Six, Five, Four

I'm sorry that this is a little late, but I have a lot to do before I leave. I'm still planning on blogging for the next few days, but I don't want to make any promises. If this is the last post that I make in the US, then I guess I'll see you on the other side! 

Six Days to Go...

It's almost midnight, and I'm sitting out front of Lincoln Financial Field. Today has definitely been an interesting and long day. I spent most of the day cleaning and packing, but then I had to leave for my One Direction (go ahead and judge me) concert. The traffic on the way to the concert was crazy, but we made it! We also ran into the same storm three times and ended up getting rained on (there's no covering on the field...everyone on the floor got soaked) right after 5 Seconds of Summer's set. I guess wearing denim isn't always the best idea... Despite the fact that I was wet for the rest of the concert, I had an amazing time, and I think it was the perfect concert to end my summer in the US! In fact, I think it was BETTER THAN WORDS MORE THAN A FEELING and I DON'T HOW ELSE TO SUM IT UP...'CAUSE WORDS AIN'T GOOD ENOUGH (If you're confused, see this post's song :P)

The background is just the beginning of my very messy room.
It seems as if trying to clean, pack, and take things out of
 my room is pretty hard to do at the same time...

Going back to earlier, I guess I should mention this. While I was in the car on the way to the concert, I decided to check my email and saw that AFS now has my visa! I'm so glad that everything worked out for it, and it's crazy to think that I'll be leaving the country in just one week. Other than my visa, there isn't too much exchange stuff to talk about, so I guess this is pretty much it!

Five Days to Go...

Okay, okay. I know I'm supposed to be blogging every day, but there's really not that much to talk about. I can probably sum up today in one sentence. However, I'll make it a little longer than that.

I spent a bunch of my time cleaning today, and I packed a little more. I didn't mention this before, but I weighed my checked suitcase yesterday. It only weighs 25.5 pounds so far! Anyway, my family and I also went to pick up my host brother earlier. Meeting him really made me wonder what it will be like when I meet my host family. I'm just days away from finding out! I'll actually be arriving in Indonesia in exactly one week, and I'll be meeting my family a few days later!

In terms of leaving behind everything I know, I thought I would be nervous, but I'm not. It's actually really weird. No matter how many times I remind myself that I'm leaving in a few days, I still feel like I have all the time in the world to be at home.

Four Days to Go...

My family threw a little surprise going away part for me! Thinking back on it, I should have figured out what was going on way before it happened, but I've had way too many other things to think about. Surprises like that are always fun though. It was great to see some of my friends and family who I didn't think I would be seeing until I get back!

I'm sorry this part of the post is so short. I'm a day behind with writing and super tired!

Selamat tinggal!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Makanan - Food

One Direction - Better Than Words

My sister and I may or may not have screamed this entire song at the concert....

The Countdown Begins

I have one week left at home and 8 days left in the United States. How crazy is that?! I remember counting down until the YES Abroad application came out last year, and now I am just days away from beginning my exchange! Unfortunately, most of the things from last post's to-do list still need to be done, but I'll find a way to get it all done before I leave! In other news, one of my friends, Brandon, left for Thailand yesterday. It was so weird to see him go because I know that I'll be doing the same exact thing next week! (Shoutout to Lili, Faber, and everyone else leaving for Bosnia and Macedonia tomorrow as well!)

Also, I'm not sure if this will end up happening or not, but I want to make a short blog post for every day leading up to the day that I depart for New York. I probably won't blog for my first few weeks in Indonesia because I think it will be a little bit easier to adjust if I stay away from the internet for a little while, so hopefully this can make up for it. I guess I'll just have to see what happens though!

Here's a short rundown of the next week or so:

Thursday - Concert
Friday - My host brother arrives
Saturday and Sunday - Enjoy my last weekend in the US
Monday - Finalize packing
Tuesday - Any super last minute stuff
Wednesday - Fly to New York/Gateway orientation
Thursday - Fly to Tokyo
Friday -  Arrive in Jakarta

That's pretty much it for the main part of this post, so thanks for reading!

Indonesian Word of the Day: Minggu - Week

Passenger - Riding to New York

Thanks to my sister, I went to Passenger's concert last week!

 (Just in case you're wondering, it was really good!) 

While he was telling the story behind this song and singing it, he was able to get the crowd of a couple thousand to be almost completely silent. There's actually no real reason for me to tell you that (sorry if you thought there was a story behind that...), but I absolutely love it when artists are able to do that! Anyway, enjoy the song! My sister also bought me One Direction tickets for tomorrow, so don't judge me if the next post's song is a One Direction song :P (Fun fact: My sister and I both said that we wouldn't go to another 1D concert after last year, but I guess we just can't break tradition yet!)

