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Balkan Youth VoicesVolume V, Issue II Winter 2012Official
Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YES
www.americancouncilssee.org
READ MOREinside3 American Sport Adea Gafuri
Christmas in Macedonia
Jovana Stojanova
4 People, ExperienceAlba KondirolliLife in the USA
Amar Dizdarevic
6 Christmas PresentMatija VeselinovicSharing the Spirit
Levente Cipak
7 Diversity Cedomir Cupic8 Christmas ShowIlva Hamzaj9 Operation
Christmas Child
Emese Ceke
10 Hoof PrintsNina Rasljanin11 City Beats HungerIvan
Vuksanovic
Windy CityNemanja Ostojic
12 First ChristmasZana Bajrovic13 Kings FanKasandra Baltic
IEW in AustriaBoris Alibali
14 Priceless MomentsMilica Vojinovic15 True DelightMilos
Acimovic16 American HeroMinja Rankov17 A Global Celebration
Toma Pavlov
18 Coming to AmericaNina StanisicIEW
Nina Loncarevic
19 Toys for TotsAndreja Milosevic20 Youth’s WillSemra Ameti21
Living on the Other SidePavle Jankovic22 Smelling the RosesSonja
Sarajlic
IEW in MontenegroIvan Vuksanovic
23 The American ChristmasNikola Muncan24 Big Dreams in a Big
CityVuk Vukovic
By Nastasija VucicevicA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Milford, NH
As time goes by, I find my-self adjusting to a different life
style. I have really started to feel like one of the American kids.
Going to Milford High School, doing after school ac-tivities, and
volunteering has become my routine. I’ve been exploring my town,
wandering around, and learning the lo-cal slang. It is just
amazing! People around you become the ones you call when you need
advice and help, or if you just want to hang around.
You learn that anywhere in the world people act similarly; they
have some universal val-
The Spirit of American High SchoolNastasija and her friends
during Milford High’s spirit week.
ues of love and openness for other people. Even the food is
similar! I was very surprised when my host dad, who grew up in
Wyoming, told me he used to eat goulash. I recog-nized that name!
We talked about it for a while and discov-ered the meal is made
from the same ingredients as the famous goulash we have in Serbia
too. It was quite amusing.
However, there are some things originally American that I really
enjoy. American schools have some unique spirit. Kids stay after
school to socialize, practice sports, and volunteer. I have learned
to recognize the charm of the American small town and community.
Every event is run
by my classmates and people I know. Sports are highly val-ued,
and it’s the best way to bond with your friends. When I was
struggling to finish a cross country race, everyone was cheering,
and I felt very special, just like a part of the team.
For all of this, I would like to thank the Halstead fam-ily for
hosting me and accept-ing me like a real member of family. Also, I
would like to thank Milford High School, all the students and
friends, and all teachers for being so good to us exchange
students! This has been a great experience so far! I hope to learn
as much as possible and enjoy this unique year of my life.
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
2
This issue’s Top phoTographsClockwise from right:
1. Samire Hyseni, A-SMYLE Serbia, spends quality time with Host
Family and friends.
2. Masa Miscevic, A-SMYLE Serbia, with her Host Family in
Tucson, AZ.
3. Levente Cipak, A-SMYLE Serbia, acting presidential.
4. Nina Loncarevic, A-SMYLE Montenegro, shopping on Black Friday
with her Host Family.
5. Abedin Kustra, YES Bosnia, jogs off the football field.
1.
2.
3.
5.
4.
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Winter 2012 Page 3www.americancouncilssee.org
Teammate and Adea (right).
By Adea GafuriYES Kosovo, ‘12 Phoenix, AZ
Since I got here, I’ve done a lot of things that I’ve never done
before. This definitely has been the best year of my life. First,
my school is a huge school, and there is an even variety of things
you can do there. I took some challenging classes just to make my
life more interest-ing, and I will never regret that.
Sports are the best thing that a teenager can do—that’s
something I learned from Americans. In the fall, I joined the swim
team, which was where I made my first friends and learned the most
about American sports culture. Swimming was the very first sport
that I did in the U.S. I always loved swimming, but in my coun-try
I never had a chance to do it. Because of the current economic
crisis that Kosovo is going through, we don’t have extracurricular
school activities.
To me it was such a good opportunity to be part of the team. I
saw from my coach the love and compassion for work. I saw all the
effort, aspirations, all the courage he gave us and helped us to
have a better understanding, not only for swimming and school, but
in general for the world. He made us great be-lievers in luck, but
the harder we worked, the more we had it. I realized how hard it is
to be part of the team and how important it is to never give up.
But to be a swimmer, I
What It’s Like to Be Part of American Sport
realized that besides physical strength, you need mental
power.
Swimming to me was one of the best experiences I’ve had in my
life. It changed me from the inside, made me more self-confident,
made me believe that I can do everything and never give up. I made
many friends. I learned how to be a part of
the team, how important it is to achieve goals together—to be as
one, to be part of a big puzzle with teammates, coaches, and even
parents. Supporting each other, ad-miring those who are better than
you, and being motivat-ed to work harder is impor-tant. You bring
your skills up because by working hard you can achieve anything.
And
at the end of the day, it is all about team performance.
At the end of the season, I had earned a varsity letter, and
even earned a Kindle Fire as part of a team fund-raiser. All those
good feel-ings made me feel like a part of a big family and will
al-ways make me remember the best start in my exchange student
year.
Everyone Deserves a Christmas
Continued on page 5
By Jovana StojanovaYES Macedonia, ‘11
I realized the importance of volunteerism during my stay in the
States, and I have to say it has really changed my life. After
seeing how my American family and friends were doing things to help
improve their com-munities, I decided to do the same in my home
town of
Kochani, Macedonia. As I am not a very creative per-son, I
didn’t have an idea of what to do or whom to help, but that changed
af-ter I met Nahida, a woman of Roma origin who works at a local
kindergarten. She was asking for donations for her group of kids,
as they didn’t have basic items. At first, I wanted to buy a TV for
them, but then Mrs. Na-
hida told me that they never get any Christmas presents.
Flashbacks from my child-hood immediately came to my mind, as I
always had tons of them and never thought anyone was without a
present for Christmas. This is when I realized that every-one
deserves a Christmas.
Some of my friends im-
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
4
By Alba KondirolliYES Kosovo, ‘12Coffeyville, KS
Since I arrived here, every single day has been differ-ent from
the others. Life is full of surprises, new things, new people, and
definitely new experiences.
One experience that I would like to share with you is my monthly
meetings with the other international stu-dents that are in my
school. This year in my high school there are six exchange
stu-dents and three that moved to the U.S. from different
countries, so the ESL teacher decided to make a monthly meeting for
all of us. When we had the first meeting, I was so excited and I
felt so good that somebody was so interested in knowing about
New People and New Experiencesother cultures and trying to make
our experience here pleasurable. Last month we went to Tulsa, OK,
to ice skate. We ate at a fancy res-taurant, and we went to see a
play. It was the first time that I had been ice skating, not least
at an outdoor rink. The day was perfect, and now we are arranging
to go to Joplin, MO, for some other fun ac-tivities.
For everyone who is going to be an exchange student next year, I
would like just to congratulate them and wish them very good luck
in this experience. Remember: this year is going to be what you
make of it, so be thankful and appreciate the opportunity that is
being given to you. America is the land of mak-ing wishes come
true, so ex-plore and enjoy. Good Luck! Alba (far right) ice
skating with the other exchange students.
