Once again the exchange experience has come in handy. Writing college-application essays is so much easier because Chloe has something meaningful to say. Writing essays for American Studies is easier because she has something to compare her America-ness with. She learned lots of European history at school last year so she can use that in her history classes here (not a lot of study of the popes in her public school here, but a study of popes is a study of history). She doesn't spend all of her words on variations of "When I was a Rotary Exchange Student in Spain . . .," but there are so many opportunities to work in what she learned and discovered, even if she doesn't write as an Exchange Student but, rather, as an exchange student.
Using last year can be a crutch, shorthand to get through an unimportant assignment quickly, or it can provide the basis for a thoughtful essay, even if the specifics of being an exchange student are never mentioned. It also forces her to analyze her experience because she compares and contrasts - for credit - home and abroad.
A few people have asked how Chloe made it through the rib resection and the wisdom teeth extractions: Just fine, although she wasn't eating any turkey sandwiches for quite some time, Katy. It wasn't a picnic but her mouth is almost back to normal and most of the swelling on her side where the rib cartilage was removed has subsided. For the rest of her life she'll have a scar that looks like someone tried to take her appendix out from the wrong side.
Glad to hear all went well. ON TO SPRING!
Posted by: Katy | Wednesday, January 25, 2006 at 03:03 PM