ExCEL Abroad

   Today I'm going to take a different route and not talk directly about my experiences but instead talk about my program. Exchanges for Culture, Education, and Leadership or ExCEL started six years ago when the first group of Lithuanians were sent to the United States as youth ambassadors to represent the country of Lithuania and to make lasting connections and friendships. After five years of successfully sending Lithuanians to the U.S., the Kazickas Family Foundation issued a three year grant for the ExCEL Abroad program, to send high school aged students from the U.S. (current 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders) to Lithuania. Like the ExCEL program these students are also to serve as youth ambassadors and to form lasting relationships between their home and host community that will bring a mutual understanding between the two countries. The participants attend a local school, live in a host family, and are strongly encouraged to get involved with activities within their host community  through community service, culturally related classes, and after school activities (all of these help the participants to make those connections in which the program was made for). This program is a fully-funded scholarship therefore the only costs to participants are extra pocket money (whatever the monthly stipend doesn't cover), required medical examinations and immunizations prior to departure, fees associated with obtaining a passport, and any fees associated with obtaining a third visa (for travel outside of Lithuania if needed but this will probably not be likely). Eligible students are current high school students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents born between January 1st, 1997 through June 30th, 2000. The ExCEL Abroad application is due February 3rd, 2016. For more information I will put the ExCEL Abroad website at the end of the post as well as a link to the application.

  I'm a part of the first group participants of the ExCEL Abroad program and to be honest I'm so glad I chose to come here and am very honored to be part of the this group. There are only two of us here,  a girl named Emma and I (as far as I know for next year there will still be only two scholarships but don't let that stop you from applying). We attend different local schools. I attend Vilnius International school which an IB school running through the 10th grade (though next year 11th grade will be added as well as 12th the following year but they will not be a part of the IB program) and courses are taught in English. Though it is school and is quite similar to my school in the US, I really enjoy going because my classmates are great. Not only do I get to make friendships with Lithuanians but other people of different country origins such as Russia, Ukraine, Portugal, Kazakhstan, and many others as many of my classmates and teachers are from all around the world. Emma goes to Vilniaus Jėzuitų Gimnazija which is a school taught in Lithuanian, one of the top schools in Vilnius, has and currently hosts many exchange students. Overall we both like our schools and enjoy what we are taught everyday even if it's not academic.

  Living in a host family is one of the core parts of the exchange experiencel. I live in a wonderful host family that really has made me feel a part of the family. I enjoy spending time with them and have done a lot with them (please refer to other parts of my blog for examples). As far as I know Emma enjoys her host family as well. We don't live close to each other as I actually don't live in Vilnius like she does but we both enjoy the city life and have friends that we spend time with as well. Many parents (and students for the matter) get nervous when it comes to host family living which is completely normal because you have no idea what kind of family you are going to be placed in. Just to be clear, the program coordinators screen, interview, view the house, and have an orientation of a sort before participants are even assigned their host families. They also go through background checks so there is no need to worry (though it is very natural and hard not to). The key is to communicate with the host family as much as possible and to communicate with your coordinators as well if there are any problems. I can not stress more of how important it is to communicate. Overall, host family living is a very important part of this program as students are completely immersed in the Lithuanian culture and experience everything first hand.

  Participants also have the opportunity to learn the local language, Lithuanian. Emma learns from her school as courses are taught in Lithuanian and I have Lithuanian classes at school. We also have attended a language course at the local university which has helped us become more functional in everyday life. Since we both live in host families we both have the opportunity to practice our Lithuanian with our host families and to learn more from them as well. Learning a language through immersion is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to learn because you are not just repeating words from a teacher, reading from a text, or doing exercises, you are living it and have to think on your own on what to say and how to respond. Though Lithuanian is difficult, it is still something I'm personally striving to be functional in everyday life by the end of my time here. Lithuanian is not a commonly spoken language around the world or in the US but it is still something that one can put on an application and be able to say that they speak it. Also, once you learn one language, it's easier to learn another and it would help to other potential language learning that may be quite difficult as well (grammar rules may be similar to other languages or the cases). It also helps teach perseverance and not to give up when something is difficult or you don't understand and to ask questions.

   My experience through ExCEL Abroad, though it has only four months and I still have around six more to go, has been amazing, unforgettable, and very impacting on my life. I've learned a lot about myself that I'm happy to have learned now instead of later. My everyday experiences are helping further shape me into the person I will become. It has really helped me overcome my anxiety and gain more self confidence. This experience has also made me even more independent than before (if that's even possible) and has really helped me reflect on my past, appreciate the present, and to really think more about my future and what I want to do exactly. It's helping me weigh options and to be even more open to roadblocks and changes in life. The relationships I've already made with my host family and some of my friends are really great and I hope to continue to build them in order to reflect the goal of the program. I really am enjoying my time here and would like to strongly encourage you or your child to apply to this program. The impact it will have on your life will be incredible and it will be something that you will never forget (any experiences that you may have here may also be good for any future college essays, interview questions, or the like... just saying). Though I was terrified to come here and scared of what the future held I'm so glad I walked onto that plane and faced the unknown. Therefore, please look into this program and seriously consider applying to it. It could change your and or your child's life, I know it has for me.

