March 7, 2005

Dear Wooster Rotary Club:

I would just like to say a short paragraph about my year so far, because I have not reported back to my host club and I am sorry about that.

My first host family lived in Neumünster, a town of 90,000 in Northern Germany. I lived with a family of four, two parents, a 12 year old girl and a 21 year old son with downs syndrome. My host father loves to sail and owns a yacht on the Baltic sea so I had the opportunity to go sailing with him. We are quite good friends now and in June I am going on a 6 week sailing trip with him to Sweden, Denmark and up the coast of Norway.

After christmas I moved to a small suburb of Hamburg called Schnelsen, with a mother and her 15 year old daughter. Hamburg is a wonderful city of 2 million in Northern Germany, about 45 minutes south of Neumünster, my first town. There I began playing lacrosse for a team in Hamburg. Starting on the 4th of April, I will move into another family for three weeks in Hamburg, until late April, when I will go on a three week Rotary Youth Exchange trip through eastern Europe. After that I will move back in with my first host family, and I will live there for five weeks until I leave to go sailing.

This year has been going fast and it shows no signs of stopping. I am amazed at how far I have come and all the wonderful things I have been able to do. I would like to thank all of you for allowing me to go on this exchange.

Sincerly,

Curtis

Pictures sent by Curtis can be viewed here.