Weihnachten/ Christmas

With Michael Bublé singing us carols, the lights on the tree shimmering, and the smell of lit candles and Rotkohl filling the air; I'd like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. 

I'll be posting a vlog entry about the differences between German and American Christmas and link you to it at the bottom of the page. But here on this lovely blog that y'all have been missing (hi dad), we're going to talk about the exchange student aspect of it all. 

First things first, a few weekends ago, I met up with my friend Isabel. This is a really great example of how small the world is. I met her in 2012 while she was on an exchange of her own in Bowling Green, and she spent half a year with us at Bowling Green High until Christmas came and she had to leave. Now, a year later, I've gotten to meet back up with her. Not only did I move to her country this year, but I moved about 15 minutes away from her. We live in neighboring towns. It's such a coincidence that of ALL cities in America, she was placed in BG and of all the places in Germany, I ended up a quick bus ride from her. So we figured we had to take advantage of that, and met up in Dusseldorf to see the Christmas markets. It was a great night, because we hadn't spent so much time together in BG so in a way, we were getting to know each other and it was a night so full of laughter that I went home with my stomach hurting. It was really nice getting to see her again, and we're hoping to meet up another time, maybe even in Hilden. :)

So, as an exchange student, of course Christmas is seen as a time that you're going to get a little homesick and sad. But as an exchange student in Germany? I don't think it's physically possible for me to be homesick during Christmas. I'm too busy learning all these new things about the culture, eating new foods, and laughing with my family. I do miss my dad, and I do hope he doesn't feel too alone this Christmas, but I wouldn't say I'm sad. No, definitely not sad. Germany is the best possible place to spend Christmas, y'all have no idea. My family decided to do a crafty Christmas this year, and it was perfect. Everything was so thoughtful. Some were funny (i made reinbeer for Jakob), some were delicious (basically everything Miriam made but SHE MADE ME NUTELLA <3), but all of them brought smiles and gave us new memories. Even Hundihund got a gift. We didn't get snow, but it was beautiful anyway. I feel very blessed that I've gotten to spend the holidays in this Christmas wonderland with my second family. I don't think I've ever felt quite so filled with love. Thank you all for taking me in, (Miriam and Sami especially for hand-picking me), and I hope everyone back in America has a blissful Christmas and a happy happy new year. 

Enjoy these photos of me with my lovely siblings. :)

For those of you who still aren't sure; Left to Right- Sarah, Zoë, Miriam

Jakob and I showing off his "reinbeer" that I gave him for Christmas

And now, here's the video:

http://youtu.be/3KKd-bqB0cY

Thanksgiving and Christmas Markets

Last Friday, I went to my first Weihnachtsmarkt. :)

It was in Mettmann, and it was exactly how I hoped it would be. Lights, decorations, and the smell of toasted almonds. I thought I was going alone, but I ran into a few of my friends in front of the stage and  spent the night dancing, singing, and enjoying the fact that Christmas has already begun here in good ol' Germany. Pictures are at the bottom. This weekend I'm going to one in Dusseldorf with my friend that I met while she was on her exchange year in America. Everything here has been fairly Christmas-y for a while, but now? Even my school has Christmas decorations! Germany is perfect. It's already pretty cold, but hopefully that means we'll have snow on Christmas. :) In all seriousness, it is so cold that I get brainfreeze from walking outside. I need a full-on-all-over-face-hat, and Miriam agrees. They say it'll get a lot colder and I'm debating hibernation. But hey, at least it's pretty!

Sunday was the first day of Advent. You know, like advent calendars with little doors and chocolate inside? Well apparently it's not JUST a countdown to Christmas. I'm still sort of confused on it, but I know that we have these daily presents that were brought to us by the "Christkind" and we open one every morning until Christmas. I'm actually gonna stop writing about this so that I can make a "German Christmas traditions" post. Sunday was also Thanksgiving for my family. Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here (obviously) so we didn't get out of school, so no one had time to cook all day on Thanksgiving day. Therefore, we figured we'd just move the date and call it German Thanksgiving. I found out that pecans are an exotic nut in Germany and are impossible to find, and fresh cranberries are also nowhere to be seen. BUT. My host dad is brilliant, and he grabbed some dried cranberries and told me that if I left them in water to boil, they'd come back to life. And whaddayaknow, once again, a father who is right. :) I used them to make my own cranberry sauce, and I also made my own stuffing from scratch. Oh, and my first ever turkey to cook on my own? About 15 pounds. Still amazed that I managed to cook this stuff without burning the house down! I will admit, my pumpkin soup did over boil and spill all over the stove top, but who cares. Big picture, y'all. It went so well, and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. 

Thanksgiving day itself was a mix of bad and good. Of course it brought on some homesickness and whatnot, but I also almost got hit by a careless driver and got lost walking home after going down the wrong street. On the bright side, during a break in art class, a friend came over and hugged me to make me feel better. I'm telling you, you can not understand the impact of one single hug on a day like Thanksgiving until you spend a week feeling alone in a foreign country and start to get a little homesick. It really does make a difference in your attitude. After getting home, I was so upset because of the almost accident, and then Miriam came out of the kitchen. "I have a present for you so you don't have to feel so homesick. There's no Thanksgiving things here but..." she says, as she pulls a candy cane from behind her back. I'm still amazed I managed not to cry right then and there over just how sweet of her that was. In all honesty, I could have let that day be a wave of awful emotions and a swell excuse to get wrapped up in homesickness, but there were also positive parts, people who reached out to me- I chose to focus on that. 

I am so thankful to have thoughtful people in my life that care this much. A gesture as simple as giving a candy cane, it absolutely made my day. I can't imagine my year with any other family, and I wouldn't want to. <3

That's enough for tonight. Sorry I don't post as often as planned, I'm a bum. 

Weihnachtsmarkt:

Thanksgiving:

And as I mentioned on Facebook, I'm trying out this whole vlog dealio. Link is below. Brendan, I left the end part in just so you could point and laugh at my stupidity. :) 

PS. Brendan is coming to visit later this month, so subscribe to my YouTube channel that the video is posted on to see our reunion in Germany!

Linklinklinkliiiiink>>> http://youtu.be/dptuv94jgm8

If for some reason, that link doesn't work, here's the one to my channel>> http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC842QUCtz6QNEaFrdaEqTXA

Oops

That basically sums up my stance on the whole "I haven't posted on my blog for almost a month now" deal.  But I must say, I do regret waiting so long. I'm sure I'll forget to put something now but LESSON LEARNED.

