My name is Mate Andor Benyei, I am from Hungary.  I live in Debrecen which is the second largest city in my country.  I live with my Dad, my two brothers and my sister.  I am 18 years old and a year ago in 2008 - in my junior year - I decided that I would do a year exchange in California.

I arrived to San Francisco on August 19, and a couple hours later I was having dinner with my new family, the family which I stayed the whole year with.  I had two weeks before school started  and in those two weeks I got to meet a lot of people, I bought my first burrito at John’s Market, I checked out the State Park and I visited the school to get my classes.

Then school started.  I remember the first day, I was a little bit nervous but it went well, just like the next, and then the whole week. I had so much fun at school, and I had fun after school too.

In the end of October I got to go to my very first and probably last Halloween party.  My host brother Luke, Stuart and I went up to Humboldt State University to visit Luke’s older brother Ryan.  I was really excited about the party, so I bought this "Super Girl" costume at K-Mart on the day before and I thought I would wear that.  Later at home I found out that the costume was for 6 to 8 year-old girls, so I had to cut off the arms of the costume to make it fit.  I looked kind of strange you could imagine.  The party was really good though, we had an unforgettable time.

Then November came with Thanksgiving Day.  I celebrated it with my host family in Fort Bragg.  We had a wonderful time.

Winter began.  Christmas and New Years Eve were ahead, and I started feeling a little homesick.  Thanks to my host family, I survived it, and I tried to enjoy the rest of the winter.

Then March came with the tennis season, which my friends and I were waiting for.  I got to be part of the team.  I played first doubles with my friend David Ferrarrio.  We had a perfect season.

After the season, in spring break, I got to go up to Portland, Oregon, with Luke and Stuart again.  We visited Stuart’s older brother Andrew this time.  We had an amazing time.

I visited many other places throughout the year, like San Francisco and Sacramento, and I also learned many things.  It was a long year but it wasn’t long enough to see everything here so I will have to come back at some point :)