So first I will tell you a little about our trip in February. It was a four day trip and it was the best experience of my life. All the inbounds and future outbounds were there and they are all amazing people. We went on about a 7 or 8 hour bus ride to the La Grande area where we stayed at a camp and had lots of fun. We had lots of time to ask the inbounds about their countries. We played a cultural game that was supposed to show you if you were more outgoing or less. I found myself as and Alpha meaning I like to lead and be outgoing. This made me question my idea of where I would fit as a country. One of the youth exchange officers, Mark, had said that Alphas better fit in South America and Betas better fit in Asia and Europe. Based on this when we went out to Pizza I sat down with Mark and talked to him to see what he would think. He said if I thought I would fit for South America I should talk to some inbounds. After dinner we went to a basketball game for a really tiny high school and we were the biggest crowd they ever had. A couple of the boys even dressed as mascots. On the way to this game I sat with and inbound from Peru and she told me all about it and I fell in love. I had a hard time picking from Peru or Germany for my top choice on decision day. Decision day came along the day we went snowboarding and it was extremely nerve wrecking. Snowboarding was fun even though I was absolutely horrible. When we turned our decisions I put down Germany for number one then Peru, Austria, Anywhere in Europe and Anywhere in South America. After we put in our decisions I immediately started regretting what was on my list and going into a complete panic. Then I remembered I was the only one who picked Germany as my top pick and the inbounds from there really liked me so I figured I had it in the bag and went along with my day. then we went to an event center and had really good food. At this time I met some of my closest exchange friends as well as hung out with other exchange friends. Out of all of them I think my closest friends are Courtney, Cienna, Alexa, Mariah, Mary, August, Lili, Justus, Dennis, Mattieu, Veera, Jake, Anna, and Colton. I love them with all my heart and I am going to miss them all soo much and I hope we stay in contact even though all but seven live in Oregon. I have met so many people already who have changed my life and I am so grateful for this experience.
This Picture was on the way to the camp. From left to right
it's me, Yuksuke and inbound from Japan, Adriana an inbound from Peru, Erica,
Veera an inbound from Finland, and Claire.
This is at the basketball game when we were cheering the team on
From Left to Right it's Alexa, Chang and inbound from Taiwan, Dennis and inbound from Russia, Alexis, Me, And Veera an inbound from Finland.
August got very into cheering on this tiny school and decided to be one
to put on the mascot costume. This was his number buddy on the team.
Justus, an inbound from Germany, also got in on the cheering this was him and
his number buddy on the team
I got in to take a picture with Justus, and August. They are so amazing and I miss them so much. They are a few of my favorites I love them.
This picture is Alexa, outbound to France, and Justus after the game
I got an AMAZING exchange sister who I am hosting from Finland named Veera. She is very nice and is here through Rotary. We are sharing a room and she's super funny. I love having a sister even though she only moved in yesterday. I can't wait to see all the adventures we will have.
At the very end of the Eastern Oregon Discovery Excursion we got our country assignments. I was in much shock when I got mine because it was not what I wanted. I pretty much shut down. I got sick. I threw up. I cried A LOT. My country assignment is Mexico. There is nothing wrong with the country I was just so head over heals for Germany. It killed me to know I was so close. Some days it still hurts to think about what it would be like if I would have gotten picked for Germany or anywhere else. I have came very far since that day. The minute I got back home I sat on my bed crying while I emailed Two youth exchange officers, the officer for Germany and the officer for Mexico, and the youth exchange chair. I wanted them to see my pain and realize they made a mistake. I was so broken. I had never felt so much pain and betrayal. I honestly didn't know what was going to happen. I was hoping that there would be some way to get me a new country. But it didn't seem possible. They set up a meeting for me and them to talk it over in person but I stayed pretty silent because Mark, the youth exchange officer is one who doesn't change his mind. He is very determined to be right, not that it's a bed thing just intimidating. I felt like if I did start talking I wouldn't be able to stop crying. It really killed me, my country assignment. But some current outbounds messaged me and basically told me to stop only caring about me and stop being such a cry baby. This of course made me cry more but eventually I realized they were right. I needed to suck it up and give Mexico a chance. So I'm still here, still going to Mexico and taking it one day at a time. I got assigned to a district in the southern part and soon I will get contacted by my hos family. It's starting to feel extremely real. I know I need to be responsible and stick with Mexico because I haven't really been giving it a chance. I have been practicing the language a lot which helps me get excited. I'm getting there slowly, it's definitely a work in progress though. I didn't want to update my blog before this because I really had nothing positive to say but my attitude is changing for the better even if it's slowly. I also signed up for my travel agency. Which is pretty exciting. I know I'm going to love it and it doesn't matter where I go. So if I could ask your guys prayers for me to keep a good attitude towards my exchange during this hard time that would be amazing. Thanks for reading, sorry it took me so long to post I just didn't my blog to be only negative when I wrote it.
Hang in there Ally; I know your exchange will be life changing and you will soon forget that you were so upset with the choice of country.
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