Una One America Exchange Program

Flashback

2010-04-25T16:51:00.003-04:00

We're back in Santiago and everything is starting to be normal again. You could say "Oh! You must be happy to see your family and friends again! You were outside for a long time!" and yes, I am happy to see everyone again, but I had such a great time in Maine and in the rest of the trip, that's kind of difficult to be extremely happy.
I would like to write about my first day in Waynflete, because it can resume my whole experience in that amazing school.
I had an excellent relation with Necal, my host sister; the things she liked were very similar than the ones I do like. So the first school day we went walking to Renata's house, Julio's host sister, so Necal could show both of us the whole school. I can remember clearly how confusing was that day. The campus is formed by six buildings, three really big and three of the size of a big house. Classes are all in different buildings and with different people. The students are the ones that change classrooms, not the teachers, so the teachers decorated and put the desks of their classrooms as they wanted.
When my sister tried to show Julio and me where were our classrooms, I thought that my head was going to explode. I had Algebra II and Spanish III in the third floor of Emery Building (the biggest), less Tuesday's when I had Algebra in the second floor of the same building. Chemistry was in the first floor, English 10 in the second floor of Morril's House, Drawing and Painting in the second floor of the Art Building, and Lower School 2nd and 3rd grade in the underground of the Lower School Building. Sounds easy to find but it's not like that, each building is like a maze, or at least they were mazes for the poor and confused chileans.
Before the meeting/breakfast that we had with the headmaster, Necal and me went to a teacher's classroom that was going to lend us clothes for Mainer Day, because we were in the Spirit Week. Everyday of the week you had to dress following a topic. Tuesday was Mainer day, Wednesday was Twin day, Thursday was Preppy or Granola day and Friday was Neon day.
Then all the chileans (Cristóbal, Julia, Julio, Miss Marcela, and me) and their host sisters or brothers (Jack Cutler, Katy Nelligan, Renata Levine, Peter Stein and Necal Phillips) had the meeting with the headmaster, that was pretty short. After that I had Lower School class, where we helped the spanish teacher with his class. I promise I forgot how to speak spanish for a second, I had to read the numbers the teacher showed to me so the kids could repeat them after me. I forgot how to say "diecinueve" so after thinking a lot, I managed to say "decinueve". Near at least!
Then I had Spanish III, and I knew in which Building was the class, but I forgot how to arrive in the classroom. I was lucky because a guy after looking at my extremely worried face probably thought that I was kind of lost, so he offered me to guide me to my class. Thanks God! The Spanish class was like and English class here. Breda, the teacher, was really nice and all the students were like that too.
Spanish class finished, and we had to go to an Assembly on the Art Building. I met with the other chileans there, because the head master was going to present us to the school. He just said our names so it was short, not enough time to be nervous. After some time, the lunch time arrived, so we went to a place called the atrium to have lunch. Then I had English 10 with Julia, and Katy (Julia's sister) took us to the class. We said hi to Jim, the teacher, we told him our names and a little about us and then we sitted down in two free sits and just waited. Everyone that entered to the room just say "Hi Jim!" and went to take a sit. The relation between teacher-student in Waynflete was really informal, we liked it because you feel nearer to the teacher, there was more confidence. But the students were very respectful, they never started complaining when the techer gave them homework, and they have way more homework than we have, but their classes are more relaxed. So going back to the main topic, the teacher presented us to the rest of the students, said us to talk a little about ourselves and then the class continued. All the homeworks he gave the class were about talking about ourselves. English class finished, Algebra II was coming! Julia and me waited for Katy, so she could guide us to our next classes. She arrived and we went to Emery Building. She was a little confused because the number of the classroom where I was supposed to have Algebra II, was a History classroom, but then we discovered that only Tuesday's I had Algebra there, and the other days I had it in other classroom. Fortunately it was Tuesday, so I arrived in the correct classroom. The teacher, Jerry, was very nice with me, and the students too. He didn't present me the first day, he just started his class. He was very motivating and the class was always paying attention because the way he taught made things funnier. Algebra II finished and time for Performing Arts or Sports came, but that week only some people had things to do, so everyone was having fun on the schoolyard with activities for Spirit Week.
That was my first day, that could resume all the month I was in there, but only the school part, because I could continue talking about the amazing people I met, my relation with everyone and more stuff, but I think that what I wrote is long enough. Only one more thing to say: I loved Waynflete.
Javiera Bao

Boston, MA Third Day

2010-04-12T19:22:00.003-04:00

Today was Julio's birthday and Julita organized a surprise party yesterday night, it was so much fun! Today Julio chose where we were going, we had lunch at McDonald's, then we went to China Town and a lady of a store was so mad at us because she thought we were going to rob all the store. Then we went to a park and each one had until six pm to go and see the streets around the park, eat or drink something, buy clothes, etc.

It's the thirds day without the family and I'm always wondering how will be the day I just lived with them, the faces and phrases Michele would do about a cloth, a person, a word or situation.
Then I start remembering about the funny things we lived together, for example: one night we where in the highway in Mrs. Girard's Prius and we ran out of gas taking an exit to go to the gas station, it was rainig so hard but Michele's car was "near" this exit, so we went to the car and to the gas station. We bought the gas and we return to Prius, Mrs. Girard put the gas in the car but this didn't start! We called the mechanic and Michele's dad to come and help. When the mechanic arrived we ask him if he had brought the gas but he didn't, we were in shock. So he took the car out of the highway to fix it at the next day and we went home. The Prius at the next day started without problems, it only needed a "rest" and it was almost new!
What did I learn about this situation? Don't use a Prius if you don't have enough gas, it can't be good...
I know in the future I will laugh out loud so hard, this kind of situations are the ones you don't forget so easly. Also the people, I know it will be hard to see Michele and her family in the future, but they became one of the most important people in my life in this short time, maybe we won't be so close in a few years but they are a part of my life now and they'll always be... All the things we did together, all the "big thinkers" and bad pronunciations (I wanted to say sheet of paper and I said "shit" of paper, they were looking at with a face I can't describe, I was as red as a tomato.)
This was a great experience and now we have the rest of this trip to continue enjoying and learning. It will be awesome!

