*So this was finished on Sunday the 12th but seeing as it’s pretty long I’ll write about Friday and Saturday in another post.
I haven't updated this in a while but i finally have something worthwhile to write about. So today was my second full day of orientation. I'll back up a little and start with this weekend.
After I came back from vacation last week I spent most of the week shopping. Saturday I ran around and tried to finish my shopping with not all that much success. Sunday was... stressful. I started packing around noon, had to run to cvs in the afternoon for some more last minute things and by 9 o'clock I had had enough of trying to stuff clothes into my suitcase. Monday was even more stressful, especially when I realized at like 3 that I wasn’t going to be able to fit everything in 50 pounds. So my mom and I sped over to Macy’s and bought a lighter suitcase. I was finally able to fit almost everything after having to sacrifice my winter coats, boots and a pair of shoes.
Tuesday. After dropping off my brother at school, my mom and I left for DC. After about 4 ½ hours in the car we arrived at the Crowne Plaza and had lunch at the Fridays across the street. Though I tried to delay it as much as I could my mom and I finally lugged my suitcases out of the car and went into the Hotel. Getting to the hotel early was a complete waste of time though. We just sat around and talked for 5 hours until dinner, but I met some really cool people. After dinner we watched Goodbye Lenin, which was really good but it stopped before the end so all I know about the ending is what some people told me.
Wednesday we had to get up super early (well by my standards) we all went into DC. We got to do a little site seeing, and then went to the state department, which was pretty boring except I learned what the foreign service is. After lunch, Mike (from Morristown) and I went to visit Frelinghuysen to thank him for the scholarship and ask him to continue to support it. Well surprise surprise he wasn’t there (since it’s still recess) so we talked to this super nice staffer who was also from Morristown. After taking pictures at the congressman’s desk, we headed back to our group where we got back on the bus and headed to the German Embassy. The German Embassy was probably the most interesting place we went to all day and only because our host at the Embassy was a CB alumni. She told us stories about her experience and gave us some really awesome advice. After dinner at a German restaurant (the schnitzel was so yummy), we finally headed back to the hotel where everyone changed out of our uncomfortable dress clothes, hung out for a little and then basically passed out (well that’s what I did).
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| the Lincoln memorial |
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| Old honest Abe |
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| In Frelinghuysen's office (which was like a museum) |
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| Trying to cool off at Union station |
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| All 77 of us |
So today (Thursday) was suuupppperrr boring. We were just stuck in the conference (salon A) room all day doing ridiculous sessions such as “journaling for growth” and “being an effective ambassador” all to help us “facilitate our success”. After about 10 hours of this we finally were able to just hang out.
*Unfortunately I don’t have anything written about my thoughts of leaving for Germany the next day, but I do remember that I just wanted to get out of that hotel and but I was pretty void of any other emotions (which I think is how a lot of people felt.)
New Jersey Time
Würzburg Time
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