The Citizen, 2008-02-21, Page 19A pair of brothers told a pair of
exceptional stories recently at a
Brussels Lions meeting.
Scott, 19, and Dennis Procter, 21,
were both sent to destinations
unknown to them through the Lions
Youth Exchange last July/August.
Scott went to Alberta, while Dennis
went a bit further, to the Faroe
Islands.
After the application process,
which involved answering a
newspaper ad and writing an essay
to qualify, the brothers were
selected, but sent to different
destinations.
Both spent time with a host family,
then ended their trip at a camp that
brought many participants from all
over the world together.
Scott spent his first week with his
hosts in Beaver Lodge, Alberta, then
his second week in Claremont,
Alberta, both of which are small
towns outside of the larger, Grand
Prairie, Alberta. Scott then wrapped
up the trip by spending his third
week at a camp in Grand Prairie.
“The trip was awesome. It was an
amazing experience and I met a lot
of great people. It was only for three
weeks, but it’s amazing how close
you can get to someone in that time.
I met a lot of great people and built a
lot of strong friendships,” he said. “I
still talk to people in Italy and
Germany and a lot of people in
Alberta. One day, everybody wants
to meet up again. It’s cool. If I ever
wanted to go somewhere, I’d have a
place to stay.”
While Scott has no complaints, he
said that though Alberta is certainly
different from Ontario, it is still
Canada, so to get a truly
international experience, he had to
look to the people around him.
“Because I was still in Canada, the
best part of the trip for me was
meeting people from all over the
world. It was all about the people for
me as opposed to the place,” Scott
said.
“It was an experience of a lifetime.
It’s definitely not something that
everyone gets to do, to go and meet
so many people from so many
different places, so it was a really
eye-opening experience for me. It
makes the world a little smaller.”
Scott spent the first two weeks of
his trip in a rather unstructured
environment, living with a host
family and boarding with another
exchange student. He spent time
exploring the area and getting to
know his roommates, an Italian girl
the first week and a German girl the
second.
“For the first two weeks, there was
a lot of exploring around town. I was
staying with a girl from Italy and we
learned a lot about each other in that
first week. We took trips to Grand
Prairie, we went bowling and went
to the movies,” he said. “The second
week I stayed with a girl from
Germany and it was very much the
same, just in a new town.”
In addition to his recreational
trips, Scott and his new friends also
planned a one-day excursion to
Edmonton to visit the West
Edmonton Mall.
At camp, his days were more
structured, and there were more
people there from Hong Kong, Italy
and Germany.
The trip gave Scott a newfound
feeling of independence and
possibly the travel bug.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever beenanywhere on my own, so that waskind of cool, to be able to feelindependent like that,” he said. “Iwould love to do something like thisagain.”Dennis, racked up a few moretravel miles than his younger
brother, but he says it was all about
the people for him too.
The Faroe Islands, meaning “The
Sheep Islands” consist of 18 islands
belonging to the Kingdom of
Denmark, situated north of the
United Kingdom, west of Norway
and south-east of Iceland.
While The Faroes may be a long
way from Ontario, Dennis said his
experience helped him to realize the
similarities rather than the
differences.
“I think that meeting different
people was the most interesting
aspect of the trip. Just hearing about
different cultures from people was
interesting and it was nice to see
their perspective on things. It was
interesting to see how similar we all
are, despite the cultures. It didn’t
matter where we were from,
everyone was included and everyone
got along,” he said.
Dennis said that while everyone
would trade stories about their
different culture and what home life
was like for them, they would all
congregate and watch episodes of
Family Guy and laugh together,
something that surprised him at first.
Despite the different cultures,
Dennis has made friends. He is still
in touch with a young man from
Israel and a young girl from
Ukraine.The trip Dennis took was similarin structure to Scott’s trip, only witha few more stops thrown in. After flying from Toronto toAmsterdam, Dennis then went toOslo, Norway to the Faroes, wherehe missed his initial ferry to the
most-southern island of the Faroes,
where his host family lived. Dennis
spent the first night on the island
where the airport is located and then
took the ferry to the southern end of
the Faroes.
