Possibilities

I’ve recently started a book called, “Komm, ich erzähl dir eine Geschichte“(Come, let me tell you a story) by Jorge Bucay (I technically got it a little while back, but my German was still too bad to really understand it, but now I can read it with a little bit of help from my dictionary) and it really got me thinking about the things that I limited myself to.

The book contains a series of short stories, and the first story, titled “Der Angekettete Elefant” (The Elephant in Chains) is about a psychiatrist telling his patient a story of when he was a little boy and loved the circus, especially the elephant. And in the story, the little boy wondered why the elephant doesn’t escape, because to the little boy, it is clear that the elephant is stronger than the stake that is holding it in place. Adults tell him it’s because the elephant is trained, but cannot answer his next question “if the elephant is trained, why chain him to a stake at all?” He found the answer to the question years later, and the answer is that the elephant had been chained to that stake since it was very little, and when it was little, it wasn’t strong enough to break free, and it tried and tried until it finally gave up. But when it grew up, it never went back to test its strength again.

The psychiatrist then related this story back to his patient, and told him that all of us are just like the elephant; we chain ourselves to countless stakes, “we live thinking "we can't", making mountains of things simply because once, a long time ago, when we were small, we tried to do something and couldn't. We do the same thing to ourselves that the elephant did, we etch into our minds this message: "I can't - I can't and I never will"”

“I can’t and I never will”

I’ve never really thought of myself as someone who has this message etched into my mind and I’ve never realist how subtle this message really is until I read this story and have been an exchange student for 4 months. As an exchange student, I have many opportunities to try things, old and new, simply because I’m in a different country and even the things I might have done before seem new because I’m experiencing them differently. And it really isn’t until I’ve branched out a little that I realized how much I limited myself to in the U.S., how many things I’ve told myself that I’m not going to try again because I didn’t like it or because I failed when I did it before, or because I simply thought it was impossible for me to enjoy it or succeed. I, like the elephant, have the thought “I can’t and I never will,” but unlike the elephant, I have the ability to change that thought into “I couldn’t, but I might.”

And I think everyone has this ability, so if you think that you will never be able to study abroad (or any other thing, but right here I'm trying to convince you to apply to the program if you want to, but simply think that you aren't able to) because your parents wouldn’t ever let you, or because of the cost of studying abroad or some other reasons. Think again. Or at the least, try, and if you’ve tried before, try again.  Applying to the CBYX program is a great way to leave the “I can’t and I never will” mindset into “I couldn’t (or haven’t), but I might.” It’s never too late to try (well, before the deadline anyways)  

For those that have already started their applications or submitted their applications, I wish you guys the best luck in getting them done and making finalist! Just keep in mind that if you do make finalist and come to Germany, you will having some of the best times of your life!

And for my other readers, I wish you guys the best luck in freeing yourselves from various other stakes that might be holding you guys back :)

Dec 1st

Sorry for not updating in a while, things came up and I never got to finish the post I was writing. Just a quick summary of things that happened, first, I went to Frankfurt and had Chipotle!! It was soo good, the best burrito I had in a while (I really miss queso though). Then, I changed host families. I have to be honest and say that my last host family just was not a good fit for me. There weren’t anything wrong with them or me, but there are billions of people on earth, of course we’re going to meet people that we don’t get along well with. It would be impossible to like everyone you meet. But I just want to impress that communication is super important, one of the reasons we didn’t work out is because when I try to communicate, they misunderstand, and they either don’t communicate with me or I don’t understand what they are trying to tell me (they would say it in a way that is not clear because they don’t want to hurt my feelings or sound critical).

But I have to say that I still learn a lot from them and am very grateful that they were willing to host me for the time that they did. And without them, I would never have met my host family now, so it really was a blessing in disguise. I ended up living with my local coordinator for almost two weeks before moving to my new host family, and I just want to say that having a great local coordinator makes life so much easier. So for future participants, I would recommend that you establish good communication with your local coordinator as soon as you get to your host family.

Now that I’m at my new host family, I feel more at home in a week than I did at my last host family in two months. And even though I am learning much more German and enjoying myself more, I wouldn’t trade the time I spent with my old host family for anything, because it was that experience that made me a better person, and helps me better appreciate my new host family. This couple of months had been hard for me, but again, I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world, because they made me a stronger, more appreciative, and open-minded person. My mom always used to tell me that we wouldn’t be able to really appreciate the good things in life without the hard things that help us grow, and that’s why we have stumbling blocks that slows us down so we can really look around and be grateful for what we have, and not always focus on what we want or are missing.

