Hello Bremerton. My name is Marcell Poser. I am a 17-year-old foreign exchange student from Hungary presently living in Bremerton through the Bremerton Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Hungary is located in the middle of Eastern Europe. My family lives in the eastern part of Hungary in the city of Debrecen, which is the second-largest city in Hungary. There are five in my family, including my father, mother, myself, one older brother, 19, and one younger sister, 10. My father is a veterinarian and my mother is a physical education teacher. Two years ago, my brother, Benjamin, spent the year in upper New York state, also through the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. He had really good experiences and encouraged me to also be an exchange student. My family has been involved in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program ever since Benjamin became a foreign exchange student. We have already had four exchange students live with us in Debrecen and now my parents are hosting a fifth exchange student, an American from Alaska.
I go to Bremerton High School. I decided to take subjects I never was able to take in Hungary; for example, photography and weight training. If I were in Hungary, I would be a junior now. However, I have been registered as a senior at Bremerton High so I can take part in the graduation ceremonies in June.
School is very different in Hungary; we cannot choose our subjects. In Hungary we start school at 7:45 in the morning and we finish at 12:20 p.m., 1:15 p.m. or 2:10 p.m. because we have different subjects each day of the week. The first few years of high school we have 12 or 13 subjects. We have this variety until we choose a concentration for junior and senior year. There are only two or three basic subjects such as math, chemistry and history. Here in the United States, I can choose the subjects I want. In Hungary every student must study foreign language. In primary school they can choose English or German. And in high school everybody has to take a second foreign language, which is usually German, Italian, Spanish or French. I was in fourth grade when I started to learn English. In my freshman year, I chose Italian as my second foreign language. We usually start school when we are 7 years old and finish when we are 19.
I live with a host family near Bremerton High School. This is my first host family and I’m happy because we live as a big, good family, and that is so nice. They are really nice people and I’m glad to be a part of their family. I will have two other host families. I will move to my second host family in December and in April I will go to my third host family. I already know my host sister from my third host family. She was a Rotary exchange student spending last year in the Czech Republic.
Every month, I attend at least one meeting of the Bremerton Rotary Club. These meetings are every Monday at noon at the Kitsap Conference Center in downtown Bremerton. Rotary is an international service organization dedicated to international understanding, health issues, etc. Rotary members often invite me to different activities, such as dinners out, a Seahawks game, a Mariners game, sailing on Puget Sound, etc. If I have any problems, the Rotary members are there to help me. They are always very friendly and very helpful.
After school if the weather is nice I like to go to go rollerblading. This is my biggest hobby at home. Here, I usually go to the outdoor skate park in Bremerton, and sometimes I go to an indoor park in Silverdale or Renton. I would like to try other skate parks in the Seattle area. In November, I will go on a Rotary-sponsored trip to Southern California with 28 other Rotary exchange students. We will go to Disneyland and Universal Studios and some other theme park. During Spring Break, I will be going to Kauai, Hawaii. While on Kauai, I will be able to meet other Rotary exchange students who are living there. I really look forward to it because I heard a lot of great things about Hawaii and how beautiful it is. I hope I can see other interesting places in the United States.
I can’t wait to celebrate the American holidays. In Hungary, we don’t celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving, and I think it will be a great experience for me. During my year abroad, I will have great opportunities to take part in American holidays.
In the two months I’ve been in Bremerton, I’ve learned a lot of different things. I think my English is improving; I’ve made new friends and taken part in school activities such as going to football games and the homecoming dance. Overall, I like it here and I’m looking forward to the rest of my exchange year.
Marcell Poser will appear in the Bremerton Patriot the last Friday of every other month.
