Brooke Sibert, daughter of club member Jon Sibert, addressed the club last week about her recent Rotary outbound exchange experience in France. Some of the highlights include:
- Flight troubles: Brooke missed her initial flight from Austin to Atlanta when she ran into confusion regarding the location of her departure gate. When she figured out she was on the wrong side of the airport, she broke into a full-out sprint to try to catch her flight - only to be stopped cold at the door. Brooke was balling and completely out of breath, but she tried to negotiate her way on to the plane, regardless. She mentioned that she was a "minor traveling alone," but the gate attendant was unsympathetic. However, there was a happy ending to the story as Delta provided Brooke with a free ticket to Paris as a result of her troubles (and because it was a Delta attendant who sent her in the wrong direction in the first place)! Though Brooke ultimately made it to France, she mentioned that she was exhausted after her "25 hour travel day and 4-5 plane rides!" On top of everything else, she lost her luggage in the process as well! Regardless of the challenges in actually getting to France, she was greeted by her host family with wine and cheese, the perfect French welcome!
- Veggies anyone?: Brooke's host family was a vegetarian family, so veggies took the place of some of Brooke's favorite foods for a month. According to Brooke, "it was hard being a vegetarian, especially coming from Texas!"
- Rotary Abroad: Brooke attended a Rotary meeting while abroad, and she described the meeting as long, with a "food bar like" warmup to the meeting, where it didn't feel like anyone was in a hurry. She also described a long picture taking process after the meeting was done. See the picture below of Brooke and her flag (along with other flags garnered by Rotarians on recent visits to California & Wales).
- A Tourist's Dream: Brooke had the opportunity to travel to multiple locations throughout France, including Paris (which she referred to as "every girl's dream," though she was wholly unimpressed with the size of the Mona Lisa - too funny), Bordeaux (which included cathedrals galore and another transportation challenge as all trains in the city were shut down for 3 hours), and the Basque region of France (where Brooke enjoyed the food fair but was unimpressed with the region's excitement concerning their Independence Day - "they didn't seem very excited about it," proclaimed Brooke!). Visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Arc de Triumph were highlights of the trip.
- Reunion Time: Brooke had the opportunity to visit Javier ("Javi"), our former Rotary exchange student from Spain, in Zaragoza, Spain (Javi's home town) during her trip. She said that the four day side trip was a nice way to reconnect with Javi and his family.
- Back at Home: Brooke had the experience of a lifetime, and in her words, she "learned a lot about culture, the world, and myself." She already references the trip all of the time, and already misses the cooler weather. However, Brooke said that she was happy to come home as well, actually "shedding a tear" when she saw Chick-fil-A in the Atlanta airport upon her arrival back in the States.
Brooke expressed her thanks to the club for sponsoring her trip. And to Brooke, we'd like to say "Thank You!" To say that Brooke's presentation was simply entertaining would not be doing it justice. She is quite the story teller, and I think it's safe to say that Brooke had the audience "in stitches" as she described her trip. Thanks for providing the Kerrville Noon Rotary Club with it's very own French Connection! We look forward to your next adventure!!
