The Beginning

 9/16/21

On this date me and my parents decided that I will participate in Rotary youth exchange. We sent the preregistration and waited until later instructions.

Fast forward a few months and now it's January. At this time we've already done a lot of work that Rotary required us to do and now the most excruciating thing [looking back] awaited. Online meetings. That may not sound so bad, however each one of these 3 meetings were longer than 4 hours. If you imagine sitting at a computer with camera turned on having to look like you're not about to fall asleep from how many things they went through, it really isn't attractive.

We pushed through these tiring meetings and made it to another part. The amount of places in my preferred states - USA, Canada, was getting smaller and smaller due to Covid-19 and war in Ukraine. Nevertheless, we did everything we could to have the best chance of making the exchange happen.

Now we're somewhere in April. The date of the last meeting, now in person, was getting closer and closer. In this period we didn't know if my exchange will realize. There was a chance that I will not get the spot in my preffered states and will have to go to Brazil or somewhere in Europe, which I didn't want.

5/11/22

On this date I received the news that my exchange will happen in the USA, District 6150. After me and my parents quickly searched where that is, while our fingers were shaking because of the happiness we felt, we found out that district 6150 is in the state of Arkansas. 

On the first weekend of June the last meeting before my leave was happening. This was the first in person meeting. During these 2 days we've experienced many fond feelings and created bonds faster then ever. I would say that this happened because we were all kind of scared of what is in front of us.

Right here begins our most challenging journey yet. 

My dad booked me a flight right after we've received the date and place of arrival from my hosting Rotary club in Arkansas. Amazingly he managed to get a flight with only one plane change on 7/20/22 leaving from Munich. A flight directly to Charlotte, NC and subsequently to Memphis, TN.

My school year stars on 7/25/22. So at this moment I had only one third of the whole summer holidays. FYI I leave as the first one out of 66 outbounds [Outbound = student who leaves, Inbound = student who arrives].

To shorten my holidays even more, on Tuesday in the last school week during sports day. I broke my toe, just 3 weeks before my departure. So for the remaining time in Czechia I have a cast. Nevertheless, I said goodbye to my classmates, teachers and left the school for the next 12 months.

Had a party with my friends and said goodbye to them too. We cried like babies let me tell you. After a million hugs we parted our ways. I wish y'all an amazing year guys <3.

When I had my flight tickets now only one thing was remaining. Visa. In order to get to the USA you need a visa - usually ESTA which is a tourist visa, however an exchange student like me :] must have   J-1 visa. In order to get this visa you need to receive original documents sent from the American side. And book an appointment at the US. Embassy. Unfortunately I have received my documents very late - 7/13/22. Considering you have to book an appointment, go there and then wait 2 days to get your passport with visa. There really wasn't enough time. After emailing with United States Representative - Rick Crawford, The Embassy's spokeperson - Rozell Griffin. We've received an expedited date appointement on Monday 18. At this appointment I tried to explain to the lady how urgent my situation is. I have to leave my passport there and if they couldn't make it ready for the next day - Tuesday 19. I couldn't fly away. After she said that they will try their best me and my dad left. I must add very uncertainly. 

The next day I received an email that my passport is ready to pick up. So my correspondent Patrik Prochazka picked it up on my behalf and then my dad drove to Prague to pick it up from him.

So not even 24 hours before my departure I now finally knew for sure that I am actually leaving. This was one of the most stressful experiences of my life.

7/20/22

It's Wednesday and at 2 in the morning I said goodbye to my brother, Vojta. Then me, my mom and my dad left our home. On the way to Munich we had many wonderful conversations about memories, the future and expectations. I suppose now is the right time to say thank you.

Thank you mom, dad. For making this a reality. I want to thank you both for helping me so much with the preparations and for the reassurance I very much needed. I should also mention that during my stay here, my parents have to take care of exchange students from around the world. That is a huge sacrifice and I know it. So thank you. I love you.

After I went through customs and said goodbye to my parents I set out on adventure now all by myself. My first flight ticket MUC-CLT didn't have an assigned seat so I had to see a travel agent so she could give me a seat. There was chaos, some ladies rescheduled their flight to mine so the amount of seats was lesser than total passengers. I was waiting there for 50 minutes, just 10 minutes before my plane was leaving the lady gave me my ticket with a seat. I hopped on the last bus heading towards the plane and got on.

After a few minutes of searching my seat I found it. Someone was sitting there. The flight attendant told me to go in the back of the plane. After another 15 minutes of waiting there wasn't a single seat left. At this point I started to lose hope. Then, suddenly, she called me and said that one of us three - me, and two ladies, has to get off. One of the ladies got off and I was finally sitting. We were 30 minutes behind schedule already and to make matters worse. The lady that got of forgot her bag right beside my feet. They let her in the plane, I gave her her bag and my plane left 50 minutes after the supposed departure.

After around 10 hours we landed in North Carolina. At this airport I had around 35 minutes to re-check my bags, go through the security, find my gate and board the plane. Thankfully, my new acquired skills helped me navigate through the airport rather quickly and I got on the plane just in time. Now sipping Dr. Pepper with ice, I felt really proud that I made this journey.

After arriving in Memphis I walked to reclaim my bags and my exchange family was already waiting for me there. We greeted eachother for the first time and walked out of the airport.

Next post will be about the first 2 months in the USA :)

Ondrej Kaspar