By Amar DizdarevicA-SMYLE Montenegro, ‘12Bakersfield, CA
Being an exchange student is amazing, especially if you do a lot
of things and enjoy your stay in the States.
In these past five months, my view has changed in a lot of
different ways—I’ve been trying to understand culture, diversity,
and the regular habits of people who are part of American life.
I have experienced so much that I don’t have words to explain my
happiness and satisfaction, but some expe-riences are easily shared
and
Life in the USA
Amar, his host mom, and local coordinator at a volunteering
event.
can be reported to everybody. Every beginning is hard,
and so was mine. Difficulties in overcoming a big number of
differences, especially in food, culture, and regu-lar habits, were
the biggest barriers for me. During my first two weeks in America,
I adapted to my new condi-tions and environment. Then school
started, and I felt relief in some way because for the first time I
could feel Ameri-can people in their routine. Nobody likes the
first couple of weeks of school. Every-thing is new, from the
people
Continued on page 5
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Winter 2012 Page 5www.americancouncilssee.org
to the system, and we are supposed to get used to it, but it’s
easier said than done.
Those first couple of weeks were weeks of questions, an-swers,
meetings, and greet-ings. Even though I had a lot of support from
my teachers, it was difficult when I had to explain thousands of
times things about my country and my origin. Sometimes it gets
really tiring, but I was glad that people were curious and they
wanted to hear and learn about my country, so it made it easier for
me to explain. As time went on, I made a lot of progress in school,
and I reached the point where I felt that I really belonged to that
school. I joined Mock Trial and FFA Club, which are leadership
clubs, as well as Drama Club because I really enjoy theater classes
and art.
During that time, I had support from my host family and my local
coordinator. I did a lot of activities that in-cluded community
service, volunteerism, and fun trips. I was lucky to have visited a
lot of interesting and famous places so far, and those trips added
a huge amount of fun and excitement to my expe-rience.
I also had the chance to present my country, share my culture,
meet new peo-ple, and explore the U.S. in the best way. Still I
have five more months ahead, and I hope that it will be a time of
unforgettable and positive memories.
Life in the USA
Continued from page 4
Jovana (second from right) and her friends visit the school.
mediately offered their help, and in a matter of days we were at
my house, baking chocolate-chip cookies and cinnamon rolls. The
next day, we were on the streets of Kochani selling the food, and
people were very fond of our idea. “Why hasn’t anyone else thought
of do-ing something like this?” a woman asked. Her words made us
feel prouder than we had felt in our lives, and we were eager to
get as much money as possible for the school. Additionally, we
fundraised for toys and old clothes, mostly from our classmates and
other people from school. We collected three full bags of
donations.
Eventually it was Decem-
ber 26, the day my friends and I had awaited so anx-iously. It
was the day we were going to give away our presents and clothes to
the children. Mrs. Nahida kept this as a secret, and the kids were
quite surprised when they saw a group of teenag-ers entering their
room with gigantic boxes and bags. We introduced ourselves and told
them Santa had sent us to give them presents. The silence in the
room told me how big of a deal this is for these kids.
“So he really sent you here?” a cute boy with a qui-et voice
asked. “Of course,” I replied, “Santa knows you were good last
year, so he wanted to reward you.” “But we are Roma kids. Does
Santa like us?” asked anoth-
er boy. His words broke my heart. “Of course he does. He loves
you all very, very much,” I said, “It doesn’t matter who you are or
not—we are all equal, and as long as you listen to your parents and
Mrs. Nahida, Santa will bring you presents.” The room was filled
with hap-piness and laughter almost immediately. We stayed for
three hours and got to play and sing with the kids. At the end,
Ebru, a cute, little girl, asked us if we were going to ever come
back. My friend Sasho put her in his lap and said, “Of course we
are. This is not a goodbye; this is a see-you-soon.”
And that is how a beautiful friendship began.
Everyone Deserves a ChristmasContinued from page 3
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
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Sharing the Christmas SpiritBy Levente CipakA-SMYLE Serbia,
‘12Solon, IA
For Christmas this year, a small church called Our Lord’s Church
in Solon, IA, organized a food drive for those who couldn’t afford
a decent Christmas dinner. My host sister, Brogan, and I helped the
church with dis-tributing the donations they received. Several
donation
boxes were put out in the town: at the schools, librar-ies,
other churches, etc. It was unbelievable to see that such a small
community—Solon has about 1,300 inhab-itants—could collect such a
huge amount of food. We prepared Christmas packag-es for twelve
families. Each of the packages included a turkey, canned fruits,
and other things that are needed for a Christmas meal, like
potatoes and ham.We didn’t plan to help with
delivering the boxes, but we saw that others really wanted to
help and give back to the community, so we decided to go and help
as well. We started with two big families who had five, six, or
seven children, and they only had a mom. These kids were so
thankful and happy that, for me, this one experience made coming to
the United
States worth it. Other fami-lies had fewer children, or only
adults, but they still re-ally appreciated our help.
This activity taught me that we should always try to give back
to the community and to help those who are less fortunate than we
are. I think that this reflects how Americans think and act when it
comes to volunteer-ing and community service.
By Matija VeselinovicA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Forest, OH
Christmas PresentIf there is one thing, one
event, one part of the year that everyone likes, regard-
Matija at the beach.
less of age and the place we live in, it would have to be
Christmas! I mean, who doesn’t like getting presents and spending a
good time with family and friends, right? Well, I decided to share
a little bit of my Christ-mas gift with all of you!
It has been sort of a tradi-tion for my host parents to take
their exchange students on a trip during the Christ-mas break. And
yes, they followed their tradition once more! They decided to take
me and my host brother to California and Las Vegas. I was
unbelievably happy an
When that day finally came, we all woke up early, drove to the
airport, got on to a plane, and four hours later, we landed in
California. I saw many fun, interesting, and educational things. We
visited Joshua Tree Nation-al Park, Los Angeles, and one of the
many Califor-nia beaches. I enjoyed all
of them, but there was one thing that left a very pleasant and
strong memory, an open mic night in one of the local clubs. It was
my first time to see something like that, and I couldn’t have
enjoyed it more, considering that I am a huge fan of music.
After spending three awe-some days in California, the next stop
was Las Vegas. I finally got to see the place I always dreamed of.
In Ve-gas, our host parents took us to the Strip, Fremont Street,
the amazing Hoover Dam, dancing fountains, an incred-ible concert
of the “Trans-Siberian Orchestra”, the one and only Grand Canyon,
and through many famous Las Vegas casinos! It is a place that I
would surely like to come back to and once again have an awesome
time.
I am so grateful and thank-ful to my host parents for taking us
there and making this whole exchange experi-ence better for me.
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Winter 2012 Page 7www.americancouncilssee.org
My Multicultural Experience
Cedomir (center) in La Junta.
By Cedomir CupicA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Pueblo, CO
On January 7, I went with my local coordinator and group of
other exchange stu-dents to the little town of La Junta, CO. We
went there to see traditional Native Amer-ican dances.
The whole show was held in a giant Kiva, which is the name in
Navaho for a giant place. The room where the dances were held was
amaz-ing because the ceiling is made out of really long logs and
they are only connected with just 7 nails!
The dances were per-formed by Koshare, a Boy Scout troop that
has per-formed traditional Native American dances for almost 70
years. The whole show was really exciting. They were dancing around
the fire, beating their big drums, singing in the Navaho lan-guage,
and showing scenes of their daily life and crea-tures in nature.