Where Has the Time Gone?

Remember my "No Worries" post from a few weeks ago? Well I think it's safe to say that things have definitely changed. I only have two weeks left at home, and I have a lot of things to do in that short time. Here's a short list of some of the things I have to accomplish before I leave:

• PACK
• Finish my history class (last American high school class ever!)
• Work on college applications
• Pack up most of my room 
• Hang out with friends/say goodbye
• Learn more Indonesian (or at least attempt to...)
• Finish English and math  (Wait a second...I already did that!)

Not too bad for not being able to see because of the sun, right?

I got the cutest little dictionary last week. It's smaller than I thought it was when I ordered it, but I actually think it's the perfect size to take with me! I was planning on taking a picture of it, but it seems as if it has disappeared... I do have a picture of it from my phone though. The picture was originally taken in a rather dark room for a friend, so I'm sorry for the annoying glare from the flash. 

If you know how small my hands are,
 then you'll see just how tiny this is! 

It still doesn't feel like I'm leaving in just two weeks. I honestly feel like I have so much time left at home and yet no time at all. My year in Indonesia hasn't even started, but I can already tell you that exchange is simultaneously the scariest and most exciting thing that I have experienced thus far. This probably sounds crazy, but I haven't even applied for my visa yet. I have to send all my documents to AFS this week though! It's definitely crunch time. It also just so happened that no one at my local police understood what I needed from them, and the chief wasn't in until yesterday. Other than that, everything is going as smoothly as one could expect. I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE I'M LEAVING SO SOON. 

I volunteered at my local hospital for the last time on Monday. It felt really weird to leave and know that I am not going back. It was a pretty quiet night, so I spent most of my time reading The Hot Zone again. By the way, if you are at all interested in infectious disease/viruses, I totally recommend reading that book. My sister had to read it for a microbiology class, so I read it for the first time last year. It's honestly one of my favorite books, and it's pretty relevant right now because of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. If I were a doctor now, I would be there in a heartbeat! (Although I'm sure my parents wouldn't be very happy about that...) Anyway, I ended my night at the hospital by talking to the volunteer at the front desk. I promised to send updates, so hopefully I will remember! 

Selamat tinggal dan sampai jumpa lagi! 


Indonesian Word of the Day: Tupai - Squirrel  (Anna, this one's for you!) 

Come So Far (Got So Far to Go) 

In honor of the fact that I recently watched Hairspray two days in a row...

(Almost) Free and Three Weeks To Go

It's finally finals week, and that means that I'm almost free from school for the summer! Unfortunately, this week has not gone as smoothly as I would have liked. I've been having tons of problems with my internet connection, and it was completely down for about 24 hours. None of that is too helpful when all of my classes are online, so I had to end up using my phone as a hotspot. I still lost some time though. It's a good thing that I work pretty well under pressure!

Once again, time really seems to be flying by. I'll be in New York for my gateway orientation in exactly three weeks. I can't believe that it's almost time for me to leave! I'm still really excited, but I'm realizing just how much I have to do before I leave. I still have to finish my history class, pack my bags, pack up my room (see below), and do a ton of other little stuff in the few weeks that I have left.

In other news, my family is hosting an exchange student from Thailand while I'm gone. (I don't know if he'll ever read this but...Hi, Boeing!) He's actually coming a few days before I leave for Indonesia, so I'll still get to meet him! Since he's going to have my room, I have to put a bunch of my stuff away before I leave. I'm actually just thinking of this as a head start for college preparation. I'm sure I don't need half of the stuff in my room anyway.

Also, I finally vlogged! It's definitely not one of the best videos that I have made. The camera quality isn't the best, and I didn't do too much to edit it because I really need to focus on finishing up my last few days of classes. I don't think it's too bad though!

Sorry for the TERRIBLE thumbnail...YouTube isn't exactly cooperating with me. 

(I filmed this in the morning, so my voice is weird too...)

I still can't believe that I only have three weeks left in the United States. I can't wait to get to Indonesia though! 

Selamat tinggal! 

Indonesian Word of the Day: Kamus - Dictionary 

Rudimental - Free feat. Emeli Sandé
A great song sung by one of my favorite artists! 

A Host Family, Less Than One Month, and I Still Haven't Vlogged!

Less than one month. That's how long I have left at home. In about one month I will be on a plane to New York for my gateway orientation. I get on another plane the very next day, but this time I'll be headed for Tokyo. After that, I finally get on my flight to Jakarta! Even though I still have a month to go, I'm beyond excited to get this next year started. Until then, I'll be finishing up my last few days of school, starting (and hopefully finishing) some college applications, and deciding what to pack for the next year.