ExCEL Abroad website: https://www.americancouncils.org/programs/excel-abroad-program

ExCEL Abroad Application:  https://ais.americancouncils.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/AIR.woa/wa/login?brand=excel




*There are other programs that you or your child should also consider, However, the application deadline for the majority of them have already passed expect for maybe some of the CBYX locations. I will put the website links here as well:

- NSLI-Y the National Security Language Initiative for Youth is a State Department scholarship that offers high school age students the chance to study abroad for either a summer or a year and learn either Arabic, Russian, Persian, Chinese, Korean, or Turkish.
http://www.nsliforyouth.org/


- CBYX or the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange is a scholarship that focuses on trans-Atlantic relationships with the United States and Germany. The US send 250 kids to Germany to live with a host family, attend school, and learn the culture of Germany and Germany send 250 kids to the United States to do the same.
http://www.usagermanyscholarship.org/

- The YES Abroad scholarship send students from the United States to significantly high Muslim populations to learn about the culture and fill in the gap between Muslim stereotypes and USA stereotypes through intercultural learning and understanding. They send 65 students to either Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Turkey, Egypt (terminated), Tunisia (terminated), Ghana, Senegal (new this year), South Africa (terminated this coming year), Oman, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and India. 
http://www.yes-abroad.org/

Mushroom Hunting

During the start of autumn break my host family took me mushroom hunting. Before we go over my experience, let us first look over the history of mushroom hunting. Mushroom hunting is an activity was especially popular during the Soviet era. There was a lack of food available so people had to find a way to fend for themselves thus they started picking mushrooms and berries. Whatever the land could provide for them. People would then either bring the mushrooms back to their families or sell them in the market. This cultural aspect is something that is still evident and somewhat popular in the Lithuanian culture

A few days before we went on the hunt for mushrooms, my host mother, host brother, and I had a debate over why it was called mushroom hunting instead of picking. The side for picking was that we weren't trying to chase the mushroom down or trying to shoot it, we were just going up and cutting/picking it. The side for the hunting was that the mushrooms, like a deer or elk, are hard to see and that we had to have a hunter eye in order to find them and grab them. Therefore, since we had to have the eye for it like a hunter we agreed to call it hunting.

  My host family and I got up at some hour early in the morning, picked up a friend who was our guide (aka mushroom expert), and drove out to Dzūkija (or somewhere near that area), a south eastern part of Lithuanian that borders Belarus. When we got there we put on our boots, grabbed our baskets and knifes, and started the hunt. My host mother and were teamed up and my host sister and father were with the friend (or separate, one of the two). The ground was soft and nice to walk on but it was quite hard to see any mushrooms. I found a couple but they were not the ones we were looking for. All throughout the search my host mother was passing on some of her knowledge of mushrooms to me. She told to always remember that the most beautiful ones that sort of scream 'pick me' are the ones that you do not want to pick. Ever. They are poisonous. Also that the ones with a collar sort of thing around it is another indication that they are poisonous.

 
This was one of the mushrooms that we saw a lot of but never picked because they are classified as poisonous

   After about 20 minutes, my host father shouted that he had found one. It was a portobello, which were the ones that we were looking for. They let me do the picking and put it into my basket. We then continued the hunt. We were going deeper and deeper into the forest and my host mother and I weren't finding anything. Another 10 minutes passed and we started to hear shouting. We had gone too far and nobody knew where we were exactly. We also weren't quite sure the way back to the car. But my host father and mother kept doing their calling/shouting and we slowly found our way back, searching for mushrooms in the process. After having not much luck in that area we decided to get back into the car and try somewhere else.

All ready to start the hunt

Picking the first mushroom

 We drove for a couple minutes, stopped, and then continued the hunt. My host mother and I found plenty of mushrooms but none of them were the ones we were looking for. Then we reached the Dzūkijos Nacionalinis Parkas and could no longer walk through the forest or pick mushrooms so we walked up the road. Then we reached the Čepkelių Gamtinis Rezervatas which is home to a bog. We walked onto the lookout and then hiked around to go to an area where the ground was like a sponge. We walked on it which felt unreal. I had no idea that natural ground could feel like that. We also ate a few cranberries that we found which is also something I've never done before. After exploring the bog, we slowly started to head back to the car. My host father and the friend/guide continued to search for mushrooms as we walked back while my host mother and I looked but weren't trying as hard (or at least I wasn't because I was super tired and my contacts were being weird and I couldn't see very well). When we made it back to the car we finally had some breakfast of tea and breakfast cookies. My host mother then taught me some others ways of trying to find your ways through the woods. She told me that the sun is one way to remember where your car is but isn't always reliable because the sun moves throughout the day. She also told me that there is more moss on one side of the tree than the other and that the side with more moss is generally north. Finally, she told me a story about how she remember when her father went mushroom hunting and didn't come back until late into the night because he had lost his way in the forest and was alone. We found about four mushrooms overall and my host family said that we were either late going out there or that the moon just simply wasn't right for the growth of the mushrooms the night before. Overall, I was quite happy to be fortunate enough to have experienced this older, Soviet part of the Lithuanian culture and hope to be able to use this knowledge that I gained again either here or back in Oregon where mushroom hunting is popular as well.

