Winter Orientation Picnic

Today was the day that I got to find out which country I would be exploring for an entire year... after attending a 6 hour long picnic, of course. Granted, I had a lot of fun at the picnic. We got to re-meet all of the inbounds for this year (we had previously met them at our district interviews) and meet all of the district's outbounds. It was awkward at first, all of us nervous about finding out our country assignment, but eventually everyone started talking and getting to know each other and the nerves wore off. I met a girl named Sarah that I pretty much instantly became friends with, and also talked with the inbound this year from Germany named Carl. After mingling for a bit we all sat down with our families and went over the day's agenda, and everyone stood up and introduced themselves and what-not. Then we broke up into the first activity... square-dancing. Oh Lord. They said that it would be a good way to see how well you could 'assimilate into different cultural activities', but I think that how well I did or didn't perform had less to do with how well I could assimilate and more about how I have two left feet. Ha. But the group I was with made it fun and we were all laughing 5 minutes into it. I made sure to inform the inbounds that were in our group that no, most Americans don't square dance regularly. They seemed relieved. We did a few more activities and then it was time for lunch. I sat with Sarah and her mom, and talked to the three Spanish-speaking exchange students sitting at our table. One of them, Carlos, goes to my school, and we talked about the school and how he likes it and all that. They all were pretty shocked that I've taken three years of Spanish but still want to go to a European country. Speaking of country assignments, I think I will just skip right to that part because the agenda after lunch pretty much consisted of a bunch more group activities that us outbounds half participated in/ half spent distracted over our assignments. So, they brought up all the outbounds to the front of the auditorium and wheeled out a whiteboard with flags from different counties taped onto it. We were each given four cards from a deck, and when your card was called you got to go up to the board and pick the flag of the place you thought you were going. But the twist was that it was like a white elephant gift exchange, if your card was called you could either pick a flag or steal a flag from someone else. When my flag was called I picked... Germany! I had a feeling this is where I was going, because I was told my other choices were not available so I had to pick a new one and I chose Germany. Which is fine by me, I was pretty much open to anywhere in Europe or elsewhere. (Although a tad bummed I couldn't go to Italy). Once you ran out of cards, you took your flag and stepped to the side. Now was the time they told you if the flag you were left with was right or not. When my name was called, (last, I might add), I was told I was right! Germany it is! I was extremely excited that I was assigned Germany, and now I'm even more excited to be an exchange student. After they told everyone their assignments and dismissed us all, I talked to Carl (the kid from Germany) a bit and we exchanged numbers so that if I had any questions or wanted to meet up in Germany we could. I left the picnic extremely happy, and relieved that I finally know where the next year of my life will be spent. Better start learning some German!

 Introducing ourselves... Sorry my face looks so evil. That's Sarah to the right.

 The only one holding up my flag and smiling for a picture!

 Germany-bound

My new German friend Carl and I