So, I left off right when we were about to go to Stuttgart. We stayed with my host mom's sister- okay pause-

Can I use names now? I've been talking about my family for long enough that people actually reading should know who I mean, right? I'll lay it out really quickly just in case... Adelheid= host mom, Sami= host dad, Jakob= host brother, Sarah= host sister (younger), Miriam= host sister(older), Simsim= host dog, and Pablo= host fish that I named. -okay unpause- 

In Stuttgart we were staying with Adelheid's sister and her two kids. It was really adorable because we told her 7 year old son that he had to speak actual German and not German gibberish while I was around because I am still learning the language, so then he started holding up his toys and telling me how to say their names. Stuff like ships, pirates, a farm. So cute. In Stuttgart I also found new foods I like, such as Grießbrei. Oh my goodness, so delicious. And we saw a comedian-singer-entertainer called Wenzel (I think. It was a month ago...) and I was excited that I understood enough to get to laugh along with the crowd. Like, really laugh. Not just laughing because other people are. :) we visited a few museums in Stuttgart, and I took a ton of photos that I'll have to post. One museum had a gnome drowning in chocolate and a BMW bike, and the other one had an umbrella you could play like a violin and a piano dresser. We spent a decent amount of time getting tea or coffee at different places around the city too. Another thing I'd like to point out about Germany, I cannot fathom why Starbucks even exists here. The little cafés where you seat yourself and they come over and the menus are in English and you order and then they don't understand you so your host mom has to say it in German and then the waitress goes like "ohhh, you meant_____" as if correcting your English but not because you speak English and you said it right but without a German accent so it was wrong, those places are the best! It's always delicious and even looks pretty. Plus, pretty much anything you order is served with a cookie and you really can't beat free cookies in my book. The hills in Stuttgart are so steep that riding up on the train feels like an ascending roller coaster. I'm not even exaggerating, you would have to be so in shape to live there and not have a car. We climbed a pretty big one and got a picture of the city, and of us girls in front of the view, I'll post that one. It was really beautiful while we were in Stuttgart, not too bright and fall colors everywhere. 

On Tuesday we (me, Sarah, and Adelheid) left Stuttgart, and Miriam stayed to do a week of working for her aunt. On our way home to Mettmann we stopped in Darmstadt to visit my best friend over here, Maria, and I got to spend a few hours walking around and eating ice cream with her, which was really really nice. 

The days in between that and our Stuttgart family coming to visit are sort of a blur. I know that it's worth saying that 1. I helped make Schnitzel for dinner one night. 2. I helped make AND ACTUALLY ATE OKAY lamb. Me. Zoë Grayson. I ate lamb. I think. That's what I remember them calling it.

The family we visited in Stuttgart came to visit use for a weekend or so when Miriam came back home. When they asked Johnny (the 7 year old) who he wanted to bring him to bed, he said "die Zoë weil sie ist die netteste" (which basically means Zoë because she's the nicest) and then he asked me to try to read the bedtime story to him and his sister and I tried but man, those kids laughed their butts off at my broken German trying to read a legitimate chapter book. So Miriam helped out and took over, and nearly put me to sleep as well. 

What else is worth mentioning...

SO MUCH, but there's so much of it that I just don't remember! I definitely need to do once a week posts or else I won't be able to look back on this and read to remember my time here. 

Hmmm. I finally got to start my online schooling, which I'm surprisingly happy about. Apparently too happy though, because when I wrote my plot summary and turned it in to my teacher, he emailed back saying I was doing much more than I needed to. The only things that matter are computer generated. 

Today is the first day of Karneval, which is also really exciting because it's one of those things that are so ridiculously German that you can't not be excited about. Plus I live really close to Cologne, and I think that's where my family goes for it, and that place is huge! Not to mention, Karneval coming along means that Weihnachtsmärkten are that much closer. Christmas in Germany, I can't wait.

Oh, speaking of Christmas- Brendan is coming to visit a little while after Christmas for a weekend, so I'll get to show him my pieces of Germany :) I'll also probably make him send y'all any Christmas gifts because I feel like it'd be cheaper on post than off. 

Well, I believe that's all I have for y'all. I'm sorry this one is so jumbled and lame. Shoving 4 weeks into one post is just not smart. I'll try to make the next one more enjoyable to read, :) bis später y'all!

Ps. I'm posting about my Köln visit tomorrow! 

Fountain in Stuttgart

(Left to right)

Sarah, Me, and Miriam taking a break after trekking up that hill. :)

And then just me being goofy with statues. Some things just don't change. 

Laughing at Yourself is Healthy :)

As an austauch, I make a lot of mistakes while speaking. Thankfully, everyone still knows what I'm saying most of the time, but that doesn't keep them from laughing about it. Of course, I laugh too, but I typically don't know why I'm laughing until someone explains. Any alumni austauch or person who has spent time abroad in general knows that the first quarter of your year is spent doing exactly that- laughing without having any idea why. And nodding, lots of nodding. So anyway, because it's always healthy to laugh at yourself, I figured I'd let y'all laugh with me.

~List of Painlich Sprache Mistakes~

-In no particular order-

1. I attempted to say, "I'm ready!" Apparently bereit (ready) and breit (under the influence) *spelling mistake somewhere in there I'm sure* sound the same to me because I went on to yell aloud "I'm high!!" during gym class. 

2. Tried encouraging a friend to go to sleep...

What I tried to type- "Schlafen ist gesund!"

What I typed instead- "Schlagen ist gesund!"

Yeah, let me translate that for you. I told him that beating is healthy. 

3. Tried to tell Svenja I wanted to cook with her.

Told Svenja I wanted to cook her.

4. For the past month I've been saying "Good nude!" to my family before bed rather than "Good night!"

On the subject of vocabulary and whatnot, I feel as though I should mention that I'm slowly losing English words. I think I already mentioned the Spülmaschine incident where I forgot that it means dishwasher auf Englisch, but you know it's getting really serious when you forget thr English word for Ampel. Caro asked me what it was and I stood there for at least three minutes trying to remember before Hadia finally told us that Ampel is traffic light in English. The best I had come up with was "street light". That's the closest I got.

Basically, you have to be able to laugh at yourself to be an exchange student in a foreign country. It's 100% necessary and should probably be one of the 5000 questions on the initial application.

In other news, I went to a play called Kabale und Liebe with my German class and it was interesting to say the least. I really didn't understand the plot line until seeing the play, then realized it's basically a German Romeo and Juliet. Except in the gGerman version they drank glowing green liquid, died, and then rose from the dead to dance to Rammstein. It was really truly great though, and it was about an hour away so I got to go on my first school trip since arriving in Germany. On our way to the theater we stopped by Dunkin Donuts and ate blue donuts. :) It was so much fun to spend time getting to know a few of the girls better, and I'm definitely grateful they let me tag along with them. Three cheers for new friends!

