One Month

In exactly one month I will be in Bosnia. Trying to envision that is exciting, scary, and extremely difficult. There are so many things I wonder about; "How will I learn Bosnian?" "What does Sarajevo sound like?" "How will I navigate Sarajevo when I frequently get lost in my own town, where I have lived in for sixteen years?" "What will school be like?" "What about the weather?" "Am I bringing the right clothes?"

My one biggest, most burning question of "Who is my host family?" was answered this week. YES! I GOT MY HOST FAMILY!

I have two, younger host sisters, a host mom, and host dad! My host mom and one of my host sisters speak "intermediate" English and my host dad and my other host sister speak "some" English. I'm not exactly sure what "intermediate" and "some" mean but I guess I will find out! I am hoping once I have the Bosnian basics down that we will talk in Bosnian:) My family also has a dog which I was really excited about. They live in a house about a mile away from my school, so it is a nice walking distance. My family is so perfect for me. They like to go on hikes, do sports, and spend time together(they also like chocolate cake which is a plus!). Also, my host mom used to be competitive swimmer and now she swims occasionally so maybe I can join her!(I'm not exactly sure who reads this but for those who don't know, I swam competitively for a long time, like 11 or 12 years, and I recently "retired") I have emailed my host mom and talked to one of my host sisters on Facebook. They both seem super sweet! I am so excited to meet everyone!

My future school

PDO

About a week ago I got home from the YES Abroad National Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO). It was a crazy busy four days but we all sure learned a ton!

The first day of PDO consisted of dinner and two workshops, which are pretty much informational seminars. At the workshops we all got to meet our group leader. For most groups the group leader is a YES Abroad alum from their future hot country. The Bosnia group was really lucky because our group leader was Katie! (Blog here- http://katieelise27.blogspot.com/) Katie was super great at answering all of our questions and it was also just really fun to meet her after stalking her blog for so long. So after the workshops we had a little bit of free time so that meant IPSE family reunion!!!

The next day consisted of sitting, and more sitting but it was EXHAUSTING. We had probably eight workshops and it was SO MUCH information all at once but it was nice to know we are a little bit more prepared for the coming year.

The third day was by far the best day. First, all the American Councils kids (Bosnia and Macedonia) went to the Wilson Center to learn about the Balkans! It was super informative and actually very interesting. Next, we split up and went to our respective embassies. The Bosnian ambassador was out of town so we talked to the Minister Counselor! He was really nice and answered all our our questions super in depth. The embassy smelled really good and Katie said that that is what Bosnia smells like!! After the embassy we had a quick lunch at good ol' Dunkin Donuts and I burned the roof of my mouth. Next we went to the State Department and we heard stories, asked questions, and received lots of information. The last thing we did was walk over to the Lincoln Memorial. We took lots of pictures, got a YES Abroad group picture, and then we left to go back to 4H for quite a bit of free time! This was a very physically active day but it really wasn't as tiring.

YES Abroad Bosnia-Herzegovina 2014-15

The last day we had one workshop and then it was off to the airport. It was really sad to think this was the last time YES Abroad 2014-15 will be all together. But we are all really excited to begin our journey!

YES Abroad 2014-15