They were
wearing traditional clothes full of feathers and animal skins
and made out of dif-ferent colors. The show lasted for two hours,
and we also visited a local museum that had all kinds of things,
like Native American dolls,
weapons, sculptures, and pictures.
This was one wonderful experience for me and for the rest of the
exchange stu-dents because we met a new culture, and I realized how
rich that culture is and how
many things they can offer. I fell in love with the Native
American culture. All of the things that I saw made me to want to
learn much more about them and to show all of those things back to
the people in my country.
I wanted to thank everyone involved in provid-ing this
opportunity to each and every one of us exchange students and to
everyone making this opportunity grow into a great experience.Marko
DelicA-SMYLE Montenegro, ‘12Ann Arbor, MI
Big thanks to my awesome host mom and dad, Carol and Bob Dorsey,
and my awesome sisters, Lauren, Nadia, and Arpi! You make me smile
and laugh every single day, and you certainly have been making my
life much longer! I’m so glad that I have you all! Usually, I can’t
stop talking, but this time I’m without words. Love you all! Masa
MiscevicA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Oxford, MS
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
8
By Ilva HamzajAlumni CoordinatorYES Albania, ‘11
During our year in the U.S., we learned about the great spirit
that Christmas should bring to everybody’s families in this holy
time of the year. So, for this Christ-
Bringing the Christmas Spirit to the School for Blind
mas season, YES alumni in Albania decided to bring the Christmas
spirit that we learned in the U.S. to the people who are touched by
it the least: the students at the School for Blind Children.
YES alum (‘10) Edi Gore developed the idea for an
Christmas activity at the school for the blind.
activity and asked if I would like to team up with him. With
teamwork, we could have a better chance for hosting a successful
Christ-mas show and after-show party and that all of the kids would
enjoy.
Once we announced the project, many alumni showed interest in
it, and four of them decided to help. These four were Arbri Cun-gu
(‘10), Boris Alibali (‘11), Gledisa Perleka (‘11), and Kristina
Marku (‘11).
Using YES alumni asso-ciation funds we requested from American
Councils, granted by the U.S. Depart-ment of State, I bought
dif-ferent snacks and beverages and made small Christmas packs for
everyone as a surprise for after the con-cert. Each pack contained
the same snacks, so no-body would think that their friend’s pack
was better than theirs.
All 56 kids at the school went to the school’s small auditorium
where they wait-ed to hear what we had to show them. Gledisa
started the show with some popular Christmas games, such as singing
“The Twelve Days of Christmas” and thinking about an object related
to Christmas that the other kids had to guess within ten
ques-tions. After that, I sang the song about the importance of
being good, especially at Christmastime so that Santa gives them
all the presents they ask for. The kids loved that.
After the song, Gledi-sa came up on stage and showed the kids
some facts about Christmas and how it started. Some of the facts
were really funny, and the kids started to laugh. Then it was Edi’s
turn. He had pre-pared a tale about a donkey and how Santa helped
him because he had been nice throughout the whole year. This was
the part of the show where the students were the quietest. Later
when we asked them why, they said that they hadn’t heard tales in a
long time. After that, I sang a song called “You and I”, which the
children enjoyed and joined in sign-ing. After this last song, the
alumni invited the children to show them any talents they had. They
were very ex-cited, and five of them came up on stage and sang some
songs and recited some po-ems. They were definitely very
talented.
After the show, the alumni invited the kids to take their gift
packs. All of them were so happy and said that they really liked
the food that we had picked for them. We alumni stayed for another
hour, talking to the kids, learning about their lives and also
telling about our lives and how our year in U.S. had been.
By the end, everyone was happy for the activity and sad to
leave. Some of the alumni said that it had been the best thing they
had done during their lives and they would join more often in these
activities.
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Winter 2012 Page 9www.americancouncilssee.org
By Emese CekeA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Greenville, AL
Ten years ago, when I was a first grader in elementary school,
my class and the oth-er classes from first through fourth grade
received a pres-ent before Christmas time. We all marveled at the
pret-tiness of the wrapping pa-per and tried to get one that was
wrapped in the prettiest paper. Then, when we un-wrapped the
presents, we re-alized that each one of them was packed in a shoe
box with an “Operation Christ-mas Child” label on it. Our teacher
ran out of the boxes labeled “boy”, so the boys received boxes
filled with girly stuff, which they hand-ed to the girls from our
class or to the girls they liked at that time. After that
Christ-mas, each year we waited patiently for our shoe-box filled
with joy, all the girls hoping that we would run out of boys’ boxes
again.
We were a little bit sur-
prised that the boxes con-tained items like toothpaste and soap,
and we didn’t understand why anybody thought that those items would
make us happy. We eventually found out that these boxes were meant
to be delivered to the children who live in extreme pov-erty.
Apparently, someone had thought that we quali-fied. But it didn’t
bother us at all—we enjoyed the toys and just handed the hygienic
items to our parents with a thought of, “We don’t need that.”
Gifts make us happy, es-pecially when we get some-thing we
really like or need. Christmas time is the best time of the year
for those who like to receive presents. However, lots of times
giv-ing is what really counts, in particular when somebody only
gets a gift that is ordi-nary to you, like a notebook, but as if
it’s the newest iPhone to them.
I was extremely happy when I found out that now I can be the one
who packs and sends the shoe-boxes
Simon, Aygul, Maryia and me (bottom center) in front of boxes
full of shoeboxes.
Operation Christmas Child
filled with little gifts in-stead of receiving them. This time,
with the help of the First Baptist Church in Greenville, my cluster
tried to give the poor children all around the world a better
Christmas by packing a few shoe-boxes with school sup-plies, toys,
hygienic items, clothes, and candy. We sent the gifts through an
organi-zation called Samaritan’s Purse: Operation Christmas
Child. For over 40 years, Samaritan’s Purse, which is a
faith-based organization, has been helping the world’s poor, sick,
and suffering.
I think this is a great or-ganization, and I hope that when I go
back to Serbia, I can keep on packing shoe-boxes and encouraging
other people to do so too because it doesn’t cost us a lot, but we
can still cheer up a child.
Want to see what alumni are doing? Stay up to date on our
regional blog.
http://americancouncilssee.wordpress.com
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
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Nina riding.
Horses Leave Hoof Prints on Your HeartBy Nina RasljaninA-SMYLE
Serbia, ‘12Lubbock, TX
Howdy, y’all! In August I arrived in the U.S. with a big smile
on my face, but I was a little bit afraid. I had my “toolbox” in my
head from my Pre-Departure Orienta-tion, along with the advice and
shared experiences from other exchange students. When I arrived, I
was jet-legged, tired, and confused, but I was smiling! Today, I’m
smiling even more!
Every single detail is per-fect. I fit in perfectly in Texas. It
is full of hospital-ity and friendly people with a mentality that
makes you
feel comfortable. My host family is a perfect match, and I’m so
happy because they have become my sec-ond family. They introduced
me to my new obsession and hobby. Since I’m in Texas, can you guess
what it is? Horses, of course!
Since the first time I was in contact with these animals, I felt
calm, stable, and peace-ful. I had never been in con-tact with
horses before, even though I wanted to. Thanks to my wonderful host
fam-ily, horses have become a big part of my life and expe-rience
in America.