I’m only 4 months into this exchange year and I’ve already learned so much and met so many wonderful people. I cannot imagine what else I could learn and how many other people I can meet because the possibilities are limitless. And that’s why, if you’re hesitating about whether or not to apply to the CBYX program, I would tell you straight up that you’re missing a once-in-a-life-time opportunity if you don’t even apply. You never know what life could bring. I didn’t know that I would be in Germany and having the time of my life now at this exact time last year, but I had hope then that I would be, so I took the time to apply to the CBYX program, and I have not yet regretted where I ended up being. So act now!

Schloss Neuschwanstein

Schloss Neuschwanstein was THE castle that I’ve definitely wanted to see in Germany (I mean, I only made it my main blog photo…) and I finally got to see it on October 10^th 2014!!!! After this post I’m going to change my blog photo to the one I took when I was there with me in it, lol)

I actually got to see Schloss Neuschwanstein as part of the Munich tour, at first I decided not to go because it was quite a bit extra, but changed my mind in Munich, and it was definitely worth the money. Not only did I get to see Schloss Neuschwanstein, as part of the castle tour we actually saw Schloss Linderhof also. We also stopped in a town called Passionsspieldorf Oberammergau on the way to Neuschwanstein. The town is famous for its Passion Plays and also fairy tale houses.

Schloss Linderhof was very beautiful also, but it was a lot smaller and a lot more ornamented on the inside than Schloss Neuschwanstein. We weren’t allowed to take photos of the inside of the castle, but I did buy postcards with pictures of the inside to remember what I see J ) Once we got to Schloss Neuschwanstein, hiking up the hill was probably our biggest challenge. But all is well cause we stopped half way up to eat. After the tour inside Schloss Neuschwanstein, we (Lyndee, Maygen and I) went up to Marien Bridge to take pictures (this is where people take pictures most of the time) 

Pictures:

Schloss Linderhof

A Fairy Tale painted house

Side view of Schloss Neuschwanstein

Schloss Neuschwanstein (back view)

The view from behind Schloss Neuschwanstein 

Schloss Neuschwanstein side view from Marien Bridge 

Front view of Schloss Neuschwanstein 

Schloss Hohenschwangau

Side view of Schloss Neuschwanstein from Marien Bridge!

München (Munich)

     I think a new thing Experiment e.V. (German partner with CIEE) is currently trying is having touring trips in major German cities for its exchange students in Germany. Everyone was invited to attend a 4-day-3-night trip to München (or Munich), but only 20 of us decided to attend (the trip was on the slightly expensive side, but I thought it was very worth it).

     I got to München HBF on Wednesday (Oct. 8th… I know, this post is very late, will explain later) and I was a hour early, so I just went around the HBF looking at the little shops and the book shops, then I discover two CBYXers were at the Starbucks, so I went and joined them and had a nice talk before we had to go to the meeting spot. Then!!! I discovered that Sarah (the teamer from language camp) was one of our teamers in München!!! I was super excited to see her again (and now that I’m writing about her, I remembered that I haven’t contacted her yet.. ops)

     We then went to the hostel that we will be staying at for the next few days and had a nice German dinner (Spätzle, I got the vege version though, they ran out of meat…) then had get to know you activities since not all the people there knew each other (there were like 8-9 CBYXers though). After that we had time to unpack and get the bed sheets, etc.

     The next day, we all had breakfast, got our bus tickets and maps and headed out to München City center. We saw Marienplatz first, then had a guided tour through the main city. We learned about the origin of the city (monks lived here, grew because of salt export), saw St. Peter’s tower, Hofbräuhaus, Frauenkirche and the marketplace. After the tour we had free time for lunch, and Charlotte, Lyndee, Olivia, Maygen and I decided to go to the Hard Rock Café for lunch and because they wanted to buy a shirt. But… we forgot that in Germany, the servers take their time with the order, and the food takes its time to arrive cause most of the time if Germans go out to eat, they spend a couple of hours talking and eating, but we didn’t have a couple of hours, we had about one hour to for eating, but we didn’t get our food until 5 mins before we had to leave, so we had to wolf down our food (we also felt bad about confirming American Stereotypes instead of getting rid of them).

