I was 1/4 excited because I could finally speak English and be around other people from America, which makes me feel so good, since it's such a rarity right now. But I was 3/4 dreading it, because I mean, I knew it would be 9 hours (9 freaking hours!!!!!) of little games and activities and things that I just was not feeling.
When I got there, I finally got to see the buddies I had from the other orientations that I haven't been able to see since I got here. There's this guy Alex who is also from Pennsylvania and he only lives like 15 minutes away from me, so we hang out every weekend. He's SO awesome. He's crazy and wild and funny and such a great guy. He's the best friend I have here right now, besides my host sister, so I see him all the time. But the others, I never see, so it was great to finally see them.
And we started these activities and games which I thought would be really lame, but they were pretty fun because we got to do them together, all of us crazy kids. And I mean, I totally adore all the people that live near me, all the people that were at the orientation. They're crazy, but it's such a good time.
There were even Spanish people there. They're returnees who have gone to other countries with AFS. And of course at first, it was kind of segregated (Spanish people on one side, the rest of us on the other) but once we got started, we all got jumbled into this big group. And these people are SO cool. I just love Spanish people in general. They're loud, they're wild, they're flirty, they're affectionate...THEY'RE PERFECTION. Plus, I'm pretty sure I made them say "McDonalds" about 5000 times because it is the cutest and most perfect thing in this world when they say it. Like I don't think I've ever heard anything cuter than when a Spanish guy says McDonalds...Well, in reality, they could say anything to me and I would like it, because I mean, have you seen OR heard Spanish guys!?!? They are heaven on earth......ANYWHO.....
We went out to this really amazing restaurant for lunch...and they had CROQUETAS, which are these little balls of heaven. They're flour, cheese, milk, oil, and little bits of ham...FRIED. God they are so good. I'm pretty sure I had like 30...But it was so fun. We had about an hour where we were just eating and talking and going crazy. Buuuuut, that was when my phone dropped...and now the screen of my phone is TOTALLY shattered, which pisses me off beyond words...But other than that, lunch was great.
We had free time to walk around and hang out, then returned to doing activities, then had more free time. It was an awesome way to spend time with these crazy people who are so fun and interesting and different from me, but at the same time, really similar to me.
It's amazing to be around not only people that speak English, but people that understand what I'm going through. We're all doing the same thing, we're all here on the same trip, we're all experiencing this. I mean, I can talk about this experience with my parents or my friends all I want, but they're never going to understand. They're never going to know what I'm talking about, and they're never going to be able to make me feel better about the things I'm worried about. But these kids, these amazingly kind and funny people that live near me...they get it. They really do. And being able to be with them and to share stories and to bounce ideas and doubts and anything off of each other, it's just so great.
Even though I was dreading going to this, I ended up not wanting to leave at the end of the day. I wanted more time to talk to and get to know these people. I wanted it to continue, and I actually CAN NOT WAIT until the next orientation. God I love these guys.
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