Less than 24 hours until departure!

I am currently in Washington DC because of CLS orientation. I arrived super early yesterday morning and was worried that I was going to be really bored all day, but I actually saw a bunch of friends and went to two Smithsonians I had never been to before. We had a welcome session in the evening and then were free for dinner. Since I had woken up at 3:40 that morning and had been unable to nap all day I went right to bed after dinner and slept like a baby.

This morning after breakfast we had a session where people from the Department of State who specifically work with the Critical Language Scholarship Program came to speak with us about how the program is growing and more logistics about the program as a whole. Then we had a session where we discussed most of the rules and policies. After a quick break, we had a panel of speakers who spoke to us about their careers and how they use their Turkish skills. The afternoon sessions were definitely my favorite because after lunch we met with our program director who gave us specific logistics about our program in Izmir. We will be going on one overnight trip and I was eager to hear where we are going and I am EXTREMELY happy with the destination because we are going to Antalya!!!! The one place I want to go more than anywhere else in Turkey is Antalya and I was going to try and go on my weekend off, so now it is better because I will go with friends and I don't have to pay! Now I have to figure out where I want to go on my free weekend. We ended that session early so we had a long break and then got to speak to alumni who went on the trip last year, which was very interesting. The final part of the day was to inform us about alumni opportunities and ways to get involved with CLS after the program.

I would have to say that one of my highlights of the day was dinner. We all went to a Malaysian restaurant and got to chat while we ate. I had never eaten Malaysian food before and it was really tasty. The restaurant is pretty close to GW so I want to go back in the fall!

Now I am chilling in my hotel room getting really excited to leave tomorrow!! There is one other CLS group with us at orientation and they are going to Korea. Unfortunately they leave the hotel at 3am because they have a really early flight. Luckily my group leaves the hotel at 1:20 tomorrow so we can sleep in :). I hope all of our travels go well and so long America! Next time I post I will be in Turkey!!