     Then we got to go to the Deutsches Museum. I think any other time I would have enjoyed the Museum, but by the time we got there, I was already a little exhausted from all the walking (and because we went to bed really late but woke up really early) I mainly sat in one of the exhibitions and stayed there most of the time. The museum is a science museum though, so a lot of the stuff you really need to have some knowledge about the topic to find it interesting.

     After the Deutsches Museum we went to see the Parliament building, then had free time for dinner. We actually got to meet up with another CBYXer that lives in the area (Kali) and we went to a couple of shops (one of the friends got two dirndl, which is a traditional German dress) then got some food (well, I got an Ice Shake... haha no real food for me) 

Pictures:

Marienplatz

Devil's Foot inside of Frauenkirche

no explanation needed ;)

Carbon car inside of Deutsches Museum

Deutsches Museum from a distance

Parliament Building (I think)

Marienplatz

My Chocolate Ice Shake in Munich! (& Olivia)

Holiday Park, Laser Tagging and my first non-alcoholic CocktailSp

So the reason I haven’t updated in a while- I really haven’t had much time between school, learning German and trying to integrate with my host family. But I have done some fun things I would like to mention. My host family and I and another family went to Holiday Park last Saturday, it wasn’t much different from the last time I went, but I did try a couple new rides (water rides) and it was relaxing and fun. Then, I went with my neighbor and her friends to a nearby laser tagging range to play some laser tagging! I’ve never played laser tagging before so it was really exciting for me to try.

After we drove to the address provided on the website (for the laser tagging place), we actually had to search around to find the right building. We were actually the only ones at the time that wanted to play, so instead of playing in teams, we all played against each other (there were 4 of us total). We got our vest and gun and were told that we have 99 lives total, and there’s only three places that you can hit and “kill” someone (two in the front, close to the shoulder blades and one in the back (dead center)) and that after you lost a life, you have 5 seconds of immunity that gives you the chance to run and hide.

We ended up playing two sessions (one session is 20 minutes) and it was a lot of fun. But a little too much for me, I think I would do it again, but would have to call it quits after 1 session next time. By the end of the 2^nd session I was ready for it to end (I was sweating and nervous that someone’s going to pop out of nowhere and kill me (which actually happened several times already)) It was a great relief for me when I notice that my gun stopped working (only happens when the session ends) and I walked to the entrance of the range to meet my friends. It was really no surprise for me that I was the lowest scoring one out of the four of us, although I did improve significantly after the first round.

Then… (dramatic music) we decided to go to McDonald’s first to eat (which was actually the first time I had McDonald’s since coming to Germany) because the Enchilada place/bar/Mexican restaurant is pretty expensive and I think they wanted to spend money on cocktails instead of food, which is understandable. So I got my first Big Mac in Germany, and it was sooo delicious (although it was a little dry). I was actually kinda glad to eat a McDonald’s too because a couple days ago I was thinking that I really miss American food, and American food was what I got at McDonald’s (well, sort of…) So after dinner, we all drove to the Enchilada place to actually meet two other people and I got my first non-alcoholic cocktail! I have no idea why I waited so long to get one, it was really delicious (basically awfully good mixed juice that you can’t really get anywhere else). I was really surprised that most of the people I was with actually got a non-alcoholic beverage too (I think Germans are much more responsible when they’re the designated driver, probably because driver license actually costs a small fortune).

Spring Fever

All in all, I had a very good time, even though I got home pretty late and had to wake up at 7 to go to church… lol  

First week of German School!

Sorry about not updating in a while, but I just started school here in Germany, and it’s a lot more work than I previously anticipated (so I haven’t had time to sit down and write a blog post). But, today I have one of my short days, so I have a couple hours of to do what I want instead of homework. First of all, I want to say that even though school has been a lot of work (translating mainly, since my German vocab is pretty limited), my class mates had been super welcoming and helpful, and I really love school. It’s really one of the things I enjoy the most out of my day (which sounds a little weird… but it is what it is). I have been placed in the 10^th grade so all my class mates are younger than me (but that really doesn’t bother me at all) and the good thing about that is that I’ve taken most of the classes before in English, so it’s not like I’m trying to learn new material in another language (except in politics, but more on that later).

