I'm joining the military! Well, kind of...

Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps

Another week has passed, and so another post comes your way!!! Last week I've been doing a lot in terms of finding things I could volunteer into, so this week I will work as a volunteer in the Houston Food Bank. Aaaaand, as the title suggests, I am going to join JROTC!

What is the JROTC?

The JROTC is an initiative taken by the US Government to promote education towards a military career in the US Army. The JROTC has different branches in many schools across the US, each covering a different branch of the US army. The JROTC at Dulles High School is one which is oriented on the Air Force. Except specific classes, the JROTC at Dulles also offers the chance participate in various after-school clubs such as the Robotics Club, the Marksmanship Club, the Saber Squad or the Color Guard. It also organizes various field trips and socializing events such as the Military Ball (sort of a Prom for JROTC members only). I'm super excited to see how it will all turn out!

The last week

This past week I've had a lot of quizzes and tests, which has been a little bit stressful. Dulles is going on hard on their students... But except for that, I can proudly say that I've finally seen my first football game! It was a match between my school's football team - the Vikings going against the Westbury High School's team - the Huskies! We arrived to the game a little late, it didn't stop me from enjoying it though. The Band and the Dolls was amazing! Sadly, I can't say the same about the Viking's performance during the match. We lost 19:6, to a school who's football team has been the worst in the district last year. On the up side though, our defence  was solid compared to last year's, or so was I told...

Earlier the same day I've done something I hadn't really expected to do while staying in the US - I've visited a mosque with my friend Alex. He invited me  over to go there with him, since he needed to go pray in the mosque on Friday (as all Muslims do), and so I went. And so, what can I say about the experience? It was certainly quite different from what I've already seen in the Roman Catholic Church back in Poland. For example, before entering the main prayer hall, first I had to wash my hands, face, feet and ears in the Wadu area. Another thing I've noticed was that there was nothing to sit on, but just the rug on which we stood and on which we later kneeled during the prayer. And the whole ceremony itself didn't last long - it only took us around 30 minutes to get in, pray and get out of the mosque. Men and women were praying in separate segments of the building, which also kind of surprised me, but then made sense when related to the nature of islam. Still, having seen a worship in a mosque for the first time was surely an opportunity for me to grow and learn more about the muslim culture. The experience itself let me for a bit of a different view on their faith and ways of worship, as well as their overall demeanor as a people.

Alex and the mosque

I also went to an American film theatre for the first time! And, as it is with with everything here in Texas, it was enormous compared to the ones I've been to back in Europe. I went there with an other friend to watch Coraline, the stop motion movie based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same title. The film was initially released in 2009 but now because of its 15th anniversary, it's been rereleased. I enjoyed the movie and its overall theme a lot, although I thought that it was a much longer film than it really was. Afterwards we went to roam around the Sugar Land downtown and what occurred to me was that there aren't really that many places you could walk to over there, quite contrary to downtown areas in Europe. It didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves and grabbing something from Starbucks though!

I almost forgot to mention my new love... THE ROOT BEER! To some people reading this it may appear shocking and distasteful of me to say that, but that's just how it is. I LOVE IT! First tried it when trying pizza from the Brooklyn Pizzeria (which was super good by the way) and since then it is my favorite soda drink in America. Not even Dr Pepper can match the taste of root beer... 

Anyway, another thing worth mentioning is that  last Saturday I went on my first meeting with my local  coordinator Mollie and some other exchange students with whom I am in the same group. We had met in the Main Even arcade, so after a short briefing and discussion of general rules and policies, we hopped on to the arcade machines and started playing. Some girls even managed to win plushies from the claw-machine thingy. I personally didn't really win anything, but at least I've spent some quality time with very nice people and had some good fun. I even won a game of laser tag!

Our Group

On this positive note, I want to end this blog post, as I still have a lot to do for school tomorrow. Thank you for reading this post and following me on my journey in Texas. I wish y'all a great day! See you next time! 

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