Countdown to Casablanca

Hello. It's me. 

I am so excited. I leave for Morocco (technically DC) in 11 (?) days! 

As you all probably know, I am spending 6 weeks studying Arabic in Morocco. I found out a little while ago that I will be living in Rabat, the capital. 

I will be flying through Lisbon on the way there and Frankfurt on the way back. As per my rules of life, I can say I've been there if I eat, sleep, and pee there. 

As part of the placement and NSLI-Y processes, I have had to do two pre-trip Arabic speaking examinations. One for the imementing organization, Legacy International, and one for NSLI-Y. 

The Legacy International one was over a Skype-like app. He asked about me and my life in English and I responded in Arabic. It was super short, but it took a while for the technology to work. I thought I did okay, but I did forget some words. 

The NSLI-Y pre-exam was over the phone. It was the first time I've used my land line in years. She asked questions in Arabic. I tried to answer in Arabic as best as I could. If I didn't understand, she'd repeat the question. If I still didn't understand, she'd reword it and I usually got it by then. 

I'm excited to leave, but I still have a lot to do. I need to pack, but before that I have to go shopping. I have to get gifts for my host family. I need to get to know my family. It'll be an adventure. Let's go!

Also here's a prom picture because I haven't been to Morocco so I have no Morocco pictures yet. 

Learn something today. 

Byeeeeee

Corie. 

Why You Should Host An Exchange Student!

Hello and Happy Mothers Day!

My mother is a volunteer with the AFS Bay Area Team. She wears many hats in our team and is amazing. One thing that she does is works to find families to host the exchange students that come to our areas. This includes finding and interviewing families, working with the schools, and playing matchmaker. Recently, she has been watching as the next year's student profiles come in and trying to put holds on the kids she wants to be in our area.

A big problem we've been having in the US with AFS is there aren't a lot of families that want to host exchange students. That's crazy! Therefore, I am here to tell you why you (yes, you) should be a host family this year.

1. Learn about a new culture without leaving the country

Because of AFS I know where so many countries are and I have never taken a geography class (except that one geography class I took with CTY). Do you know where Tajikistan is? I do. Do you know how to say "thank you" in Swedish? I do. Do you have part of a traditional Thai outfit hanging on your wall? I do. Why? Because I've hosted and hung out with exchange students!

I have eaten the cuisines of so many countries without having to leave my house. I know so many things about so many places because I know so many exchange students.

AFS is all about the cultural exchange. This means that you will learn about their culture as much as they will learn about yours.

Noorjahan from Tunisia

2. Have a couch to crash on when you visit them!

Now I am not saying that if you host an exchange student you are guaranteed a place to stay in their country. I do, however, know many people who have gone to visit their old exchange students in their countries, including myself. 

We hosted a Swedish exchange student when I was in fourth grade. We went to visit her in Sweden and it was amazing. I discovered I was allergic to Birch tree on this vacation, but that is beside the point.

Not only that, but she has visited us several times! 

Celebrating Midyear in Sweden

3. Test drive teenagers

This does not apply to everyone and this is my mom's joke, but it's true. We hosted most of our exchange students when I was younger. My mom called it test driving teenagers because if it didn't work out, they went home after a year. Plus it prepared her for when my sister and I became teenagers.

Most students have no problems at all. It actually sucks when they leave, but you can always host another one!

Johanna, my mom's test teen.

4. Make use of that pesky extra bed

When I went to Egypt, I left my bed in America. It just sat there, collecting dust, doing nothing. My parents solved that problem. Boom! Put an exchange student in it.

Have a spare room in your house? Put an exchange student in it. No one's sleeping on the top bunk? Put an exchange student in it! All your kids are in college and you don't know what to do with their beds? PUT EXCHANGE STUDENTS IN THEM! 

Problem solved. You are welcome :)

I was a bed-filler for my family in Egypt and it worked out beautifully

5. Grow your family

You know the saying: you can't pick your family. Well in this case, you can! You literally can pick any exchange student you want. Every AFS student has a profile with pictures, essays, and information about them. You can find someone with the same interests as you and your family or someone completely different. You can host from almost anywhere and almost any continent. 

You can host someone who likes dogs or cats or both or neither. You can host someone who loves to read or someone who has never opened a book. You can host someone who like sports or likes music or likes fashion. No matter who you host you're gonna host an amazing person who wants to live and learn in the US. 