My weekly schedule (just in case you were wondering)

	M	Tu	W	Th	F
1	Chem	Bio	Spanish	Physics	French
2	Politics	French	Spanish	English	Math
3	English	Art	Math	German	Spanish
4	German	Art	History	German	Spanish
5	Math	Geography	German	Sport	Religion
6	Religion	Music	English	Sport	Music
7	Choir	Lunch break		Lunch break
8		Math		Politics
9		Physics		Bio
10		Chem		French
11				History

I have school till 4:20 on Tuesdays and 5:10 on Thursdays so I have to eat lunch at school, and this has led me into trying some new yummy food! A couple of my classmates would always take me to the bakery or the cafeteria (where the food is actually pretty good and they sell bread and donuts and crepes) or the Dönner shop. Oh, I forgot to say that I don’t have to take French, because all my classmates had 6 years of French already, and there’s no way I could learn 6 years of materials in 1 year, so instead I have extra German lessons, which is really helpful because I really need to learn German grammar.

I have to take Chemistry, Physics and Biology at the same time though, and I have to be honest and say that I’ve forgotten a lot, so I’m glad I got to do some review. Math is really easy (we were talking about functions… so it’s like what I did in 8^th grade), English and Geography are both not very challenging (both I have in English, Geography is only once a week though, which is kinda sad) but really helps my German because I have vocab in German and English. 

Politics is really challenging because the teacher decided to do an experiment. The politics teacher is also our German teacher, so he decided to do politics instead of German for 2 weeks, then all German and no politics for 4 weeks. This had made the class move super fast, and since my German vocab knowledge does not extend to politics, I have to literally translate every word. So it’s hard to keep up. History is by far the most challenging for me because it’s boring… (the teacher is very old, and the textbook hard to read (my classmates told me that they have a hard time reading the textbook too)) I might switch out of that class to an English history class, but I’m not sure if I want to do that yet (since I’ll be with 9^th graders, I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea because then I would have English and German history vocab lists instead of having to translate everything myself)

But aside from school- I also hanged out with some friends last Friday in Mannheim, which was super fun and I had some really good curry! Forgot to take pictures though… will have to do that later. Then on Saturday I went on a biking trip with my host family and their friends, 11 people in total, and I expected it to be an hour of biking and then food. But I was wrong, it was so hard to get to the place we wanted because we literally had to climb a mountain (it was easy going down, but def wasn’t going up) on a bike. It was fun overall though, got to watch my host sisters play mini golf on stone (I didn’t know that was a thing) and then we went to a little carnival on Sunday and I finally had some waffles (I missed them).

All in all, life is pretty good here in Germany, and I’m learning a lot, having lots of fun, and sleeping a lot. Until next time!   

German Wedding!

     So last Saturday (September 6^th) I got to attend a German Wedding! It was the wedding of my host mom’s cousin (I feel like a lot of German families are much closer (relationship) because they all live pretty close to each other). First, the couple had a pretty traditional German Catholic Wedding at a church. (I had to stand several times and kneel too… may I say that the benches were super uncomfortable. I made the joke that the benches are the reason why Germans don’t go to church often (and I think my host parents agreed, lol) then it was the reception! The food was awesome, lots of traditional German food :)

     Oh, I forgot to add that I didn’t sit with my host family during the meal because the seating arrangements were done pretty early on and I think the people planning the wedding didn’t know that I was going to be there, so I ended up sitting with people I didn’t know. But, all is ok because the couple I ended up siting with actual knew really good English and we had a very good conversation during the meal, I even talked a little bit in German! The reception started at 5:30 p.m. and lasted throughout the night, my host parents and I went home at about 2:30 a.m., and there were still people there when we left.   

     The Party was very fun, they had a band there that played music that I didn’t really know but they did sing “Country Roads” and Atemlos, which made up a little bit for the other songs. For the rest of the time I mainly played with the kids (soccer in a dress and dress shoes) since there really weren’t people there my age (I did have a conversation with a guy about environmental science and renewable energy (in English) that was very interesting). All in all the wedding was very fun and educational and I am really glad to be able to attend. (there are no pictures because it’s not my wedding and I didn’t ask for permission to post the pictures)

France!Holiday Park!

France!