The bog

Dealing With the Decision (Rejection and Acceptance)

   I thought I would write a post about how I dealt with rejection (and being accepted) because I went through a lot last year and it could be helpful for you (or now.. I'm actually currently writing this post in August because I'm not sure if I'll have time to write one around the time of semi and or finalist notifications and I have really been wanting to write this post for a long time, so sorry about any strange date differences and whatnot).

  I started off the application season right at the end of August when I got back from Argentina. Another exchange was something was planning before and sort of during Argentina so I was already excited and had all that energy bottled up. I even joined a message group on Facebook with fellow applicants in order to contain that energy and not annoy my friends and family too much with me talking about all the programs all the time (I really suggest you do this because I made some really great friends through it and some of them can be really helpful throughout the whole process, especially if you both get rejected, it adds support to you if that makes any sense at all). And then December came along and the NSLI-Y semi-finalist notifications came as well right on the 1st. I didn't receive one that day... The next day on the 2nd, I received an email but it wasn't the news I wanted. I was checking my email at the end of my Spanish class when I saw it, a burst of excitement filled me but then when I opened it, I was crushed. I had not been offered a semi-finalist position. This really upset as I really wanted to learn Russian and live in Russia (or Estonia or Moldova) but I tried to pull myself together for the last few minutes of school. Once I got to the car I went through my general stages of disappointment: Anger, Crying, Numbness, More Crying, Passion, Acceptance. I couldn't be upset too long because I had to go to an ACT prep class but it was hard for me to deal with it at first but then I told myself that I wasn't meant to be and to move on.

    One thing that I've found myself telling myself for the last year or two is that you can't have everything or win everything and that everything happens for a reason. This year has also absolutely enforced that and has helped me understand it even more. Later in December I got accepted by my first college to send me an acceptance, Montana State University. It made me feel better and made me feel more wanted. I also sent in my YES Abroad application that month and then my CBYX  app in early January. Then I started to the waiting game again for study abroad. FFA district extemporaneous public speaking (This is a competition within FFA that I had a notebook of 100 pages on 30 different topic. In the contest I would have to pull one of the 30 topics, write and prepare a speech in 30 minutes, and then present it in front of a panel of judges) was also that month and I placed third meaning I couldn't go on to sectionals. But it was all okay, I still had prepared public speaking to try for and I was hoping that I wouldn't be going to State convention that year anyway because of In person Selection Event for YES Abroad. At the end of January I received my CBYX semi-finalist notification which made me feel better but from what I had heard, almost everyone receives a semi-finalist position for ASSE (as long as you are qualified) so it didn't exactly feel too confident.

  February had just started and I, as well as my fellow applicants, were freaking out about YES Abroad semi-finalist notification and the In Person Selection Event that came with it. We all wanted to meet each other so badly. We also just heard about ExCEL Abroad so I started my application for it. District prepared public speaking went by and I didn't even place in the top four. Still hopeful about In Person Selection Event and YES Abroad, I brushed that aside and didn't let it bother me too much. In about mid-February I received my acceptance letter from Arcadia University, my number one choice for college which was exciting as it is the number one ranked school in study abroad and I had the opportunity to apply for their First Year Study Abroad Experience. Finally, after days, weeks, and months of waiting it was the last business day of February and YES Abroad notifications started to come out. I checked my email, not wanting the email to come at that time but it did... I had gotten rejected.

   This rejection was the one that stung and hurt me the most. I had really thought that I would get this program and I really wanted it. I didn't understand why I had gotten rejected and was super upset about it that night. Part of why I didn't understand why I had gotten rejected was that YES Abroad called and emailed me a week before notifications about my graduation status which made all my friends (and myself partially) that I was a shoe in for IPSE. I didn't understand why they wasted my time with that phone call and email if they were just going to reject me in the end. But thanks to my fellow applicants who also got rejected that day, I had company and we helped each other out that night. I couldn't be upset too long, I had my CBYX interview the next morning which I squeaked and coughed myself through (I had gotten super sick that week and even lost my voice at my FFA district convention earlier that week) it and hoped that I did well enough to avoid another rejection.

   March was not a very happy month for me. I was still very upset about being rejected and it affected my attitude and self esteem A LOT. My mother didn't really understand why I was so upset by this rejection and I tried to explain to that I had gotten my hopes up too high and really wanted the program and to meet all the people that I had made friends at IPSE. The only positive that I saw from this was that I would be able to defend my FFA state agriscience fair title for the third year in a row in which, I ended not winning anything at state that year, including  the essay contest in which I had placed second my freshman and sophomore year. I began to believe that I was a complete failure and that everything that I was applying for I would be rejected from. That feeling started to fill my brain so much and all the time. To point that was considering withdrawing my CBYX and ExCEL Abroad application so I wouldn't have to deal with rejection again but thanks to my fellow rejectees who threatened to withdraw their own application and one even said they would put bleach in their eyes if I did it, I decided to hold on and wait for what I thought would still be a rejection (shout-out and huge thank you to Jeremy, Alexis, and Megan for encouraging me to stay in the game and keep trying). The only thing that made me feel better that month was a letter from Arcadia University accepting me into their First Year Study Abroad Experience program or FYSAE for London Spring semester of 2016.

