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.