I'm going to Indonesia! (From IPSE and Beyond!)

That is the flag of my future home!


I can't believe it, I'm going to Indonesia!

I'm going to try to make this post sum up the past month of my life in the most timeliest of manners, so bear with me.

On Feb.28th, at around 9:40 P.M EST, while getting a new haircut, I received an email on my Nook HD. The little notification popped up and stated:
Yes Abroad: Semi Finalist Notification-ACTION REQUIRED.

I couldn't contain my excitement. I was literally shaking. The email read that to keep my semi-finalist status I had to attend the mandatory In Person Selection Event (otherwise known as IPSE), and they didn't have to tell me twice!

Within 3 weeks, I found myself at a train station, hugging my dad goodbye while clutching my brown duffel bag in my right fist. The conductor gathered my luggage and put it up in the train, waiting for me to come aboard. I found my seat moments later, and anxiously text my family that I was on the train, and had succeeded in keeping a seat all to myself.
The train ride was extremely long, but that was most likely because I was so nervous! I did message some friends thanks to AmTrak's free wifi, but time did not fly any faster, especially considering I had a 30 minute delay in Richmond.

When I arrived at D.C.'s Union Station, I was happy to see I had successfully memorized the map enough to easily find the police kiosk, where I met with the chaperones who would be leading us to the 4H center. They were really nice, and I was super excited to get this weekend started! (My introduction was a bit awkward, considering they thought I had been wandering around the station because my train was 30 minutes late. I had to explain about the delay.)

Moments later, my friend Victoria (Indonesia as well!), whom I had met on facebook before hand, appeared beside me and we shared a hug. The rest of the group started appearing, and we decided to have lunch on the other side of the station before our Super Shuttle arrived. My new friend Ama (also Indonesia!) convinced me to try Chipotle for the first time, and I was glad I did. After all, YES is all about trying new things, and Chipotle was definitely something new for my taste buds.

We arrived at the 4H center where after signing in, I ran into Lili (Bosnia) and Brandon (Thailand) whom were also Facebook buddies. I got to spend the weekend with lots of awesome people, and they helped me get through my interviews and group evaluations without a hitch. There was so many positive people, that the weekend was so great, I can't even explain it! Here's my favorite picture from the weekend:

From left to right (top row, then bottom) we have: Lili (Bosnia), Abeeha, Brandon (Thailand), Me(Indonesia!), Faber (Macedonia), Andrew (South Africa), Trecia, Victoria (Indonesia), Leah (Turkey), and Va'Trelle.

 

This group, plus Ama, were my good friends that weekend. We had so much fun together, and were all super supportive of each other! I'm so proud of all of us!

So then we had this excruciatingly long (or so it seemed), wait. The guess was we'd receive our notifications by Friday, April 11th, based off of the past years. But we were all sorely disappointed when nothing graced our inboxes.

Finally, the next morning, around 11 AM EST, notifications began coming out! Unfortunately, rejections came out first (for the first time, but the reasoning is understandable: not everyone wants to watch their friends get accepted, then wait and wait and find out they were rejected). My friends and I messaged each other nervously, and some of them were sad to find the email in their inbox. I called my mother and father, who were both away from home at that moment, to tell them that notifications were coming out, and at that moment I was in the clear.

Then around 12 PM, alternates began coming out. I suspected if I hadn't gotten a rejection, I was going to get an alternate. There was no way I was making it into the program!

I waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing came to my inbox. My mother told me she'd call me if she got an email. I waited and waited some more. Around 1 PM, a student got accepted into Bosnia. Did this mean I was in, since acceptances were now coming out? I prayed that was the case, I wanted this so bad! Email after email came out for Bosnia. Then my phone rang. I saw it was my mother, and at that moment I checked my inbox. All I could do was scream when I answered the phone. The subject read:

YES Abroad Program- Indonesia

I ran around the house without even opening the email, flying up and down the stairs and screaming to my grandmother I had gotten in. After my 15 second show, I ran back to my computer and told my friends that I had gotten Indonesia! We were all so excited as acceptance after acceptance rolled in!

