Away we go, to the PDO!

Kennedy-Lugar YES Abroad Students of 2013-2014

Amideast offices

YES Abroad Oman

I'm sitting in the Dulles International airport. The past three days have been busy and stressful yet full of laughs and smiles. I am so tired my arms are numb. I have new perspective on the difficulty and intense ups and downs that an exchange year contains, luckily, I have month and a half to prepare.
The Pre Departure Orientation (PDO) contained a visit to the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman, the State Department, and the Amideast offices of D.C. (where I consumed a superb Lebanese chicken shawarma wrap). We also had eight workshops on topics such as blogging, health, program policies, and Islam. Most of us haven't seen each other since the In Person Selection Event (IPSE) , and it's possible we won't see each other ever again (except our country groups). We have all received this amazing, unbelievable, phenomenal opportunity, so in that way, even though we'll be scattered far and wide, in cities and rural villages, we are bonded.
Much of our time was spent with our country groups, which for Oman consists of seven lucky (and talented) ladies: Caillean, Davan, Hannah, Mae, Shanaya, and Talya. We were guided through workshops and embassy visits by staff and Emma. Having gone to Oman in 2011-2012 with YES Abroad, Emma acted as our resident expert. She taught us some of what to do, and what not to do. However, a whole culture won't fit into three days told secondhand, so we still have a lot to learn on our own! I also had time to visit with all the Finalists, especially my three roommates who are Thailand and India bound, next week! 

The PDO was much different than IPSE, while I can only speak for myself, the competitive edge was gone. We had all made it, we are the chosen ones. To me, and others, this PDO is what made it real. The excited and screaming girl who received that acceptance email on April 12th still had doubts on whether a year abroad actually happen. It was a dream a week ago, and now it is real. That is what has made this PDO so important, as informative and fact filled as it was, this turn into reality has been the best part. I look forward to see my six new friends on our flight to Oman, and now I can finally picture myself with them.

The beautiful YES Abroad T-Shirts

Vlog 2!

I have been a little lazy about blogging lately. However, I have made a new video! I am working on improving my editing ability. Hope you like it!

Before I leave the U.S.

I have discovered the definition of infinite, the time between sending in my finalist acceptance form and leaving for Oman (in late August or very early September). Alright, I may be exaggerating slightly.  I have decided to make a list of things I hope to accomplish before I leave. I'm sure I'll come up with more but I can always make another list. For now, here's my to do list:

1. Climb Mt. Hunger with my dad and brothers.
2. Cook an Omani meal (or two, or three).
3. Spend time with my dad.
4. Finish sophomore year (counting down, hour by hour). 
5. Hang out with my friends (even with their offensive jokes that I can't mention).
6. Read books about Islam and Oman (thanks Amazon)..
7. Get my driver's license (standard transmission is not fun). 
8. Run and bike.
9. Get better at editing videos and vlogging.
10. Participate in Ramdan. 
11. Go to the pre departure orientation (Oman finalists unite!).
12. Find awesome gifts for my host family (maple syrup, anyone?)
13. Learn some Arabic (hopefully I find a way).
14. Pack my life into a suitcase.
15. Have a going away party.

My life in Vermont

 I live in rural Vermont, my hometown has less than 2000 people! Muscat has over 630,000! That's more people than the entire state of Vermont! So the population alone will be a culture shock, let alone the language, culture, religion, etc. 

      Some basics things about Vermont, there's lot's of snow, maple syrup, changing leaves in the fall and apples. There are five seasons: summer, fall, winter, spring, and mud season. Mud season is between winter and spring, when all the dirt roads have thawed out but are still wet, so the roads are basically mud.

 I live with my dad. I have two older brothers: one has graduated college and working in Washington D.C. and the other is taking a year off to go skiing before going to college in California. I enjoy baking and cooking, running, reading, hiking, and writing. 

  I have lived in Vermont for my whole life, I have never been anywhere else for more than three weeks. So what's nine to eleven months? No sweat! Sarcasm implied. It'll be a grand adventure. Ma'a as-salama!

Why am I going abroad?

