Tomorrow

That's right! It's 1:03am on August 21st 2013, and I leave TOMORROW!!! My Visa arrived Monday morning and my flights were booked Tuesday afternoon! I'll be leaving Tampa at 1:15pm and going to Atlanta, arriving at 2:45pm. I'll have about a 3 hour layover and then I leave at 5:50pm to Brussels and I will arrive at 8:35am their time, so Friday morning. I just found out that I will be flying with a girl named Jessie on the 9-hour flight to Brussels, so not only will my layover be fun, but the flight will also be! I don't think we'll be sitting together, but who knows? Maybe we can! I'm still hoping Ella and Naomi will be able to get on that flight as well. They still don't have their visas as of now, though they sent their applications out like a month before I did, so it's insane that I got mine before them. Hopefully they come in this morning and they can get booked on the same flight!!

I've done most of my packing, though I still need to do laundry. I've made and gotten all of my gifts, and now I just really need to make my pins. I've got a day to make over a hundred. I'm such an awful procrastinator. Hopefully I will make a bunch tomorrow and get those done. I've got to have something to trade with the other students!! I've got my airport outfit settled and just need to run to Target tomorrow to get "thank you" cards for over there and a pair of fake Tom shoes to wear at the airport. None of my other shoes really work with it, and they are soo comfy so I'm gonna pick a pair up tomorrow.

My friends Alexa and Taylor should be coming over later in the afternoon to go swimming and just hangout before I leave. It's going to be so weird saying goodbye to them. But I won't say goodbye. I'll just say 'see you later', because I'll be back, and Skype is always an option. :)

So, all I have left to do is laundry, finish packing, pack my carry-on backpack with all the medicine I bought (Claritin, Ibuprofen, that sort of thing), some books, an extra change of clothes, makeup, and things like that. I also need to fit my laptop in it, so it's gotta be pretty big. I bought some Mac n' Cheese and Peanut Butter to bring, as well as Reece's and some other candies! I can't wait for my host family to try it! My first family seems so nice and kind and genuinely excited for me to come! My host mum messaged me saying that my room was ready and that they were looking forward to picking me up from the airport and to meet me. I'll probably start crying when I meet them, to be honest. It's because of their kindness, as well as my other families, that I'm able to come to Belgium, and live one of my dreams!

On Monday, I recorded a radio show with my Rotary club's president, for a Rotary Radio station about women. I'm not really sure what it's called, and I apologize for that. They asked me questions about what I knew about my exchange, how the process was, that sort of thing. I got my 6 Rotary club banners to take with me and thanked them again and again for the opportunity to go on exchange.

I also just recorded my packing blog, but I may record another one when the sun is up so there is more light. I'll post a link when it's posted on Youtube. :)

I should probably go to sleep now, since I probably won't be sleeping for the next couple of days and I also have a lot to get done tomorrow. My next post will most likely be either at the airport or once I'm finally in Belgium. I can't believe that what I've been waiting for for two years is finally right in front of me.

Belgium, I comin' for ya.
-Jess <3

I leave two weeks from today...

Two weeks. 13 days. That's all I have yet. Though it seems like forever away. I'm filling my last days in America with friends, family, American foods, and sunshine. I'm busy, today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday... And that sure as heck never happens, so I'm excited to be hanging out with the people I love! Later today, I'm going to see Spring Awakening with one of my best friends James, Friday I'm going out with the "demigods" and watching the second Percy Jackson movie, though we all know it will be horrible. It's really amazing because we were all best friends, and still are best friends even now, though we went to different schools for high school. It'll be like being in middle school again. :3 Then I have a show Friday night (I get to be Larken!). On Saturday, I will most likely be going to Clearwater again with 6950 for their Inbound/Outbound get-together. I really hope I get to go to this one!! Sunday I have another show as Larken, as well. I've still got so much to do!! These last two weeks will go by so slowly, but also so quickly!

