Soar and S'more.

It's so awesome, feeling the snow for the first time and stuff. But I wished to talk about pre-departure orientation, which will ruin every expectation that you might have before leaving for the States. It was held in i-City Best Western Hotel for 4 days 3 nights. They took away our phones and that was saddening. It was very stressful for the first day, but it got better in the following days. We talked about religion, expectation, adjustment cycle and communication with host family. It was kinda out of expectation. When I first applied for the program, I did not realize that there are so many details in adjusting to a new culture and lifestyle. I felt clueless and nervous, but at the same time excited to start the journey. Like what the people from U.S. embassy told me during the farewell lunch, "It's not always gonna be easy." So yeah, I'll enjoy every single moment when I'm there! It took me 13 hours from Malaysia to Amsterdam, Netherlands and another 8

Today is Wednesday. Pre-departure orientation is on this Friday. My flight is on next Monday. To be really honest, I AM REALLYYYYYYYYY EXCITED BUT AT THE SAME TIME I AM SOOOOOO NERVOUS AND SOOOOOO SCARED. THIS FEELING IS SOOOOOO COMPLICATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's hard to express this feeling in words and for people to understand. I did not know that it requires huge courage to leave a place, even just for a few months. Furthermore, United States soooooo far away from Malaysia!! I'd be lying if I say that I'm not nervous at all. To fight with this anxiety, I keep on thinking what pushed me forward to apply and strive hard for this scholarship months ago. I never dare to dream that I can visit United States someday, not to mention about living there for months and being a high school student there. It's definitely absolutely a dream come true, but a very daring, exciting and adventurous dream. Stay tuned for more updates soon! :) Oh