Mid-way Orientation

Sorry for not posting on Sunday, but this past weekend I was in Asuncion for our welcoming orientation. Asuncion is the capital of Paraguay, and on the bus it takes about six hours to get there. So the seven students living here in Encarnacion, all took a bus on Friday morning to arrive in Asuncion Friday midday. We went to the AFS office there, and extended our visas so we can stay the whole year.  After that, we all went back to the hotel we were staying in and did some bonding activities. It's so fun to hangout with and meet all the other students again from all over the world, and share all of our experiences.  I love it! The three days were mainly bonding activities and AFS checking in with us and seeing how everything's going. 

It was funny though because in orientation in Miami for an example, we had to be in bed by 10 and have lights out at 11 and it was very strict.. where as in Asuncion, we didn't have a curfew at all and we didn't finish our activities until midnight every night, and then we all hung out the whole night. There was very little sleep happening but it was so much fun. All the exchange students shared common thoughts on Paraguay, good and bad, and out of all the different countries that were there, none of our countries are like Paraguay. Everyone here is from a 1st world country, and so all of our experiences are so different than home, and we all compare the same things.  It's good though to talk to everyone and know that your problems and your feelings are shared throughout everyone and we all are going through the same things.

Oh and at the orientation, there was such GOOD FOOD! We all missed cereal and fruit and vegetables and such, and at the hotel, they had all of that so we all stocked up in our bags for the next couple of days haha. It was such a great weekend and so good seeing everyone again!