Pre-Departure Orientation

Hey Everyone,

Today I had my Pre-Departure Orientation for my upcoming trip to France. We talked about culture, stereotypes, and questions and concerns. It was lots of fun to meet the other students going abroad. Just in my AFS Chapter, there are 8 students, going to countries like Italy, Ghana, Ecuador, France, Iceland, Peru, and Germany.

We did one activity where we had to draw our concerns and expectations, and apparently most AFS Students are not artists because our drawings are just lovely. I think we should sell them to an art museum. I drew the one about friends(meaning one of our concerns was not being able to make friends and becoming depressed). The other one means that we are expecting a language barrier, but we know we will find a way around it.

Eveything is really starting to sink in for me now that i have had my first orientation and I only have a week of school left. For instance, we had the end of the year rally on Friday where the seniors walk out of the gym and all the other classes move into their new sections. I hate that rally, but I felt like I had to go because it will be the only time I ever sit in the junior section in the school gym for a rally. By the way, I start school exactly 3 months from today in a foreign country. So weird. But I get more summer vacation than all of the Rio kids so ha!

So yeah, today was sort of another practice post, but I promise that once I actually get to France, they will get a lot more interesting.