Miriam spent the week in Munich and Sarah spent the week in London so I had the week alone with my host parents, which was just as fabulous as ever. Monday, unfortunately, I got sick in the morning so I spent majority of the day asleep, but when dinner came around Adelheid made me some rice so I could eat dinner with them and not upset my stomach again (which I thought was super sweet) and thn we watched more Star Wars. It was a sick day, but it was a good sick day. Tuesdy I went with Adelheid to a yoga class she was instructing, which is so cool because, guys. My host mom instructs yoga. I've found that I actually enjoy yoga, so that'll probably stick. Wednesday was the play, and I came home around 2200, I think. That was the day I felt like I flipped my language switch. I had previously depended on English as a crutch pretty often, but since Wednesday I'm pretty sure the only English I have spoken was to my boyfriend. I'm getting a lot more comfortable with the language. But yeah, I came home pretty late and my phone had been dead since the play. I feel as though this is a good example of how important host family/ exchange student communication is. When I told Adelheid I didn't text to check in because my phone had died she said "oh, that's why!" If I hadn't explained that, they may have gone on to think I was irresponsible and not considerate enough to check in, because that was my first time going out without my sisters. It's very important that you go out of your way to explain things as an exchange student, even if they are things you wouldn't have to do back home. (I don't have to check in with Dad. He has people tail me and keep tabs everytime I go out.) On Thursday,  our remote wouldn't work so we ended up watching "Die Show der Unglaublichen Helden." It was one of those game shows where the competitions are sporty and let me tell you; There's nothing to make you feel bad about yourself like a 76 year old woman doing a headstand. Today is Friday and Sarah and Miriam are comng home! Ich freue mich. :) 

We're going to Stuttgart tomorrow and staying until Tuesday. I'll probably post again around that time. Today was my last day of school before two weeks of fall break. I'm hoping to meet up with Isabell over break, a friend that I met before coming to Germany. I'll explain that when I post about our meetup.

I'm planning on making Thanksgiving dinner for my host family, so if anyone (Grammies, Ginnie, Dad) has recipes they wanna share with me or just ideas, let me know! I know some people have had a difficult time commenting on my blog so feel free to email/ Facebook me please!

That's all I can come up with to update y'all on currently. My return date is June 14th, so if anyone wants to plan to send be a Welcome Home dancing songagram, that'd be the day to do it.

Caro and I mit Blau donuts! :)

I'm Really Late

And I could make excuses or I could just go ahead and post it. So natürlich, the latter. :) Be forewarned though, I wrote this throughout several days so the timeline of it is not going to make any sense and, frankly, I'm too lazy to change a ton of "today"s to "Sunday"s. :p try to keep that in mind while you get completely confused by this post.

To start, there is a long list of movies "everyone has seen" that I have yet to have watched. On that list you'll find Fight Club, Good Will Hunting, Grease, Anchorman, and the Toy Story trilogy. (I think it's a trilogy.) But a title you won't find? Star Wars. Thanks to my fabulous family, I have finally crossed it off of my list. Not to mention, it was in German (subtitles still count). I understand that Darth Vader is meant to be evil as is, but go watch the movie in German. Tell me that German speaking Vader is not the darn scariest thing you've ever had the experience of listening to. Also, no one warned me that Yoda is hilarious. I went into that expecting a serious lil green guy, never cracking a smile; instead I watched him beat R2 with a stick, fighting to keep his stolen cookie. I didn't expect to, but I found myself truly enjoying Star Wars. Especially for the Ewoks. 

Aside from Star Wars, I was introduced to a very important piece of culture this week- Die Sindong mit der Maus. A richtig cute children's shows that has a really good message but also extremely confused me. It teaches you stuff and it's that mix between a cartoon and real life and just sorta hard to explain. While on the topic of culture, the other night we ate a typical german dish for dinner and it was delicious. Käse Spätzle I think it was called. I also got to try these German pancakes that were like pancake tacos. They aren't sweet like our pancakes in America, not for syrup and fruit. We spread cheese and veggies and all sorts of yummy stuff on them. Including carrot salad, which is also delicious. Tonight, Sarah and I made pizza from scratch. And the real "from scratch". Not the pre-made crust kind. Pictures are at the bottom. Today is the German day of unity, so Miriam made banana/apple bread to look like the German flag. :)  I should probably just run a food blog with how often I talk about it. Sorry if I make you hungry. :p 

There's not much to say right now, but I feel obligated to post. I've mostly been spending a lot of my after-school freetime researching scholarships and checking into colleges I'm considering applying to. Going home to college and not BGHS is a weird thought, but it's exciting. It's all one adventure after another, but I'll be happy when it finally calms down too. 

As for updates, there are very few. Last weekend is summed up into dancing with Miriam and a plant which actually brings up a pretty humorous point-

I wasn't drunk, no worries. I don't drink. Yet, two hours into the party, everyone else is getting drunk and I'm still the only one dancing. With Miriam of course, she never lets me dance alone. It's just funny to me because everyone assumes I'm trashed because I'm the American that can't handle German beer but in reality, I'll spend the whole night drinking mineral water. I get asked really often why I wouldn't take advantage of the drinking age here, but why should I? "You need to have the full experience!" I certainly don't share that point of view, nor do I want to. Like my year won't be a true year in Germany if I don't drink? I don't know, it doesn't taste good to me, I know nothing good that comes of it, and most of all- I don't need it. I'm energetic and fun enough without alcohol, anyone that is my friend could tell you that. But that does not mean I shun the people who drink. Some people like the taste of it, and some people need that extra kick to help them loosen up and have fun. And here, it's just a part of the culture. Everyone is different. 

(Break in time of posts)

I planned on being early in posting which somehow turned into me being intensely late. But, I'm making up for it with pictures.

We spent Sunday in a city called Neuss, which is ancient. The Romans settled here, like back before Christ. That's an extremely long time ago, y'all. But, because of battles and time and whatnot, majority of it was torn down and replace hastily making it less aesthetically pleasing. There were pieces of a tower and insignias in the ground (photos below). The church lived up to the "huge and beautiful" reputation of those in Germany. Neuss was a highly catholic city so there were a lot of religious symbols around. (Pictures below)

We were taking a walk before dinner and checking out all the stuff around us when Adelheid suggested we take a picture by the river on the piece if machinery stuff. I thought that'd be really cool, but it did not end well. And not just my usual, "oops I made an ugly face" not ending well, but a serious awful ew no ending. Sarah and I climbed up there and I heard a crunch under my left foot, figured it was glass shards, and ignored it. After about 2 minutes of standing there getting steady for photos, Sarah shrieked and told me to move my foot. I looked down and, of course, it was the skeleton of a bird. So all of the pictures ended up being of me freaking out and doing that weird mix of laughing and crying. It was a great day anyway though, lots of laughter and great food. (Pictures of that too of course). After eating and talking, we said our bis späters, and Miriam drove us home. She drove both ways actually, new to driving, and she did really well. So there's my tragically late post!

Difference of the week:

The drink vending machines give out glass bottles and are equipped with a little bottle opener next to the change dispenser. 

I thought that was super cool.

Part of the church, I had a hard time taking photos of it because I was so close.

One of the in-ground insignias.

Food! :)

More food! I loved this a lot. 

Vegetarian pizza from scratch

Photo from the bird story...

And Sarah and I on a pig ☺️

Maybe...

Maybe somewhere, in a far far away land, it is still Sunday. We'll hold on to that hope.