Today I had my last Rotary meeting here, where I was asked to do a vlog type thing for an international Rotary radio show on my exchange year! I'll be interviewed in a few days, and through Skype throughout my year, giving updates on what I've been doing. I'm really excited about that!! I love my Rotary club so much!! They are the sweetest people and it's funny because they take such pride on me being their outbound, since I'm the only outbound in my whole district. The District governor even knows my name and was apparently talking about me at a meeting the day before, so that's pretty cool. I feel famous in the Rotary world!

Anyways, I'm going to start packing in a few days, and will definitely be doing a vlog/blog about that!! 13 days!!

Au revoir!
-Jess <3

16 day update

I have 17 (in 3 hours, 16) days left until I leave and wow I feel like it will never come. I still have a lot to do like making pins, packing, learning French, packing, and making powerpoints. I've been shopping a lot trying to find clothes that will allow me to fit in in Belgium, so I've been buying alot of black shirts and dresses and jeans. I'm only allowing myself one more pair of jeans and shoes, because I have no shoes to wear. Target has boots coming in a few days so I'm excited to see the new options! A bunch of exchange students from Florida have already left for their years abroad, so sitting here still in Florida is the most annoying thing ever. I'll be making another/new vlog because the other one was way too long. I've quit my job and probably have one day left working there. I'm going to the beach with Morena tomorrow to get sand for our bottles for our host families. I cannot wait to leave and 16 days just seems like such a long time, though I know it'll be here before I know it. I still don't have my visa, but I hope it's here sooner rather than later.

16 day update: Complete.

Bisous,
Jess

P.S. - Here's my pin design!!

Quick Update and FIRST VLOG!

Hey guys! I just wanted to do a super quick update on everything!

My VISA is being looked over by the consulate, so I should be getting that rather soon I'm hoping, which then means I can get my flight tickets! I've started making my pins, and I have to say they do look adorable! I'll post a picture later, of course! I also just found out about our first events in Belgium and that we'll be going to Bruxelles (French spelling!) and to the Palace! Like with a King and Queen and everything! Not like we're likely to meet him, but it's still cool! I've never been in a Palace before! Also, this Sunday (July 21, 2013) Belgium will be getting a new King, as the current one is retiring! Definitely a cool time in history!

What I mostly wanted to post about was my VLOGS! Yes, I started making vlogs. Well, one actually, for now, anyways. It's about 25 minutes and is an Intro type deal. I don't blame you for not watching it, it's way too long and I apologize! The packing one will be shorter, I promise!

Here's the link! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAwN_b0F9Jo&feature=c4-overview&list=UU9YD0AqTFeEOFUBgdQr4e8Q

I've been doing some shopping, for clothes and such, but mostly for gifts and American things! I've got a bunch of little flags, a BIG one for my room while over there, and napkins, and just random things. I also went out shopping today with Morena from 6950 going to Germany (we live on the edges of our districts!) and went looking for things for our host families! We found world maps and these cheap, cute little books on America from Target. I bought like 4. We also came up with the idea of getting little bottles and filling them with sand and shells from a nearby beach, and then painting on a sun and FL or something cute, as gifts for our families. We'll be in different countries, so it's not like they'll know their similar. :p

Anyways, this was longer than I intended, but my French is coming along thanks to DuoLingo! FUTURE EXCHANGE STUDENTS GOING TO A COUNTRY WITH A MORE POPULAR LANGUAGE: LEARN TO LOVE DUOLINGO.

Okay, well that's enough of that. It's 3:20am and I should be doing something, I'm sure... Wisdom teeth get pulled Monday, so I'm eating enough crunchy food to last me a while. Wish me luck!

A bientot!
-Jess

Oh, and P.S...
T-minus 33 days... <3

42 days and counting...

That's right! I have 42 days left until I leave for Belgium for a year. I can't believe it either, to be honest. I still need to pack up my room, pack up the things I'll be bringing with me, go tour some colleges, get my wisdom teeth pulled (soooo excited for that one), do a show (I'm in a musical!), and say my goodbyes. A lot of things have happened since my last update, the main one being the June orientation, which happened at the beginning of June (4th-6th). That's how long I haven't updated this thing for. Anyways, it was a lot of fun, as usual. A lot of sitting and listening though, so it did get a bit boring at parts, but all of the other future outbounds made everything so much better. It's so amazing how quickly you can connect to people you've only ever seen in person one other time, and barely talked online with. Of course, every knew me as "the girl who posts on Facebook." Yeah, that's me.

