Study Abroad Bucket List

I definitely stole this idea from my friend Catherine, but it's a great idea so I am going to use it! Here is a list of goals/accomplishments I am going to try to accomplish while in Indonesia!

1. Learn fluent Indonesian (I can say basic greetings now!)
2. Visit Borobudur (world famous temple)
3. Bargain my way into paying non-bule prices at a market (bule is a term Indonesians use for white people/foreigners)
4. Volunteer somewhere 
5. Get really good at badminton (apparently its super popular there!)
6. Go to Bali
7. Take public transportation by myself
8. Wear a hijab
9. Go to a wedding or important religious ceremony
10. Go to a mosque
11. Take tons of pictures
12. Learn a new sport
13. Reinvent my wardrobe
14. Go to a national park 
15. Keep in touch with Catherine and Allie by letters :)
16. Keep in touch with my family and friends in Wisconsin
17. Update my blog atleast once or twice a month
18. Not waste a second of my time here
19. Run a lot
20. Get to know my way around the city well
21. Learn some Javanese or Sudanese (regional dialects)

IPSE

The IPSE (In Person Selection Event) is the key part of the YES Abroad selection process. This year, it was in Chevy Chase, MD from March 22-24. I was flown  to Chevy Chase along with 119 other semi-finalists to a weekend of interviews, workshops, group activities, and a LOT of downtime.

Before the IPSE, I was worried everyone there would be extremely competitive and that it would resemble the Hunger Games, as some people joked on Facebook in the weeks leading up. Much to my relief, everyone was excited to meet everyone else, and it was an incredible weekend filled with new friendships and fun. I flew out of Milwaukee airport at 10am on Friday (by myself) to DC. I had no idea at the time, but there were three other girls going to the IPSE on my flight! These girls actually ended up being my roommates when we arrived in Chevy Chase.

When I landed in DC, I immediately recognized Mallory, one of the girls from our Facebook group. I immediately ditched my baggage and ran to hug her, with everyone else just standing in confusion. There were tons of people who had no idea about our Facebook group, which I never thought about before coming. We all boarded our shuttle after playing a get-to-know-you game at the airport and headed off to the hotel, which was more like a mini college campus with three buildings. 

When we arrived we were given our roommates, which was when I found out that the other 3 Wisconsin girls were my roommates. Friday night we listened to a speech by YES Abroad staff and guests from the state department. That night, I hung out with Catherine and Allie and my roommates until we all had to return to our own rooms at curfew.

Catherine and Allie and I knew each other before the IPSE because we were all a part of the Facebook group even before the application for YES came out. We had been talking for months before the IPSE and were so excited to see each other in DC. We clicked immediately and by the end of the weekend I felt like I had known these girls forever. I am so happy to say that we are representing Ghana (Allie), Morocco (Catherine) and Indonesia. 

Saturday was filled with workshops, group evaluations, and individual interviews. I won't go into detail with any of these, but one tip I would have for future YES hopefuls is to just be confident and don't overthink or stress yourself out. The evaluators want to meet you and aren't there to make you look bad.

Sunday was filled with tears and goodbyes, as we all hugged and left for our different airports. Saying goodbye to everyone was difficult, especially Allie and Catherine. We'd only met each other this weekend but we felt as if we'd known each other forever. Hugging everyone goodbye, we had no guarantee of seeing everyone again. Only 65 out of the 120 of us would be chosen as finalists.

In summary, the IPSE was an incredible weekend and unlike anything I'd ever experienced. I am so excited to see everyone I met there in DC again at the PDO in June!

a group of us right before we left on Sunday

Audrey (Ghana), Skye (South Africa), Ellen (Indonesia), me, Catherine (Morocco)

a group of us in our room on Saturday night

Catherine and Allie

the group of us that hung out at the airport for six hours together on  Sunday. No chaperones

Wisconsin girls! (me, Skye, Audrey, Ellen)

Savannah (India) and I

Catherine and Allie

our nametags were so official, I didn't take mine off until I landed in Milwaukee

Group H! Repping Thailand, Bosnia, India, and Indonesia!

Allie and I right before our interviews. I was only slightly freaking out

Pictures of Indonesia

Here are some pictures of my future home for a year!

temples

rainforest

rainforest 

prambanan temple

rice terraces

Jakarta skyline

Yogyakarta

rice terrases

Prambanan temple

Bali

Introduction

Hey everyone!

My name is Sarah and I was recently selected to study abroad in Indonesia for the 2013/14 school year as a youth ambassador on the Kennedy-Lugar YES Abroad Scholarship! I'm from Madison, Wisconsin and have never left the country (except Canada) so I know this will be an incredible but challenging experience.

YES Abroad is a study abroad program through the US Department of State, formed in the wake of 9/11 to bridge the gap between predominantly Muslim countries and the US. Muslim countries have been sending exchange students to the US since 2001, and the US started sending American students in 2009. There are thirteen countries available for US students to study abroad in: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mali, Egypt, Ghana, South Africa, Turkey, Tunisia, Oman, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, India, and Morocco. Mali, Egypt, and Tunisia will be cancelled for the 2013/14 year due to safety concerns. 

I discovered YES Abroad my freshman year but waited until this year to apply. When I first sent in my application, I was just giving it a shot. I waited two painfully long months to hear back from YES, but when I did it was positive! On February 28, I found out I was a semi-finalist and would be heading to Chevy Chase, MD for the In Person Selection Event (I'll talk about that in a future blog post).

The IPSE was an incredible yet stressful weekend of 120 exchange hopefuls competing for 65 spots. When I came back to Wisconsin, I was much more nervous than I had been before the IPSE. Everyone was so great their and would all be good candidates. I just prayed and crossed my fingers that the evaluators saw something in me and hopefully chose me!

Then that incredible email came on Friday, April 12. I was at track practice putting on my running shoes when my friend from the IPSE texted me "Check your email!!!". I was too nervous to check so I handed my iPod to my friend, who quick pulled up my email, let out a squeal of excitement, and held it out to me. It read:

"Congratulations!  We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a Finalist for a 2013-14 Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Abroad scholarship for study in Indonesia!"

At that moment I was in total shock, it didn't set in right away that I would be going halfway around the world for a year, to a continent where I did not know a single person. It still hasn't set in that I will be gone for a YEAR. 

 I am so thankful to YES Abroad and the State Department for this opportunity and to my parents for saying yes. I am so thankful for my friends and teachers and fellow YESers for supporting me in this journey. Here goes nothing.