Boston, Mass.

2010-04-11T19:47:00.002-04:00

After a asd goodbye, we wanted to have fun and be all together, so we were kind of exited for the thing that will come.
We arrived to the hotel and Miss Poly and Miss Marcela started doing the check in but not everyone had rooms, so the pairs that were ready (most of the girls) took their suitcases and went to their rooms.
We were at the hotel for about an hour and then we went to the "center" of Boston.
We took a bus from the hotel. The first thing that we did was looking for the streets so we can know where we were and then to know where we should go to take the bus.
We were kind of hungry, so we went to Wendy's to had lunch.
We went to the mall (a expensive one) but anyone bought anything.
We separated our gruop on two, one went to the nike town and the other one stayed at Marshalls.
We went back to thje place where the bus left us and we had to separated our group again.

2010-04-11T19:29:00.003-04:00

McAuley High School:
Claudia, Loreto, Macarena, Consuelo, Florencia and me (Maria Jose) went to McAuley and we had such the most beatiful exeperience ever.
The girls were so nice with us, everyone wanted to know everything about Chile because they though that Chile was like primitive (one of the girls ask us if we had McDonal's! )
We all know that been on another country is difficult, and been on another family and house is difficult too, but after few days, everyone wanted to stay more than a month.
The first week was the SPIRIT WEEK, where the girls dressed for the day. Monday was Twins Day, and you suppost to dressed with one of your friends with the same clothes. Tuesday was the Sport with a Jersey, were you can go with sweatpants and dressed with the team that you like. Wensday was the Gold & Green day because of the St. Patricks Day. Thursdaywas the Police Day, and you can go dressed with different color that don't match together. Friday was the color day, and the colors were asigned for classes.
Second week was pretty normal, Dubi gave us the schedules and we started going to different classes.
Wensday of the third week we tryed to go to Sugarloaf, but it was rainig so we ski for about 20 minutes and we decided that we didn't wantes to stay anymore, so we went to a place were they have trampolins and different things. We had such a good time there.
Easter Weekend everyone did diferent things. Clau went to Sugarloaf at like 4 a.m to see the sunrise at the mountain. We were surpirsed because easter baskets were like Christmas, so they gave to us present instead of chocolate eggs!
For the goodbye everyone was crying, anyone wanted to leave so it was so sad. But then, the best was coming..

READY TO START A NEW ADVENTURE

2010-02-10T21:53:00.003-03:00

CPH-CJA is very please to announce that on March 12, a new group will start one of the most important experiences in their lifes. For some of them it's going to be the first time away from home... What motivates them to participate?...On one hand the wonderful opportunity to learn about a different culture, but also because deep inside they want to learn to communicate, to express their feelings, to let the people know a little about this long narrow piece of land almost hanging out of the map...

The group will be led by Miss Marcela Martinez and Miss Paulina Naveas . The students selected this year are : Julia Pacareu, Cristobal Larco, Julio Heyermann, Felipe Valdivieso, Daniel Venegas, Juan Jose Garcia, Pablo Rojas, Javiera Bao, Macarena Rodriguez, Florencia Ventura, Loreto Figueroa, Catalina Kanthak, Gabriela Bofill, Mª Jose Marcos, Consuelo Vizcaya y Claudia De Goyeneche.

God bless you all, be with you along the way and bring you back home healthy and safe...

Miss Cecilia Gambino

Macaluso's Camp

2009-04-25T19:36:00.005-04:00

Hi, on Saturday 4 I went to the “Macaluso’s camp” (where they go to the vacations) with my family and Pilar’s family. We have so much fun.
We arrived there like 2 pm. and we went to a restaurant to eat something, and then to “matterhorn” (ski center) because there were friends of my family. We stayed there like an hour, and we went back to the house, where Pilar, Bridget and her mom have just arrived to the house.
We played games (like apples to apples), went to walk and we have had an “adventure” hahahaha, took pictures and videos, etc. Then we watched “Scary Movie” 1 and 2.
Mary, Bridget, Pilar and I went to sleep an other camp (Anne’s brother, my mom)… Mary and Bridget slept in a room and Pilar and I slept in the living room. We talked a lot before to go to sleep.
The next day, our “parents” went to wake up to us (like 10 am… so early haha), so we wake up to take the breakfast and go back to home (Portland).

Sooo much fuuun ! :)

Field visits in Portland....amazing experiences !!

2009-04-06T17:39:00.002-04:00

As Pilar said in a post before, people in Cheverus High School is so friendly, and the teachers very kind, they always offers helping you when you need them. This is very important for us and especially to improve our English.

The first day that we (I mean Cheverus group) were here, Cheverus organized a field trip to the White Mountains. We went with the Spanish group from Cheverus, Miss Terry and Miss Pamela. We went to a beautiful big Hotel, where a woman told us about the history of the Hotel. It was very interesting because the Hotel was very old and had a long history. Then we did TUBING in the snow, this was amazing and we spent a great time there. When we finished our time in the tubing, we went to a restorant near the Hotel to eat something. There was a toy train that Arturo really hated.... hahaha!!