I don't think I was awake long enough on Sunday to post anything. Sunday is a day for tea at the kitchen table and reading in bed. Relaxing and recouping from the events over the past few nights. I'm pretty sure I've gone to a party every weekend since arriving in Mettmann, but I'm not complaining! Just sleepy as I'm adjusting to actually doing things. :p It's a nice change in activity regarding my social life. I've never liked parties, but my Germans do it right, and I'm sitting here on a Monday night so eager for the next one. 

Time is going by far too quickly. In two weeks, my exchange year will be 20% over. The chart they gave us depicting the emotional rollercoaster of an exchange year shows that homesickness should be hitting right about now as the newness is wearing off, but it's not happening. I'm overwhelmingly in love with my new home. Of course, without a doubt, I miss everyone back home. But that is all. Everything is different, every detail. I absolutely adore my lifestyle in America where it's just me and my dad, because it works perfectly for us. Mexican food every night and watching MMA, or playing Rockband. I can't say I don't miss that. But having eight people at my dinner table? It's such a change from what I'm used to, but I truly enjoy it. Experiment's motto (one of the many) is "It's not good, it's not bad, it's just different". And that's the best way to put it. I wouldn't change my two people coffee table dinners for the world (because I'm forever a daddy's girl), but spending a year in a different household is just really nice. It's like a separate life here, and it's impossible to explain how happy I am. So many of my fellow exchange students talk about how they don't know how they can make it through the year, and the only thing that's hard for me at this point is the idea of ever having to leave. I love the people I've met, the community, the food, the culture, the small differences that combine to make a completely new experience... And I've only been here for, what? Almost 2 months, I think? Germany is everything I thought it would be and more. I know it's going to fly right past me, so I'm doing all I can to soak it up. It's such a bittersweet thought that I'll be a college student back home this time next year. 

As for the small differences, I think they're pretty interesting, so I'm going to lay them out for you:

We'll start in the bathroom- 

1. I don't know if this is the case for all German showers because I only live with one amazing, caring, fabulous family, but this shower is the coolest. I'll add a picture to the post when I go to shower tonight. (just of the knobby things, they're supah cool)

2. Toilets, y'all. There are no pressy down handle majiggers. There's just two buttons. 

And that's what I have for you on bathrooms. Now in general...

10. The food is basically always fresh. My family eats exceptionally healthy in my opinion. Mostly vegetarian meals, things with noodles, rice, basically anything delicious. 

9. There are these crosswalks called "zebra stripes" and there's no little man light indicating when you can and can't cross. No matter how fast a car is driving, or how close they are to the stripes, you have the right of way. Constantly. It scares the poop out of me because Germans drive REALLY fast and I always think they won't stop but then, of course, they do and then I awkwardly wave and try to run/walk across which, without fail, ends up in me tripping. 

8. The windows open two ways typically, and do not have screens. They can tilt inwards- which vents them. Or, and this is my absolute favorite thing ever, they can open like doors and you can sit in the windowsill. I'm going to miss that a lot.

7. Light switches are all buttons.

6. There's not usually any closets. You use a wardrobe. :)

5. There's a German way to make the bed!! I think I've posted a photo of it before, but I'll post it again just in case.

4. BREAD. Don't get me started.

3. It may just be my town, but it's intensely artistic. For example, every all of my high school is painted by students the year they graduate. Pictures to come, no worries.

2. All of the taxis are Mercedes-Benzes. (Yes, that is the plural of Mercedes-Benz. Look it up; I did)

1.Trust has got to be the number one difference. People loan each other money without worry, because they know they'll get paid back. The other day, I went to Aldi with my sister, and she just tied the dog outside as we went in to grab a few things. Simsim is a REALLY nice dog, she's a German Shepard with long beautiful hair and I would be way too terrified to leave a dog that gorgeous out where someone could take her. But that just goes to show you. It's really different here. They don't worry about things like that. Another example, I dropped a €10 bill the other day and the boy behind me picked it up and handed it to me with a smile. I love that about Germany. Unwavering trust for each other. 

That's all for tonight, y'all. Sincerest apologies for a serious lack of a posting schedule!

How to make a German bed^^ except without the letterman. :p That's my American rendition.

The knobs are all one bar! 

One side is shows you the temperature of the water...

And one side shows the water pressure! 

I still don't know what the buttons do so I don't press them, but pretty cool, huh?

Randomly Timed Post

~Bringing you up to date, bringing you up to date, rapping a rap about bringing you up to date~

If you didn't read that in my rap singer voice, you're doing this wrong.

So, friends, family, strangers, hello again. I've missed you. Have you missed me? It's okay, we're together now. I didn't want to wait until Sunday to let you know what has happened since my last post and I'm pretty sure I missed this Sunday BUT HEY. I'm doing what I can, okay? Slow clap for the fact that I'm updating it all, because life in Germany is eventful and busy. 

For example, some day last week I had a few free periods and went to town with my friend Jana (who is actually one of the chillest people I know, adore that girl) and I got my first German "pommes frites" with her. You can't get more eventful than french fries, people. Having town being so close to school is actually unhealthy for me with my exchange student schedule. I have gone shopping during the school day at least 4 times in the past two weeks. But that's 100% justifiable because I found a decently priced winter coat that is adorable and I needed one. I just happened to buy 2 pairs of leggings, shirts, a rucksack, shoes, and a watch on the way out of the store...s. Stop thinking what you're thinking, Miley Cyrus said only God could judge me.  

Speaking of shopping, we went to Dusseldorf on Saturday and I got to see Altstadt Dusseldorf. The city is so nice, and I love how close we live to it.  We went and had tea, and I tried the fresh mint tea, which was not only delicious but also beautiful. Another new favorite of mine. (pictures in next post or on facebook). Oh, and Dad? You were right about the candy stores. I know, I know, when aren't you right, haha. We went to this chocolate shop and I was just blown away. AND FREE SAMPLES. It was so pretty and yummy and German. But oh goodness, as we came in there was this couple and the man was pulling the woman out of the store yelling at her to leave and causing this huge scene. Then later, when we started to head home, the police ran past us down the stairs to the train and I swear I thought, "I bet it's those drunks from the chocolate shop." We got downstairs and LO AND BEHOLD, I was right. (I get that from my dad.) Let me say, my German skills have definitely improved since moving in with my family. But I'm a pretty far ways away from understanding drunken and sob-ridden German. Sarah and Miriam were translating for me and basically it was just typical dumb crazy people drama. But what was so funny about it was the woman pulled out a huge bottle of vodka and started guzzling it while trying to get the polizei to pity her. Meanwhile there's this grandma standing within 2 feet of the cops and the couple; just blatantly watching some live tv. I loved that she didn't even bother to hide it, she was leaned in and everything. All tiny and cute. 

