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
