So this is me. I got this pic taken when I met everyone and was telling them how excited I was that this was finally happening. We were kind of jumping up and down and being really impatient.
And these are the fabulous people that I flew with. (From right to left: Kelia- making a gorgeous face, Celina, and me. There was another person- Tim, but he was the one taking most of the pictures that are posted.) We had met only about 15 minutes before this picture, but we instantly started talking like we had known each other forever, and I can honestly say, that these two are a couple of my closest friends now.
And this was us being silly on the plane (Hey, look! There's Tim!)
We finally arrived at the O'hare airport after a three and a half hour flight, getting into Chicago at around 2:30. However, we were stuck at the airport until about 7:00, waiting for all of the other flights to chime in.
Kansas and Arizona were the first to Arrive.
And as the day went on, we grew to many, many people and we all had a fun time getting to know each other.
And this was our lovely orientation center; It was so green! We don't get scenery like that in Arizona. Fun fact: the owners of the retreat center are German, so a bunch of the signs were in German!
The first day of orientation, was the day that we really got to meet everyone and have fun. We would have a schedule that consisted of getting a crap-ton of information thrown at us, have an hour break, eat some of the best food on the planet, and then repeat two more times. It was great, though! We all interacted with each other as if we had been great child hood friends; I guess that's what you get when you throw 54 crazy and awkward teenagers together that have the balls to leave their friends, family, and everyday life to go to a place they have never been to, speak a language they don't know, and live the culture.
We also got our schedule for the year to come of important dates:
*August 10, 2013- this is the day we leave all of our loved ones behind and depart for Washington D.C.
*August 11, 2013- this is the day we leave our beloved country behind and travel to Germany
*August 12/13, 2013- we are officially in Germany and make our way from the airport on buses to our language camp in Hedersleben where we will be spending an entire month with everyone learning to speak the German language
*September 7, 2013- the day we finally get on a train and meet our host families for the first time
*September 9, 2013- our first official day of German school at a gymnasium
*sometime in January 2014- midyear orientation in Cologne with all of my FLAG CBYXers to see how far we have come with our German and share our experiences
*sometime in June 2014- end of the year orientation in Berlin with all of the 250 CBYX recipients
*June 18, 2014- this is the day we leave Germany to come back to Washington D.C. :(
*June 20, 2014- the day we finally fly home and see out wonderful family and friends for the first time in a year
It's crazy to think about everything that far in advanced. And It's hard to believe that I leave for Germany in about two months!
The second day was just as much fun. We got to do some improvisation for a couple hours so that we could experience how fast we will need to be thinking on our feet when we're in Germany; Let's just say I epically failed at that. Then, after yet another amazing lunch, we split into groups to get some more info on how we should act when we are in Germany, and the expectations people have for us, along with the expectations we should and shouldn't have for our year abroad. We had a little more free time when all of that was over, and soon after, exchange students from Brazil and Germany came to talk to us about their experiences being an exchange student; we even got to ask them a bunch of questions. After the Q and A sesh, a bunch of a started a soccer game against the two foreigns and we lost pretty bad, but we had a lot of fun. Then, at the end of the night, we had a little closing bonfire to wrap up our weekend.
Sadly, the last day came and we had to say goodbye to everyone we became close to. Fortunately, we will all be seeing each other again very soon. Let the countdown begin! I can honesty say there is no other group of people I would want to spend my year abroad with.
See you guys in 78 more days!
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