After we got home, Miriam and I left pretty quickly to go make nachos with Malte, Nils, Lulu, and Franci. There's no way I spelled all of their names right, but A for effort, okay? We tried to make them completely from scratch, chips and all, and needless to say- that didn't end well with 6 chefs. The tortillas burnt, the guac was white and lemony, and our cheese wouldn't melt correctly no matter how intense our efforts were. So that warranted a trip to REWE and ALDI, to buy chips and dip. Leave it to us to make 3 separate trips to buy dip. We spent the rest of the night flipping between High School Musical and Spiderman 3 auf Deutsch. I was so overly excited about this, I can't even put it into words. I was so animated that they actually recorded me singing and dancing along to HSM. And because it turned out to be such a great movie selection (yours truly, of course), we're having another HSM movie night this Friday. Ha! Germany, y'all. Gets better everyday. I'll be able to post pictures on here when I get them onto the Internet. :)

Sidenote update, I made my very first real omelette the other day and I was very excited. Everyone tried some, and it was all gone by the end of the meal. My host mother is the most amazing cook, but she doesn't do anything by recipe so I'm trying to learn by watching her. I love her food, there hasn't been a single meal I didn't love. I want to be able to cook like that eventually. 

As for my sportsy spree, last night I went with Sarah to "training" rather than aerobics and for the first time ever... wait for it, wait for it... I, Zoë Raeanne Grayson, worked out. GASP. I know, insane. If you know me, you understand. If you don't know me, let me clear this up for you. 

I'm what they call "tollpatischig" in Germany. (Yes, I am proud of my new word that I can't pronounce.) I'm the clumsiest, period. Queen Klutz, pleased to meet you. And I don't mean clumsy like your cutesy girlfriend who stumbles over a misplaced object and giggles about it. I mean full throttle, falling up the stairs, bumping my hip on things the height of my knee, tripping over air, and then without fail, falling back down the stairs. I spend more time on my sore bum than on my feet, I fall so often. It might actually be a serious condition, so lifting weights sounds like a terrible idea, yes? Don't care. I'm trying new things. I just stayed far far away from "free weights" (thank you Austin for my new sporty vocabulary) and stuck to things that were impossible to drop on myself or anyone around me. And believe it or not, I made it out of that room without a single bruise. :) And then promptly slipped and slid down the stairs to the locker room. There's just no escaping the clumsy.

This entry is already longer than I meant for it to be, so I'll try to wrap it up. If you're family, or a really good friend, and I haven't already asked for your address- Please take the time to quickly message it to me or something. If you want postcards or souveneirs, whatever, hook me up so I know where to send it. Thanks for reading, y'all. If it weren't for those of you who come and talk to me about my entries ~Grammy Sandra (: ~ then I wouldn't have the motivation to post at all and I know I'll appreciate it when I get back to the states. Welp! That's all for tonight, folks. Nacht!! :)

 Proof of my omelette.

My new coat :D

So Far, So Fabulous

To be fair, I did try to update weekly. Sunday night I got to the very end of the post when my iPad spontaneously restarted on me. I got a little impatient after that. Today seemed like a good day to try again because today, my friends, marks the first month I've spent abroad. 

I had originally written a long long long entry with tons of details, but I think I'll try to spare y'all some time this go round.

So, I've gotten my schedule. I got it the 2nd day of school, which was also my birthday. On a side note, I had more people say Happy Birthday to me at this school (yes, the one that I had gone to for all of 2 days at that point) than any year in America. Period. And they were all sincere with hugs and songs. Germany, y'all. Anyway, I was lucky enough to have Sarah (my host sister) and Jana (my new friend from my grade) to help me pick out classes. They told me which subjects to go for and which teachers to avoid. Yet another time I found myself crazy grateful to have such great host sisters and now, a friend. I'm actually spending my senior year as a junior, because the seniors here don't stay in school the whole year and the Bundestag requires that of us Experimenters. I have several classes that my teachers don't even know I'm a student in. I'm not on their attendance sheet but I'm waiting to see how long I can go without them noticing the American in the class. My English class is very interesting to take part in because Germans learn British English. Also, we are discussing, in depth, the American dream. It's really crazy to see how other countries view ours. MERICA. German class is impossible. I'm in 11th  grade German. I should be in 5th grade German. Gym is mandatory here but I chose the best possible class. We did aerobics and dance today, and at some point in the year we're doing badminton and rugby. Score. :) For the first time, I don't dread gym class. Math class on the other hand... You know how Cady Heron said math was the same in every country? Yeah, she lied. Turns out Mean Girls is not a viable source for guidance and lifestyle advice. Who would've thought.

The weekend was parties and dancing and a ridiculous amount of fun. If there's one thing I can say about my German experience so far, it's that it hasn't had a boring moment. If there's another thing, it's that they aren't kidding when they say that Germans eat a lot of bread. I'm not totally sure who "they" are, but what they failed to mention is how delicious the bread is! My favorite food here so far is either my host moms homemade bread with cheese, or the rice, veggies, and eggs meal they make. I don't know how to explain that stuff, but I swear it is beyond delicious. I'm hungry now that I'm writing about it. Going to get cheese and bread, shall return shortly----

Alright, folks. I'm back and fully loaded with cheese and bread. Even a few grapes. Back to blogging. Yes so the combination of stress (subconcious from language barriers and adaptation) and weather had me pretty sick over the weekend. Yet, my sisters still managed to show me a good time. I didn't really feel up to going to the club on Friday night, but I said yes and had probably one of, if not THE, funnest nights of my life. That has been the case planty of times here in Germany. Going to the club, joining someone in their class, even yoga class, anything that wasn't exactly appealing to me ended up turning into another great experience. Because of this, my exchange motto has become, "Say yes." Because if I had holed up to read and sleep that night like a normal sick person, I would have missed a really great time, and a chance to get to know people outside of school. If you're reading this as a soon to be exchange student here in Germany, please take that advice. Saying yes is the easiest way to bring you out of your comfort zone. There's a fine line between "Yes, I know this and I like this" and "WHOA THAT'S NEW NO THANK YOU NO NOPE NO." and if you just push yourself to cross that line, you'll find out all kinds of new things about yourself. For instance, I have never in my life enjoyed anythign remotely athletic. My host mom and sister asked me if I wanted to go to yoga, and that was a very easy thing to say yes to because yoga is so calm. Then they asked me if I want to go to aerobics and I didn't particularly WANT to, but I said yes anyway and I adored it. Seriously entertaining and "worth it" experience. I have always hated gym class, and it's my favorite class here. Now I'm going to yoga once a week, aerobics twice a week, and 3 hours a week I have dance. And I completely love it. I honestly want to do more. I never would have known how much I actually enjoyed all of this if I hadn't said yes and left my comfort zone. So try everything, it's worth it. :)

I think that's all I have for now. We're going to Dusseldorf this weekend, so I'll have pictures and a post for that. :) Tune in Sunday for yet another riveting blog update~

My hostfamily gave me my very own Frühstückbrettchen for my birthday. 😍 

First Day!