  The end of March came and the time for CBYX ASSE notifications had finally came and I got accepted! I was so happy and SO IN SHOCK for days! April came with two acceptances from Utah State and Oregon State, one Waitlist notification from University of Washington, and a rejection from Oregon State's honor college. And finally my semi finalist and finalist notification for ExCEL Abroad.

   I don't believe that I dealt with rejection in the best way possible but I had no real idea on how to deal with so much rejection and failure as well as acceptance and success. It also didn't help that the ones who did get accepted weren't exactly nice or supportive of my fellow rejectees and I but thanks to them, it taught me how I should and shouldn't act when being accepted and how to with the ones who had been rejected. What really got me through this was, as I said before, the fact that you can't win or have everything you want, it has to even out. If you won all the time and got what you wanted all the time as well, are you really winning or actually growing from the experience? NOPE! Also that everything happens for a reason, even though I may not like it, and also that there is or was something better out there for me whether it had been college or an exchange program.

   What I really want to finish up with is that even with your first, second, or even third rejection. DON'T GIVE UP! It will all be okay. You never know what the future holds and the next year, whether it be here or abroad, will be what is best for you at the time. Remember that if I had given up and pulled my application like I started to want to in March, I would not be going to Lithuania this year or even of known that I had gotten CBYX or ExCEL Abroad. Everything did happen for a reason and even though those were the two program I thought I had no chance of getting into, I got them! It could very well be you next year so please don't give up on yourself. I wish you the best of luck and if you wish to contact me about your feelings on this or need someone to talk to about rejection (if you were rejected of course), please comment below.


 

Czech Republic

Over the autumn break my host family was kind enough to take me to the Czech Republic for a few days. Our first day started off early in the morning, around 5:30 am for me because I was not completely finished with packing and we were supposed to leave around 6:00, however, we ended up leaving around 6:30 and thus our long car journey to Prague began. Though the car ride was long (and we had plenty of long drives besides the first one) but it was enjoyable because I got to play games and bond more with my host family. Some examples of the games we played included I Spy (which I sort of had to explain the rules to them), one cow moo, and a few hand games. I Spy was actually really hard because my host family is VERY creative in coming up with these so there were many rounds that probably lasted a good 20 to 30 minutes. One Cow Moo is a game where one person says, another says cow, and another says moo, and then you go on to two in which each word if repeated twice e.g. two two cow cow moo moo and then three times, four times and so on. We played this for quite a long time as well. At one point I had momentarily forgotten what to say and was going to say moo but then I remembered that I was supposed to say cow so I just said MOW. My host family just burst out into laughter as did I and now I am the butt of the joke of this game. After much laughter, sort of napping, and games soon enough we arrived in Prague.

The next day consisted of 24 kilometers of walking (18 miles for those who do not know the metric system) in which we got to see the majority of the sights around Prague including the oldest synagogue, the astronomical clock, St Charles's Bridge, the castle, the cathedral, and the golden street. It was so amazing to see such an old but beautiful city. I really hope to return one day to Prague and maybe even live there one day (I touched the plate that supposedly if you touch it you will return to Prague one day so I really hope that's true).

The next day we drove to Karlovy Vary which is home to a lot of hot springs and spa places. It is also home to Becherovka, a famous liquor from the Czech Republic. There we visited different springs and tasted the water from them, hiked up a super large hill and tower that overlooked the city, and visited the Becherovka museum. After that we went to our hotel which was basically a castle, however we got sort of lost trying to find it. At one point we were going into the forest on a very narrow road. It was like something out of a horror movie (which we joked about) Oh, we almost got hit by a train trying to find the hotel. Finally, when we thought we had found it we went in where we were given judgmental looks and then told that we didn't have reservations. We ended up being at the wrong place but the lady was kind enough to direct us in the right direction. After finally arriving we went swimming in the beautiful and deserted pool. We also got to try some Czech/Russian cuisine (I had dumpling like things).

The next day we went to another town along the border of the Czech Republic and Germany that I don't remember the name of because I wasn't in it for very long as we were going on a 17 kilometer hike from that town to the next one over. We started off strong and didn't stop for five kilometers (which was mostly uphill and didn't feel like 5 kilometers at all, more like 7-9). After that we continued until we got to a spot to take pictures of the scenery and ourselves on a cliff (I don't have the pictures at this time, sorry!). We then continued until we got to another city with a tourist spot. There we took our last photos, ate some German/Czech cuisine (I had schnitzel for the first time), and then waited for bus to take us back to the town where our car was. Sadly, we didn't finish the 17 kilometers and stopped at 11 as it was getting dark and we didn't feel like parading through the pitch black forest on Halloween night and we were also exhausted. Needless to say it was wonderful to see the autumn scenery and forest/mountains of the Czech Republic/Germany. After getting to our car we traveled to Wroclaw, Poland for the night and then headed the rest of the way home the next day. Overall, I loved the Czech Republic, hope to live there one day or at least return, and am very grateful to have been able to go with my host family and bond more with them over this time!

Details

Well here we are, it's the night of the 23rd. My bags are packed, I've said many of my goodbyes, and I have to try sleep with all the emotions that are going through me. I would be lying if I say I am  not very nervous, even more so then excited but I know that that's normal and everything will be okay. I just can't believe that now is the time, it seems like just a few days ago I had just gotten my first email with information about the program. I can't believe this is happening!

