The 2018-19 Hartford Rotary Exchange Student is Monika from Poland. She is 17 years old, the daughter of Andrzej and Silwia, and has one older sister who lives in Poland.
Monika arrived at the beginning of September and will be staying with three host families the first in the Township of Erin, next in Hubertus, and finally in Hartford until she returns home mid-summer.
In applying for a Rotary exchange opportunity last spring, Monika wrote: “I learn 16 subjects at school and spend 7 up to 8 hours there. After coming home and eating dinner I have to concentrate on my homework as we are given a lot every day. There is little time to relax, even during weekends, as Polish students have to study really hard if they care about good marks. My extracurricular activities include English and Chemistry.”
But all is not work. She enjoyed spending free time with her friends. She took up swimming and attended ballroom dancing lessons for nine years, especially falling in love with rumba. Her hobby also is traveling with trips to Italy, Greece, Austria, Lithuania and Norway thus far. She values diversity, and is fond of bike trips, hiking and skiing, and with her family spent summers outdoors enjoying the fresh air.
Monika is enjoying her new friends and her school experience at Hartford High School. As she says, “Being a part of the exchange program is important because it will have an enormous influence on my life, getting a chance to know another, part of the world, a different culture, a new life and new people. In the future I would like to become a dentist or orthodontist, but my plans may change after a year in the USA, but probably in a medical field.”