a year in indonesia: 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!