   I do have a few updates that I don't think I have said but sorry if I have. On Thursday I received my host family and their information. It was a very stressful week (more like month) waiting for it but I have think it was worth it. They seem very amazing and I can't wait to meet them. I will have a host mother, father, 16 year old brother, and a 10 year old sister, (and of course, a Russian blue cat, which is one of my absolute favorite breeds and I really wanted one earlier this year). I also had a few of my classmates from my school, Vilnius International School, reach out to me this week which was both surprising and amazing! I can't wait to meet them! Also, I won't exactly be in Vilnius, I'll be about 14.6 kilometers from it in Klevinė. I think everything will be a great experience and even though I am nervous, I can't wait to get on the plane , meet Emma, and finally go to my host country and meet my host family, classmates, and coordinators. Here's to about 10 hours until departure!

*Sorry this is out of order, this was originally posted on August 23rd however, I tried to fix something and it put it in November? Sorry about that!

Model United Nations

Last week I participated in my first ever Model United Nations conference in Warsaw, Poland. For those of you who don't know what Model United Nations is an educational stimulation of the United Nations, meaning that students basically "role play" or mock the United Nations and all that they do. Each student (formally known as delegate) is assigned a country to represent and a committee represent that country in. Each committee has a different topic in which the delegates have to come up with a resolution to the problem within the topic, however, their views and what they do must match their country's views and potential actions.

 A group of nine of us came from my school and created the Vilnius International School delegation. We only had about a week to a week and a half to prepare (thanks to the conference taking its time in accepting our applications, payment, and assigning us our country/committee). I was assigned the country of Germany and was put on the Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC), which was my first choice! (Normally, delegates don't get their first choice, I think I was the only one who put their first preference in my school, most people got their third preference in country or not even their preference country. One of the guys didn't even get any of his preferences). The topic of the ECOSOC committee was: Establishing an affordable and sustainable energy sector in developing African states. I chose this committee I know quite bit in sustainability and have an interest in it, however, after I chose it I realized that the topic was more directed towards funding the sector instead on sustainable energy. After, receiving my country I had to start working on my position paper. The position paper had to consist of my country's policies and position on the topic (google Model United Nations for more details, if you feel I'm not explaining it well enough, {if I went into more detail then this post would be even longer then what it will potentially be and probably quite boring}). It took me quite some time to write mine because I needed to do a lot of research in order to be comfortable to write it. Also, as stated by my school, all my work had to be done on time including the ones due during the conference and we could not use MUN (Model United Nations) as an excuse of not getting it done so I had even more work than normal on top of the position paper and other preparation. However, I got it done and in by the deadline as set by my committee's chairs (president and vice president of the committee) and soon it was the day to leave.

 We left on Wednesday, October 14th at 5:00 in the afternoon meaning we had to go to school and that I had to bring my luggage and whatever else I needed to school that day. I could barely function throughout the day during school because of the excitement! I had been looking forward to this day for weeks and it was finally time! Soon the day was over and my friend Alice and I went to her house to get her stuff as well as do some last minute thing such as stretching before the eight hour bus ride to Warsaw. We took a taxi from her house to the bus station, which was a little sketchy because the whole time Alice was freaking out about how the taxi driver wasn't going the right way (or so she thought, he actually was). We finally got there and went inside with no idea where to go. After looking around we decided to wait outside in front of the building. A couple of minutes later two of our classmates came and we all just kind of stood there with not a clue where to go. Finally, one of our teachers came and took us to where we needed to go. We 'checked' our suitcases on and got onto the bus. My classmates and I were the last to get on the bus and we saw there were open sits so we were able to sit with who we wanted to sit with or so we thought. Not even ten minutes after the bus left it stopped to let more people on. We then had to scatter around and either go back to our original sits, ask the person to sit in our sit instead, or find another open sit and pray that nobody was coming to sit in it. Lucky for us, Alice and I didn't have to move. The bus ride basically consisted of me choreographing, Alice and I watching movies, trying to see what one of our classmates was watching, and talking. The bus ride didn't seem that long at all and soon we arrived in Warsaw. We arrived around 11:20 pm and then we had to figure out the buses to our hotel. By some time after midnight we arrived to our hotel and were sent to our rooms and told to meet at a certain time the next morning. As Alice and I were the only girls out of the nine that came, we naturally got to room together.

Next morning at the hotel, showing our director that we made it safely to Warsaw

  The next morning, Alice and I got up, got ready, had breakfast, and were completely on time to the morning meeting (which soon became a trend, Alice and I were always early or on time and everyone else was either on time or late). We had a discussion about the conference and then were sent to edit our position paper, work on our opening speeches, and to change into our formal clothing. After that we set off into the city in our formal cloths to do some independent site-seeing, shopping, eating, and whatever else we wanted to do in that allotted four hours of free time. I made the mistake of bringing only heels as my formal shoes and I'm not really one to wear heels in general so within two hour of wearing them my feet were already killing me and according to the boys, I was incredibly wobbly and looked like I was going to break my ankle every time I took a step. However, I forced myself through it and ignored their comments of how horrible I was at walking in heels (they should try it same time and think before they speak because it's harder than they think). We got many strange looks as we wondered through the street, it's not a everyday sight that you see a bunch of teenagers in suits and formal wear. We all split up and Alice and I went to a shopping center. We mostly just looked at stuff because we had no concept of polish zlotys and honestly had no idea how much everything was. However, we took advantage of there being no law in Poland on buying energy drinks. Almost two hours into our free time, Alice and I had nothing to do. We were bored of the shopping center and had no idea where to go besides that. We went in the direction of the shopping center that the boys went to in hopes find them so we could see what they wanted to do. We ended up sitting on the couch in a clothing store for about a hour just talking. After that we decided to go to previous shopping center's grocery store to get stuff for breakfasts and dinners (the hotel's breakfast was expensive and we didn't even want to know the prices for dinner) and then headed to the meeting point. We found a couple of the boys in a cafe and then joined them for reminder of the time. Our teachers were late to the meeting point but they soon they came and we headed off to Batory High School for the opening ceremonies.

