Questions Often Encountered

As my departure day approaches I have been bragging more and more about my exchange year in Oman. These are some of the questions I usually get asked.

Why did you choose Oman?
I am interested in Middle Eastern culture, Islam, and Arabic. I applied for the YES Abroad scholarship which sends 65 United States high school students to ten countries with significant muslim populations. Of those countries Oman was my first choice, and the one I got!

Where is Oman?

Oman is in the Middle East, on the Arabian peninsula. It borders Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and the Arabian Sea.

Where will you be staying in Oman?

I will be staying in Muscat, the capitol of Oman. It is located on the northern coast of the country. The six other YES Abroad students as well as the NSLI-Y students will also be staying there.

Who will you be staying with?

I will be staying with a host family which is not yet determined.

Will you go to school? 

Yes. I will go to Azzin Bin Qais International school, along with four other YES Abroad students. ABQ school is mostly taught in English, though several classes are taught in Arabic.

What language do they speak in Oman?

Most people speak English and Arabic. Many schools are taught in English, some people also speak Swahili.

Will you be required to cover your hair?

Not most of the time. If I am visiting a mosque or the interior part of the country I will, but for everyday life and school my hair will be uncovered.

Can you drive in Oman?
This is a question I have been getting a lot. Many people know that Oman borders Saudi Arabia and they wonder if the same ban on women driving that Saudi Arabia has is in effect in Oman. It is not. Women are allowed to drive in Oman, however, YES Abroad students are not, due to program rules.

How long will you be there?

Roughly ten months, I will leave late August and get back mid June.

Are you nervous?

No? Maybe it's because it hasn't his me yet, but I'm not particularly nervous. The realization that I will be spending ten months in a different country will probably happen on the plane, much to the misfortune of my fellow traveling companions.

What will you do if, for whatever reason, you can't go?

Curl up into a ball and cry for ten months.

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.