I'm a frequent player for the role of "new student", but I can easily say that no state I've lived in included a first day of school like today. 

For starters, it's currently noon thirty and my school day is already over. Welcome to Gymnasium. :) Needless to say German schools are different than American schools, but I'm currently a bigger fan of my new school. <3 There are three types of high school type schools in Germany. Realschule, Gymnasium, and something else I can't remember. I know little to nothing about Realschule, but I'm enrolled in a Gymnasium so I know a little bit about that. From what I've seen and heard, Gymnasium is a lot more like college than what we know as high school. There are no mandatory "school day hours" as in, 8-3 or whatever, and if a teacher is sick there are no substitutes. You just don't have class. Also, there are no school sport teams. You join teams through clubs of some sort. OH, and gym class is mandatory every year. My school offers gymnastics, dancing, and some type of athletics for gym classes so I'm not nearly as disappointed about that as I would be if it were a bum gym class. As far as I know, it's an open campus. I don't think they even serve lunch, you just go to town or bring a lunch or something. YOLO.

I don't have a schedule yet, so I spent the day shadowing Jana (a friend of my host sisters'). She was super kind and introduced me to few more people and helped out with my schedule situation. Tomorrow during what sounds like 6th period is when we'll work out my schedule. I'm required to take 2 LK classes which are the equivalent to AP so I'm obviously enrolling in LK Englisch and, here's a funny joke, LK Chemie. If you were in my chemistry class last year you know how hysterical that is. I'm also hoping I can sign up for Deutsch (obviously), some kinda math (algebra bitte), maybe politics, dance, and child development. We'll see how it goes. :) 

Even though the first day is nothing but information, the classes completely went over my head. I hadn't a clue what the teachers were saying. EXCEPT IN RELIGION. I understood everything in there! Really not much exciting happened today at school. I'm so grateful to have two wonderful host sisters my age though, it honestly makes everything so much easier. Sarah and Miriam have both been so helpful and patient with me, I couldn't have asked for any better siblings. <3 

TL;DR::::::::

Today at school, I made Jesus a Facebook page (I'm not completely sure why), exhausted myself straining to understand schnell Deutsch, and went home at noon. WOO, GO GERMANY. You get better every day!!

Sidenote: Tune in Sunday for my experience last night at the movie theater :)

Meine Gastfamilie

Welcome back, y'all.

I have officially left the American bubble of Schloß Witti and am settling into the Loers' household in Mettmann. I was so excited when my family showed up at camp. It happened perfectly. I was leaving lunch and they drove past me to the parking lot. I started to freak out all American-like. "Y'all, is that my family? Y'ALL THAT'S MY FAMILY." They saw me as well and waved as I ran down to meet them. Now, a prominent fear of exchange students when meeting host families is how exactly to greet them. Do you stay polite and stick with the handshake? Do you go in for the hug and hope for the best? Do you have an awkward combination of the two and reach out for a handshake but then decide on a hug and squish the shaking hands between the two of you? Yep, the third. So that was fun and my family was very okay with hugs. People make Germans out to seem very cold and whatnot, but not my family. :) Honestly, most of the Germans I've met thus far have been a-okay with hugs. I have a family of 5, not including myself. Two sisters, Miriam and Sarah. One brother, Jakob. And my parents are Adelheid and Sami Ali. Miriam came with my hostparents to pick me up and I was pretty excited to see them all there. 

My first day here was not nearly as emotional as the alumni/program had me under the impression it would be. I unpacked, had "Kuchen und Tee", and went to the Heimatfest. Heimatfest was on Saturday night and I had the best time. Third Fest since being in Germany, and by far the best. I met my host sisters' friends and we stood in the front of the crowd listening to the coverband. I got hella pumped when I heard the beginning of "Rebel Yell" start playing. There's a lot of American music here, but it's nice because at the Fest it was a pretty even mixture of Deutsch und Englisch. Once it got dark we kept circling back to the crepe stand because it was so cold. I ate my first crepe, and it was filled with Nutella. Sehr lecker. :) 

Sunday I mostly slept through, because I have had little to no sleep lately and Sunday is a relaxing day.  Best sleep I've ever had. My bed here is so comfy and the blinds pull down outside the window and nearly blackout the room. When I finally did wake up, that's when the whirlwind of emotions got me. I got pretty worried that my host family would think I was a hermit for sleeping all day, but then I figured they would understand that the whole experience is pretty exhausting in the beginning. Then I got worried again because since the moment they picked me up, we've only spoken German. Let me say, I really do appreciate that. I believe I'm going to learn much faster with them pushing me like this and correcting my mistakes. But yesterday, I was a complete mess over it. I was like I SWEAR IM NOT SOCIALLY AWKWARD, I'm just barricaded by a language barrier! I went downstairs for a few minutes but I didn't say anything because I'm not really conversational in German yet, so I quickly went back upstairs. Then I cried because I missed my friends from camp. I know this all sounds absolutely ridiculous, but the amount of feelings that hit you the first few days are sheerly overwhelming. Normal Zoë would never retreat to her room, but Emotional Crazy Zoë did so pretty quickly. I was sad about it too because I honestly really like my host family. They're so nice and have a great sense of humor. Thinking back on this, I have no idea what I was so worried for. But nonetheless, I was worried. My boyfriend, Austin, had agreed to sort of be my anchor this year when things get tough, so when I got that overwhelmed I turned to him. You'd think that being my boyfriend he would soothe me and stay talking to me to cheer me up. But Austin? Nope. He knew that the real me wasn't so pathetic and he told me to get back down there and talk. Even if I made a fool out of myself, at least I would be downstairs trying. I can't put into words how much that helped me, but it made a difference. I went downstairs and I sat on the couch to write. Sarah asked me if I wanted to walk the dog with her, and on the walk I actually understood almost all of what we talked about. Which is a big step for those of you who don't know. The first like month for tons of people is just nodding and laughing when the family laughs. :) Afterwards, we all watched a movie together and I was so grateful for Austin pushing me to reach out and be myself. I adore my family already and I'm so excited to spend this year with them. 

Today is Monday, and I start school on Wednesday. We went to the into town to get my visa but I couldn't get it because my hostparents weren't with us. They're at work, so Sarah and Miriam went with me. After that, we went to the school to try and work out my schedule (i think, i'm not sure) and that didn't happen either. I'm still not sure what happened there because the German was so fast. And when I didn't understand, my sisters explained but it was still in German so nope. I BELIEVE I'm shadowing someone on my first day. That's what I got from the conversation. All I understood was "slowly". My German is super, y'all. :P They showed me downtown Mettmann and I must say, I am in love with Mettmann. It's smaller than Bowling Green, but it's so gorgeous and I really adore that I can walk to just about anyones house/the mall/the grocery/school/ ANYWHERE and it's so green! I'll have to post pictures soon. 