          Before you ask, no, I didn’t go to Paris (my brother’s first reaction when I told him), I went to Strasbourg. Strasbourg is one of the biggest French cities near where I live in Germany and my family had told me before that we were going to visit France, but I never caught the name of the place they said. So I was really surprised when I walked down the stairs one morning and my host mom told me that we were going to Strasbourg. (In my head I was thinking, Strasbourg, what Strasbourg?) Then she spared me asking and said it’s in France. The drive was about an hour to an hour and a half, it wasn’t bad at all. The thing that really surprised me was how much the border between France and Germany resembles the border between two states in the U.S. There was no border patrol, and you didn’t have to stop, it was just a “Welcome to France” sign, sort of like a “Welcome to Indiana” sign that I see pretty often at home…

         There were a ton of tourists in Strasbourg (and according to my host parents they were mostly Germans) so we didn’t do a boat tour (it was also pretty hot, which was really unusual) but we did visit the cathedral and palace (now two museums) and walked along the river. And we got Icecream! It was good :)

The Cathedral

The River

The Palace

River

Opera

Holiday Park!

            Basically it’s really similar to Holiday World except there are no Holiday themed rides… I think it literally means a park you go on when it’s holiday, and not that the park has holiday themed areas like Holiday World back in the U.S. It was a lot of fun (and my host dad got me an unlimited pass for the year). I went on two adult rides, then since I have a 3 year-old host sister, we went to the kid section of the park, and it was surprisingly fun! I mean I never really enjoy rollercoasters and scary rides all that much, so the kid park was sort of perfect. You get to have a pretty view and have a little bit of thrill. 

The shops inside

The Entrance

Arriving in Oberhausen-Rheinhausen

So, Host Family!

           The Journey finally begins! Even though I felt like I learned a lot at language camp, I have to be honest and say that my German speaking skills really didn’t improve too much simply because I was still speaking English all the time. So I’m excited to finally be able to listen to German all the time and also try to speak some German with my host family. Most of you know that I will be with my welcoming host family for the first 10 days of my stay in Oberhausen-Rheinhausen because my permanent host family is on vocation.

So on Saturday, August 16^th, I started my journey on a train from Bad Laasphe to Marburg, then rode the IC from Marburg to Frankfurt and then the ICE from Frankfurt to Mannheim, where my host family was going to pick me up. I was lucky cause there were 3 other people going to same way as me, three of us ended in Mannheim (including me) so I wasn’t alone. The train stations at Frankfurt and Mannheim were a little intimidating since they were so huge, but luckily I didn’t get lost and found my host family fairly quickly J

           I’ve been at my welcoming host family for 6 days now, and everything has been wonderful! I’ll be sad to leave them next week, but I know I’ll see them again since Julitta(my welcoming host mom) is going to be my local coordinator, so I’ll at least have one meeting with her per month  and because I’m only moving 5 minutes away… I’m also super excited to meet my permanent host family, I’ve been told that their English aren’t as good, so I’ll have to practice my German even more there (everyone in my welcoming host family can speak very good English) which is good because a lot of times I have to be forced into learning(since I’m lazy)

            Fun things- I got to visit Speyer, which has a beautiful Cathedral, and the 2^nd largest in German (I’ve been told), I got to go up the tower, so I have some awesome pictures. I also had some icecream there, and I have to say that it was very good, even though it wasn’t as sweet as the icecream in the U.S.. I also got to go to my first German Cinema! So the Germans have this very interesting thing call “sneak preview” which you buy a ticket a day beforehand but you don’t know what movie you’re watching until you get there. So I did this with my host siblings and 2 of their friends. The movie ended up being “Guardians of the Galaxy” in German, so I really didn’t understand what was being said but I kinda got the gist of the story by body language, the language was very good though. So this was basically my first week at the Host family’s house. It really has been an interesting experience, especially with eating so much bread (lol, I eat a ton of rice at home) and being able to visit places by bike! 

First time riding a bike in 7+ years

View on one of the towers of the Cathedral in Speyer

Front view of Cathedral in Speyer

          I also got to visit another town and explore it by myself and I found an Asian Market:

            Then I got to go with my host mom and brothers to another town for icecream (sorry, too many town and I don't remember how to spell most of them... 