I have always loved to travel. New faces, grand adventures, and busy airports excite me. I assumed I would go abroad in college, maybe a semester or two in some country in Europe experimenting with a different language. I never gave going abroad in high school much thought. I mean, most high schoolers aren't allowed to vote, let alone be sent to another country on their own. Yet here I am, months away from boarding a plane to Oman. Though some changes in thought slowly sneak up, gradually coming over you like a wave, this was not one of those revelations. I know without a doubt what caused my sudden desire to go abroad, and not just abroad to Europe, abroad to a whole new culture, religion, and completely different language. I can point to a day, July 15th, 2012, and I can even point to the early evening as the time of my life changing experience.
       July 15th was a day of coincidences and disappointments leading up to something amazing. The morning, like most Vermont days in mid July, was hot and humid with heavy air squeezing the breath out of everyone's lungs. Slowly, as the day progresses grey blue clouds crept across the sky rumbling until they finally burst in the late afternoon. They spewed fat drops of rain, cracks of thunder, and whips of lightning. Looking up at them in annoyance as my friend canceled our plans to go swimming. Then the clouds were gone, receding over the horizon, they left air freshly washed by the rain. Air light and buoyant loosed from the humidity it had held for so long.
       The early evening came along, pushed by the light breeze I decided to drag my bike off the porch and pedal down out cracked pavement road. You should probably know, that I don't remember the next part of this story, I heard a retelling of it later. As I turned on to a dirt road bridge a mile from my house, I lost control of my bicycle. My bike, with me on it, collided with the guardrail flipping me neatly over the edge of the bridge and down onto the bank twenty feet below.
      I am truly thankful that I am alive today, I survived a twenty foot fall with only a broken femur and a concussion. I'm not sure if this is the definition of a near death experience, but it certainly jolted my thought process. I had always expected to wait until after high school for my life to begin. High school is a necessary step before the rest of your life can happen. But this accident made me realize that freak events happen all the time, there is very little we can control about our lives, so why limit our decisions? I decided I wanted to go abroad, I want to travel, and have a host family, and truly experience life, open my mind, and expand my horizons.
      This is how I found YES. I am thankful for that bike, bridge, and thunder storm. Without them I would be dragging my feet through a monotonous senior year living in a small rural Vermont town. Life is so much more than waiting for high school (or anything else to end).

I managed to grab my camera!

Alright, I am not good at video editing, but here is a video of me, an hour after I got my finalist email. Somehow I managed to turn the video on my camera on. My dad wasn't home when I got accepted so you get to see our reunion too.

Salaam aleikum!

I can't believe I am a finalist for the 2013-2014 Kennedy Lugar YES Abroad Oman program! It's been three days and it still hasn't sunk in! There are times in everyone's life when their soul sings with joy, when they are in the exact place they need to be. I am in that place. I could not be any happier, than I am right now. Albeit, YES Abroad is not the only amazing thing happening in my life right now, but it is the LARGEST contributor, BY FAR.
      I found out Friday, April 12th, around 5:30 pm at my house in rural Vermont. After a day of checking my email in between classes and on the bus ride home, I had given up hope. I resigned myself to a weekend of agony waiting for Monday to come with wonderful or devastating news. Then, while scrolling down my Facebook news feed, I saw a posting on the YES Abroad Semifinalist page with the word FINALIST. My blood ran cold as my fingers stumbled across the keyboard trying to find my email. When I finally navigated through my inbox and saw those beautiful words with Oman in the title I screamed for joy.
        Somehow, about an hour after my blinding happiness began I managed to grab my phone and start video recording. I also managed to catch the reunion with my dad on tape when heh returned from work at 6:45. Video entry coming soon! I spent that night calling my relatives and friends to share the good news, then I made cupcakes.
       I feel truly blessed for this opportunity! I am in shock, I am so happy! Nothing can ruin my day/week/month/year! Not even math class. Oman was my first choice and I am so happy I got it. I thought waiting for the Finalist notification would be hardest part of this, but now that I know where I am going I feel like it will be forever until I am there! This summer might be the hardest of my life!
       I would like thank all the people and organizations that have made this possible, including but not limited to: the U.S. State Department, the American Councils of International Education, AFS Intercultural Programs (AFS), the American-Mideast Educational and Training Service (AMIDEAST), and the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN). Congratulations all Finalists, Alternates, and Semifinalists! You are all amazing people!