This is the view of my room from the bed and it's perfect. I love it. :) 

So now y'all are completely caught up on my adventure. I think I'll post weekly, probably on Sundays. If you want to keep up with me then that'd be when to check in. :) Hopefully I'll be a tad more brief from now on. 

Tschüss!  

Three Weeks; One Post

Because that's how we roll here on the ever so frequently updated blog of Zoë Grayson. 

Judging from my last post, most of you haven't heard much since the flight to Germany. The eight hour long flight to Germany. The eight hour long flight to Germany that had no pee breaks, because although we were in the 2nd biggest plane possible, I still managed to be trapped. 

So, clearly, y'all need to be updated.

We arrived in Germany with 50 American students in tow and immediately embarked on the like 500 hours long busride to Bad Laasphe. Most of us knew from the Facebook group that we would be spending the 3 weeks of language camp in a castle, but it's Germany, so naturally you take 5 steps and there's a castle. It's so great.  So the entire ride to Bad Laasphe there were sporadic shouts of "Is that our castle?!" and the answer seemed to always be NEIN. This busride was extremely important though because that's where I met my two best friends, Dean and Maria. After a few hours we pulled up to Schloss Wittgenstein, our home for the next three weeks. Outside the bus waiting for us, 5 wonderful teamers, our "parents" for the next three weeks. We ate brunch and picked our roommates (I had the best roommate out of everyone in the camp; THREE MUSKETEERS YAY) and took our first trip down the "hill". Schloss Witti is on top of a pretty decent sized mountain that winded most of us on our first trip back up it. 

Most of what we did those three weeks I can't blog about because it'd ruin the surprise for next years Experimenters/CBYXers, but rest assured, it was the best 3 weeks of my life. I think most if not all of my fellow CBYXers would agree. There were 2 festivals (Bierfest und Altstadtfest), countless activities planned by the teamers, relationship building, beer drinking, and mountain climbing. Lots of mountain climbing. Oh, and Plenum. Future CBYXers, I wish you the best of luck with Plenum. That place is Hell on Earth. Yet somehow, now that I don't go there everyday, I actually miss it. We had a test that we took on the second day that evaluated our level of German and placed us in class levels ranging from 0 (those who have never heard a lick of German other than scheiß) to 4 (those who are basically fluent). I was placed in the middle class, and that turned out to be the perfect level for me. We mostly focused on grammer. Mima was the best teacher I've had in my entire life and it's so sad that she won't be teaching at my school. Anyway, so class was 5 days out of the week just like real school and Tuesdays and Thursdays were longer. Picture your entire school day, 5-7 periods and lunch. Now imagine that entire time spent in one class. In a foreign language. I felt like that was doomed to be terrible but Mima made it fun and I quickly became more comfortable with German. Most of us found that by the second week, we were losing our English and speaking German much more frequently. Using English words with German word order was my biggest problem, but we'd always just laugh it off. 

After the first week, we lost one of our participants due to a serious lack of character on his part. Integrity and common sense, y'all. You'd be surprised how many people can't handle the basics. We became a very close family of 49 though, and I couldn't imagine the camp any other way. All meals were eaten at the Schloß, and yes, they served rabbit. I was sick that day though, so I didn't end up eating it. Frankly, I didn't eat any of the meat they served because it was not very appealing to me. But if you're reading this and preparing to go to language camp, let it be known that I don't recommend avoiding their meat at all costs. It made me pretty sick by the end. When you're first assigned your room, theres a signup sheet where you write your name if you're a vegetarian and THAT I would recommend. You can't get the vegetarian option if you don't sign up. Bad bad bad. But fear not, future CBYXers! Schloss food is not a good representation of the food in Germany. My host family cooks the best food. 

Now, three weeks later: On Saturday we left the camp, some on trains to meet their host families, and some picked up by their hostfamilies in front of the Schloss. I had a 2 hour carride out to Mettmann but I was so exhausted that I slept the entire time. Which is okay to do, because one thing about host families; They will Always understand. That's my best job of summing up the three weeks in Bad Laasphe without spoiling anything. Point being, Schloss Witti= Lifetime friends and Plenum. 

Welcome friends!

Most of you are just now finding my blog because I've finally shared it so, HERZLICH WILKOMMEN :)

I haven't been able to post since arriving in Washington, D.C., because I'm bad at internet connectiony type things but hey, here I am. Today dad is dropping me off at the hotel and, as sad as it is to think about, it's also super exciting to know that today is when my journey starts. I'll go ahead and post the addresses to contact me at while I'm there so I don't have to send them to 57 people. 

*Language camp- 

Experiment e.V.

Zoë Grayson

Schloss Wittgenstein 6

57334 Bad Laasphe 

Germany

*Host Family-

Zoë Grayson/Loers

Vogelskamp 78

40822 Mettmann

Germany

*Texting

If you have iPhone or android, get the "whatsapp" application and TO YOUR CONTACTS add my number. 781-927-9193. After adding me to your actual contacts, the app will add me to your favorites list. After that, you're all set to text me. :)

*Skype

prettyraveegirl

Make sure that you send me your address before Saturday if you want any snail mail or german souvenirs :P AND WRITE ME. I love letters! And I'm going to feel very homesick around holidays and whatnot so letters are absolutely positively 100% always welcome. 

Tune in tonight for my post while at the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport hotel place of meeting fabulous students. 

Tschüs! :*

On the road

An hour ago: Bowling Green, Kentucky

Eight hours from now: Bethesda, Maryland

Currently: I dunno, dude. Like, Springfield, Kentucky. Somewhere sunny and seventy-five~

We hit single digits this week, and I'm counting down the final week as of today. This morning was my last in Bowling Green for the next year, but that was much easier to handle than expected. All of my goodbyes were said last night, which honestly was really difficult, and now I'm sitting beside Dad while we drive the 9 hours up to Washington, DC. I'm not sure what to do with this post other than update on places and plans.

We, (being the exchange students OF 2014 WOOOOO GO CIEE), received plenty of emails from the program head since my last post. Here's our new details:

>Language and Culture camp is going to be at Schloss Wittgenstein. 

>CBYX Pre-Departure Orientation (PDO) will actually be combined with the CIEE German inbound students' Arrival Orientation. 

>We have addresses for mail, and I'll make a separate post for that.

>All of us officially have a host family!

>We're having dinner with our German counterparts in Arlington :D

That's all that's really worth sharing. A lot of my fellow exchange students are talking about how "it has finally become real that we're going to Germany" and I've gotta say, I slightly hit that moment last week and it is literally a sudden realization. Of course we've known since March, but that doesn't mean it had hit us yet. I was driving back into Bowling Green after spending a weekend in Columbia with some seriously amazing people and it hit me that that was the last time I'd drive back into my town or even see these people for the next year. It wasn't even sad at that point, just sheerly shocking. But believe, it didn't take long to become sad. 