Far view of the Castle

My Icecream

Close view of the Castle

Random picture

Marburg(ridiculouslyx2 late)

                  First of all I just want to say that language camp has been awesome so far! I’m learning so much. My brain has never felt so stuffed after a 3 hour lesson at any other time in my entire life. I’m still not confident in my ability to talk to native Germans in German, but I think I’m starting to get a hang of the language (pronunciation is the hardest for me…). The activities that we had so far were not only fun, but also enlightening. They really have helped me start discovering who I am right now and who I want to become. The activities also drilled the phrase, “It’s not right or wrong, it’s just different” into my mind. I’m not with my host family yet and am at a camp with 49 other Americans and 10 German (teachers and teamers), so I really haven’t experience this phrase yet. I’m still in my little American bubble, and it would be interesting to see how different I am compared to my host family and how I would adapt.

                 But, on to fun things: We went to Marburg on Saturday(August 9^th)!! Marburg is a bigger town than Bad Laasphe and had a lot more to offer in terms of shopping options. We were all super excited to finally go see a different part of Germany since the only town we’ve been to together is Bad Laasphe. This is also the first time I rode the train in Europe! It really wasn’t hard since someone already got our tickets for us, so we just had to show up at the train station on the right platform. Both of the train stations we boarded on were pretty small, but the one in Marburg had a McDonald’s in it (it was the first McDonald’s I saw in Germany). (this is really late because I haven't have fast internet to upload the pictures) 

The Cathedral in Marburg

The Castle in Marburg

Deutschland!!!

     !Finally in Germany!

It’s hard to believe that summer had flown by so quickly and it’s actually July 26, the day I leave for Germany. It’s so crazy that the week before I was still in Louisville, but now I’m actually boarding the plane to Frankfurt, Germany. I arrived at the airport with the rest of the group at around one o’clock in the afternoon even though our plane doesn’t board till 4:30p.m., checking in and going through security took a while, but we still had 2 hours to explore the airport once we found our gate. I was assigned seat 25B, which sucked a little cause it’s the middle seat, which means that every time I have to pee the person on the outside had to get up and unfortunately the person that end up getting the aisle seat wasn’t someone I actually know, so I was kinda awkward to get up so I just tried to not drink that much liquid.

My flight left at 5:15 p.m. and it’s a 7½ hour plane-ride, so we arrived at Frankfurt at 7 in the morning since German is 6 hours ahead of us. I was planning to watch movies the whole eight hours, but for some reason I felt really sleepy before the plane even took off, so I actually slept five/six hours on the plane, which really helped with the jet lag. The bus ride from Frankfurt to Bad Laasphe was not very interesting, there were a lot of trees and it actually kinda felt like I was still in Louisville. The villages we saw on the way quickly changed that impression (all the towns/villages are super cute!)

After we finally arrived at Bad Laasphe, we settled into our rooms, and had brunch. It was an interesting meal, I’ve probably not had any of the food before, they all tasted pretty decent, but I especially like the potatoes they served (did I mention that I got to eat at the castle?). Then we were allowed a power-nap from 12-3p.m. (most people showered then napped so it was really more like a 2 hour nap). Then we got to explore the town, our leaders took us down to the local village (we weren’t able to shop because most shops were closed on Sundays, which was a really cool difference from the U.S.) the only thing was that I wasn’t expecting the hill to be that treacherous, so I wore flip-flops and had no water with me, by the time we got back to the school, I was ready to collapse. I felt a lot better once I had water, and a ton better once I had dinner, but both my feet got blisters on them, and it really hurts to walk.

Schloss Wittgenstein (Castle I'm staying at)

A little Garden in Town

Far View of Town

We’ve been told that classes go from 9-12:15 every weekday and curfew is 10 on school nights and midnight on weekends. And tomorrow(Monday/first day) we have breakfast at 8:30 and evaluations at 9 a.m. (I’m going to be in the beginner, beginner class because I don’t know any German… I’m really looking forward to camp, and will probably only post once a week or once every two weeks from now since internet’s not very reliable and I’m really trying to learn German so typing long posts in English is a little counterproductive. I also don’t want to spoil anything for the people that might want to apply to this program next year (language camp is really fun and the classes are very useful and definitely not boring and that’s basically all you have to know) 

Host Family!!