Dennis spent one week with his
host family and several other
participants in the exchange. The
first week, Dennis spent time with
people from Poland, Italy and Israel.
“We spent a lot of our time touring
around, seeing what there was to see.
There is a lot of rolling hills. You
could look at one hill and see 80
different shades of green. I mean, itwas something to see.”“Also, there are two or three sheepto every person there, so sheep werejust running all over the hills. To seethe entire south island wouldprobably only take 40 minutes or so.It’s a very small place.”
For the final two weeks of his trip,
Dennis made the trip to the most-
northern point of the Faroes to a
summer camp where he met other
kids from Israel, Ukraine, Estonia,
Turkey, Italy, Denmark, Poland,
Amsterdam, Mexico and a few kids
from around the Faroes.
With this trip being the furthest
Dennis has ever been from home, he
was surprised at how welcoming
and accepting the people were of
other cultures.
“It was very laid back. The people
of the Faroes were a very genuine,
welcoming people. It kind of
reminded me of Huron County in
that aspect of it,” he said.
“It was tough for kids from some
other cultures to accept, how kind
and trustworthy these people were. I
like to say that the only lock I saw on
any door was the bathroom.”
THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2008. PAGE 19. Brothers share exchange experience with Lions
Head west
Using the Brussels Lions Youth Exchange as a
springboard, Scott Procter travelled to Grand Prairie,
Alberta. He spent his first two weeks with two different host
families and then spent the final week of the trip at Camp
Tamarack with a group of other participants in the exchange
program. Top left: Procter, Johanna of Germany, Lucas of
Alberta and Josh of Alberta. Middle left: Hannah of Alberta,
Kelsey of Alberta, Laura of Italy, Alessandra of Italy,
Mariska of Alberta and Jory of Alberta. Bottom left: Yannes
of Hong Kong, Wincy of Hong Kong, Dennis of Germany
and Gage of Alberta. (Photo submitted)
Life in the Faroes
Dennis Procter of Brussels took advantage of the Lions
Youth Exchange program, heading to the Faroe Islands for
three weeks last August. While his first week was spent in
the south end of the Faroes with a host family, the final two
weeks of the trip were spent in the north end at a camp with
a group of other participants in the program. Clockwise,
from top left: Mattis of Denmark, Yotam of Israel, Uri of
Mexico, Procter, Vulga of Turkey, Alesandro of Italy, Gizem
of Turkey, Arthur of the Faroe Islands, Chris of Estonia,
Christian of the Faroe Islands, Pablo of Spain, Barr of
Israel, Lily of Denmark, Peter of Poland, Baris of Turkey,
Nadya of Ukraine, Paula of Italy, Beth of Mount Forest,
Canada and Amy of the Netherlands. (Photo submitted)
Because of Hockey Day in Canada
playing three games, there were
three lucky winners recently. Amy
Thompson, Jason MacLeod and Rob
Hoggarth were all winners with the
Auburn Lions hockey draw on
Saturday, Feb. 9.
The Lions pancake breakfast was
well attended on Feb. 10, despite the
snow. All of the ladies were given a
carnation to take home.
Jim and Dorothy Schneider
received a nice Valentine’s Day
surprise. Logan Michael Schneider
was born Thursday, Feb. 14, ,2008.
Proud parents are Michael (formerly
of Auburn) and Leanne Schneider of
Edmonton, AB. Congratulations to
you all.
Knox United Church and Huron
Chapel services were cancelled on
Sunday, Feb. 17 due to icy roads and
the promise of an impending storm.
Huron Chapel’s next men’s
monthly Bible study will be held
Saturday, Feb. 23 from 7:45 a.m.
until 9 a.m.
The theme is Gripped by the
sovereignty of God.
Happy 45th wedding anniversary
on Feb. 23 to the Christensens of
Auburn.
Yipee! Hooray!
We have both
celebrated our
birthdays!
Congratulations to
big brother Connor
who turned 3 on
February 8
and to little brother
Jackson who turned 1
on February 15.
Lots of Love XO,
Daddy and Mommy
(Dennis and Julie Ann
Hallahan)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
By Gail Dobie
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