Choppo, my host mom’s horse, is one of my best
friends now. During my first month here, I spent some time with
this noble animal, and we got to know each other so he can trust
me. In October, I went riding for the first time in my life, under
the instruction of my Ameri-can cousin from Colorado, Julia. I felt
filled with peace and strength while I was rid-ing with
unbelievable ease through cotton fields, com-municating with no
words to that adorable animal. I felt like I was starring in an old
western movie! He under-stood everything. His tem-po of running and
breath-ing was his way of having dialogue with me—it was
magical. After my first time riding, I wasn’t afraid at all. I
was smiling and meditat-ing while he was galloping through Texan
landscapes, giving me a feeling of nir-vana.
I fell in love with horses and their wonderful thera-peutic
power. I continue to learn about them and spend time with them.
This is just one of the things that I’m re-ally enjoying while I’m
here and one of many things that makes me feel happy and inspired.
I’m sure that this year will provide me with wonderful experiences,
and I’m looking forward to shar-ing them!
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Winter 2012 Page 11www.americancouncilssee.org
From left to right, Marina Roganovic (‘07), Smilja Vuksanovic
(‘11), and Balsa Lubarda (‘07).
By Ivan VuksanovicAlumni CoordinatorA-SMYLE Montenegro, ’07
For the second year in a row, A-SMYLE alumni from Montenegro
participated in a “City Beats Hunger” (“Grad pobjedjuje glad”)
action, which aims to help families in need in Montenegro.
The event took place in Podgorica on December 10 and 11, and it
was organized by Foundation Food Bank from Podgorica and support-ed
by a grant from the U.S. Embassy in Montenegro. Alumni served as
promoters of the food drive as well as volunteers.
During the days of the action, alumni and other volunteers were
divided throughout different stores in Podgorica. We were situ-ated
at the entrances of su-permarkets where we greeted every customer
who came in
A-SMYLE Montenegro Alumni Volunteer to Get Food to Those in
Need
and informed them about the purpose of the action as well as
about the type of food that customers could donate if they chose to
do so. Alumni enjoyed spending time to-gether for a good cause.
Marina Roganovic (‘07) said, “The food drive was a wonderful
thing to be a part of. It is amazing how ordinary people are
sometimes willing and able to help. There were a lot of new alumni
volun-teering, and I was quite im-pressed.”
Newly returned alumni also took part in this event. Balsa
Lubarda (‘11) shared his view and opinion: “Participating in this
action was a big oppor-tunity for all of us to realize the benefits
of helping out the poor. My job was to inform people about the
event and pass out pamphlets. It was a really nice experience for
me. I met so many volunteers, and I felt good because I knew
the effort I put in helped out someone who needed help. I hope
there will be more ac-tions of this kind because in our community
there are many people on social wel-fare—people who would need this
kind of help.”
After the food drive was over, alumni along with the other
volunteers helped make packages that were later dis-tributed to the
families in need. Overall, ten tons of food was collected during
the action.
By Nemanja OstojicA-SMYLE Montenegro, ‘12Urbandale, IA
Many people say that Chi-cago is one of the most beau-tiful
cities in America. Last November I had the chance to put that
statement to the test. After spending a cou-ple of days there, I
can say with certainty that it passed the test with flying colors!
I went there with my host family for a wedding of one of their
siblings. The ride
Visit to the Windy City
Nemanja at the Bean in Millennium Park.
was about five hours long, but the place I was about to
experience made trip worth waiting for. The first time I had seen
Chicago was from the airplane. The sight was amazing! But, this
time, when we entered downtown and were surrounded by all of those
skyscrapers, restau-rants, and movie theaters, I was left
speechless and ad-mired this piece of art, this great achievement
of human effort.
Continued on page 12
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
12
Zana with all the Christmas present boxes.
My First ChristmasBy Zana BajrovicA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Bear,
DE
I came to the United States because I wanted to see the U.S.,
but also to experi-ence all of the things that I wouldn’t
experience any-where else. I’ve experienced a lot of things so far,
and the most recent one is Christmas.
I come from Novi Pazar, Serbia, and the majority of the
population in my city is Muslim, so I have never felt the Christmas
atmosphere in my city. Since I am Muslim also, Christmas was a huge
experience for me. I didn’t know what to except.
I helped my host mom
to decorate the house, and I was really glad to do it. I loved
seeing all the deco-rated houses; it reminded me of the movies I
have seen. Christmas was wherever I turned—in the stores,
res-taurants, and streets. Also, a former exchange student from
Germany came to spend Christmas with my host family because they
hosted her last year.
On Christmas Eve, I went with my host family to our cousin’s
house. We had dinner, and we exchanged Christmas presents with
them. The atmosphere was really nice, and I got a pres-ent from my
host cousins and host grandparents, and
I felt like part of the family. The next day, on Christmas
morning, my host family woke me up early. First, I opened my
stocking, and then my host brother and my host sister from Germany
opened their stockings. I got so many things, but I was really
surprised when I saw the figure of a field hockey player. I played
field hockey in the fall. Later in the day, my host cousins came
for dinner. We chatted, ate, and simply enjoyed Christmas.
This was my first Christ-mas, and I didn’t know what to expect.
But the experi-ence was amazing, and I hope I will come next year
to have my second Christmas.
The hotel we stayed in was in the center of downtown, just
across from Trump Tower, which is one of the tallest buildings in
Chicago. The first night, we went to try famous Chicago pizza. The
wait in line to get in to the well-known Giordano’s in not-so-warm
weather was totally worth it. After 45 minutes of waiting in line,
I was eating thevery best piz-za in America!
The second day, I was fired up to see all places that made
Chicago famous. First on the list was the Marilyn Monroe statue
since it was the closest one. Millennium Park was next, then of
course a picture next to the famous “Bean” was inevitable. We went
to the Garrett Gourmet popcorn store and tried Chi-cago Mix, which
is a mix-ture of popcorn with cheese and caramel. Delicious!
Of course we checked out Chicago River, The L-Loop in downtown,
the Sears Tower, and much more. We ate in Greek Town and bought
shoes at Niketown. You just want to move there and live there for
the rest of your life!
The third day, we went to a huge family party, which I really
enjoyed. Only three days were enough to con-vince me that you can
find beauty, adventure, diversity, prosperity and hope in one
place, and that place was Chicago.
Visit to the Windy
CityContinued from page 11
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Winter 2012 Page 13www.americancouncilssee.org
By Kasandra BalticA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Davis, CA
A couple of days after Christmas Eve, I went to my first big
sports event in the United States. My host fam-ily took me to a
Sacramento Kings game, even though I have never been a huge
basketball fan. But still, I was really excited because I knew it
was going to be just like I used to see in the mov-ies.
I borrowed a jersey from my host sister, and we head-ed to
Sacramento. The first thing that I saw when we arrived was a bunch
of cars waiting to find a parking space and people all dressed up
in purple and white. As soon as we entered the are-na, I felt the
team spirit, and
I was super excited for it to start. People were cheer-ing,
jumping, dancing, and watching our team warm up. Then the game
began, and I was following every single step of the game.
The Kings played well, but not well enough to beat the other
team. I had another chance to go and watch the game one week later,
and by that time, I already had my own jersey and a poster, and I
was ready to give them my full support and see them play way
better.
In the beginning it wasn’t very good—we were down by 15 for most
the first three quarters. But in the fourth, the Kings managed to
come back and even win by three points. The whole arena went
crazy—people were jumping, singing, and hug-
Kasandra (left) and her host sister.
