It has been over a month since I last wrote, and for good reason – after the first webinar, I didn’t get much information. On the other hand, some of the other Chinese summer finalists (on different programs) had already gotten visa and language preparation materials, so us Chengdu kids were all a bit worried about the radio silence. Of course, AFS came through, and we’ve been getting quite a bit of stuff these past few weeks. Alright, let’s dive into the action.
The first bit of NSLI-Y information we got after the webinar was a quiz disguised as a survey. Okay, so I guess it wasn’t really a quiz, but it did have a “trick” question about what costs NSLI-Y didn’t cover. I say it was a trick question because I’m pretty sure the answer was “all of the above” but it marked it as wrong anyways. Oh well. More importantly, the survey asked us about information relevant to getting a visa, like whether our parents have valid passports.
After that survey, I did get some follow up information since I am a “special case” (being born in China and all). Basically, that meant I would need to secure some extra documents – my Chinese passport and my adoption papers (which, by the way, took a lot of time and searching to find).
The next thing I got was about the regional orientation, which I’m pretty sure is AFS-exclusive. Essentially, it’s a one day event where you learn more about the study-abroad experience and get to meet some other people in the area travelling abroad with AFS. Since these orientations are organized by the regional AFS volunteers, people get information about them at different times (I think I was one of the earlier ones). Unfortunately, I couldn’t go to the in-person orientation because of logistics, so I’ll have to do the online version (which I haven’t gotten any information about yet).
Following that, we didn’t receive any more information for about two weeks, which I was kinda grateful for since I was preparing for finals. Finally, at the end of April, we had a country-specific webinar, which, as the name suggests, featured country-specific information. The webinar mainly included a Q&A with two past participants. They talked about their preparation for travelling abroad, dealing with cultural differences, and other topics along those lines. We also found out some even more useful information – like how there’s a haunted house and a tea shop close to the school. The AFS staff also assured us that more information was coming soon.
As promised, after that, we were flooded with NSLI-Y information. It started with an email about our language preparation program (which involves watching certain videos and doing a language learning program called Mango Languages). Soon after, we also got some nice advertising from AFS for our group chats on Facebook and WeChat (I’d say between the two of them, we have about 23 of the 30-something participants now).
Those of us who put that we had prior language experience got information about our pre-program OPI (oral proficiency interview). I haven’t taken mine yet, but from what I’ve heard, it’s essentially just having a conversation over the phone with the examiner in the target language. I have no confidence that I’ll get anything above Novice Low (the lowest possible evaluation), but maybe it will help me be less nervous for the post-program assessment.
Finally, we got our visa preparation instructions, which had information about the documents we needed to gather, the photo requirements, and so on. Speaking of which, the photo requirements for the visa application are surprisingly specific.
Anyways, that’s all of the information AFS has given us so far. However, a few other NSLI-Y things have happened in the past few weeks that I want to talk about. Firstly, something pretty strange happened to the Shanghai kids. Apparently, ACES (their implementing organization) had decided to move their program from Shanghai to Xi’an. That doesn’t seem too odd at first until you realize that there are already two other programs in Xi’an (one through ACES and another through American Councils). I know this entire situation didn’t really affect me, but I still thought it was weird.
The other thing that happened was a group chat with some of the other people on my program. We talked about AP exams, internet drama, and the weather (everyone’s favorite topic). Also apparently, we have two Andrews on program, so we’re gonna have to figure out how to differentiate them. Like I’ve said before, everyone seems really nice, and I’m really glad I decided to join the group chat. Still, I’ll warn you future NSLI-yers to be careful with group chats. Personally, I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with them, but I also know that there was some drama in another group chat (it was evidently bad enough that the NSLI staff put out a warning on Facebook). So, just be smart about things.
The countdown is at six weeks!
The Moonlight over the Bridge 
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