We went to another two social field trips: one to the Habitat Humanity, this was a place were volunteer people goes to build houses for poor people, but because we weren't adults, and for safety reasons, we couldn't construct so we helped to put all the materials in order. The houses weren't like the houses that we construct for poor people in Chile ( Un techo para Chile), this houses were very big and hd 2 floors!!.... for us this was very impressive.

In the other social field trip we went to the Soup Kitchen, were we helped other volunteers, preparing the lunch for the poor people, and the we had serve it. Gregorio (the person from Cheverus who organized that) divided us in different kind of work, for example Arturo and Juanjo cut the strawberries while Pilar, Elena and myself put all the yogurt in a big bowl. Miss Pamela and Matias prepared the salads.

Before we went to the Soup Kitchen we went to a public school called Cathedral School to did the presentation of Chile in an 8` grade. There the people was very friendly too and they were very interesting in Chile and our culture. After the presentation we visited the rest of the school. In the kindergarden the kids were very cute and said Hola .... ( in spanish!!)

Here we have known different and beautiful places.... but we have had also the opportunity to help people.... it has been amazing!

Sugarloaf Day

2009-03-31T12:56:00.003-04:00

On thursday 26 we went to Sugarloaf, ski Center, with all Mc Auley Exchange Group. Miss Pamela and Miss "Dubi"also came with us. American Parents of Jose & Antonia Larranaga(2007 &2008 Exchange respectively) prepared everything for us there, they brought all the food and drinks which in fact were delicious. They also invited all of us to have dinner at a Restaurant...they were so nice and warm...
In the snow Isa, Berni, Miss Pamela and me took ski lessons with Jen , a ski instructor. We had a very nice time. After these lessons we had lunch and then went skiing with the rest of the group except Miss Pamela.
At 4:00 pm they closed the lifts and we took some pictures ...Finally, we had that amazing dinner with the Pulkkinens (Karen and Mike). Bye xoxo

In Portland, Maine

2009-03-30T11:45:00.008-04:00

Hi,
This two weeks have been amazing, everyone here is very nice and they want to know more about us. We did the presentation last Wednesday and everyone liked it, they were really interested about Chile (specially about the pictures we put in the power point), on Thursday we (McAuley group) went skiing and we had a lot of fun (there were a lot of trees).
It is very wear that the classes are the same every day, and I don't like it because they have a lot of homeworks for the next day, but they learn more (as Pili said). I like a lot that we have to move from one class to another because you don`t have to be in the same sit all the day (and they don`t have breaks between some classes but they have 45 minutes of lunch time).
Iam having a lot of fun everything has been great.
Bernardita..

Unaone america Team

2009-03-29T10:14:00.006-04:00

These are the faces behind Una oneamerica Exchange Program. We gathered at Breda's who is an Spanish as a Foreign Language teacher and coordinator of the program at Waynflete. You can easily identify us right?...well next to Miss Pamela, Breda White and behind her, someone you might probably know...Terry Finnerty UOA Coordinator at Cheverus HS, at the end of that line you can see McAuley's UOA coordinator her face and name also familiar to our school Miss Terrilynn Dubriel, aka Dubita, Next to me wearing a Yellow fleece Janice Ribeiro UOA coordinator for Waynflete as well. The other teachers are supporters of the program who gladly joined us for an excellent supper, Wendy Skvorak math teacher at Cheverus and Lynn Hallet Latin teacher and Head of Foreign Language Department at Waynflete.

Here in maine!!

2009-03-23T20:34:00.003-04:00

Well i have been here for a week and has been pretty interesting. In Cheverus things are very different from Padre Hurtado and Juanita de los Andes. We have to change rooms for every class and we have the same classes every day. I think this is better because you learn more repeating the lessons every day.
People at Cheverus are very friendly, students and teachers are very excited to know more about Chile. Miss Terry has been really welcoming and glad to help us to adjust our schedules so we get classes of our interest.
Tomorrow we are having a presentation about Chile and its culture. I think this will help them understand more about the way we live (cause some of them think we don't have Tv or i-pods!LOL).
Everything is great at school (specially food) and I'm really happy of being here, even if a miss my family in Chile, but Bridget and I are having a really good time and we laugh all the time (specially when they have to tell us to be more quiet at lunch beacuse of Arturo's jokes and funny faces).
Greetings from USA!!! Pili

My new family in Maine

2009-03-22T20:46:00.003-04:00

HI! here I am on Hannah's computer, I have finally got a room for me since her brother went back to the University. All this week has been very interesting here at Waynflete. We were celebrating Spirit Week so everyone attended school dressed in very unusual dress code.

Hannah's family, my family now, is really lovely. Mom helps me in every single thing,Dad does so too...well, and with Hannah we feel as we have known each other for months. I feel I have been lucky to have such a wonderful family. They also have a huge cat who for no reason loves me??!!!hahahahaha, they say he hates everyone except Hannah...

So far this has been in short my experience since I 've been here...

Pascuala

CPH & CJA on their exchange trip to Maine News

2009-03-19T11:24:00.003-04:00

Have a look at this wonderful welcome!...Our kids Elena Antoine, Pascuala Sylleros, Mari Carmen Navarro, Consuelo Guinez, Pilar Ay, Catalina Escobar, Maria Jose Arellano, Maite Orueta, Bernardita Ramos, Camila Cruz, Isabel Irureta, Juan Jose Balsa, Matias Galan, Sebastian Varela y Arturo Perez together with their "american brothers and sisters"...Isn't it wonderful!!!!

This is the start of their international living adventure...Hopefully at the end of these four weeks they will all be very close friends.

