Announcement Day

I woke up that day not knowing what to expect.
I don’t think it had really sunk in that I would be finding out which country I would be in a year from now, that day.

I was so sure I would be sent to somewhere in South America.
The country list was:

• Estonia
• Sweden
• Finland
• Denmark
• Switzerland
• Austria
• France
• Brazil
• Venezuela
• Chile
• Ecuador
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Thailand
• South Korea
• Japan

That’s quite an impressive list.
I’ll skip all the boring bits…
I was having trouble opening my letter, so that added to the suspense. I took out my letter, and unfolded it. There wasn’t much reading to do since ESTONIA was bolded right in the centre of the page. I was not expecting Estonia, AT ALL. Mari, my pen pal in Estonia, was the first thing I thought of when I saw it. This whole though process happened really quickly, and the thought of Mari was already in my mind when I announced that I would be spending a year in Estonia to all of my fellow outbounds, their families, my family, and the Rotarians.
Only after a month has it really sunk in. I AM GOING TO BE IN ESTONIA AT THIS TIME NEXT YEAR. In fact, I’m going to be in Estonia in less that 6 months.
Here’s a brief little summary of how I know Mari. I started exchanging “letters” (emails, but more like letters without the envelope) with Mari in the summer of 2011. We eventually started to Skype (Estonian btw.), but still wrote letters to one another. I didn’t even know I would be applying for the RYE at that time. Even when I had applied for the program, Estonia wasn’t on the list. Estonia was added to the list later on in the process, and I wasn’t allowed to say which country I wanted to go to. The fact that the Rotarians felt that I would be suited for Estonia, is beyond incredible.

I found out later in the week that I will be staying in Tallinn, the capital city! Coincidentally, the same city as Mari! :D
I am so fortunate, not only for being sent to Estonia, but for the whole experience that has already begun.
If you would like to see my vlog on announcement day you can click any part of this sentence.