YES involves a lot of waiting. Waiting for semifinalist notifications, waiting for the IPSE, waiting for finalist notifications, waiting for the PDO, waiting for host family information, waiting for my departure date, waiting to receive my pre-departure handbook, and most importantly, waiting to LEAVE! The process has definitely taught me patience. Plus, all the waiting provides built-in time to process and prepare for the experience. But now, I’m only waiting for my handbook and my departure at this point, which is super encouraging. So I’ll tell you what I learned this week and leave you to count down with me!
We received our official departure date this week! I’m leaving on August 30, so as of today I have 39 more days until I leave! Even though I know the day I’ll be leaving, the actual event still seems so far away. I’ll be flying to DC that morning, where I’ll meet up with the rest of the Morocco group and our chaperone. Then we’ll fly to Germany, and from Germany to Casablanca, where we’ll arrive early in the morning of September 1. In between our flights we have really long layovers, so I’m looking forward to getting to know the rest of the group better.
Also this week, we received our host family assignments! I’m rooming with the lovely Lily, and my host family includes a mom, a dad, an older sister, a sister my age, and an 11 year old brother. I can’t wait to meet them and live with them!
It’s crazy to think about how long this process has been so far. I applied in December, so by the time I leave I’ll have been preparing for 10 months! But the waiting’s almost over, and it’ll definitely be worth it!