OFF WE GO!!!! 2009 TRIP

2008-08-25T13:40:00.003-04:00

From September 1st until October 3rd, we'll be encouraging students to participate in the selection process for the next exchange trip to Portland, Maine...
Personal experience is the best advertisement you can have to visualize what comes out of this school project!!!!... You are very welcomed to read what students have to say about it...
After doing that... if you want to apply for it, read all the information contained in the Application Requirement Section of the Blog... Download the files and present them in a folder to the English High School Department (Miss Cecilia Gambino).

We'll be waiting for you....

An amazing experience!

2008-04-28T18:50:00.002-04:00

One of the things that everyone is asking me is if I would like go again to this Exchange program.
And of course that I would like do again all the things that I have just done! The 6 weeks was a really incredible experience!... I am thinking about a month ago, and one of the things that I am most impressed with it’s how is the people in Portland. I am talking about my family, how they can be very generous and worried with a girl who they don’t know??... Since the first day in the airport of Portland that they are with me like if I was another daughter and another sister.
To explain a little more about how they are, I am going to talk about my Easter. We went to Massachusetts to the house of her grandparents, I was very nervous because I don’t know all her family and maybe I could be a little extra there! But all was complete different, her family can’t be more sweet!!. There they celebrated very different than in Chile, like a big party!, with big gifts (not only chocolates!!)… and with a big meal!. I made many things too: I cooked, I painted eggs, and I had to found my Easter basket! The most impressive thing is how they were with me, all the family gave to me many presents!!, all specially the grandparents were very worried about me… they said to me: I only want that you feel like in house!!!... And the grandparent when I was leaving his house, he gave to me a bill of 2 dollars with all the name of the family there, so with that I can remember them!. The Allyson’s family is amazing, I am going to miss them very much, especially Allyson she was a great person and “sister” with me.
Well, this weekend show how was the people in Portland, and in the School (McAuley) too, all the girls were very nice!.. they gave to us present’s when we leaved, and we still talking!!! We made a lot of real friends!! Really, this month in Portland was an amazing experience, where I lived and learned a lot of things!!
About the last 2 weeks: The 3 places were incredible, we saw many different things!... but one of the things that I am most happy is the group, I am only going to say that it was amazing. I am very happy with had know all the people that before we aren’t friends and now be closer with all of them!!.

I absolutely recommended trip!

Exchange 2008

2008-04-28T18:47:00.000-04:00

This Exchange program was an amazing experience, I love the way that the program show us the live of a family who have another culture and it make us get, for a month, in the life of that family, an take other points of view, that’s make us grow and have personal opinion, we lived different experiences and with them we could realised that the way we live it’s not the only, and it’s make you to accept more the differences too.

We all were so nervous when we arrived to Portland, the moment to know your family had came. But when the time passed the relation with my family was so good, they were and still being, so nice with me, they are a really friendly family, all the time they were worried about me, they asked me if I was comfortable or if it was anything that I wanted to do.
We passed really good times together.

In the school all the girls were really nice with us; they wanted to know more about us, so most of them invited us to her classes, it was really cool. The school was different, the students had to choose her own schedules, and they had the same schedules in all the week, just the period of the classes changed, and also they had to move all the time to a different room; sometimes they could be in the same room with a senior or a junior, they are all mix together, so they know each other with all the students of the school. I like the school because most of the students were different and they did´t care.

The time passed so fast and the four weeks had end, we had to say good bye to our families and let our routine in Maine, it was really sad, because we know that we are not going to come back, and we were having so much fun in there, but the tour were coming!.

All the tour was very fun, but I think that Boston it’s the best city that we visited, I really like it.
New York it’s really fun you will never get bored in there, all the museums, the building were amazing, just walking you have fun because there are a lot of different people.
Washington it’s a quit city, really secure; the best thing that we saw in Washington was the museum of the Holocaust; it was amazing I can say that it’s the best museum that I had saw.

In general we had an amazing month and a half, all the time that we passed was really fun, the people that you know, the differences, the places, it’s a really good experience and I am very glad to have gone to this trip.

María Esperanza Grez

A life-changing experience

2008-04-28T18:43:00.002-04:00

Going on this trip was one of the best decisions I could have ever made. We had such a great time, in Portland, Boston, Washington and New York that I don’t even know how to start describing it. Every time someone asks me about it, I start remembering and I can’t avoid the smile on my face.
We started as 16 boys and girls that barely know each other, and end it as friends with more than one story to tell. This is a life-changing experience, one that will make you grow and be more self sufficient than ever. You are all alone in the other half of the world, with a new family, making new friends, and just seeing all the different things this people do. I will never forget all those endless nights in Boston, New York or Washington just doing nothing with everyone; all those days at McAuley, where we made some really good friends, and had the most amazing time; or that month in Portland, were all the families where amazing, and all the days unique. So many experiences, so little time…You will never be able to imagine all the bonds we made there, all the experiences we lived, and just…the amazing time we had. I can’t wait to go back to Portland, and see everyone there.
I definitely recommend this program to everybody who has the guts to go.

Antonia Larrañaga

My days in New York

2008-04-27T22:53:00.006-04:00

We arrived to new york on April 13th. That afternoon we went to "time square", time square it is a very illuminate street with some TVs.

The other day we went to the "Empire State Building" it is a very tall building, in this you can see all the city.

Broadway day!.. All the group unless Pita and Cata gone to seen "Mamma Mia", I liked it but maybe I think thats was going to be better.

Another day we went to Central Park... it is so big and beautiful park. There we played
Football.

We went to "Maaame Tussauds", the wax museum and there I was next to the wax people...I’m was a wax person too! that was a very cool day!

All the group went to the Statue of Liberty, that was a green a very big statue. Then we gone to the "cow of luck" and I taken many pictures!.

With this trip I met new friends and I hope they will be forever.

Agustin Fernandez.

