Host Family

I have a host family!
They live right between Bern and Geneva, about an hour from the airport I am flying into.
Much of the area is farm land and there are small forests scattered nearby with hills all around.
I think that it will be very beautiful, and I hope to be able to explore a lot while I am there.
My host mom and dad have four kids, and I am very excited to have three sisters for a change!
I just got the placement email today with their contact information, so I emailed them and I am hoping to hear back when they wake up tomorrow. (Yea! Eight hour time difference!)
I might only be staying with this host family for two months, but even if I have to move around some, it will be exciting to get different perspectives on Swiss culture from the context of different families.

I also got my flight itinerary in the mail from YFU yesterday!
I will be leaving on the morning of August 14th. My first flight will take me to Washington DC where I will board a plane with the other YFU students going to Switzerland. All in all, I think I am headed for about 13 hours of traveling time, an early morning arrival, and a grotesque time difference to make my journey still more enjoyable. It is probably a good thing that I love to travel, and will step off the plane to a magnificent country and tantalizing, life-changing adventure!

I also got some culture guides! Not quite as exciting as host family news, but I am really enjoying reading about Swiss history and how it impacts their politics and social systems. Dad suggested Culture Smart books which he read on his trips to India and China (the series has at least a hundred guides) and I thoroughly agree with this preference. It is applicable, easy to read, and actually interesting. Now I just need to be sure that what I read will not set up preconceptions about my host family and friends.

National Pre-Departure Orientation

 

I just got back yesterday from my national pre-departure orientation with YFU!
We stayed for three days at The National 4-H Conference Center in Chevy Chase Maryland.
Overall, I got a lot of really good advice from exchange alumni, discussed dealing with important issues like culture shock and travel safety, enjoyed the company of a bunch of wonderful to-be exchange students, traveled on my own, and had a ton of fun!

Throughout the weekend, we spent most of our time in conference settings discussing what we might encounter overseas and how to prepare for it. We also played original communication and culture games to get some experience for similar situations abroad. Between this and the local pre-departure orientation, I have 15 pages of notes. Still, what I think helped me the most was hearing about the experiences of alumni and realizing that I am in the same boat as a hundred other adventurous students.

Here I am with a few of my friends just before the bus ride to the YFU headquarters in DC. They are both going to Japan, but I met kids on their way to Germany, Belgium, Korea, Norway, France, India, Africa, Italy, and more! Little do we know is this picture, we dressed up to ride in a limo-bus complete with a laser show, party music, and a wrap-around leather bench. This setting was completed by the company of a bus-full of outgoing teenagers. Buses will never be the same!
At the YFU headquarters, I had a great discussion with a foreign service officer from the Swiss embassy and heard from YFU alumni that went into the peace corps, became a diplomats, and worked as international journalists or advocates. My one regret is that I did not take pamphlets about Switzerland and international colleges because I was too busy talking to the interesting people that brought them.
This was an incredible experience for me, and I really feel prepared for the start of my journey this August!