Douglas O'Brien (18)
I'm originally from Flin Flon, Manitoba, but at the age of 3 I moved to Thompson, Manitoba. I used to live with my younger brother, my older sister and my parents, but I'm currently spending a year in Belgium on a Rotary International Youth Exchange Program.
Prior to coming to Belgium, I had wanted to study music and education to become a math/music teacher. Now, I think I want to study language and linguistics in order to teach French and Spanish, but I'm still unsure.
My hobbies include music and reading. I've played the piano for about 9 years and the baritone saxophone for about 5 years. I love sitting down at a piano and playing for a couple of hours. As for the bari-sax, I played in a symphonic orchestra and a jazz band at my school. I love playing in a jazz band and I miss it a lot. I also played in a sax quintet with four of my friends. I've dreamt of being a great musician.
As for reading, I do it in my free time. For example, when there are commercials on TV, I'll read a few comic strips until my show comes back on and I also read while I eat lunch. Before I go to sleep, I enjoy reading a novel until I become tired. I enjoy reading fantasy a lot. I was reading one series called The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan which consists of about twelve books and thousands of pages. Sadly though, he died before completing his series.
I would say my proudest moment would be when I received the Governor's General Award, the award given for achieving the highest grade point average in the graduating class. It was a lot of work, but it'll pay off.
Since coming to Belgium, my French has improved a lot which leads me closer to my personal goal of learning one language every ten years.
My motto is never give up.
http://6ms6fs2009.blogspot.com/