Live Like a Sacramento King Fan
ging each other, and it was a really cool thing to see! I also
realized that when you see high-quality basketball game, there is
no way that you can avoid becoming a #1 fan! And isn’t it cool that
I’m a fan of a team that two
Serbian guys played for and that everyone here appre-ciates
their work? I really enjoyed every single second there, and I hope
that this season is going to be really good for them.
International Education Week in AustriaBy Boris AlibaliYES
Albania, ‘11
The same things we had to do in the U.S. to overcome our initial
homesickness ap-ply also to the time we are spending back in our
home countries upon returning.
Maybe it is not just about overcoming homesickness anymore, but
maybe we miss some of the activities back in the U.S. Maybe the
most important activity, which we as exchange students were able to
do, was to in-troduce American students to our home countries.
Per-sonally, I missed it.
I always found this so inspiring for many rea-sons. First, it
helped us to break the ice and become real ambassadors of our
culture and share it with others. It helped us to get to know other
students. It helped the students to understand another cul-ture and
to become more curious about learning about different parts of the
world. It basically helped our experience to become GREAT!
Since I missed this part of my U.S. experience, I looked forward
to bring-ing it back somehow…
My class at school or-ganized a trip to Austria. There were 18
students, and we were to visit four differ-ent schools in different
cit-ies in Austria. We wanted to show them something. We wanted
this visit to be a cultural exchange.
With the help of our Ger-man language teacher, most of the
students got involved in performing some Austri-an theatre pieces,
and then we also decided to prepare a presentation on Albania for
the Austrian students. All I had to do was to trans-late my
presentation that I presented in the U.S. into
German. Since I also have experience in public speak-ing, I was
given the role of the presenter. I was happy that I could be the
“ambas-sador” again and do the same job I had missed from my time
in America.
I did four presentations in four different schools, and I felt
great. The only difference was that this time I was speaking
Ger-man. However, it was the same mission I had had as an exchange
student back in America. In the third school we visited, I
presented in
Continued on page 16
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
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By Milica VojinovicA-SMYLE Montenegro, ‘12Florence, TX
Do you know that feeling when you wake up and don’t know which
continent you are on? For me, that’s the best feeling ever. Ever
since I got here, every day’s been a new adventure. So many
wonderful experiences and people who made me feel like home—it
seems like I’ve been here for years, but
Priceless Moments
Milica (right) at Christmas with her host sister and niece.
Milica ready for her riding event.
yet I can’t believe it’s almost halfway over.
A special challenge at the beginning of my exchange year was
that not only did I have to adjust to Ameri-can culture, but I
needed to learn about Texas cowboys’ lifestyle as well. I was
wel-comed with bright Texas sun and vast prairies once green with
grass. I was supposed to become a cowgirl! I had to recall all my
knowledge from the few western mov-
ies I had seen, but as it didn’t help much, my host par-ents
were more than help-ful teaching me all I had to know, and also
laughing with me when I tried to do things my way.
First, I learned to ride hors-es, and after a few falls in the
dirt, I was ready for my first play day-competition. I put my boots
and hat on and excitedly rode around barrels. I was quite afraid to
run that fast, but I made it all the way still in the saddle and
even won some ribbons. It was interesting to watch whole families
coming to that horse event and skillful-ly riding different
patterns. They were excited to break records and proud to win
tro-phies.
I volunteered at those events and helped set up, made sure
everybody was taken care of, and cleaned up, which give me special
insight on how the events
really work. Since I am in-terested in the spirit of the Wild
West, I learned a lot about my host town’s histo-ry, got to see
many different landscapes in nearby areas, and even met some Native
Americans. I have enjoyed relaxed sunsets on my host family’s
ranch, but also built some muscles by helping them taking care of
horses and longhorns.
In the meantime, I par-ticipated in the traditional American
high school stu-dent role, joined new clubs, obtained new skills,
and, most importantly, made new friends from all over the world.
The great moments we had together made me think, Wow, we can really
make an impact! We can be proud of ourselves, our ac-complishments,
and our countries, and still be open-minded and have sense for
other cultures.
Lastly, I enjoyed the holi-day season. I celebrated Thanksgiving
and Christ-mas with my awesome host family. I am thankful for all
the good times I had last year and am still surprised by the
adventures I’ve had since. From baking cookies, watching Christmas
mov-ies, wrapping presents, and watching dear ones open-ing them
with a smile, every single moment with these lovely people is
priceless. And for the rest of the year, I’m sure I’ll make the
best of it. They say “Home is where the heart is.” Well, from now
on, my home is in two places.
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Winter 2012 Page 15www.americancouncilssee.org
Michigan: A True DelightMilos (left) in a school play
By Milos AcimovicA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Lake Leelanau, MI
If I have learned anything since I arrived here, it is that
America has a lot to offer. The opportunities are endless. All that
is needed is the wish to strive towards something, dedication, and
support from others. These are the funda-mentals in the pursuit of
suc-cess and happiness. And you know the road to happiness isn’t
all rainbows and sunny days, but the hard work pays off and it’s
worth it. My guid-ing principle is, “You want something? Go get
it.”
When I arrived here at Lake Leelanau, I didn’t have any specific
goals, mostly because I didn’t know what a little town like
Leelanau could of-
fer. My only goal was to make the most of it (Carpe diem!) and
seek to seize opportuni-ties. However, I think that being
open-minded also shed some light on new opportuni-ties.
I joined the Leelanau Youth Ensemble, and we had three Christmas
concerts that we performed in. It was really an amazing experience.
I made a friend there who then invited me to sing Handel’s
“Mes-siah” with a whole orches-tra in a pick-up choir with over 300
people. It was just a wonderful and an astonish-ing experience for
me. It just shows how getting involved in community events and
making friends can bring you such joy. I joined my school’s student
council to gain some insight into leadership and to
get a better understanding of how government works. I be-came a
secretary of it, which has provided me with great experiences so
far.
Juggling school, choir, and a leadership group was caus-ing some
stress, so I decided to get rid of the stress. Peo-ple said to me
that one way of coping is to exercise, so I took their advice. I
joined my school’s cross country team and had a really great time,
and I made some re-ally good friends there too. I liked being a
student athlete so much and having school spirit that I joined the
JV basketball team as soon as the cross country season ended.
Teamwork really gets the best out of you. It comes down to making
your role on the team as best as
it can be and helping your teammates. All of that helps shape
your personality. In the words of my basketball coach, “Sports make
us bet-ter, in a weird way.”
During the holiday break, my host family took me to see Boston,
MA, one of the biggest, prettiest cities here. It’s also a historic
and a cultural landmark, one of the founding places in the U.S.A.
Even with the 18 hour drive, Boston was a wonderful experience, and
I learned a lot from it. So a big thanks to my host family for
allowing me to see it and to get to know its history.
My stay here is not over yet. I’m going to keep tak-ing
initiative because it re-ally drives me to experience amazing
things.
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
16
By Minja RankovA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Aurora, CO
My experience in the Unit-ed States has been great so far. I
have done things that I could write about, but the story that I
find very inter-esting is the story one U.S. Army veteran told me
when I was volunteering at the Colorado State Veterans Nursing
Home. At first I had no idea what to expect. I was afraid that I
wouldn’t like it or I wouldn’t know what to do, but I was wrong. My
job there is to go and visit the residents in the nursing home. It
doesn’t sound like fun, but it is. I go to their rooms and usually
talk to them or help them do some things they like to do, for
example putting together puzzles. Some of the Veter-ans don’t have
relatives or their relatives live far away and can’t visit, so
people are
A True American Herousually very glad when I go and visit
them.