We talked about ethnocentrism, which is most likely spelled extremely wrong, and how to cope with the things that we'll face while abroad. As of now, some RYE Florida outbounds have like 15 days until they leave. That is mindboggling. I mean, I know it's not me who's leaving, but with the first person on the plane, it'll start really feeling real.

I've sent in all of the remaining forms for my VISA, after much struggle on the medical form, I might add. To any future outbounds reading this right now, know where your doctor's office is and get used to going there a lot. I don't think I've ever been there as much as I have trying to become an exchange student and applying for my VISA.

I'm leaving August 22nd, a Thursday, and should be meeting up most likely in in Atlanta with my friend Ella who is also from Florida and is also going to my district and is ALSO going to Liege! Our first host families live only 20 minutes from each other! It's going to be so nice having someone who also understands what it's like to live in Florida within a driving distance.

Anyways, the next time I update, I'll probably be down to my last remaining days, and I'll post photos of my room (empty as it probably will be), and of course my luggage! I also need to start making my vlogs! It's something I loved watching of last year's outbounds, and something I hope other future outbounds will watch!

Until next time!
Au revoir!
- Jess

Shrimp Dreams

No, I don't mean small, I mean actual shrimp. Well, shrimp eggs. Okay, let me start from the beginning.

I joined District 6950 and their FOs (Future Outbounds) at a district orientation for exchange.It was the second of the three mandatory orientations we're required to attend. But I don't really see why they need to say it's mandatory, because honestly, all of us would be there anyways regardless. We did sessions on giving speeches, culture and culture shock, and just going over general information on exchange and advice. Well, that and food. Like, a lot of food.

The speech session was really cool, and I got to learn a lot about the other outbounds, and also about how I am at giving speeches. I realized I say "um" a lot, so that is definitely something I will be working on prior to leaving for Belgium. After giving our first speech on ourselves, we could either revamp that speech or ask for an "impromptu", which meant that we gave a speech about a topic we were handed right then and there. My topic was talking about my first trip to New York, which is honestly a really exciting story in itself, so giving a speech on it was actually fun. After the speech session we broke for an hour lunch with Subway and a bunch of other foods and honestly I ate so much. Like, it was ridiculous.

Anyways after lunch, we had our culture session and we tried on a bunch of traditional outfits from all around the world. I got a headscarf to be "a traditional Muslim women". We also did charades, as we wont have very good control on the language when we get to our host countries and it might be necessary. We then were passed out plates full of food I could not identify. The only thing that I liked was the Lychee Jello shot things. And here is where the shrimp comes in. So, also on our plates, was this white, rice-cake looking thing, so we all thought it would be safe to eat. I tried it, and it was alright, but it had a very fishy after-taste, and since fish isn't really my thing (thank God I'm not going to Japan or Norway), I didn't really eat too much of it. Upon later revelation, we discovered it was actually fried shrimp eggs. Not only was I eating baby shrimp, but I didn't know it either.

After that, we reviewed our essays, talked about our countries, said a few phrases in our host languages (mine being "Ou sont les toilettes?") and talked about basic exchange things like what to do when, and how to be a good student (no breaking the D's). Once we left it was about 39 minutes after we were supposed to get out, so I rushed with Lucas from Tarpon Springs to New Tampa to drop him off, and then back to Lutz to get to my friend's birthday party.

And here is where the "dreams" come in. Last night, I had a dream about Belgium. It was my first day of high school. It was such a big school and I was so confused, even though most of the people spoke English. I was trying to navigate through classes of which I didn't know their location. I was trying to get around a foreign land, in a foreign school, in crowds of foreign people. Sitting here now though, I realize how much of a reality this dream really was. Being so utterly confused on your first day as an exchange student in a new school is such a real thing and something that most exchange students go through. I think only one of my interpretations was wrong, though. It won't be the foreign land, the foreign school, or the foreign people, I'll be the foreign one. I'll be the American. And I can absolutely not wait to show the "foreign people" what that really means.