  

All ready for the opening ceremony

Shortly after getting to the high school, we all got our conference materials, including our country's placards, lanyards with our name, committee, and status, a handbook, a guide, and page notes (page notes are notes that we can send to other people representing other countries in and or out of our committee, they are meant to be for business but in reality, the majority of the time they aren't and are just personal notes to our friends). We then went to find other people with the same country as us and determined who was doing the opening speech. The delegation of the Federal Republic of Germany (formal talk, this is literally how we had to speak, always in third person) was a group of 12 of the greatest people. Everyone was very nice and I really enjoyed talking and getting to know them. Soon it was time for us to find our seats and start the opening ceremony. It started off with a bunch of guest speakers and after that we had a coffee break. When the coffee break was over we moved into opening speeches.

  Opening speeches are basically when one member of your country's delegation goes up in front of the whole assembly and gives a speech on your country's general policies. They are generally quite boring. After about four or five speeches, the country of Australia was giving their speech when the lights shut off and sirens started to go off. Everyone sat there in confusion as other lights started to flash and the sirens continued. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to leave or what was going on. A voice came on informing us that they were a Russian terrorist group they had just attacked the USA and encouraged us to start a war with the USA/join their efforts to destroy the USA with a bad Photoshop of the White House on fire. We were having a crisis! The chair then suspended the opening speeches and opened the general speakers list. However, they refused to turn the lights back on because we apparently "lost power" and our backup generators weren't "working" so we had to prepare and give speeches in the dark. Basically, it was dialogue/"fight" between the USA and Russia as well as countries that stated their support for whatever country and some of their views on the crisis. The voice came on again encouraging to join the efforts with another bad photo shop of the White House exploding. There was then a motion to move into an unmoderated caucus (time for us to get up and discuss solutions with other countries). I had no idea what to do because I was so confused on what was going on so I found some of the classmates and we just stood there and talked to each other about our confusion and overall thoughts so far. When it was over, the general speakers list continued. Suddenly,  while a country was speaking the voice came on again and told us we had ten minutes to decide to join their efforts or to have our building bombed (another bad photo shop of our building exploding). We continued to debate and failed to come up with a solution and after counting down, waiting to "die" the lights came back on and person with an Obama mask came out. Apparently Obama saved us, said he was sorry, and encouraged Kayne for 2020. The meeting was then adjourned and we all headed back to the hotel to go to sleep (or in Alice and I's case, convince some of the guys to walk us to the gas station to get food and talk with them in our room, have them leave and then go to bed).

 The next morning, we got up at a horrible hour, got our formal wear on, and made ourselves look presentable to the business world. We then met/waited on our classmates in the lobby and then left about 30 minutes later than intended. Our group was split between two buildings, the Parliament building/ Sejm of the Republic on Poland and Primate's Palace. I was in Primate's Palace along with Alice and five of the guys. We, surprisingly, arrived early and practiced our opening speeches. Soon it was time for the first session of the eight hours we were allotted to debate for within our committee. I gave my opening speech and instantly made an alliance with France (because she was nice and our countries seemed to share similar policies). We then made alliances with about half of the committee. We discussed off topic for a while (talking about whether to use renewable or fossil fuels instead of how to fund an affordable energy sector) and soon started to write a letter to the World Bank that we ended up disregarding at the end of the fourth session. Despite being tired, we still had good food and plenty of coffee and tea to enjoy.

Committee in action

The next day we continued the debate but this time the countries of the USA, South Africa, and Algeria presented a resolution that we then discussed, edited, made amendments to, and then eventually passed it. We then wrote a letter to the World Bank asking for a loan. Surprisingly we got done early and had nothing more to discuss because our chair knew for a fact that the World Bank wouldn't get back to us that day and our meeting was adjourned. The committee was a really great of people and we all got along very well. There was no fights between any country which is surprising and made it kind of less interesting and or boring. My only regret is that I wish that I spoke more. I didn't because I;m the type of person who has to know what they're talking about in order to speak. I now know what to prepare for for the next conference that we go to and I'm honestly very excited for it!

The wonderful Economic and Social Council

After the adjournment, I had to wait with one of my classmates and a teacher for the Human Rights Council (Alice's committee) to get done. They were late finishing and we were done a hour early so we had to sit in the Primate's Palace for a hour and a half. We then got Pizza Hut (which was actually not the same as the US but it was still okay) and headed back to the hotel. Alice and I then took one of the guys to the gas station again, walked around the street surrounding the hotel, and then headed back to our room to eat cookies, listen to music and attempt to prepare for the general assembly the next morning.

