy I went through them. You never know what's around the corner. Every single person here Impacted me in some way. From my host family, through classmates, teachers and students that are in the bus or on the hallways.
 I wish our school had such a school spirit such as Mt. Spokane has.

People learn from their mistakes. It's important not to make the same mistakes again. 

I cannot believe I'm halfway done. The time goes too fast. 

X-mas+New Years Eve.

Yess X-mas was awesome. It was the first X-mas I celebrated on the 25th. It was a lot of first things actually. Usually we have huge Dinner's on the 24th and we open our presents the same day. Well here it was different. We had ham for dinner. It was a giant Ham. It was a different dinner that we usually had for dinner but it tasted good.  After we got our first X-mas present. I got some walking dead themed jogging suit which was pretty neat. Then we went to sleep and opened out Christmas presents on the next day in the morning. My little 2 host sibling woke me up super early to start opening the presents however we couldn't because we had to wait for the grandparents to get there. I could have slept but nooo nooo come stare at the presents for a couple of hours :) :) :)

We ate a huge breakfast which was awesome.
An awesome X-mas!!!