Bring it on, San Francisco!

by Alissa Charvonia
Bay Area Mitzvah Corps, Participant
Ventura, California

“Let’s hang out this summer!”

San Francisco

“Okay, how does August sound?”

That dialogue has been recurring in conversations with my friends this week.  My best friend came over to help me pack.  He kept asking if I was excited to leave, or nervous, or just plain busy.  I thought about it as I attempted to cram yet another sweatshirt into my suitcase.  “Well,” I said, “You know how I always feel after I go to a NFTY event?  How I always talk about how I made friends, we learned a lot, and somehow made a difference?  I think that’s how I’m expecting to feel after this.”

I’ve spent the past week packing, cleaning my room, making sure I’ve exchanged summer addresses with all of my friends, and making sure all of my horses are taken care of.  I’ve added new BAMC friends over Facebook, discussed packing woes, and added so much music onto my mp3 player at once that I’m surprised it hasn’t exploded. 

I’m looking forward to a lot of things.  I can’t wait to meet new people, and really get to know them.  I’ve always liked the city of San Fransisco, and I’m excited to get to know my way around it.  As someone that never attended sleepaway camps as a kid, I’m excited to spend a whole three and a half weeks away from home, with other Jewish teens.  Social action has always been “my thing”,and I’m ready to dig into it with the new people I meet!  It’s been a really hectic week leading up to the day I arrive, but I still can’t wait for it to be time to go already!  I’m ready for new experiences, new people, and great memories!  Bring the fog, bring the sun, bring the warm, bring the cold, San Fransisco, here we come! 

-Alissa Charvonia