I have one more big goodbye left, and after that there's no more being sad for me. It becomes excitement and awe. For anyone thinking of applying, or any finalists, here's your forewarning. It's a week until i leave, and the whirlwind of emotions has already struck. It's all mixed up and jumbly, but its just great. It's eager/sad/anxious/excited but all of that falls together to be a ball of GET ME TO GERMANY ALREADY. I know there will be homesickness and feeling out of place at times this year, but i'm resilient and determined to let the good stuff outweigh the rough stuff. 

Here's to one week, y'all!

Newsletter

I forgot to mention something, naturally.

I've received about 3-4 newsletters so far from the organization with pointers and tips on preparing for the trip. These actually prove to be helpful, because the first one mentions applying to colleges while over seas, which is what I'll have to do. WOO CLASS OF 2014. 

I took a screenshot if part of the first one to give you an idea of what to expect (again, this is me assuming you're a future applicant to the CBYX program and not like... Dad. Hey dad.)

Peekaboo

Yes, I actually do still exist. 2 months later, and there's not much to update on, but I'll try to be as detailed as possible for future exchange students.

I'm currently in Boston visiting family, so although I have received the PDO manual that CBYX sends out to exchange students over the summer, I have yet to look through it. From the things the other kids have posted about it, it sounds like its just a pamphlet restating our rules and restrictions but also including a packing list on the back. Ill make a post with details on that when I open it up.

Obviously I've sent out my secondary application, gotten my passport, all that jazz. Ciee actually emailed me a few days ago telling me that I needed more pictures for the host family placement organization (called Experiment, which I find super super creepy but whatever) so it'll probably be a while before I get placed, BUT

There are plenty of ciee kids that have already been given host families. I think the first one was assigned in mid-May, so there's a kind of timeline. :) I'm hoping that I get placed somewhere in southern Germany so I can have the chance to visit my older brother sometime during my 10 months. He will be stationed in Kaiserslautern, so fingers crossed that I'm not too terribly far from him. 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned the rules that ciee enforces over there, but there's quite a few. Which is understandable, we wouldn't want some idiot American teenager to cause international issues, but it'll still take some getting used to. It's really funny to me, because, as a 16 year old in Germany, I can drink but I cannot operate any motorized vehicle. I also have to contact the organization if I want to stay overnight somewhere, and then they have to contact my father. OH, and no day trips without someone that's at least 18 years old. So I definitely won't have the freedom I'm used to, but I'm more than willing to trade that for 10 months in a country that I've always wanted to visit. 

As for school and credits complications, ill make a post with details on it later this summer. I still have to coordinate how the heck I'm going to graduate while one bazillion miles away from my high school. Senior year in Germany though, wow. Worth it. 

The Application Process

If anyone thinking about applying for an exchange program ends up here, this entry is for you:

In my opinion, one of the biggest mistakes made throughout this process by applicants is people treating it like a college application. While for CBYX you have to have at least a 3.0 GPA, the exchange program is not a scholarly competition. The GPA requirement is there so they can make sure you'll still graduate on time and be fine after spending a year abroad. They're not looking for a 4.3 GPA, they're looking for adaptability, resilience, and personality.
When applying, focus on letting yourself shine. Don't hide behind grades or awards you've received, because they want to know who you really are and if you'll be a good ambassador of the U.S.

If you haven't played many sports or joined many clubs and you're freaking out about it; Don't. I haven't played a single sport in highschool and really haven't stuck with any clubs, but when I applied to the exchange I was adamant about my hobbies and volunteering and I still made it in.
Make sure the teachers you choose for recommendations are reliable. I chose my German teacher for one because I figured that would look good (trying to go to Germany and all) and I ended up really regretting it. She didn't bring it back to me until 2 days before it was due, and I had given it to her about a month and half prior. Even then, it wasn't a recommendation, it basically said she thought I wasn't aware of what I was signing up for. So, point being, choose wisely for the teachers recc's.
On the subject of German, or whatever language your exchange destination speaks, if you don't speak it- don't fret. I have only taken about 4 semesters of German, and I know a lot of people that got accepted into the program that don't speak a lick of German. You learn from the full immersion. Don't sweat it.
That's all I can think of to say aside from DO NOT PROCRASTINATE YOUR APPLICATION. Time runs out fast, and they're very in depth. I'm done for now.
Guten Nacht :)

Just kidding

Okay, after this I really am going to work on it but OH MY GOSH IM GOING TO GERMANY.
I can't be the only one still in this phase. At least once a day I just jump up and flail around while squealing over how I actually made it and I'm going to Germany.
5 months is way too long.
Leaving now to go finish this app, for real this time.

Secondary application

The secondary application is intense, and due on Wednesday, so I'm finishing it up today. I have to get my shots still and my passport but other than that I just have to write my letter to my host family and fill out my photo album. Did I mention I have to get a rabies shot? I think that's really strange, not sure why I would need it for Germany but hey, it's free. I'm down.
After reading all these blogs I've found about exchange students, I'm thinking I'm the only one crazy excited for the flight to Germany. I'm so ready to meet everyone and find out who my host family is, but I think the gazillion hour long flight with all of these new friends will be really fun. :)
I'm already thinking about souvenirs to bring to my host family. Probably something from DC though, not Kentucky.
Lately I've been thinking more and more about the people I have to leave and it makes me really want to spend time with people nonstop. It is sad to think I wont see everyone for a year, but I'm wicked excited about Germany so it makes up for it.
I'm gonna go finish up this app, but I'll post later. Tschüs!!

Preparing myself

I've been reading countless blogs of exchange students who have gone to Germany and I have to say, I am beyond thankful for the Internet.
I'm learning things that I would have never even thought of being a problem in Germany. Did you know that it's frowned upon to get tap water in a German restaurant? Yeah, me either. Majority of what they drink is carbonated, and if not, they add some sparkling water stuff to carbonate it. Apple juice, for instance, is carbonated in Germany. I think that's really interesting.
Aside from fun facts, reading these blogs have gotten me somewhat nervous. It sounds like being an exchange student puts a burden on just about everyone around you, and I really don't want to cause people any unnecessary trouble. I suppose there's really no way to know until I'm in Germany, but I seriously hope I won't be a huge task to have around.
Definitely immersing myself in German this summer, I need to speak it as well as I can manage before we leave.

Procrastination killed the Zoë

I told myself since I began the application process,
"Zoë, you have to make a blog."
And every time the subject arose, I turned and responded to myself with "I'll do it sooner or later."
There is more problem with that than the fact that I'm talking to myself. Now, I've been accepted to go to Germany for a little under a year and I have to go back and get this blog up to date on everything that happened prior to my acceptance. The next few days are going to be busy.

Here's the basics:
I'm enrolled in Bowling Green High School as a junior. In October I asked my German teacher about any opportunities for an exchange with Germany and she brought me a pamphlet of information involving CBYX.
CBYX is the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange.
After a rigorous (and ongoing) application process, I was accepted to be one of the 50 finalists to travel to Germany on a full scholarship from August 2013- June 2014.
Those are the basics. Details to come.