2008-04-27T22:10:00.002-04:00

Well on March 14th everyone was nervous about the experience that we were about to endure. The moment we arrived in Portland we were so excited because our families were waiting for us with some presents and things that they made. After that I went to my host family house (a very beautiful house) and I felt at home, because they were so generous and kind to me. The following weeks we spent time with a lot of friendly people in Waynflete School, we had an excellent time there. On the last day of our stay in Portland our friends from Waynflete threw us a farewell dinner with a very funny salsa dance included. The next day we went to Boston where we stayed for 3 days and visited different colleges. Then we went to New York, where we stayed 4 days and went shopping, visited some museums and saw a Broadway play. And finally we spent our last 4 days in Washington DC where we went to different museums and visited different monuments.

An unforgettable trip

2008-04-27T20:44:00.006-04:00

When we arrived to Boston, we had to wait for the check in, meanwhile we went for a relaxing walk close to the Charles River. The next day we visited the Harvard university and we realized that is more like a city, besides that, Boston is a very relaxing city. New York, what can i say, now i understand why Frank Sinatra made a song about this city, what a fabulous city, full of places to visit,starting by the Madame Tussaud´s museum of wax, where you can take pictures with any famous character you want, starting by Albert Einstein and ending in Bob Marley; Also you ccant miss the MOMA, with tons of modern paintings, breaking with the tradition that boys dont like museums, this museum is waesome; also you will like to see the most beautiful architecture just by seeing the Empire State or the Chrysler Building, enough of New York. Washington D.C., last stop, thinking that it is the capitol of the USA, I thought it would be bigger, but not, once again I was wrong, this city is just an administrative city built only to control the country but not to cause great impression in the tourists, as Boston, is a very quiet city, with lots of good museums, part of the Smithsonian. Finally we went back to Chile with lots of pictures and more culture.

Exchange

2008-04-27T20:03:00.003-04:00

What can I say about the Exchange Program? I think it's just too much content for a couple of paragraphs. You just don't get the meaning of the word "exchange" when you sign up for this program. At first I thought it was like a vacation, just another trip. We were suposed to go to New York, Washington and Boston, take some pictures and buy some presents for ourselfs and the family.

But in the moment that I got off the plane it had nothing to do with that. There I was with my new family, in the other side of the world, just by myself. We both were very curious, like if we were entering to a new world, that from outside seems so different.

At the beggining it was a bit weird, in a new country, with new people, another language and culture. It seemed so different, by example, say hello to the women with the hand and not with a kiss in the cheek, as it is used in my homeland. But the days went by, I knew more the people, and I realized that the thing isn't about where did you born or what is your language. It's about who you are, and how you relate to your enviroment. I realized that there is just one world and one raze, and even though we are so different in our way of seeing life, deep in our soul we are all human beings.

That's what I learnt from the exchange. I was lucky, that's true, I found such a warm place as waynflete in the middle of the snow. As soon as I got to the school I starting feeling in my home in a way. I'm sure that I will never forgett Maine and I just can't wait to come back again.

An awsome trip

2008-04-27T19:21:00.002-04:00

We leave home in Santiago, Chile on March 14th around 5 pm. At the airport we were all really nervous but also looking forward to know our families and new homes.
We had a long fly, and in the way from Atlanta to Portland a thunderstorm affect our sleeping and a lot of people start throwing up and it was really nasty.
But finally we arrived Portland and it takes just 5 minutes between getting off the plane and knowing our families, so it was really quickly. A horrible weather was waiting for us…snow and clouds everywhere.
In the first week I had a few problems because Tanya and I were both really shy, so we didn’t speak too much. But after some days we start getting along very good!
In school all was perfect. All McAuley girls received us so good that it was great to go school every day. For the first time in my life I loved going school :). We made a lot of good friends that we will always remember.
At the end of our visit to Portland on April 12th we were all really close and we have had a lot of good and fun times together. So it was really sad to say bye to our families and friends.

Josefina Morel.

My experience

2008-04-27T17:40:00.005-04:00

Well my experience was awsome, my familly, the Donelly's, they keep me to different places.
Ian is friend of Agustin Antoine and Fernandez and Octavio's host brothers so we meet frecuently, we do a lot of things like go to the cinema, made partyes, go to one house and watch movies, play soccer, watch a hockey game, etc.
The Cheverus students was very friendly's, we talk and made a lot of friends.
The Donelly's familly is a exellent familly, they talk, with me like a son, I meet the rest of the familly and they where very friendly's.
On the trip I meet the rest of the group, I had talk with them a couple of times and now we are friends.
We went to a lot of museums, we play rugby, we walk a lot, and do a lot of shopping.
Boston is an exellent place if you like to study there and love beautifull places.
New York city is the best place to buy things, you can found wathever you want, and you can see a lot of places that there are very famous because appears on movies or are caracteristic of USA.
And Washington DC is a pacific place and very beautifull with a lot of famous places like the white house, there is a lot of museums and the best is that in Washington all museums are free.
We have a lot of fun and I recomend the exchange program to everybody.

My experience

2008-04-27T15:49:00.004-04:00

It’s difficult to summarize our trip in a few words, but I’ll try. We left Chile on March 14th all very nervous but anxious. The month in Portland was really good, everybody wanted to meet you and everything was new. My family was amazing; they did everything they could for me, and it was a lot! The school was so different and I think that that was the most fun thing. The last day finally came, we had to leave Portland. It was so sad, some of us cry, but it wasn’t the end! The tour started, the first city was Boston. It was wonderful, I loved the aquarium and we had a really good time. Then we went to NEW YORK CITY! We made so many things there, we had a blast. And finally we went to Washington, it was cool.

We went to many museums and it was the end. Everything was really fast, I know that I will never forget it.

Bye Portland!

