IPSE!

After receiving my acceptance email for semi-finalist the first thing I did (after jumping up and down, of course) was to start looking up information about the IPSE. I found a lot, but I still promised myself that I'd write a blog post about my experience if I was accepted. So, here I am about three months later finally making good on that promise! This is mostly targeted towards next years semi finalists, but I hope that others will find this interesting too!

First of all, I had an amazing weekend. All the bloggers say that, but I was still worried about whether it would be true for me! In the end though, despite being sick, jet lagged and extremely nervous I managed to have a wonderful time and meet a lot of great people. Even the flights to and from the event were great experiences, thanks to my flight buddies of awesomeness. (Shout out to Amelia, Carly, Katie and Camille!)

Okay, I'll stop touting the overall wonderfulness of the event and get down to the scarier topics! First of all, The Interview.

The Interview: Every semi finalist has an individual interview. I think that was the most stressful part of the weekend for me, but it turned out to be much less frightening than I had expected.  I was interviewed by two adults affiliated with YES abroad, both of whom were very friendly and understanding. They made me feel comfortable right away.

I think the most important thing to remember for the interview is to be yourself. After all, if you act like someone you aren't you might be accepted, but you also might not really be a good fit for the program and could end up being unhappy while abroad. I would definitely recommend practicing a few potential interview questions, but other than that just take a few deep breathes and answer naturally. At least, that seemed to work for me!

The Group Evaluations: I really enjoyed my group evaluation! First, you are split up into groups with a few other semi finalists. I had a really great group and we seemed to work well together, so I suppose I was lucky on that. Anyway, the group evaluation itself mainly consists of playing various games! We laughed a lot and had a really good time, plus we were probably the whackiest group ever to attend an IPSE. However, that seemed perfectly acceptable.

Free Time: There is a lot of free time at the IPSE. I recommend bringing a few card games that can be played with a large group, and maybe a book or an iPod. The 4H center where my IPSE was held was very big and interesting, so exploring is also a fun activity. Mainly though, free time is spent meeting other semi finalists and having conversations ranging from very silly to very philosophic. It was really fun to meet so many people that I just clicked with right away.

As a side note, don't treat the other semi finalists as competitors. Sure, you all want the same thing, but everyone is really friendly and interesting and the best plan is to make friends with everyone, then even if you don't get the scholarship you will have had an amazing experience.

Finally, don't let the awesomeness of the other semi finalists make you nervous. You will meet a lot of eloquent, intelligent, well rounded people and that can be a little scary. What you need to remember is that you wouldn't be there if you weren't an amazing person too! Believe me, after meeting just a few of the other semi finalists I got really worried about whether I was up to par. But, by some amazing happenstance I did get the scholarship and I am going to Oman!

Shukran wa ma'asalama!

A little bit about me

I'm guessing that most of you already know who I am, but in case anyone is new out there I'll give you a quick overview.
My name is Davan. (You say Dav-in)
I'M GOING TO OMAN NEXT YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm a little excited about it.
I'm 15 years old.
I'm home schooled. In Oman I will be attending school, of course, but here I get to learn math while wearing pajamas! Home schooling is especially nice now that I'm learning Arabic, because I can devote a good portion of my time to learning random Arabic words (such as shajara, which means tree) and learning more about Oman. I am by no means an expert on either though!
I do aerial dance. It is a little like Cirque Du Soleil, if you have ever seen that. I am part of a troop called the Zig Zags and we put on a show every year using acting, tumbling, dance, fabric and trapeze.
I am really interested in foreign cultures and international relations. I guess that one isn't very surprising! I am especially interested in African and Muslim countries because I feel that they are often misrepresented. 
Here at home I am vegetarian, but I will probably have to be flexible on that when I'm in Oman.
And there you have it, I little bit about who I am! I hope you enjoy following along on my great adventure.

School Time!

I have some very exciting news! Yesterday all of the YES abroad scholars going to Oman got our school assignments! Suddenly, it all seems so real. And I love it!

I am going to a school called Al-Ibdaa, located, rather obviously, in the city of Muscat. Another of the YES abroad scholars, Mae, will be attending school with me and I'm very excited that things have worked out this way!

I have been told by YES graduates that Al-Ibdaa is one of the more Omani schools, and I have read on their website that the school is very focused on knowledge of Arabic. It sounds like a great school for me!

Speaking of Arabic, I am slowly but surely working on learning the language. I know most of the characters and have a miniscule vocabulary, but hey, I'm progressing! I can say such necessary words as hello (ahlan), thank you (shukran), book (kitaab) and tea (shaay). The last one is inspired by a friend of mine who is off to Turkey next year, since her first word in Turkish was tea!

I also have a very exciting Arabic related story for you! I was in California a week ago visiting family when I spotted a little whole in the wall felafel shop that I obviously had to check out. My family and I ordered some food to go, and while we were waiting one of the chefs got a phone call, which he answered in Arabic! I picked up a few words, I believe, one of them being hello, and the other being table (I could be wrong about the second one!). Then, I gathered my courage and when the food came out I thanked the man in Arabic! He was very surprised and promptly asked where I was from. When I said I was American he was even more surprised! He wanted to know why I was learning Arabic, so I told him about the YES program and my impending exchange in Oman. He seemed very excited about everything and offered to help me with Arabic whenever I wanted. Sadly, the felafel shop is in California and I live in Oregon, so it seems a bit far for me to pop in for tutoring. Still, I am very excited that he was able to understand me! I am hoping to find a place in Portland where I can practice my Arabic on a regular basis.  

I will leave you with a picture of me (I'm sure you all know who I am) holding a sign that may, or may not, be my name in Arabic. Remember to read from right to left! By the way, Arabic doesn't seem to have a V sound, so I'm substituting TH until I find out if that is right!