Starting New

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I haven't posted since I left, for I was using my tumblr account to archive my experiences. For whatever reason, my blog will now be here... so now i'm going to transfer all my prior posts to here. This following post is form my First Week in my Host City:

Minggu Pertama

Yesterday I arrived in Jogja. it’s crazy to think i’ll be here for the next 8 months.. I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around that. I’m so excited.

I can’t even begin to explain to you what has happend in the last week.. but i’ll try.

We arrived to a camp/amusment park/youth hostel type place on sunday night, more like monday morning (around 1 am). after about 28 hours (with the 12 hour time difference) of travelling, all 8 of us were beat. I’ve never had jet lag that badly before. for the next three days after that, we met the 11 other AFS students from around the world who will be staying in Indonesia this year like us. They are all a lot of fun and it was cool to get to know them. I’m excited to spend more time  with them at the mid-stay and end orientation. 

Now that i’m here, in my new house, with my new family, doing new things, its slowly starting to hit me. The days have felt soooo long here, which I think is good.. I want to learn and take in as much as I can here. I had a very interesting conversation with Avery, another YES student. She told me that when you are younger, days seem longer because there is so many new things going on. Because you haven’t been around for a long time, there is so many things going on around you that you have to take in and process. When you grow older, and stay in the same routine, time begins to ‘fly’. Everyone says that right? Time flies.. because you are so used to doing what you do, repeating your life day by day.. hardly anything new happens, (especially in a small town like Western Springs, sorry Western Springs, I guess I love you but there really isn’t much to do in a suburb). So I guess what i’m trying to say is that by throwing myself into a 100% new culture i’m a little kid again. Between having to learn to communicate all over again, creating a new routine for my new life.. everything is going to slow down. maybe not. But thats just what i’m guessing right now. 

Well it’s only my first full day with my family so i’ll be back with more stories soon.

One more thing… they’ve given me a new name.. ‘Juliha’ pronounced.. julie-ha

It’s really indescribable here. I’m having an amazing time already.