Bonjour from Belgium!: 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