IPSE

IPSE was the best weekend of my life and that is why I just got around to a blog post about it. It was so so so great I don't even know how to describe it! Just FYI, IPSE was about 2 million times more fun than this post makes it sound. Also sorry this is so long!

Friday- On Friday I woke up at 4:45 AM so I would have time to finish up with packing, and get to the airport by 6:30 for my 7:30 CST flight. Just a word of advice: Packing the morning of IPSE is NOT a good idea. So I after I finished packing I was off to the airport! I was the first of my flight buddies to get to the gate, but soon Bianca got there and a little bit later Lucien (Morocco) and Sydney got there. We boarded and took off. We landed about a half hour early at 10:35 EST, and made our way to baggage claim to meet the YES Abroad volunteers/alumni. The Minneapolis flight was to first to land so we had to wait for about 6 others people to land before taking a shuttle to the 4H Center. While we were waiting, Brandon (Thailand), Celeste (India), Will, and a couple others I can't remember (sorry!) showed up! We took our shuttle through DC and Celeste and I (Both midwesterners who had never been to DC) took pictures of EVERYTHING from the Washington Monument to The Famous Construction Site of America ;). Once we arrived at the 4H center we got our name tags and semifinalist handbooks (AKA YES Abroad Bibles). Since our flights and shuttle was very early we were there in time for lunch. After lunch, we found other people in the rec room and played all kinds of get to know you games. The next organized thing we did was the official welcome ceremony at 6:00 PM so me, Brandon, and Connar (Malaysia) made our way to the auditorium. During the ceremony, Abeeha and Faber (Macedonia) showed up because they were on the west coast so their flights landed a little bit later. After the ceremony if was off to dinner and then after dinner some people had interviews and the rest of us had fun talking, playing games, and getting to know each other!

Saturday- Saturday was the only full day at 4H and it was a lot of fun! So at IPSE, every semifinalist will have an individual interview, 2 group interviews, a workshop, and if you have 3+ years of French, a French interview, and country tables. I ended up having everything on Saturday which was kinda nice because it meant Friday and Sunday I could just relax. The first thing I had on Saturday was the workshop around 9ish. An hour or two after that I had my individual interview, then my group interview, then country tables, then my second group interview, then my French interview. None of these we immediately after each other and I had LOTS of down time. The time when nothing was scheduled were the best time!! Most of the time I was up in the third floor lounge with the best people ever. All of us had just met in person that Friday but we got along like we had all been best friends our entire life. 9/11 of this group of people ended up being accepted by YES which is kinda odd because YES was created in the aftermath of  9/11. I cant wait to spend more time with these people at PDO and then our reunions in the years after our exchanges! Saturday night before we fell asleep my roommates; Celeste(India) , Lily(Morocco), and Mariah had roommate bonding time and it was super fun!! So Saturday was a busy day but it was really fun!

Sunday- Sunday was a really short day and it went by super fast.  I woke up around 6:40ish I think and went to breakfast. After breakfast Brandon, Faber, Abeeha, and I decided to pack and bring our bags to the best room ever(The Minnesota room), which is where they told us to bring our bags. Some people had interviews that morning so I had more time up in the third floor lounge which was super fun! Before long it was time to go get our boxed lunches and eat before we leave. I actually ended up grabbing ham and I don't eat pork so that was kinda sad but I traded with someone and it was all okay:). When we all finished eating we took a bunch of pictures and some of them are on here. So after that, everyone in the third floor lounge reluctantly went downstairs for the closing ceremony and then the Dulles airport people, including me and Abeeha, were rushed out to get our bags and get on our shuttle. Well for some reason most people put their bags in a different room so I got lost trying to find the Minnesota room and I was scared I would miss the shuttle but my luggage was found and it was all good. The Regan airport people, which was about 75% of everyone, left soon after us. Once my shuttle got to the airport we were separated into groups which were pretty much our flight buddies and we went to our gates. The Minnesota flight was one of the earlier flights but we still had about two hours before boarding. Abeeha, who I think had like 5 or 6 hours came to my gate so that was fun:) When the plane took off the hardest wait of all started. 17 days.




I'm assuming a lot of the people reading this are either semifinalists or semifinalist hopefuls so I cant say a lot about the interviews but here is some stuff that might interest you-

Individual Interview: The waiting before the interview is way more stressful than the actual interview. All the interviewers are really nice and they aren't trying to trick you or make you look bad. They just want to get to know you. Relax and be honest!

Group Interviews: The group interviews are super fun! You are in a group with about five other people and you work together to accomplish something. The groups were with the same people for both interviews. I was really nervous about the group interviews but they ended up being one of my favorite parts of IPSE!

Country Tables: There were either 2 or 3 time slots for country tables and each person was assigned to go to one of the times. It's basically a room where you can go to get information on the YES Abroad countries, pick up info sheets, and ask questions.

Food: The food was pretty good but the ice cream was a new level of great. Also they had my favorite juice which is like mango passion guava or something but it's heavenly. I had only ever seen this juice on one of my cruises but I am obsessed with it so I was ECSTATIC when I saw that it was there! If you are somebody about to go to IPSE or PDO you MUST try this juice.

Down Time: There is a lot of down time at IPSE but you will never be bored! There are always other people to talk to, play mafia with, or start a game of volleyball!

If you have an other questions just comment and I'll add them!