As most of you know by now we have a Youth Ambassador in our midst. Her is her story. Enjoy!
« The American Dream » Became Reality !
Everything began in May- June 2010, when Mrs.Diallo told us about the project “Youth Ambassadors”. This project allows French students to live a fantastic experience in the United-States, thanks to the financing of the ACSE and the Embassy of the United-States and the cooperation of AFS Vivre Sans Frontiers. In order to become a Youth Ambassador I had to complete a form and send it to AFS, and then I had to go to an interview, in English of course!
The real adventure began at that moment in time!
This project was divided into three parts, firstly before going to the United-States I had to go to several trainingcourses. There was “The National Training Course” in July. This first one allowed all the Youth Ambassadors to meet each other and to know more about this project,what we had to do exactly; because it wasn’t just a holiday to the United- States.
I also had another training in October which lasted a week end but only with the Youth Ambassadors who were from the PARISIAN REGION (the others Youth Ambassadors also had the same training in their regions). This training was in order to teach us what kind of behaviour we had to adopt with our host families.
Then finally came the day we had all been waiting for: the 24th October 2010. Our departure from France at 10h55, our arrival in London at 12h15 , our departure from London at 14h 00 and finally, atlast our landing in the United-Sates at Washington D.C at 23h00 ! Here we were, 29 young French high schoolers as Youth Ambassadors in Washington D.C. We were all so exited we couldn’t realize that we were finally there!! It was the beginning of the best experience ever lived in a high schooler's life!!! We spent the first week at Washington D.C at the 4H CENTER.
The first week was mainly devoted to the work side of the project. However, even if we had to work hard every day, we spent unforgettable moments together and don’t forget , we were in the USA !!!! During this first week we had the opportunity to visit the Capitol, a great monument at Washington. We visited and we even went to the Congress where we had a conference with two female Representatives of the main political groups, Democratic and Republican. We debated with them during two hours about the political system in the United-States compared to the system in France. In the afternoon we went to the Indian museum, it was really boring because our guide wasn’t really enthusiastic but fortunately for us we had a projection which was excellent! We also visited the entire city and a lot of really impressive monuments such as the “World War II Memorial” and the “Lincoln Memorial” where all the great characters of the past made their speeches, namely President Lincoln and Martin Luther King with his famous “I have a Dream”! We also went to discover a lot of associations and we realized that they are more present in the United –States than in France! We went to the “Greater D.C Cares” which is the most important institution in Washington! We also went to Anacostia, a suburb which is very poor and which has a high level of unemployed people. But we all sincerely loved going to this suburb because even if they told us that it was a dangerous suburb and so on, the people we met weren’t at all dangerous. In fact they were really welcoming people who talked to us as if they had known us for 10 years and we loved this sort of complicity ! There was a great association there called the “ARCH”, it’s an association which is based on art to help the population to reintegrate a good social and active life. We also went to the Anacostia museum.
After all of this, I almost forget to talk about the special American food!! It was obviously one of the best things there, for breakfast we had a big a very big self service where you could find everything you wanted: chocolate, juice, coca, fruits, milk, everything!! Outside we were always eating in fast foods or in restaurants as you can imagine we were mostly eating pizzas, hamburgers, drinking very big glasses of coca cola and all the sweets that we could find!!
The first week came to an end and it was time for us to be divided into three groups to go each to a different city: Baltimore, Gettysburg and some of us stayed in Washington but in the suburb!
I had the pleasure of going to Gettysburg, a small city in Maryland which is famous for the Battle of Gettysburg and for the speech that Lincoln made there! On the first day we arrived in front of the College of Gettysburg where our families were waiting for us! During that week end we spent all of our time with them.
On that weekend I went to the Chocolate Museum with my family and just after that I went to the Chocolate World at Hershey where I could taste all the chocolate of the world I loved it because it was really funny !! Then, the second day was the 30th October, the day that we were all waiting for: HALLOWEEN!! On this day I had a meeting with the other Youth Ambassadors to have a guided visit of the city and a summary of the history of this city. By the way we organized a party all together for Halloween with our host sisters and brothers! So in the evening we all came disguised and we played “trick or treat” until 8pm then we went to one of the American's house where there was a big party going on until 10pm. This was the best of the best parties of all my life. It was totally like in the American movies, it was awesome!!
Then for us began our experience of American school life ! Firstly, if you want to know if it’s like in the movies?! the answer is YES IT’S TOTALLY THE SAME and even better!! The high school was so big, it’s easily five or six times the size of our high school. They have everything they want, high technology in classes ,a very good self service, they have a big gymnasium and a big stadium! The students were really welcoming and we all became good friends. The fact that I have continued having contact with them proves it, no?! So during this week I had the chance to live as a real American high schooler. I had the chance also to fulfill one of my dreams which was to go to a real football match and I went twice and more than that I passed on ABC, a special football TV!! I also went to a bonfire which is like a party , we had a very big fire and we were all around it. One OF the Americans brought his guitar with him and began to play and another one came and was singing. We really enjoyed this evening, it was one of the memories that I’ll never ever forget!!
In this same week we did a trip to Baltimore where we went to eat as homeless people in a sort of “Resto du Coeur” in France; it was really difficult because we had to eat with people who have nothing to eat and who were poor with a sad story to tell! We had to forget our bad feelings and go ahead and talk naturally with them and as it happened at the end we didn’t wanted to leave them behind because they were really interesting people, really nice. We were really excited and happy about what we had just lived!!
We also had another situation like this but fortunately we were able to put aside any prejudices and go ahead and talk and eat with retired senior citizens! After eating with them we had the pleasure of seeing that even if they were aged they still had energy, we played bowling on the wii with them and they gave us a thrashing!! That was really cool! The week ended and it was time to leave our American friends and host families!! That was really sad, we all cried girls as well as boys We left them behind but we still have regular contact, fortunately!!
We travelled back on the 8th November, and found the other groups of Youth Ambassadors at the airport. Of course we were really happy to see each other but we knew that it was the last hours on American soil we were living together!! When we landed in France we all cried again because it was so hard to leave people with whom we had just lived two unforgettable weeks . Fortunately, however, the adventure wasn’t over yet!
The third part of the project being to report on everything we had done in the United –States. For this we had the last training during the Christmas holidays in Lyon, for three days. We were all together to present our trip and to talk about it, the last training was really stupefying there is no word to express these feelings it just GREAT !
The last step of this adventure is the diploma which will be given to each participant on the 24th January!We have all been invited to a reception which will take place at the residence of the American Ambassador in Paris and it is there that we will receive our final diplomas!
This 'Youth Ambassadors' experience was the best thing that has happened in my short- sixteen year life. I just can’t express in words what kind of feelings I have because words aren’t strong enough!! If I had to do it again I would totally agree to it!!! It was MAGIC
By, Nadjet 1re S