T-minus 4 months. Let's do this.

Lovely love,
Jess

So much news, still so much time!

Wow, it has been such a long time since I've updated, but not much has really been happening. That was, until yesterday. To make a long story short, I've found out my city, school, host club, and host families!! I'll be living in Liege, in 3 different towns, Rocourt,  Vaux-Sous-Chèvremon, and Wonck, all in the French-speaking, Wallonia part of Belgium! I'm going to be hosted by the Rotary club of Liege-Sud and attending College Sainte Veronique in Liege.

 To be honest, the school kind of scares me. It's supposedly an English-immersion school, meaning some classes are in English, which is exactly what I don't want. I don't want to be that picky exchange student who acts like she's too good for a certain school or town or whatever, but I really do not want to go to a school that is focused on immersing it's students in my native language: something I'm trying to get away from. Anyways, some time later, I'll try and make it known in the nicest way possible that I don't think an immersion school is right for me, and see what we can do to fix the problem. Not that it's necessarily a problem right now, but I think that part is making me the most wary.

Aside from all of the general stuff, I found out my host families! Like, ALL of them! I'll have 3 spanning from when I arrive in mid-August to when I depart in late-June or early-July. I found my first host sister, Pauline, on Facebook, and we've been talking for about a day. She's going to be abroad in Mexico while I'm living with her family. I'll have a brother named Romain, and a mother and father. To be honest, I've already Google-mapped their house and street-viewed the heck out of the neighborhood. And can I just say how cute and Belgian it looks?! It just looks so different from an American suburb, with cute gates in front of some of the houses, and the architecture of the homes is just so different as well! I just absolutely cannot wait until I finally get to move there! I emailed my first host mother, but I haven't gotten a response yet. I had to send it in English, because we all know how bad my French is currently. I feel like the only time I'm going to have to learn it is after I get out of school on May 20th. I've just been so busy with everything, that I honestly have just not had the time to sit down and learn a language. Of course, I sat down to write this, but it's also 11:40pm on a Saturday night, and I'm actually dead tired from a day of work and watching the Doctor Who spring premier. But that's beside the point. I just don't have time. But I will once I'm done with high school. I'm counting down the days believe me!

Besides me, a couple of other exchange student friends have found out where they are going too! Ella from Florida will be living in the same town as me, so hopefully that means we'll be able to fly over with each other! I'm hoping the other "Belgian Girls" and I can all just meet up at an airport, and stay together through the flights. How great would that be?! My other friend Lucas, who is going to Italy, found out that he'll be going to Sicily next year! Obviously we've already started planning our trips to each other's countries!

I believe that is a long enough novel for tonight, but whenever something new pops up, I'll be sure to update you guys! Well, whoever reads this anyways. I'm going to start a video blog like right before I leave and then hopefully once I'm over there, depending on how much free time I've got. But for now, it's off to bed. I am pooped!

Bonsoir!
-Jess

Beach Parties and Host District news!

I would normally go in chronological order when writing a journal, but for this special edition, we're going to go a little backwards. I say this because, as of today, I will officially be hosted by Rotary District 1630 in Belgium! I got the email from Mrs. Tracy Carroll today during Photography class! Ella and I will be located here for our year, though where exactly, we don't know. All we do know is that we definitely won't be speaking Dutch, but that we could be speaking German and that we might actually be in Luxembourg. Honestly, I'm just hoping for a French Belgian experience.

Here's a map of Belgium (and Luxembourg) with 1630 in the darker grey:

So, we could be placed in a bunch of places, though since we wont be going to the Dutch, it's pretty much just Liege and down. I absolutely cannot wait to find out my host city and I'll update (with pictures of course!) as soon as I find out!

Now, step back about a little over a week to Sunday, January 20, 2013. I got to attend District 6950's beach get-together party inbound-meeting-outbound boat-tour thing! In short, it was amazing! As some of you know, my sponsor district is 6890. But, I am so lonely in my district! I'm the only 2013/14 outbound. So, I emailed Mr. Lobel asking if I could attend the party as well and got a yes! 

