In a month, I will be leaving for the adventure of a
lifetime. I’ll be spending seven weeks
in Xi’an, China with American Councils.
I’m living with a host family and attending school there.
I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship through the State
Department in a program called NSLI-Y (National Security Language Initiative
for Youth). The program is designed to
offer high school students opportunities to study “critical languages”
abroad. Critical languages are languages
not typically taught in high schools.
This includes Chinese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Persian, Turkish and
Hindi. If you want any more information
about NSLI-Y visit http://www.nsliforyouth.org/
It seems almost crazy to think how close I am to
leaving. I’ve spent most of the year
preparing and applying for the scholarship.
There were long hours of essay writing, and frustrating moments as my
computer rebelled against the application website. I participated in an interview, where almost
everyone else in my time slot was also applying for the China summer
scholarship. I submitted so many medical forms. And then there was a period of anxious waiting.
It was such a relief at the end of March to get the email
telling me I was a finalist. I saw the
email as I was walking out the door after a long day complete with play
rehearsal. The email took forever to
load because of the slow school Wi-Fi and I had just about made it to the South
Entrance when I read the news. I may have spontaneously danced a crazy victory dance in the empty hall. I definitely couldn’t stop smiling for
days.
Since then, I’ve updated medical forms, applied for my visa
and taken several Chinese placement tests.
I don’t even know information about my host family yet. I do know,
however, that I will have a sibling who is roughly my age and will attend my
school.
I’m incredibly excited to meet my host family. There’s something incredible about being
thrown into the daily lives of a family.
I’ll be able to see their favorite places and try their favorite
foods. I'll be able to feel more at home even if I'm 6,600 miles away from Minnesota. I should be getting more information
soon, likely within the next week and a half.
I’ll be sure to share some more information about Xi’an next
post. Until then, zài jiàn!