            It’s really funny how good news always comes as a surprise even if I’ve been expecting them. And the day I didn’t check my email for possible updates about my host family is the day I receive them. I was actually slowly eating my breakfast and reading at the same time when my mom stood at the top of the stairs and asked me if I got an email about my host family. And since she had gotten a previous email confused as my host family placement, I kinda just looked at her and said, “If you’re talking about the email from a couple days ago, then no.” She then impatiently said, “no, I mean the one that I just received…” and she went on stating facts about my permanent host family. By that time, I was sprinting up the stairs, heading straight to my laptop, frantically trying to pull up my email (which ironically is pulled up already every other day) to see if I really have gotten my host family info. And guess what? I did. And luckily I actually have two host families, one is my welcoming family since my permanent host family is going to be on vocation when I get there, and the other is the one that I will be living with for the duration of my stay in Germany.

            I’m staying at a place call Oberhausen-Rheinhausen, which consists of two little villages. Oberhausen is where my permanent host family lives, and Rheinhausen, is where my welcoming family lives. Rheinhausen is directly at the Rhein-River (Rhine), and they are both near Speyer , Heidelberg and Mannheim. The funny thing is that my welcoming host mom is actually my local coordinator too, so it’s awesome that I’ll get to know her better during those 10 days that I’ll be staying with her. And there’s also the fact that my permanent host family has 2 daughters age 11 and 3, and my welcoming family has children that are slightly older than me, so it’s a good mix. I was kinda hoping that I would have a host sister around my age so I can just follow her around in school and hang around her friends, but I can see how that would have let me become very complacent and basically lazy, so I’m a little glad that I have to venture out a little (not too much because I think my host sister goes to the same secondary school as me so we’ll go to school together, we just won’t have the same classes.)

            I didn’t find out where I’ll be studying initially when I received my host family placement, however, when I skyped Julitta(local coordinator&host mom) she told me that I’ll most likely be going to the Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Gymnasium in Mannheim, where my host sister attends. And I sincerely hope that’s where I’ll go, cause Bach is my favorite composer, and the opportunity to study at a school that’s named after him is awesome! I’m super excited to be able to find out where I’ll be staying before I leave for DC on the 24^th of this month, since I was able to buy some gifts for both my host families (I originally only have one set of gifts) and I’m super grateful for this opportunity and definitely grateful for both my host families for choosing my as their host daughter!

            Now I just have to learn German…

Interesting Read: Gap Year

I found this little article on why one might consider/want to take a gap year and the benefits, you guys can take a look if you want :)

                                 Why Your High School Senior Should Take a Gap Year

Note to Future Applicants :)

            Since I’m not in Germany yet, nor am I in school, I really have nothing else to do (except earn money, but that’s beside the point) so I decided to write a little note to you future applicants. I should probably introduce myself too :) My name is Yu-Jing Cheng, but I go by Sarah. Most Americans have a hard time saying my name correctly, but I think the Germans would get my name correct because I've been studying a little bit of German on my own (I've never taken German at school, or studied it anywhere. I basically knew no German when I applied for this scholarship) and one of the German alphabets sort of sound like the correct pronunciation for the "Y" in my name. I'm super excited to finally have people pronounce my name correctly! Btw, I'm from Taiwan, but currently live in Louisville Kentucky. I just graduated duPont Manual High School so I'll actually be going on a gap year instead of doing one of my years in high school abroad. 

            Many people have already asked me the big question: Why? Why would I give up a full ride at the college of my choice, and instead chose to go to Germany? Why would I “waste” a year of my life abroad instead of going to a prestigious college and getting the education I need for my future career? Why would I want to do one more year of high school? Why Germany?

            These are all legitimate questions. But they’re really hard for me to give a very sophisticated response(which a lot of people seem to expect) because my answer is really personal and also pretty simple: it’s just that it has always been one of my dreams/goals. I’ve always dreamed to travel the world and to become a polyglot and I truly believe that this scholarship (Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange) will help me fulfil my dreams. It wouldn’t completely fulfil my dreams, but it would be one of the first steps I take in achieving my goals/dreams. And if any of you reading this post are agreeing to what I’m saying, then perhaps CBYX is the program for you and you should apply!

            A note about applying: you can apply to this program pretty much all throughout high school. And I really recommend that (if you’re a student) you talk to your parents about it first. If they say that they will not let you go even if you get in, then maybe you should rethink your decision to apply because the application process is long and a lot of work, and it really might be a waste of time and effort if you end up not being able to go anyways(I didn’t follow my own advice, but my parents have always let me do whatever I wanted to as long as I do my part first, and it wasn’t something immoral. I did talk to them after I found out that I made semi-finalist though(don’t recommend for underclassmen cause your parents could really help you a lot on your paper application)).

