January RYE Conference Part 2: Exchange Student Bonding+Orientation

After finding out my country(the previous post), we still had the next day to get to know each other and get all sorts of exchange student-y information.

The next day, we woke up early(ouch!) and all carpooled to a zip lining and conference facility in the redwoods, where we spent the day in an orientation and zip lining.

In the morning, all of the outbounds had our first orientation where we were given all sorts of pertinent information about prepping for our exchanges, as well as our host country assignments: a big research paper about our host countries. It will be a lot of work, but I'll sure arrive in Italy knowing all sorts of random info!

In the afternoon, the outbounds split into three groups to go on a zip lining canopy tour. It was a lot of fun and gave us a great chance to get to know each other even better.

My new friend Esme(right) and I(left) at "ground school", all suited up and practicing basic maneuvers before we had to do them way up in the air!

From left: Allison, me and Esme getting ready to depart for the trees!

Our whole group on the spiral staircases that was part of the tour...the tour included several zip lines,  this staircase, and two sky bridges.

Exhausted but excited, we all got to bed a lot earlier than the night before, and the next morning we all dispersed and drove home.

January Rotary Youth Exchange(RYE) Conference Part 1: I find out my country!

On the weekend of January 23-25, I went to Rohnert Park for the first official District 5130 conference for the 2015-2016 outbounds(and inbounds this year too). The main event of this conference was FINDING OUT YOUR COUNTRY!!! More on that in a moment.

Anyway, the conference was held in a Boy's and Girls Club where we(the 50 or so inbounds and outbounds) stayed for a few days. To me, the most remarkable thing about the whole weekend was the fact that 50 random teenagers from all over Northern California and all over the world could come together and become great friends in 48 hours. It was astounding to realize how much we all had in common, and everyone was instantly friends...I mean, I seriously couldn't find anyone who I didn't like!

On to the festivities. The evening that we arrived, we had a few hours to socialize, then we had dinner, and finally we found out our countries. As we met each other, it went something like this(we all made name tags with our name, and "inbound from _____" or "outbound").

Person 1 "Hi! I'm ______"
Person 2 "Hi, I'm ______....what are your three country choices?"
Person 1 "(insert 3 random countries)...what about you?"
Person 2 "(insert 3 random countries)...nice to meet you!"

Again and again and again...everyone agreed that those three or so hours before we found out our countries were the longest of our lives. A group of us would get together, frantically try to play a game to pass the time, and nervously check our phones only to discover that about 5 minutes had passed. Pure torture.

Everyone was doing all right up through dinner until the tables were cleared and chairs began to be set up. Once people began to prepare for the ceremony, we all LOST IT. Eventually, all of the outbounds were called to sit in a circle, and were surrounded by a circle of the inbounds, and finally a circle of rebounds/parents/other rotary people, and we were given a spiel on Rotary and trust. At this point, I'd say a good 50% or more of us were quite close to tears...emotions were running high.

Finally, all of the outbounds lined up on one wall, and all of the inbounds/rebounds on another wall. There was a big bag of wonderful handmade cards with an outbound's name and county, one for each student. The cards were drawn randomly, so you didn't know when you would be called. When you were called, you walked up to stand in front of everyone(some people literally had to be pushed out of the outbound line...they were frozen), and a rotary member opened and read your card for you. Next(the sweetest thing ever) the inbounds and rebounds from the country that you had been assigned to burst out of the inbound line and give you a huge hug...a wonderful welcome into your new life.

Luckily, I was called towards the middle of the pack, and I was seriously in a trance-like state walking up to get my card. As my card was opened, I can only remember immense happiness and just a huge general sweep of emotion as I read "ITALY".

My card! My name is beautifully written on the front part that you can't see

The next thing that I knew, a rush of cheering Italian girls were running toward me and engulfing me in a huge Italian embrace, and hustling me over to the inbound side of the room. I then got to watch the rest of my terrified friends find out where they would be spending the next year of their life.

If you can't tell, I'm the one in the blue jacket, and the people running at me are the wonderful girls who are exchange students from Italy in California right now.

The line on the left is all of the freaked out outbounds, and the line on the right is all of the excited inbounds who can't wait to figure out who is going to their country.

For the rest of the evening I was on an incredible high of indescribable emotions, excitement, and adrenaline...everyone feeling the same way was absolutely infectious.