2008-04-27T13:32:00.002-04:00

My experience in Portland was good! I was a little nervous and sad to leave my Chilean friends and family but when I arrived there and I met Abby, my American sister, and my American family I forgot that I was sad and I had a very good time.
Ours hosts families and American teachers let us do many activities. For example, one weekend we went to ski at Sugarloaf and another on, Abby took me to go shopping to Freeport.
After staying a month in Portland, going to school, having fun with our hosts, speaking English, we had to say bye to our host families and leave Maine! So the last day, our English teachers, prepare us a breakfast at Cheverus. After that we went to the bus we said goodbye.

My travel

2008-04-25T19:11:00.001-04:00

We got there on March 15th in Portland... When we arrived ours families was there with some present. My family gave me a teddy bear it was so cute! And candy.

When I got to my home Maura showed me our room, that was so pretty! Then Maura and I went out with Casey (her dog) and we went to eat some ice -cream.

My first day in the school was so good, the classes were very short and they had the same schedule but in different order. The school had a good cafeteria.
One Friday we went to skiing at sugarloaf, that was a cool day, it was so fun!
One day we gone to the bowling! I lost
Our last day was so sad Maura, me and the others girls cried! but we had to go.

Boston Tour

2008-04-14T21:56:00.002-04:00

The Boston Tour started 2 days ago when we arrived to the Doubletree hotel near 2 o'clock. We only had one room to leave our luggage so we left in there and then we left to walk around Boston. That afternoon we walked through the Harvard sq. and then through Central sq.

On the next day we had a city tour of Boston at the downtown, after that tour we had lunch at the quincy market and after that we went to the Boston aquarium. We stayed almost all the afternoon at the aquarium and then we went to the science museum to watch a movie in a 180 degree screen that made a sensation of being part of the film.

Today we went to a town near Boston that was the first town founded by the english who came to North America. We went there to a museum that made a representation of how was the life in 1700 when the englishmen arrived. Tomorrow we are leaving at 10 am to NY, we are all very anxious to get there and to have a wonderful time.

Cheverus last week program

2008-04-09T00:11:00.002-04:00

Last week in Portland: Cheverus program

Monday: Presentations, boring, but necessary, the teachers are going to put our mark

Tuesday: More Presentations

Wednesday: Habitat for Humanity Volunteer (all day), Cheverus and Waynflet

Thursday: Soup kitchen (all day), Cheverus and McCauley

Friday: Normal class day, dinner in Waynflet School and party in Octavio’s house after that.

2008-04-08T09:12:00.000-04:00

2008-04-07T16:55:00.002-04:00

Thuesday: We went to the Chocolate factory ( Havens) and we saw how they made the chocolates and candies

Wednesday: We went to Old Port ( downtown) and we visited the observatory

Thursday: Skii day!! We went to sugarloaf . We had a good time together!

Friday: We had tea in McAuley.. it's was so nice!

Saturday: Lobster! We ate lobster and then we went bowling afterwards.

Our second week of classes

2008-04-04T16:28:00.004-04:00

Our second week of classes in Waynflete have been really good. Now we know where ours classes are in the different buildings and it is normal to see a classmate eating in classes or standing up to go to the bathroom without asking the teacher. Also, now we can speak in English and understand everyone!
Our classes are so different to the ones that we use to have in Chile. For example, I have Literature of Vietnam and History of Japan.

We have been in many activities. On Wednesday we have been in “pachanga” with the little kids. They sang different songs in Spanish, while some teachers and the director of the school played the guitar. Also we went to the Museum of Art with the others Chileans. We have a guide who tells us all about the pictures and their authors and then we go to Starbucks. We had a really good time!

All the girls slept in Liza Hall’s house and the boys in the Hallet’s house. We arrived on Friday and we have dinner at the Hallet’s house. On Saturday morning we woke up very early to go skiing and snowboarding. We had a break at 12 to have lunch and then we continued until 4. We had a really good time!

Our first days in Waynnflete

2008-03-25T10:41:00.005-03:00

Our first week on Portland was amazing. We had had many grateful experiences. Let’s start with our school, Waynflete. It’s so different and small (they are 500 students), everyone knows each other and they are all friends. Our classes have like 10 or 15 students and they are from all ages, we sit in circles with the teacher sitting on your site; also in each class you have a projector and in some of them you can use Mac books. The school it’s a labyrinth, more than one of us got lost, but the people here it’s so friendly that you can found your class soon. It’s really funny because everyone speaks to us, even if they don’t know us. The bests things of Waynflete, after the people, are that you can eat and drink whatever you want in classes!, that you came here without uniform and if you want to go to the bathroom you can just go.

On Tuesday with Felipe and Jose Tomas we played a basketball championship, we had a great time but we lost in our first game.

We had two tours. The first one was on Wednesday and we went to Bates, this is a really cool college. We had three guides, two of them spoke English. It was a great tour and we also ate a lot. The second tour was on Friday, we went to a place where they built big boats and then we went to a museum on Rockland.

Now I will talk about my family. They are so nice! I have two sisters, Caitlin and Elena, and my father, Cesar, and my mother Cathleen. Cesar it’s from Argentina, so they are similar to us. They are always worried abut me, they took

me everywhere, they give me really good food and they gives me a lot of affection.

I think that everyone has learned a lot of English. We still have some troubles with this language, but that’s not a problem because we are here to learn.

Summarizing, we had had a really great time and I know that this it’s just the beginning…

2008-03-22T11:01:00.002-03:00

The first picture is in the airport when we arrived, I am with Allyson!! :). And in the second picture appears Antonia, Consuelo, Esperanza, Josefina, Catalina and me (Camila), is in the "mall" of McAuley, it's a room where you can lunch or meet with other people.