The name of the person I talk to the most is John Shaw. He was a
part of the U.S. Army for 11 years. He joined when he was very
young, about 17 years old. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in
1941, he was sent to the Pacific and eventu-ally to Japan as part
of the occupation force. He was stationed in Tokyo and Yo-kohama.
Even though it was war time, John liked being in Japan. He told me
that, de-spite the fact they had been enemies, Japanese people
treated Americans nicely. I was surprised to hear that, but he
explained that people did not want war.
After three years in Japan, John was sent to South Ko-rea. The
war between North and South Korea was tough.
John was shot a few times, but luckily he survived. Af-ter the
Korean War, John re-ceived a Purple Heart, which
Minja with John Shaw
is a medal from the President of the United States that you get
for being wounded or killed in action. John spent some time
stationed in the United States and then left to go to Germany and
France. That experience was similar to Japan because, as he said,
the people there were also very nice.
This is one of the stories I have heard in the Veterans home,
and I think as time passes, I will hear more like it. I like
listening to what people have to say because that way I can learn a
lot more about American history, not from a book, but first
hand.
Boris giving his IEW presentation in Austria.
front of more than one hun-dred students. It was quite a big
surprise; nobody ex-pected it and we thought this would not work
out be-cause it would be difficult to get the attention of so many
people in a very big room. Surprisingly enough, though, it was
probably the best presentation out of all four of them. The
audience was enthusiastic about it,
and, most importantly, they got all of my jokes! At the end of
the presentation, two girls from my class danced in traditional
costumes, we played Albanian folk mu-sic, and soon it became like
an Albanian wedding. I also pulled many Austrian stu-dents out of
the audience to come and dance with us and most of them accepted,
even though they weren’t familiar with how we in the Balkans
dance.
Continued from page 13
IEW in Austria
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Winter 2012 Page 17www.americancouncilssee.org
Exchange students Christmas Party organized by their LC
Toma (left) with his cluster and local coordinator.
By Toma PavlovYES Bulgaria, ‘12Earlham, IA
On December 31, my local coordinator, Nancy, orga-nized a
Christmas party for her exchange students at her home in Ames, IA.
Each of us had to bring a dish typical of our home countries, so we
had a total of five cuisines. On the table was served Bulgarian
baked potatoes with Bulgarian spices, Ger-man potato salad, Chinese
rice with vegetables, Mace-donian vegetable salad, and an American
apple pie. Af-ter having the tasty mix of multicultural foods, we
said thank you each other in our native languages.
Our Christmas party con-tinued with sharing with each other how
Christmas and New Year’s are celebrat-ed in our home countries. Did
you know that in China Christmas is not an official holiday? Or
that Bulgaria and Macedonia that have many Christmas traditions in
common? We learned from the German exchange stu-dent that she is
used to going to church with her family on Christmas Eve. It’s
interest-ing that we inspired our lo-cal coordinator to become a
bilingual person just like us. For that purpose, she dem-onstrated
to us her Spanish reading skills. But this was also an example of
the diver-sity in the United States con-cerning the many languages
that can be heard.
All of us have one thing
in common, and that is giv-ing presents. Therefore, we carried
on with a “white el-ephant” gift exchange. Basi-cally, each student
brought a gift not knowing who its recipient would be. All of us
enjoyed this very much because nobody was sure whose present he or
she would get, so it was more surprising and unexpected.
Our local coordinator also arranged for us to do some community
service at our Christmas party. We made posters for the children
in
the Congo. We were shown a short movie about the way they live
and the problems the country faces, such as poverty, AIDS, and lack
of clean water. The little post-ers that we made will be sent to
them so that they will have something to hang on the walls in their
home. We are aware that this will not help them much, but at least
we hope it will brighten their day.
I really enjoyed the day I had with the other exchange students
and our local coor-
dinator. It was a multicul-tural experience of food, to-gether
with learning phrases from different languages, as well as
exchanging presents. However, on the other end of world are the
kids in the Congo who might not have food tomorrow. In my opin-ion
Christmas is the time when people realize that they have to be
grateful for what they have and not com-plain. That is my appeal to
all of you who read this!
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
18
Nina (left) and her host sister in the Bahamas
By Nina StanisicA-SMYLE Montenegro, ‘12West Caldwell, NJ
When you come to Amer-ica, you expect great things to happen to
you. But I nev-er thought it would be this good! Before coming
here, I was scared. I thought to my-self, Oh my God, it’s a FULL
YEAR. How am I going to do that without my family or my friends? I
never thought it would be this easy. When I arrived I began to
experi-ence all of the things I’ve seen in movies and heard about
America.
The first day was the hard-est day for me. When I got here, all
I could think was, Why did I do this? But af-ter that, there wasn’t
a sec-ond that I regretted coming on this program. I couldn’t have
gotten a better host family. We are getting along great, and they
are helping me with everything and try-ing to get me to experience
as many things as possible. For example, I never thought
Coming to Americathat I would have ever had the chance to walk
down the streets of New York City or see a Broadway show. My host
family made those dreams come true; I am so thankful.
School is what I thought it would be like. I really like it
here—the teachers are great, the kids are too, and they are
interested in learning about my country. There are many interesting
things I’ve ex-perienced here that I would never have experienced
in Montenegro.
I have made a great con-nection with my host fam-ily, and now I
feel like I’m part of it. They help me with everything and
definitely try to do as much as they can with me. They took me on a
cruise to the Bahamas a week before Christmas, and I think that’s
definitely the thing I will never, ever for-get. Never in my life
had I thought I would actually go on a cruise to the Bahamas. That
definitely made my holidays here memorable.
I would like to thank my host mother, Claire Mat-tern, for being
such a great host mom, for making me feel good all the time, and
always making me feel at home. She just does so much for me, and I
could never be thankful enough. It feels like I came here only a
few weeks ago. Time goes by so fast. I guess doing so many
different activities you couldn’t even imagine makes it go by so
faster.
Soon we will have go back, and it feels like we just got here.
In the begin-ning I was thinking, A full year! That’s way too long!
Now I wish it would last longer. The most important thing is to do
as much as we can while we’re here, to try everything we can, even
if it seems silly. This is an oppor-tunity that doesn’t come too
often, so we should make the most of it.
International Education Week
IEW.
By Nina LoncarevicA-SMYLE Montenegro, ‘12Des Moines, IA
Do you know that feeling of pride after you have just given a
presentation about your country and everybody was delighted with
it? I sure know it because I have given many presentations, but the
best experience I have had so far is International Educa-tion Week.
It gave me an op-portunity to get to know my
friends’ countries better and enjoy Montenegro’s unique-ness
even more.
Together with the other eight exchange students in my group and
our local co-ordinator, we gathered in the local Mars Café where a
journalist introduced us to an audience. I was the one who broke
the ice with my presentation. As I am an ambassador of my
country,
Continued on page 19
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Winter 2012 Page 19www.americancouncilssee.org
IEWContinued from page 18
I really tried to introduce it in the best way possible. I
brought a part of one of the most representative pieces of
Montenegro’s culture, the national costume—a spe-cial shirt and
belt. They are hand-made and very valu-able for our nation because
they date back to early in our history. I also brought a few books
about the history and culture of my country and about famous
tourist destina-tions as a present for the au-dience to take if
they want-ed to find out more about Montenegro. I also made a
poster, which had basic in-formation about my country, its flag and
symbol, its envi-ronment and nature, history, and food and drink.