 The next morning we dressed in our formal clothes one last time, packed our suitcases, and headed to the Muranow Conference Centre in the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. We were discussing the bombings in Syria. One of my classmates even spoke on the behalf of his delegation, the delegation of Iran. Soon the first session was over and so was my classmates and I's MUN experience. We all met up, got our suitcases, and changed in the bathrooms into more comfortable clothes. We then headed to the cafeteria in the museum for lunch. I had some polish dumplings and carrot salad that had a lot of spice in it (I had to convince the waiter that I didn't want a glass of wine and was underage which was hard to do because he kept insisting).

After the first session, our last photo in formal attire. The guy in the center got awarded the best delegate on his committee!

After eating we all got on a bus to take us to the bus station to go back to Vilnius. Even though people told us that they didn't check the tickets on the bus, control came in. Luckily, I had my ticket and it was valid (the lady behind us forgot/didn't know to validate her ticket and had to pay 164 zlotys or 40 euros). One of my classmates wasn't so lucky and had to pay the fine as well. We then had 20 minutes of free time to go get snacks for the bus ride back to Vilnius. The bus then came and we got on and found empty sits praying that we wouldn't have to move like last time (luckily we didn't). Alice and I attempted to watch a movie but the wifi wasn't working very well so we just talked, ate, and listened to music/watched previously downloaded tv shows/movies (Alice), and choreographed (me). Soon we arrived back to Vilnius at 11:20 pm and all headed home with whoever picked us up (in my case my host father).

  Overall, Warsaw and MUN was a wonderful experience that I'm so happy I had the opportunity to participate in. I really wish I had participated in MUN while I was high school and hope to participate in university (as well as the next one in Milan). I'm also very proud of myself for surviving wearing heels (it's been a week and I still am feeling the affects/one of my feet is still a little swollen). I now know what to prepare for for the next conference and it helped get another view on my potential career in diplomacy and the international field.

School Retreat

On the second day of school, the whole MYP  (Middle Year Program) got onto three buses and headed out to the middle nowhere to spend our retreat at a campsite (it wasn't really out of the middle of nowhere, I just literally have no idea where we were and it was actually quite nice). The bus ride was only about a hour long and didn't feel that long at all. I sat with my new friend, Miruna and talked about my life and high school in the States. Luckily, there were no dramatic experiences on the bus ride like Argentina (if you don't know what I mean, read my post titled Buenos Aires Trip) and it was actually surprisingly calm. Soon we arrived at the campgrounds, got placed in our
'cabins' (they were more like trailers), and were sent off to put our stuff away and get ready for the first activities. I was placed in cabin 23 with Miruna as well as one other girl from my grade and two ninth graders. Cabin 23 also happened to be the farthest from the main meeting point and camp activities so it wasn't exactly convenient for us to go back and forth to our cabin. Our cabin had one main living area with the walls lined with couch-like things, a fireplace, and a kitchen. There was also two bedrooms, a master and a normal bedroom with two beds. I got the smaller bedroom, Miruna the master, and the other girls camped out in the living room. There was also a little bathroom with a sketchy shower and light switch that was on the ceiling. Overall, it was a very interesting, sketchy yet cute place.

  After settling into our cabin, spraying each other with weird lemony smelling bug spray (ticks are a big nuisance in the region of Lithuania that I'm in so I was basically freaking out the whole time about them because I've always had bad experiences with bugs and bug bites both in Oregon as well as foreign countries) we headed to our first activity. We then got split into groups by color, I was in the black group, and played icebreaker games in order to get to know each other. The first one was call "I have never/I have never been" where we had a piece paper that we were to stand on placed in a circle and someone was in the middle of the circle. The person the middle would then something they have never done or a place they had never been and the people who had done it or had been there had to run through the middle of the circle and find a new place to stand and the person in the middle could steal someone's spot. If somebody didn't find a spot then it was their turn to say I have never... It was actually a pretty fun game until it started pouring down rain and every group decided to go into the shelter tent. After that we played another game to learn each other names that we had to imitate a washing machine, and three other items that I can't remember. It was awkward for me because not only did I not know people's names, I didn't know how to pronounce them but luckily nobody remembered my name so I was the last person to be told to do something and didn't have to say anyone's name. After that we had to split our groups in half and then build a tower that was a meter high and self standing out of four pieces of paper, as much tape as we needed, and a cup. We were given a few minutes to plan and when that time was up we could no longer communicate and had to build it in silence. Unfortunately, my group failed to build the tower so that it was self standing and failed at not talking. We then were sent back to our cabins to prepare for lunch. Lunch took quite a long time because of the rain, the teachers were having a hard time lighting the BBQs for the chicken. My cabin was the last one to get food. After that we were regrouped and then sent off to do other activities.

   My first activity was a survival one. We were given the task to 'survive the night' by building a shelter to withstand wind and rain, find food, build a fire, and construct an SOS sign (and possibly a fifth one but I don't remember it) but we couldn't pull anything off of trees or brushes, approach the water, and had to use only what we found on the ground. However, we could take one thing from one of our group member's cabin to help us. There was basically nothing on the ground and the wood that we found had just been drenched in the previous rain shower so we basically failed the task. The other group was very determined to start a fire and tried to use bug spray to start it with a match... I think the girl holding the match was very lucky to not of burned her fingers.

