Olivia Mulvey, the Bainbridge Rotary Club GRSP student, spoke to Rotary on Tuesday about her home in England. After showing a video presentation of her hometown and the English countryside, including members of her home Rotary Club, she answered questions from the audience.

She expressed her excitement about being here, after going through a long, drawn out process of application and approval, which began in 2015. She is sponsored by the Dukinfield and Stalybride Rotary Club in her hometown.

Olivia has been in the United States for three weeks now, staying in the host home of Rotarian Stacy Cunningham and her husband Garrett Smith, where she is learning about American ways while educating her hosts on England.

Olivia just began her classes at Valdosta State University, this week, where she is studying Spanish.

She has had the pleasure of trying Cuban coffee and fried pickles for the first time, and claims to enjoy the Southern food, the fried chicken and sweet tea. But she misses her chocolate. “I love chocolate and England has the very best chocolate in the world.”

One of the events shown on her video was of a Yanks Weekend celebration that has been observed in the small village of Dobcross each year since 2001. She explained that a portion of the movie “Yanks” starring Richard Gere, was filmed there and released in 1979. The celebration is organized by a small group of volunteers, who round up Jeeps and WWII uniforms and the townspeople don clothing of the 1940’s era to enjoy music, dancing and food.

Olivia became emotional when she spoke of participating in the Convocation this past weekend in Bainbridge; meeting the other students from all over the world and knowing how much it meant to everyone.

She hopes she can stay in America, after her year at Valdosta, to meet more people and do more traveling. Her parents are planning to come to the States to visit at Christmas.