Addi-tionally, I brought several CDs as well as one that had an
official commercial about Montenegro on it. The most popular with
the audience, however, were little stickers with Montenegro’s logo
on them, which was fun for the children. Lastly, as a cherry on
top, I brought crepes (or, as we call them, pancakes) which I had
made! Several people tried them and liked them.
It was also fun to watch my friends’ presentations, learn about
their cultures, and answer questions from the journalist or the
audience. We received the compliment that we were the best group
our town has had had so far! I am glad we had a success-ful day at
Mars Café and that everybody wished us luck in the rest of the
year.
At Christmas, All Roads Lead to Your Heart
By Andreja Milosevic A-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Humboldt, IA
December is an amazing time of the year. Everyone’s excited
about the biggest holiday in the United States. You already know
what I am talking about, and you’re right—it’s Christmas time! This
was the first time that I wasn’t home for Christmas. But you know
what? This may be the only American Christmas I’ll ever experi-ence
(though I hope not), so I had to make it memorable. This is the
time for people to share joy and happiness.
Unfortunately, there are people who are everything but happy
when the season comes. They can’t afford Christmas dinner or toys
for their children. I am especial-ly glad I had the opportunity to
be part of the U.S. Marine
Corps’ Toys for Tots pro-gram. People from all over the
city—from hospitals, schools, banks, and grocery stores—joined
forces in or-der to make less-fortunate people happy. And we did
it! We raised collected so many toys that we needed the whole day
to wrap them up. Students and adults did a great job. The next day,
I helped deliver a ton of gifts. We had gifts for more than 170
families! It’s just amaz-ing how many generous people America has.
The feeling I had when I saw all those kids smiling and look-ing
forward to playing with the toys almost brought me to tears. It
made me realize how fortune I am and also made me think about
similar things that I can do when I go back to Serbia.
The other thing I did to spread the Christmas spirit
was a Christmas lights tour for people that are in the
retirement care center. One night we took more than twenty seniors
on a bus tour to enjoy the stunning deco-rated houses in our town.
This was a rare opportunity for them because they don’t have a
chance to get out very often, and I am glad I could do something to
make that night special.
One of the things I like the most about America is the
willingness to get together and do wonderful things for community.
It is not only about raising money. Parents always help when there
are some games or dances at our high school. I think that’s what I
would like to improve in Serbia. Until then, I’ll be experiencing
and learning about things that I can use back home.
Picture from the local newspaper of Andreja (left) and his group
wrapping gifts for the USMC.
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
20
Youth’s WillBy Semra AmetiYES Macedonia ‘11
What always inspired me about the U.S., before, during, and
after I came back, was the importance that Ameri-cans give to
community ser-vice as part of their everyday culture. While I was
in the U.S., I was required to do a certain number of commu-nity
service hours. However, in the area where I lived there weren’t
many opportunities and, I must admit, I didn’t know where to start.
With the help of my wonderful host mother I started finding and
engaging in more volunteer activities and soon learned that I
really enjoy doing it. When my year in the States came to an end, I
thought that I wouldn’t be able to contin-ue doing community
service because, as far as I knew, in my country there weren’t many
organizations or activi-
ties that involved community service. Nevertheless, after I
completed the program and I returned to my home country I realized
that the exchange journey was not over yet. Now my duty was to
share what I’ve learned in America with my community. I took the
initiative and instead of trying to search for humani-tarian
activities, I started cre-ating them myself. I started a community
service group in my school and what really struck me the most was
that a lot of other student showed interest and joined the group
too. We named it “Youth’s Will” to imply that if we want to change
the world for the better, then we have the power to do it. I am
really happy to say that since we’ve started the group we have had
many successful projects.
In one project we collected clothes and toys for an or-
phanage.We completed this project with the help of all the
generous students that attend my school and their willingness to
share their compassion by donating their clothes and toys for the
less fortunate. This project took us a week to finish, and by the
end of week we had suc-cessfully collected enough clothes, shoes
and toys for 40 children who live in the orphanage. We also visited
the kids and got to know them. I really enjoyed teach-ing the
younger kids some of the songs and dances that I had learned with
my little American nephew during my exchange year. At the end of
the day it was very fulfilling to watch the kids’ smiles on their
happy faces.
Another project called “New Year’s Workshop” took place in an
elementary school for kids with special needs. Our workshop
con-
sisted of coloring Christmas themed coloring pages and working
together with the children to help them during this process. It was
really sat-isfying to watch them enjoy our workshop.
There is a quote from Ma-hatma Gandhi in which I find strength
and inspiration. It says, “The best way to find yourself is to lose
yourself in the service of others.” This is the motto that guides
me and my friends that are part of the “Youth’s Will.” We are
look-ing forward to continuing our mission with many more up-coming
activities and I really hope more people will see the beauty of
this and engage more in helping others. I’ll finish with a quote by
Mother Teresa who actually is from my city but she truly belongs to
the world: “We can do no great things, only small thing with great
love.”
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Winter 2012 Page 21www.americancouncilssee.org
By Pavle JankovicA-SMYLE Montenegro, ‘12Cumberland, OH
When people talk about America, they talk about big cities,
flashing lights, glam-our, and the shine of a great country.
Honestly, that’s the same thing I thought for years. But the thing
people don’t understand is that real life is in the hayfields of
Montana, the golden ears of corn of Iowa, and the sheep wool of
Ohio.
It all started back home, in the small country of Mon-tenegro.
The day I applied for the A-SMYLE program I had the feeling that my
life was going to change from its roots. I passed all the tests and
finally, at the end of July, arrived at my host family’s.
I was coming from a town of 20,000 citizens, and I was placed
with a family that lives on a 170 acre farm. Everything was
different—not only the language and family, but the customs,
lifestyles, and practically my whole life. However, as the days
passed, I began to love the countryside. There was no noise and no
yelling or screaming around me. I could finally breathe easily and
relax myself.
Life on a farm with more than 150 sheep is not easy, though.
Getting up at 6 o’clock and going straight to the barn every
morn-ing gets tiring after a few Pavle with his Host Family’s
tractor.
days. But when you see two small, newborn lambs, lying in the
hay, sucking on their momma’s milk, you forget about everything,
and happiness fills your heart. The farms of Ameri-ca are the
places where life is being made, along with the oil that moves
every-thing. The sound of a gravel road and country music, as well
as the FFA—these ev-eryday things just get into your veins and keep
mov-ing you. Your life becomes sad without them.
Just as the founders of this country lived on farms and miles of
fields, so I live on a big farm, and I do not regret one moment of
my life in America. I do not re-gret nights when I went to bed
early because I had to get up at 5 o’clock the next day to sort
sheep for sale instead of going to some big party, full of people
and flashing lights. I do not re-gret the hours I spent in tall
boots, standing in a pile of mud. That mud is giving me a reason to
keep smile on my face.
In my opinion, the people who live in cities haven’t met the
real America, the other side—the people, their freedom, and the
spirit of liberty.
Living on the Other Side
Waking up early to tend to the animals.