I drove Lucas (Italy) to Clearwater, which is about an hour's drive away. I navigated the interstate for the first time without getting us killed, so *snaps* would be much appreciated. When we got there, we made name tags, small-talked with some inbounds and outbounds, ate food (I hadn't had Cheetos in forever and I ate so many, sorry...) and just kind of waited around. Once most people were there, some of us decided it would be a good idea to walk down to the beach which was just a little way's away. Turns out the gate was locked, so we just went back and sat by the pool while some of the other's went swimming. We then ate pizza, chatted more, sang Happy Birthday to two of the inbounds, ate cake, and then walked down to our cruise ship.

Okay, let me rephrase that. What it really was was a 3-story giant, loud, dance party, free water, freezing deck, wrapped in a blanket, old people drunk, exchange students and Doctor Who, slow moving, turning around, all around beautiful "Calyspo Queen". It was just great! And I mean that completely honestly. We all had so much fun getting to know each other more and sailing around Clearwater. It was such a great experience!

Now, I must leave you, because this is turning into a novel and I could go into so much more detail, but I wont put you through that, so here are some pictures!

Au Revoir!

-Jess

P.S. Wish me luck for my job interview at Steak n' Shake on Thursday!

The rocks and water behind the condo we were in.

A pirate ship at sail in the bay. (It's not an actual pirate ship, you just need to be from Tampa to understand.)

All of us on the top deck of the ship aboard the "Calyspo Queen"! Thank you 6950 for having me!

Orientation!

I've been putting off writing this just because since I got back from Orientation I've been a little more than busy with exams coming up next week. Anyways, Orientation was January 4-6 at Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center in Leesburg, Florida. To any future Florida exchange students reading this, be prepared to keep thinking that you're almost there and end up still being 30 minutes away. It is way deep into Leesburg, but let me just tell you, it was so super incredibly worth it.

 My parents drove me and my friend Lucas (who's going to Italy!) to the camp (I'm going to call it camp because I had flashbacks of Girl Scouts like 24/7 there), and we signed in, got our name tags, schedules, and info for the weekend. My parents left and I went to my cabin. They were perfect... in there own special way. The beds were rusty, the floor was hard and cold and dirty, the showers were teeny tiny. But, honestly, they were so perfect. The people in my cabin are now my best friends. Like honestly. When you have to sleep in a room of people you don't know, but who have a common interest (in this case exchange of course), you really bond super quickly. In order of beds: Kate, Becca, Ella, Cheyenne, Naomi, Alexis, Savannah, and Laurel. Western Europe girls, baby!

The food was great. I don't care what anyone says, the food was great and the servers were sooo nice! The only thing that was sketchy was the stuffing, but the hamburgers were to die for! The sessions were fun and informative. I learned SO much that weekend! We had a language session where we had to say our 10 phrases in our host language in front of half of the outbounds, and some Rotex (previous exchange students). It wasn't too bad, but now I know how much work I've got to do to be ready for Belgium in August.

A lot of wonderful, beautiful things happened that weekend, including bonding over our hunger (the cafe in the Fellowship Hall was closed for the first night), meeting people that I actually spoke to and wasn't awkward around, learning so many things that I honestly hadn't even thought about... It was just such a great weekend and I am waiting ever so patiently (yeah right, I'm going nuts) for the next Orientation in June. I made so many friends with outbounds, Rotex, and Rotarians alike. I cannot wait until I see some of them again, which will hopefully be very soon!

Now time for pictures!
Au revoir!
-Jess

On the way to Lake Yale!

The Italy crew!

Lucas looking ever-so dapper with his Italian flag!

The cutest cafe ever!

France, Belgium, Italy, and Germany!

Our cabin! 2A, baby!

This picture honestly doesn't do this place justice, the lake in the morning was breath-taking.

The stage and flags on the last day.

Belgium, Honey Boo!

Oh, so chic in la Belgique! Belgium girls!