Today, the day after I received my email, I sent in my acceptance forms. Now I just have to wait for AFS Indonesia to accept me, and I'm officially going to Indonesia!

I can't even explain how I feel. It's so beautiful and wonderful and I'm so thankful for the opportunity. I can't wait to begin my year (it's a whole 11 months!), and I'm so excited to be reunited with my friends at the Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO). This year is going to be rocking!


-Baillie

Veni. Vidi. Vici.

The title makes much more sense if you've taken Latin.
Veni. Vidi. Vici.
The famous words of the great Julius Caesar.
They translate to this:
I came. I saw. I conquered.

And that's how I feel.

I don't even remember writing that post I apparently wrote last year. I just remember always saying I would apply, and try, and try.

The summer was full of my attempts at practicing writing essays (I tried to apply to AFS's scholarship to Japan. But my heart wasn't fully set on it); reading tons of blogs, and figuring out what I wanted to do with my life.

The day the YES Abroad Application came out, I flew to my laptop and began writing essays. It became draft after draft after draft, most of the original scraps of my essays saved on a file and bits and pieces can be found in the final drafts. During the process, I also applied for NSLI-Y, my heart set on South Korea.

Perhaps I should explain what these programs are.

Kennedy-Lugar Yes Abroad

  
This is a wonderful program funded by the U.S. Department of State, to take 65 students from the United States of America, to Muslim populated countries. The goal of the program is to create cross-cultural understanding, as well as intercultural learning experiences to all those involved. This amazing scholarship not only sends United States students abroad, but also students from various Muslim populated countries, to the United States for a year!
For those who are wondering, the countries the U.S. sends are as follows:
India, Indonesia (that's where I'm headed!), Thailand, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Macedonia*, Philippines*, Malaysia, Ghana, South Africa, Morocco, Oman, Egypt**, Tunisia**, and Mali**.

*These two countries were just added this year, so some lucky students get to be pioneers for these countries!
**These countries were deemed unsafe by the U.S. Department of State, and were terminated for the 2014-15 academic year, though they may open up in the future!

In addition, this program lets you rate the countries you like in the order of which you'd most like to go, but the choice is based off of what the YES team feels like is a good fit for you. Indonesia was my original first, though India stole the official spot for my application. But all those feelings about Indonesia I had months before are flooding back. I'm in love.
This program is competitive in my opinion, but in others it's easier to get into than the one below.

National Security Language Initiative for Youth

This is an equally phenomenal program that allows students to venture into the wonderful world of languages! While students will live in another country for a year, the main focus is to learn languages that were said to be critical by the United States.
A few hundred students will venture abroad, but the country choice is not up to them. Depending on the languages you apply for (you can only apply for up to 3), and how long you choose to go (NSLI-Y offers summer and year programs, as opposed to YES which only offers year).
The programs offered are:
Russian, Persian*, Chinese, Korean, Turkish, Arabic, and Hindi.

*Persian is only offered for a summer program.

For Chinese you may be placed in China or Taiwan. Arabic, perhaps Oman or Morocco, or even Jordan! The list goes on depending on what language you are chosen for, and where you are placed!
This program is very competitive, with over 3500 applicants for this year alone.


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I suppose I should also mention CBYX, the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange, though I know very little about it! It is also a Department of State scholarship, that sends students from all across the country to Germany for a year. This program lets you work on the language, as well as form a stronger relationship with Germany. All of my friends who applied received this scholarship, so I'm not sure on the competitiveness! I did not apply to this program.




So those are all of the programs, and I am happy to say that the K-L Yes Abroad Team has chosen me to represent my country with 3 other girls, in Indonesia!

I can't even explain my super awesome excited-ness. I'll explain all of that in another post, but right now I just want to say that I did in fact go to IPSE (The In Person Selection Event), I saw all of the wonderful, deserving people, and somehow I conquered by triumphing and succeeding in becoming a scholar! I can't wait to get this year started!



-Baillie