L-R Susan's mom, Susan Bowers, Cheri Krull & Joelle Washer
A wonderful presentation was given today by our former exchange student Susan Bowers, who spent a year in Argentina.
Susan was introduced by Youth Exchange Chair Cheri Krull, who before leading into Susan's presentation did mention that a birthday party for the club's current exchange student Luna was recently held.
With that (and while Susan's presentation was being brought up on the screen), Cheri told the club a little about Susan, who is a Senior at Maple Grove High School and was honored as Homecoming Queen this year.
To begin her presentation, Susan thanked all of us for her year in Argentina. She was very happy and wouldn't have changed a thing.
She spent her year in Argentina living in Rotary District 4845, and was that district's first exchange student. Beef is a major part of the economy of the region, and Susan admitted that she didn't eat a lot of vegetables while in Argentina because there was some much meat served at meals. Empanadas and a drink called mate were highlighted in some of Susan's pictures. She warned us all to not call mate "tea", as Argentineans do not see the drink as being "tea." According to Wikipedia: Mate contains mateine (an analog of caffeine), is made by an infusion of dried leaves of yerba mate. Susan admitted that it tasted interesting.
The 2 host families Susan lived with were both really great, and she was welcomed with open arms by both families as well as the students she went to school with. Susan said that she did her best to speak Spanish as much as possible, and not have words translated to English.
She took several trips while staying in Argentina including to Patagonia, Buenos Aires (where she was able to visit with her brother and brother's girlfriend who lives there), & Uruguay. As an aside, Susan told of her adventure in getting to Uruguay. When she arrived at the airport, she discovered that it was deserted due to the workers being on strike. Despite the setback, Susan was able to make it to Uruguay, and then traveled onto Chile and back to Buenos Aires one more time.
Susan ended her talk with saying she loved every moment of her trip, and admitted she was only homesick a little on Christmas Eve. Thanks to Susan on her presentation and for sharing the pictures of her adventure!!