You will host someone with thoughts, feelings, opinions, stories, and, of course, a huge appetite because they're a teenager. 

Family photo six years after we first hosted her.

You can host for a year or a semester. If you have commitment issues, you can be a welcome family and host for a couple months while we find them a permanent family.

Hosting exchange students changed my life for the better in more ways than one. 

For more information go to afsusa.org. Click on Host a Student > Get Started to fill out your information and be contacted by an AFSer near you. 

And if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let me know. Comment or message me because I am happy to help.

Thanks for reading.

Learn something today.

Byeeeee

Corie.

Disney // 20 March 2016

Hello everyone!

I go to Disney a lot, but I've never written about it. This weekend, I went to Southern California with my high school swim team for a meet. The next day, we went to Disney. 

The last time I went to Disney without my parents, it was a little stressful. The people I was with felt the need to rush around and try to do everything. This time, however, I decided to relax a bit and just do whatever we feel like doing. 

We started in California Adventure. We went on the Little Mermaid ride, Monsters Inc., California Screamin' and two rides I've never been on, Silly Symphony Swings and Goofy's flight school because the lines were short. Both of the ones I haven't been on are clever and the Swing ride combined Disney and band which I definitely appreciated. 

We mostly walked around and appreciated the scenery of California adventure. I've never been to A Bug's Land, but it is really cool. 

We then decided that since most of the lines were getting longer, we would spend a lot of our time meeting characters. 

We started my three heroes: Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and Frozone. 

On our way there from Monsters Inc, we ran into Olaf, from Frozen

We got fast passes for the super popular Cars Ride and decided to go over to Disneyland. 

On the way back we ran into 1920s Minnie :)

So, there is a channel I watch on YouTube that makes Disney related videos. The group goes to Disney a lot and I saw them while we got lunch. That was really cool. Their channel is Thingamavlogs if you're curious. 

Then, we got glitter from the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique and met the princesses. In line, I ran into the Thingamavlogs again, and they recognized me and said hi, which I think was cooler than seeing them the first time. 

Cinderella, Cinderella

Ariel, The Little Mermaid

Snow White, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

To meet the princesses, you wait in a line and then go in a building with the princesses in different rooms and you just go through that building and see the princesses available. 

Similarly, they have the Superhero HQ where you can meet superheroes (obviously) and even some villans. 

Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man/Spider-Man 

Thor, Thor/The Avengers

Chewbacca, The Star Wars Saga

Kylo Ren, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

I loved the princesses, of course, but everyone in Superhero HQ is a great actor. Kylo Ren low key frightened me (that's why I'm standing so far away) and the whole Thor exhibit was incredible (we also make a really cute couple). 

We ended the day on some rides for some adrenaline rushes to keep us going until midnight. 

Paying homage to our swim coach with finger guns. 

Excited for on the Cars ride because we got a second ride after it broke down. 

Freaking out on my first Tower of Terror ride.

In the end, it was a really fun, and really different, day at Disney. 

Learn something today. 

Byeeeee

Corie. 

Corie in Morocco

Hello lovely people!

I have some exciting news! I'm going to live in Morocco this summer on the NSLI-Y scholarship. 

I have been going through the application process for the scholarship for a while at this point, but my awesomeness and patience payed off. 

NSLI-Y is the National Security Language Initiative for Youth. It is a US State Department sponsored program to countries that speak languages that are becoming more important in forgein policy and aren't taught in schools. The languages are Chinese, Russian, Tajiki/Persian, Hindi, Korean, Turkish, and (of course) Arabic. 

The first part of the application is written. There is the standard application with your name and all that information. Then there are a couple of short essays, including a letter to your future host family, and parent and teacher recommendations. 

After this, they choose semi-finalists. During this stage in the process, we have an in-person or phone interview (depending on where we live). From these interviews, the finalists/scholarship recipients are chosen. 

I was chosen for the summer Morocco program. Since the application is by language, not country, I know nothing about Morocco. 

Since I will be living there, I decided to do some googling. Here's what I got:

1. Morocco has the sixth largest economy in Africa. The top three are Nigeria, South Africa, and Egypt (<3). 

2. Morocco is about the size of California. Morocco is about 176,414 sq. miles and California is about 163,696 sq. miles. 

