Day 1 & 2: San Francisco and Orientation (5/19 & 5/20)

After pulling an all-nighter trying to get packed and get my nerves in order, my parents dropped me off in Charlotte, North Carolina for my flight across the country.  During the layover I had the opportunity to meet one of my I-CAL teammates, Daniel, who attends North Carolina State University.  Once we landed in San Francisco we figured that sight-seeing would be our next step.  Sadly, we did not realize that there were two hotels with the exact same name.  Therefore, we originally went to the wrong side of town.  Eventually, we made it to the correct hotel, got settled, and were off to explore the city.

Trying to figure out where to go next!

Without a true plan in mind, we took the Bart (underground railway system for San Francisco) and began walking toward Fisherman's Warf.  We hoped to see the warf, the Bay Bridge, and after talking to a local, to visit "Little Italy."  Although we never made it to the bridge (it just kept getting further, and further away!), we had a great time getting "ticketed" (not legitimate, our tickets were stickers), exploring life around Fisherman's Warf, and making our way to "Little Italy" with the help of Daniel's new I-Phone for a great dinner.  After getting back to the hotel, I got to meet Bethany M. my roommate, who attends Missouri State.  We got ready for a long day of orientation and travel the next day.

Day two finally gave us all the opportunity to meet all of our team members.  The twelve teammates were from all over!  The team was as follows:

Daniel: North Carolina State University

McKenzie: University of Wisconsin-River Falls

Breanne: University of Missouri-Columbia

Nellie: Kansas State

Karl: Iowa State University

Margery: University of California- Davis

Bethany M.: Missouri State University

Bethany O.: Iowa State University

Mathias: University of Minnesota- Twin Citites

Edward: University of California-Davis

Shasta: Virginia Tech

Sarah: University of California-Davis

During orientation we covered many topics during orientation from getting to know one another, to the industries we will learn more about in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore.  Ann, who is from the U.S. Grains Council and attended the trip with us, gave us overviews of the purpose of the U.S. Grains Council and The Grains Foundation.  In a nutshell, the U.S. Grains Council is a non-profit organization that focuses on increasing U.S. trade internationally in whole and processed barley, corn, and sorghum.  The Grains Foundation is like the Council's support system.  Both, help to make I-CAL possible.  All team members had prepared a presentation about a given topic, related to something that we would encounter on our trip.  Topics varied from Malaysian Agriculture Overviews, to Palm Oil Industry, to the Culture of Southeast Asia.  The presentations made us more comfortable with what we were going to experience in these nations.  We obviously covered what the expectations were of us during and after the trip, along with answering any other questions.  

Ann, giving us the mission of The Grains Foundation

The day was finished up with a last minute Target trip and our last American meal for two weeks.  It was a great time to bond and get refreshed before our 14 hour flight or so the following morning at 1:20 AM.

Although I was very nervous before the initial journey to California, sight-seeing and orientation made me more comfortable about what to expect.  We learned a lot in short amount of time, that was to be our foundation of the wave of knowledge we were to gain over the next few weeks.  It was only the beginning...

Keep following to hear about our long flight, layover in Singapore, and our first night in Vietnam!