MADISON'S STORY IN THE USA
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I am entirely sure I had the best host family that anyone has ever had. I lived with just one lady who’s pretty much an aunt to me now in a lovely house that easily became my home. Sue (my host mom) and her friend Patty (who also became like an aunt to me), took me to so many amazing places, connected me to amazing people, gave me a second family (her brothers were like annoying uncles that wouldn’t quit teasing me about every little thing and trying and failing to beat me at baseball) and helped me to get settled in a completely foreign country.
Over the course of the 11 months of my exchange Sue took me to see among other things; Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, to a potato festival a few towns over, snowboarding, to see a bunch of statues around ND, Native American sites, museums everywhere, parades, musicals, ice hockey games, football games, a circus (the first one I’ve ever seen with actual elephants and tigers), arcades, trick or treating, zoos, concerts, state parks (like Itasca state park where the beginning of the Mississippi river is), wild west towns, the annual Medora musical, Washington DC, I toured the Pentagon and the Capitol building, Arlington Cemetery, Disneyland, EPCOT, Universal Studios, Earth and space museum, the White House, monuments, Yellowstone, Harry Potter Wizarding World (which was a dream of mine since I was 10 that was so incredibly amazing), Hershey Chocolate factory, rodeos. I stood barely 10-metres from a massive herd of bison and saw a wolf not even five metres from me driving through Yellowstone National Park! This barely even scratches the surface of what Sue gave me throughout the year.
The highlight of my exchange is pretty much the entire year. I went on two week-long stays in New York and California/Arizona. My stay in New York was absolutely amazing. I met so many incredible people from all over the world and the country and saw so many amazing things (it also got me addicted to Starbucks, a habit I can no longer afford to keep). The old buildings, Wall street, Matilda the musical, the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, hundreds of Santas (for a Santa parade apparently), Wall Street, China Town, Brooklyn bridge, the Museum of Natural History and so many other amazing places. The people I met there I still talk to now, eight months after first meeting them.
My second tour was just as amazing as the first with seeing and going to places like Knott's Berry Farm, Venice beach, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hillary Clinton in a limo, Kylie Jenner and Tyga, Universal Studios, Las Vegas, a live stripper tease show on the Vegas strip, and the Nevada Red Rock canyon.
I now have plans to travel to places like Germany, Brazil, Italy, Thailand and Spain - just to visit people I’ve met on these trips.
The best decision I have ever made in my entire life was going on this exchange, it has changed me so much as a person. From slightly shy and self-conscious to someone that isn’t afraid to share their opinions and terrible jokes.
Part of this has been my amazing second family and the other part is my amazing best friends that I have made. I wouldn’t be where I am without these 11 months - friends, family and a town called West Fargo.
- Madison Jones, from Rotorua went to West Fargo, USA.
Over the course of the 11 months of my exchange Sue took me to see among other things; Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, to a potato festival a few towns over, snowboarding, to see a bunch of statues around ND, Native American sites, museums everywhere, parades, musicals, ice hockey games, football games, a circus (the first one I’ve ever seen with actual elephants and tigers), arcades, trick or treating, zoos, concerts, state parks (like Itasca state park where the beginning of the Mississippi river is), wild west towns, the annual Medora musical, Washington DC, I toured the Pentagon and the Capitol building, Arlington Cemetery, Disneyland, EPCOT, Universal Studios, Earth and space museum, the White House, monuments, Yellowstone, Harry Potter Wizarding World (which was a dream of mine since I was 10 that was so incredibly amazing), Hershey Chocolate factory, rodeos. I stood barely 10-metres from a massive herd of bison and saw a wolf not even five metres from me driving through Yellowstone National Park! This barely even scratches the surface of what Sue gave me throughout the year.
The highlight of my exchange is pretty much the entire year. I went on two week-long stays in New York and California/Arizona. My stay in New York was absolutely amazing. I met so many incredible people from all over the world and the country and saw so many amazing things (it also got me addicted to Starbucks, a habit I can no longer afford to keep). The old buildings, Wall street, Matilda the musical, the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, hundreds of Santas (for a Santa parade apparently), Wall Street, China Town, Brooklyn bridge, the Museum of Natural History and so many other amazing places. The people I met there I still talk to now, eight months after first meeting them.
My second tour was just as amazing as the first with seeing and going to places like Knott's Berry Farm, Venice beach, Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hillary Clinton in a limo, Kylie Jenner and Tyga, Universal Studios, Las Vegas, a live stripper tease show on the Vegas strip, and the Nevada Red Rock canyon.
I now have plans to travel to places like Germany, Brazil, Italy, Thailand and Spain - just to visit people I’ve met on these trips.
The best decision I have ever made in my entire life was going on this exchange, it has changed me so much as a person. From slightly shy and self-conscious to someone that isn’t afraid to share their opinions and terrible jokes.
Part of this has been my amazing second family and the other part is my amazing best friends that I have made. I wouldn’t be where I am without these 11 months - friends, family and a town called West Fargo.
- Madison Jones, from Rotorua went to West Fargo, USA.
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