My experience in the first week as a foreign exchange student.McAuley is just great!!!

2008-03-21T17:43:00.005-03:00

One week has just passed full of many new experiences without noticing it...
I am going to start talking about the most important: My family. I can't be more grateful!. They are 3: My sister Allyson (she is an 18 year old only child ) and my parents Mike and Lynn who are very very very nice and sweet!!, they are always very worried about me, if I need something, etc. And also they are a lot of fun!..they invent a thousand activities for me, they facilitate everything to me ... we have cooked (cookies, caramel apples, etc ..), they have given me many presents, have taken me to many places ... etc. And I still have many things for doing, knowing, trying, learning ...! Well at the end! everything is new and incredible!. I am very happy!, they make me feel as part of their family... they are really incredible.

Catherine McAuley - high school is an incredible school!!. For us everything is new: let's start talking about the schedule (one of the things that I am impressed) we have the same subjects every day, we don't have breaks (except for a long period to have lunch at 11 am.), the classes can be of 8 students and they are not necessarily the same age!, This is because they are more personal and in this way they learn faster ... so it is very good!. Each of us have different schedules, some have subjects such as mathematics and history ... and others have relaxing subjects like English, gym, art, theatre, etc...I like the fact that they have many possibilities of classes (they have to choose them), and the best thing is that to all these classes have the same importance ... You just have to see the classrooms! ... the room of art, theatre or the gym!, they are incredible ..!. But the most important for me and what more pleases me of the school is the people, they are all very nice!, they always have a smile in their face!, they try to speak in spanish with you, etc. I'm very happy here, everything is incredible.

McAuley's Blog Full of surprises

2008-03-21T08:34:00.006-03:00

DEAR FRIENDS!

Mc AULEY EXCHANGE COORDINATOR,(DUBITA) HAS PROVIDED US WITH GREAT PHOTOGRAPHS OF OUR STUDENTS ARRIVING TO PORTLAND,ME.

DON'T MISS THEM... CLICK THE LINK BELOW ...

MISS CECILIA

http://mcauleycja08.blogspot.com/

First days at Portland

2008-03-17T17:24:00.003-03:00

Our first days in Portland can be summarized with one word: SNOW. Snow is everywhere and makes of this a beautiful (and cold) city. The People freom Portland are very friendly.
These 3 days have been very funny. School is very different from Chile and we have been very welcomed. We are starting to feel like home (we miss some things of Chile as well).

See you

CJA Girls and CPH Boys Leaving for USA next March 15...

2008-01-28T22:53:00.002-03:00

Two of the families who are sending one of their kids to the amazing adventure of Una One America Exchange Program run by the English High School Department at CPH- CJA : The Grez-Binimelis & The Garcia - Tellechea ...
The Grez- Binimelis Family is sending Mª Esperanza (Pita)the youngest daughter, but Mª José and Eduardo, had lived the experience as well in 2001, 2006 respectively.

The list this year includes:

Agustín Fernández - Camila De Larraechea - Josefina Morel - Consuelo Yañez - Felipe Irureta - Mª Jesús Sepúlveda - Catalina O'Ryan - Antonia Larrañaga - Ignacio Montegu - Felipe Rojas - José Tomás Díaz - Paula Barbano - Agustín Antoine - Felipe García - Octavio Bofill - & - Mª Esperanza Grez

They are visiting Cheverus, Waynflete & McAuley in Portland Maine.

Boston

2007-04-30T23:45:00.000-04:00

The last thursday before leaving Portland we went to Boston. After a trip in train we arrived to Boston and headed to Harvard by subway. The university is beautiful and big. It was raining and very cold. After that we had lunch in a very good and unusual "all you can eat" restaurant in Boston. In the evening we went downtown next to the historical area (Quincy Market). This place is amazing surrounded by old buildings that had been turned into stores.

After having a wonderful time there we went back to Portland where it was snowing really hard ...we expected another snowday for the next day but it didn`t happen :^( .

Washington!

2007-04-29T21:51:00.000-04:00

After a long wait in the hotel lobby, we finally got our rooms.
We met there at 4:30, after a well deserved rest and talked about all the wonderful facilities our new hotel had: big bathrooms, comfortable big beds... everything with a true smile on our faces.
Next we had a city tour where we only saw a beautiful city, perfect, clean and full of parks.
We went to many places we never thought we would see, such as the Capitol, the Obelisc, the Arlington Cementery, the White house and many more.
We didn't have too many expectations about Washington, but everything turned to be a complete success and in the end we were all astonished by this beautiful and interesting city.

New York...New York!!!

2007-04-24T17:07:00.000-04:00

April 15: We are so excited with the idea of getting to New York!!!!...the news keeps saying a big storm is coming!!!...(Weather Forecast hasn´t failed since we came here!!!...)The farewell party was incredible!!!... We want to stay...but we also know the rest of the trip will be so amazing!!!!...

April 16: The flight has been cancelled...we'll get to the airport anyway just in case Delta decides to fly anyway...after several calls they confirm our flight was "on time".... we rushed to the airport.
Some of the streets were closed...rain and wind ...

We are all at the airport trying to decide the best...Oh,oh!...Delta announced there won't be flights until thursday!!!...Is there any other way we can make it?...the bus....the bus?...yes, why not the bus!!!

April 16(11:00pm) We are finally here!!!! The Big Apple is waiting for us!!!!

Farewell Dessert

2007-04-14T20:18:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, April 11, at night we had a farewell party for all the families whom we lived with here in portland.

Each family took a dessert and we shared a little pleasant while with all the people who were involved with this exchange.