  After that activity we headed to another one called 'hiking' and were split up into three smaller groups. It wasn't exactly hiking it was more like do an activity and then follow coordinates by measuring meters to the next activity. The first activity we had to run around a pole ten times, throw a ball at a goal post, collect the ball, and then hand it off to our next group mate. They timed us for each activity. The second one was to transfer water cup to another person's cup with our mouths (exactly how it sounds) which was extremely difficult and ended with a lot of people getting water poured on their faces instead of into the cup. We finally finished that one and then went the final activity (that we got to) which was where we all had to stand on a mat and flip it onto it's other side without stepping off of it. One kid knew exactly what to do so we got it down very quickly.

     The final activity of the day for my group was boating. I got paired up with a eighth grader and we basically just paddled around the area of the lake that we could go. Some kid (a 7th grader) kept on trying to capsize us by ramming his boat into the side of ours and others just wanted to splash each other. I saw this as sort of immature and actually got quite frustrated with the fact. I began to reflect on the other activities of the day and realized how immature almost all the kids were. This made me super upset, hesitant, unhappy, and really miss my host family. However, I reminded myself that a lot of these kids were two to six or more years younger than me so it their behavior was quite normal for their age, I was just used to being around people who were mature as I am (or at least somewhat close). They then started to grow me as I saw this difference and made myself accept it.

   After boating we had dinner where we had to help roast sausages. We had hotdogs basically but the hotdog buns were more square and less puffy than what I'm used to in the states. I wish I had taken a picture to show the difference (however I couldn't because they took our phones away, that's the reason why I have no pictures for this entry, sorry about that). None the less, the hotdogs were still good. We then had our final activity before bed which was a choice between board games, campfire songs, football (the thing that the weird Americans call soccer), basketball, volleyball, and relaxation/mediation with the school counselor. My friends and I choose to play board games. After that 45 minutes we were sent to our cabins but I was in charge of getting our bedding. After collecting all five of the blanket and pillow cases and sheets I headed back alone in the pitch black forest to my cabin. I was super scared of walking into the wrong cabin that when I walked into my cabin and saw someone who was not from my cabin I instantly said "Wrong cabin! Sorry. Wait yes, right cabin? Cabin 23?" and my cabin mates just stared at me like I was crazy. I gave them their bed stuff and started to get ready for bed. When it was time for lights out I couldn't fall asleep for some reason despite being very tired. It wasn't because the girls in the living room were taking half the night (this was not reason at all actually, I just have a hard time sleeping in new places) but I like half slept/half lied awake all night long. When it was finally time for morning I got ready quickly and then headed for breakfast.

     After a breakfast of sandwiches we split back into our groups and headed to the first of the last two activities. Mine was capture the flag and I was, surprisingly (well to me because this game is quite popular in the States), one of the only kids who had ever played it before. The other team won first which took them about ten minutes to defeat us. After that my team won in a matter of two minutes. The third and final game was to determine the winner had started. We went back and forth on trying to get the flag over and finally one of the girls on the other team got our flag, however, she got tagged right on the border. Then the debate of what to do started. The teacher in charge stopped the game and each team debated what we should do. The teacher then asked me, the most experienced one what to do and I told him my most honest answer: I had never seen experienced this before and had no idea. However, in the States, if this were to happen the teacher probably would have called it a win on the other team (and our team would get angry because it was on the border and so on). We then concluded to put the flags a couple meters away from the border and then see who won from there. I don't anyone won that game because we were all constantly fighting about it.

    The final activity was a communication exercise. They split us into two groups and sent us to two activities. One of them we had to navigate through 'high voltage wires' between two trees and if someone touched a wire then the whole group had to start over. Some of the guys decided that they wanted to jump over and others wanted crawl. After some of the guys jumped over (they had carried a table over, climbed on it and then jumped over the wires. I was about ready to jump when I remembered my fear of falling. I didn't want to jump but I was determined to but I knew if I did I would probably land wrong and seriously injure myself on barely my second week of being in Lithuania. Luckily, one of the guys offered to help me over by having me step into his hands and lower me done (this was a lot harder than we thought and I ended up doing an arabesque {balancing on one foot with the other extended to the back for those who do not know ballet terms} as he tried to lower me down to the ground). I was still terrified and luckily he didn't drop me and I didn't injure him (that I know of). However, that was all in vain because one of the crawlers couldn't keep his butt down (this was a reoccurring problem) and we all had to go back. We all ended up crawling under it. After that we had to navigate through a chess board like course with only sounds (one person was blind folded). This was my least favorite activity. After that we had lunch, collect our things, cleaned up the camp and cabins, took a picture, and then headed back to Vilnius by bus. The bus ride felt longer, probably because I was extremely tired but I couldn't sleep. I just looked out the window at the beautiful countryside of Lithuania. We arrived at school and then all headed home.

  Even though I got frustrated quite bit during the trip, it was overall a good experience for me because I got to know my classmates as well as other students in my school. I'm glad that was able to go on a culturally enriching, interesting yet fun trip with school while I was here.

*Sorry for taking so long to post! And also sorry for the super long post, you can probably see why I procrastinated writing it for so long.