3. Casablanca takes place in Morocco. I had no idea and I will be watching it ASAP. 

4. Morocco is at the very top edge of Africa. I knew it was part in North Africa, but I didn't know specifically. It shares borders with Mauritania and Algeria and Western Sahara, kind of. (Morocco thinks Weatern Sahara is Morocco and Western Sahara disagrees). 

5. Morocco is one of three countries with Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines. The other two are Spain and France. 

That's pretty much all I know other than most people are Muslim and everyone speaks Arabic. I follow a couple Morocco instagram accounts to get me in the mood, but that's it. 

I am so excited to go to Morocco and learn about Arabic and the country itself. As I go on this adventure and blog about it, I will teach y'all about Morocco and we'll learn all the stuff you can't find on Google. 

I can't wait. Learn something today (and this summer). 

Byeeeee

Corie. 

NSLI-Y: nsliforyouth.org

Map: http://www.global-workforce.globalization101.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/GenderGlobalizationPPT3.pptx

Vender pic: http://m.roughguides.com/destinations/africa/morocco/things-miss/

Casablanca poster: IMDb.com

Donating My Hair

Hello beautiful people. I donated my hair. 

A while back, I was planning for Halloween. I was going to Disney with band so I wanted to be a Disney character. I decided to be Edna Mode from The Incredibles. 

I had the dress, the glasses, the tights. I was only missing one thing: the hair. I went onto YouTube and found a tutorial on how to do a fake Bob. 

I didn't think I would like it and it would be only for Halloween, but as soon as I looked in the mirror, I fell in love. 

That was a couple months ago. I had to wait until the marching band season was over because putting short hair into the shako (hat) would be a pain. 

Now that it's over, I finally did it. And I absolutely love it.

My showers are shorter, my life is easier, and it feels really right. 

I will be donating my hair to Pantene's Beautiful lengths. It will be used to make a wig for a woman battling cancer. 

Life is pretty good otherwise. I will be representing the Bay Area in an exchange student program conference. 

I also got accepted for NSLI-Y semifinals. I'm really excited for that because if learn more Arabic and travel and use this blog more. 

That's all I have for today. 

Learn something today. 

Byeeeeee

Corie. 

Life Update // 27.11.15

Oh, how I've missed you!! 

Hey guys! How's it going? I've missed blogging and have decided that my life is still interesting even though I live in the US. I just haven't had any time. So here are all the blog-worthy moments of the past three months. 

Band, band, and more band

Buddy pictures with my sister

I am in the marching band at my school. If you didn't know, marching band takes up a lot of your life. But because of band I've gotten to do some really cool things.

Like play the national anthem at an A's game:

On the jumbotron.

And march down Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland.

Fancy Disney Preforming Arts Ears

Marching Band

Friends and Ferris Wheel

We've marched at several competitions and won. We've marched several competitons and sucked. Our season ended on Saturday and I'm gonna miss it a ton.

Community Emergency Response Training

CERT is a thing where you learn how to help firefighters when a disaster occurs and there are too many injuries for the limited amount of firefighters.

My mom and I took 6 classes and graduated to become CERT members. We learned how to do basic medical triage, search and rescue, put out fires, lift walls off of people, and more.

I'm going to go through my pictures and see what else happened...

My Swedish sister came to visit

I am applying for NSLI-Y scholarship to go abroad in the summer of 2016 and I had to submit two pictures. I ONLY GOT TWO PICTURES. Last time I applied, I got 5 or 6 pictures. I couldn't decide on only two pictures so for one of them I made a collage. Technically it's one picture.

I got my driver's lisence. During my test, there was construction so I had to drive on the wrong side of the road. 

I met Jojo Moyes!!!! She is a British author and she came to my hometown!!!

You may (or more likely may not) remeber Jojo Moyes from this picture in Hurghada:

The book in this picture is the book she signed(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

We went to Vegas for my parents' wedding anniversary.

First US shawerma

First US falafel

We built a playhouse with Habitat for Humanity

I turned 17

Also Thanksgiving. I tried to make pie last year it turned out like this:

It's supposed to look like this:

So yeah. That's what I've been up to lately. Now that band is over, I'm going to try and post more and do more. If I get this scholarship, I'll definitely be posting all summer. 

Hope your past three months have been amazing.

Learn something today.

Byeeeeeee

Corie.