Now for the first thing that the title says this post is about. I am so excited right now. AFS emailed me about my host family yesterday, and it looks like I'll be living in Bandung! My host family is made up of a mom, a dad, 2 brothers, and 2 sisters. My youngest host brother is actually the same age as my little brother, so that's pretty cool. Knowing who my host family is and where I will be living makes everything seem so much more real, but this whole thing still seems somewhat surreal. I sent an email to my host mom, so I'm pretty excited to hear back from her!

Here are a couple pictures of Bandung:

Mount Tangkuban Perahu (north of Bandung)

Pretty cool looking city, right?

(Shouout to Wikipedia for some pretty awesome Creative Commons pictures!)

Indonesian Word of the Day: Bahagia - Happy

I like to refer to this as the "CSI music video." With that said, if you're grossed out by the idea of (fake) blood and the deceased, then you may not want to watch the first video below. It's a great song though!

Bastille - Of the Night

I can't even tell you how much I love this mashup!



And because I'm indecisive, I'm going to post the live version too. It's sooooo good!

P.S. I just realized that the Indonesian word of the day and the video for this post's song don't really seem go together...

Dates!

Two posts in one day! Crazy, right? This will just be a quick (and very short) update because I actually have a bit more information. Just in case you're wondering, it's not a host family...yet. I did just get my flight information though, so now I know when I'm leaving! I have to be in NYC for my gateway orientation on August 20th. That's exactly six weeks from today! I leave for Jakarta on the 21st and get there on the 22nd. For the sake of routine, I almost want to still volunteer at the hospital on the my last Monday here, but I don't think that would do anyone any good. I'm sure that I'll be freaking out, so pushing people in wheelchairs and carrying specimens probably isn't the best idea...Who am I kidding. I'll probably still be packing anyway! As much as I like the idea of having everything packed early, I know that it never happens. For instance, I'm leaving in the morning to go visit some colleges for the weekend, but I haven't packed anything yet. I think that's my cue to go pack and to make a mental reminder that I should have my bags packed way ahead of time for Indonesia. 

Until next time,

Victoria

P.S. I hope you don't think this post is over yet. I still have to tell you the Indonesian word of the day and give you a song to listen to! Here they are:

Indonesian word of the day: Samudra - Ocean

5 Seconds of Summer - Voodoo Doll

This song has randomly been stuck in my head for the past 2 days...

(Just in case you can't tell, I really like acoustic and live music!)

No Worries

Warning: I jump around to different topics a lot in this blog post. I'm sorry if it's a little confusing, but that's just how my brain works sometimes. I'm also sorry for any grammatical errors in any of my posts. I don't usually look over writing before posting it (that would make me want to rewrite the whole thing...), so the mistakes are pretty much inevitable.

Even though I am leaving for Indonesia next month and have a ton of things to do before then, I honestly am not too worried about anything (yet). I finally have all of my SAT subject test, ACT, and AP scores back, so at least I don't have those hanging over my head. I somehow did better than, worse than, and the same as I was expecting. With that being said, I definitely wish that I would have been able to focus on each test a lot more. I guess there is nothing I can do now though. I'm just happy to be done! Once I finish up my classes at the end of this month, I'm going to try my best to get my college applications done. I've only started one so far, so it's probably going to be really hard to get all of them done before I leave. I'll just have to wait and see what happens! 

As for exchange, some of the exchange students from other countries have started to find out their host schools in Indonesia. Hopefully I'll find out about mine soon! I finally got all of my shots a few weeks ago, so that's one less thing to do! I also got malaria pills and pills for diarrhea (how lovely). On a far less disgusting note, I know I promised to do vlogs once school finished, so I should probably get on that. I actually filmed a video in April, but I never posted it because YouTube was being weird. I shouldn't be making excuses though. In the words of my little brother: Excuses, excuses, excuses...they all stink! Anyway, I'll try to have a video up within the next two weeks. 

Also, congratulations to the girls in the Philippines and India for making it to their homes for the year. I hope that you are all having an amazing time so far! Shout-out to the  Malaysia group as well because they are leaving next week. Safe travels! Before I know it, I'll be heading off to New York for my gateway orientation!

As I said before, I'm really looking forward to finding out about my host family. I think that will make this whole thing seem a little bit more real. PLUS, I'll actually be able to tell people where I'm going when they ask. Considering the fact that the only thing many people know about Indonesia is Bali (if they even realize that it's part of Indonesia...), telling them that I'll be living on Java doesn't really mean much. Maybe I'll know where I will be living by the time I post again! 

I should probably go do some calculus now...

Selamat tinggal! 

McFly - No Worries

How could you not love them?!

P.S. Indonesia's presidential election was today. The quick count says that Jokowi won, but nothing will be official until the KPU announces the official count later this month! I'll probably make an actual post once the winner is officially announced.