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
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By Sonja SarajlicA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Kenton, OH
I do not know a single per-son that does not find joy in
holidays. We like them for various reasons: for spend-ing time with
our families, for the good food, and for presents. One thing is for
sure—they make the best memories.
I applied for this exchange program mainly for one reason: to
make memories. I have definitely accom-plished my goal. I have to
say thank you to my Ameri-can family. They welcomed me into their
lives complete-ly and showed me some pret-ty amazing things. I do
not mean the cities, monuments,
Smelling the Rosesand material things. I am talking about the
emotional things, the relationships with dearly-loved people,
people that I will always remember.
My American family is amazing. I have a sister, a mom, cousins,
and grand-parents, and I could not be more thankful that they
ac-cepted me like I had been with them forever, like I am one of
them. That is what made my American holidays so special. I loved
Thanks-giving, and I even got to pre-pare the turkey, which, I
lat-er learned, is an honor. I was flattered. It was so much fun,
even though everyone made fun of me for stick-ing my hand up the
turkey’s butt. But hey, anything for a good laugh, right?
Sonja (left) preparing the turkey for Thanksgiving!
I know that I will not be here forever, which is a good and a
bad thing. I heard a saying here: “Wake up and smell the roses.”
And that
is exactly what I am do-ing—stopping every once in a while and
thinking how lucky I am to have this fam-ily and this life.
International Education Week in Montenegro
Essay competition winners with Ms.Shelly Seaver and Ivan
Vuksanovic (third from right).
By Ivan VuksanovicAlumni CoordinatorA-SMYLEMontenegro,’07
This year, A-SMYLE alumni in Montenegro orga-nized an essay
competition during International Edu-cation Week for the fourth
straight year.
The subject of this year’s competition was, “The Unit-ed States
and Montenegro: The Future”, and it was open to 9th grade students
from Montenegro.
The goal of the essay com-petition is to hear how young people
see the U.S. and how they see their country, as well as how
relations are between the two countries from their point of view
and what can be
done to improve them. After the submissions were closed, the
best essays were picked and an awards ceremony was held at the
American Corner in Podgorica on December 23, 2011.
Winners shared their essays with the people present at the
ceremony.
Public Affairs Officer of the United States Embassy in
Podgorica, Ms. Shelly Seav-er, presented books signed by United
States Ambassador to Montenegro, Ms. Sue K. Brown, to the
winners.
After the ceremony, A-SMYLE alumni who were present spoke about
their ex-change experience with the participants of the
competi-tion and their parents and en-
couraged them to apply next year.
Articles about the compe-
itition were published on the U.S. Embassy’s website and
official facebook page.
http://podgorica.usembassy.gov/2011best_essays_asmile_competition.htmlhttp://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150476527844712.391136.32665979711&type=1
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Winter 2012 Page 23www.americancouncilssee.org
To my host family the Messers,Thank you, for this awesome
Christmas! It was definitely one of the best Christmases I’ve ever
had!
LeventeA-SMYLE Serbia, ‘12Solon, IA
The American ChristmasBy Nikola Muncan A-SMYLE Serbia,
‘12Columbus, IN
I was really looking for-ward to an American Christ-mas because
I’m Orthodox, and Christmas is very differ-ent in my home country,
Ser-bia, so I was so excited about spending and experiencing an
American Christmas.
I heard a lot from previous students about Christmas in America,
and it sounded like it did in the movies. But as everyone knows,
life is not a movie, so at first I didn’t believe what I was
hear-ing. However, all of that was about to change. As soon as
December started, everything was Christmas-sy already. People
started decorating their houses with Christmas lights; my friends
were already talking about putting up a Christmas tree in their
house. They also talked about decorating the outside of their
houses with Christmas lights and blow up figures. Blow up figures
are a common thing in America, it seems, during Christmas. They
usually consist of snowmen, reindeers, baby Jesus, and of course
Santa Claus. Everybody was sav-ing money just for this time of the
year.
Christmas is a time of joy and happiness and the time of the
year that is anticipated with great happiness. But before Christmas
is Christ-mas Eve. For Christmas Eve, my host family took me to
church. It was nice to see people gathering in one place to share
happiness and
show how they care about each other. The ceremony for Christmas
Eve was dif-ferent than previous ones I had been to. Afterwards, we
went home and we watched a movie called “A Christ-mas Story”, which
is a clas-sic and is watched during Christmas time. That night, we
also wrapped presents. I wrapped presents down-stairs, and my host
mom Deb was wrapping presents upstairs. When we finished wrapping
and were about to put the presents under the tree, there wasn’t
enough space!
My host sisters, who are 6, 8, and 10 years old, looked forward
to Christmas very much. They prepared cook-ies for Santa and one
carrot for every reindeer. They said that the reindeers had to be
hungry because of all that riding across the world. My host parents
also told my three little sisters that they must not be awake
before 8am because, as far as my
little sisters were concerned, they would wake up at 4am and
start opening presents if they could.
Christmas morning, ano-ther host sibling, who is also an
exchange student, and I were awakened by our three little sisters
yelling, “Wake up, Nick! Wake up, Chris-tian! Merry Christmas!” We
were all sleepy and tired.
Nikola (right) and his Host Family at church after the Christmas
Eve service.
However, opening presents was very messy and full of fun.
Everybody loved their presents, and everybody laughed the whole
time. Af-ter all those gifts, we went to my host dad’s family’s
house. There was of course lots of food and family fun, and we all
enjoyed Christ-mas together. Christmas in America is something that
I will remember all my life.
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Volume V, Issue IIOfficial Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YESPage
24
The A-SMYLE and YES SEE programs are administered by: American
Councils for International Education
1828 L St. NW, Suite 1200 / Washington, DC 20036Telephone:
202-833-7522 Fax: 202-833-7523General website:
www.americancouncils.org
Regional website: www.americancouncilssee.org
Funding for the A-SMYLE and YES programs comes from: The United
States Department of State,
Bureau for Educational and Cultural AffairsWebsite:
www.exchanges.state.gov
Balkan Youth VoicesVolume V, Issue II Winter 2012Official
Newsletter of A-SMYLE and YES
www.americancouncilssee.org
Want to be published in the next issue? Send submissions to:
[email protected] Want to see more stories from alumni?
http://americancouncilssee.wordpress.com
By Vuk VukovicA-SMYLE Montenegro, ‘12Williamsburg, IA
When I was little kid, I always wished to be a part of New York
because I was influenced by so many TV shows, movies, and
music.
When I won the scholar-ship for the A-SMYLE pro-gram, I
discovered that I would get the chance to see New York City some
day and make my dreams into something true.
On December 27, 2011, I landed in LaGuardia air-port in New York
City. Just looking at the Empire State building from the airplane
was beautiful, and I was so happy just to see it.
When I woke up the next morning, I realized that my adventure
was starting at that that moment. On the first day, I went to Times
Square and
the one and only Empire State building. It was beautiful to see
it and experience it all.
Besides me and all the New Yorkers, there were millions of
tourists there, and all of them were just like me—ready to see the
beau-
Vuk at the Empire State Building.
Big Dreams in a Big City
tiful charms of New York. I went to Times Square again on New
Year’s Eve, and even though I was at the far end of it and I
couldn’t see a lot of the performances, I still got to watch the
ball drop and I still think it was
best New Year’s I have ever had in my life.
I am waiting for all of the other new adventures I will have in
the United States, and the only thing I can say is, “Bring it
on!”