In the end, the teachers of Chile, Dubi (McAuley), Jane Glass (Cheverus) and some of the Chilean students thanked to all for the affection, the concern for our wellbeing, and the time that was dedicated to us.

It was a very fun time to see all the Chileans with their families.

By Constanza and Sofía

TOURING PORTLAND

2007-04-06T20:32:00.000-04:00

What a cold day for a field trip!!!...Smile!!!(please hurry up!!!!) OK, Freeze!!!....(bad idea we were all frozen already)...
Part of the group had given up and headed towards the purple bus... the lighthouse was certainly very impressive,but the freezing cold did its best....

Mm mm why don't we go to Old Port now!!!! ....Good idea!...(off we went)....

On our way to the market, we saw this big mural showing Old Port's life in its beginnings.

"Do you think the kids would like the idea of going to the Fish Market (Hanna's mother asked)...Well, I would certainly go there , Lobster is one of the most important sea products here ,right?

"well, we could actually see them ...alive!!!!!

BEAUTIES AT McAULEY

2007-04-05T11:31:00.000-04:00

Monse is missing, because she was absent the day we took this picture...It's a pity,but we'll post others with the whole group soon....

Cheverus Experience (by Alvaro)

2007-04-05T09:48:00.000-04:00

It's been three weeks so far, time goes really fast when you're having fun. The time we've been spending here in Portland has been great. The life at Cheverus is way too different from Chile (starting from the fact that classes are shorter, which is always a plus), some of us have had difficulties getting used to it at the beginning (and others still aren't used to it). Right now it's snowing hard, almost 8 inches of snow, and it's supposed to snow even more. In this 3 weeks we've done way too many things, we visited Augusta and saw the Congress while on progress, we went to Central Portland and visited Longfellow's house (he was a well known poet of Portland that might be compared to Pablo Neruda in Chile). Some of us have also gone skiing or snowboarding to different places, to make long story short: it's been real fun living this experience in Portland,ME.

Visit to Augusta

2007-03-28T14:03:00.000-04:00

On Monday 27, we went to Augusta, the Capital of Maine. There we visited the House of Representatives and attended to a session where Democrats and Republicans applauded us, it was a very interesting experience.

Our Arrival

2007-03-27T16:44:00.000-04:00

After taking 3 airplanes, showing our passports and boarding passes 20 thousand times, and sharing several interesting moments e.g. “don’t-take-pictures-in-the-international-area” (ejem: erase the picturee!) After many adventurous moments (trains inside the airports), after some interrogations (gangster Larry), after many yawns, laughs, good byes and memories we got to Portland, Maine.
We left parents, friends, sisters, boyfriends and girlfriends behind and prepared ourselves to face the first adventure we would have. We embarked on the trip of our lives!
We left at 21:30 from Santiago’s airport and arrived at 17:30 to Portland airport. The 24 hour trip was exhausting, but full of laughs and of all the cheer we Chileans are full of. They received us with the warmest welcome ever: signs, flowers, balloons, and smiles everywhere. Our luggage survived the trip without problems; therefore, we could relax and enjoy our first day.
Monday we truly relaxed and got situated with our new homes and families. On Tuesday, we all went to school. We were instantly emerged into the new environment – McAuley School!
Those were only the first couple of days, there are still many adventures ahead of us, and we are ready to face them all.

By: Jose Movillo and Jose Larrañaga

CPH students at Cheverus

2007-03-26T15:42:00.000-04:00

"Miss Chechi this experience is wonderful..." "Miss can we speak Spanish now?" ...These are some of the question that are posed by our nice bunch of students from CPH at Cheverus...they are just starting but Teachers at lunch time talk positively about your kids...(My kids here!)...

I just wanted to share some pictures of them studying or checking things in the Internet, looking for bibliography,etc...

That's life at Cheverus...

Love, Miss Cecilia

2007 CPH - CJA Exchange Program

2007-02-23T15:44:00.000-03:00

CpH - CjA High School Students are leaving for USA on march 17, 2007.
They will be having an interesting cultural exchange with american families in Portland, Maine.They will also attend classes in two different private catholic high schools there.
The students selected this year to attend McAuley High School are: Constanza Escobar Hayashi, Josefina Larrañaga Recart, Josefa Mendía Oliver, Sofía Mondragón Fischer, Monserrat Bao Quiero and Josefina Movillo Matta. All these students will be chaperoned by Miss María Elena Jünemann, our CJA Headmistress. CPH students: Alvaro Arriagada Elzo, Agustín Díaz Casanueva, Javier Marcos Espíndola, Tomás Ozzano Reyes, Jorge Yavar Hojas and Joaquín Sierralta will be attending Cheverus High School and their chaperone will be Miss Cecilia Gambino.
The group will be staying in Portland,ME for four weeks and then they will continue touring New York City , Washington DC and Miami for the following two weeks.

English as a Foreign Language...Full Immersion

2007-02-22T16:06:00.000-03:00

The English language is in today's society one of the key codes to access knowledge, technology and culture. To that effect, the CPH and CJA schools apply a comprehensive academic program starting in nursery school. It becomes more intensive throughout the curriculum and is oriented to master the English tongue from its essence to all its various linguistic mechanisms.
Viewed within the cultural perspective from our own society's, this program actually intends to introduce the student into the social-cultural context of the many english speaking nations, seeking a better understanding of the process of globalization.
An innovative teaching methodology is also used by both schools through introducing creative communicative techniques and advanced software technology as keytools for the learning process, thus overcoming many of the common psychological barriers usually associated with foreign language learning.
In the international field the CPH and CJA schools work closely together with other institutions from overseas such as the Cheverus High School from Portland, Maine in the USA, developing diverse and articulated exchange programs in order to produce a more fluent, linguistic and cultural relationship with their communities.