If you are not a graduating senior when you’re applying to this program (then I’m talking to you right now):

            -make sure you talk to your counselors about transferring credits, because you might have to redo a year of high school here if the credits you earn in Germany don’t transfer (which might change your(or your parent’s) mind about applying) (also realize that the grades you get in Germany might not be stellar since you’ll be studying in a language that you’re most likely not proficient in and that your GPA might suffer. However, online classes might be available at your school)

            -If you have a lot of leadership positions that you/your parents wouldn’t want you to give up, then you might consider applying later, you always have the chance of going to Germany on a gap year.

            -Realize that you might miss prom(junior/senior) and that your experience in Germany would be so different than the experiences your friends would have in the U.S.. It’s completely ok to feel lonely and be different, but just a thought.

If you are a graduating senior:

            -You might want to find out whether or not the college of your choice will defer for you. Most colleges will defer, but beware that scholarships often will not (will have to reapply for them when you come back)

            -This program might increase the chance of you getting into the college of your choice (although application period is around the same time for both) Many people have said that their gap year have helped them in getting into a more prestigious college(they reapplied after they got back or during their gap year). (this however shouldn’t be your priority or sole reason for applying, or your year in Germany would probably be pretty miserable because you’re not doing it for the right reasons)

            In my humble opinion, I really do believe that this program is worth redoing a year of high school, or losing a couple of leadership positions, or doing an extra year of high school, or having your GPA suffer a bit. But, my goals are different from many other people, and I respect everyone’s choice. I do think that if you’re already almost 100% sure that you will not be going even if you get in then you shouldn’t apply, because it really would be a big letdown and might decrease your desire to reapply. I also think that this opportunity is especially great for freshmen and seniors because they’re missing the least amount and benefiting the most (this is only my opinion). Why would I say that? Because they really aren’t missing anything important in high school (no prom, less leadership positions, less need to take ap classes online or having to take the test abroad), and studying abroad would probably help them discover themselves, their interests and likes/dislikes, so they can better take classes they know they will enjoy for the rest of high school/college.

            Sophomores and juniors, you guys will learn a lot too, but you will be doing your junior year or senior year abroad. And by that time, you will probably have clubs that you’re invested in, and classes for junior and senior year are really important for college apps. Not only that, if you’re a senior in Germany, you have to deal with college apps (you could write a lot of the essays in the summer but your essays would probably be better if you talk about your experience living abroad without your family, etc and how you’ve grown ) and that would take away time you could have spent with friends or your host family in Germany. 

            And juniors, you might be missing a whole year of academic achievements, medals for various clubs, etc that you can put on your college resume. Not that college is the most important thing in your life, but it is of relative importance, and your parents might place a lot more emphasis on it than you would. But “unfortunately” their opinions do matter, and don’t end up like some people I know, who got accepted, but their parents wouldn’t agree to let them go because they would have to redo a year of school (all the reasons above), etc. There’s a time and place for everything, and everyone’s situation is different.

            Why Germany? This actually is a very important question that all of you future applicants should think about. (hint, hint, might be an interview question) And really, I was lucky to have several college interviews before my CBYX interview, because I got the chance to practice and I knew myself a lot better after each college interview and by the time the CBYX interview came, only a couple of questions threw me off guard and this was one of them. I’ve never really given much thought to why I wanted to go to Germany. Is it because of its rich history? Its culture? Or is it because of the usefulness of its language? I really had to think about it during the interview, and for those of you (like me) who like to take their time thinking about their response, start thinking now!

            Oh wow… this was a long spill! (These are the things that I’ve been thinking about these past few months after the interview and after I found out that I made finalist and I think might be useful to any future applicant) But in all seriousness, I really hope that my post would sort of help you decide whether or not CBYX might be the right program for you at this time of your life. And if it isn’t, don’t be discouraged, you will always have other opportunities later (later in high school/ in college, etc) but if CBYX is for you and you’re excited about applying, good for you! I would be more than willing to help along the way and once I’m actually in Germany(cough, cough), I will be able to answer more questions about life in Germany, etc! Feel free to comment below and ask any questions, I will do my best to answer them.