Bene is living with host parents Kim and Gary Olson

Bene presents John Burke with a Rotary Flag from Rotary District 2040 in Italy.  Bene spoke to Rotarians at the Sunrise breakfast on December 18 taking us on a tour through Italy and introducing us to her family, friends, food and the places that are a part of her life back home.

Saturday October 24, 2009

On Saturday Oct 24 Benny and Naima Kilhamm, Clearlake Club's exchange student from Sweden, traveled to Humboldt County with Kim & Gary Olson.

The girls marveled at the giant redwoods that they had only seen pictures of previously. They were both typically awestruck by these ancient wonders of nature.

On Saturday night they attended the Rotary Foundation Dinner North at the historic Scotia Inn. On Sunday, before heading home, they toured the classic Victorian Village of Ferndale. Naima was happy to discover that many of the Victorian homes constructed over 100 years ago, were actually crafted by Swedish carpenters who migrated to San Francisco to build the many storied Victorians of the time.

On a short walk through the Ferndale cemetery, they saw many Swedish, Danish, and Swiss names as evidence of the early migration to the Ferndale area. The afternoon was complete with a traditional "dip" in the Eel River on the way home.

October 16, 2009, Bene talked to the Sunrise club about her recent trip to San Francisco with other International Exchange students, the fun they had and about some of the challenges they had communicating with each other.  All are from different countries and speak many different languages, they have English in common but all are learning that as well.