Thanksgiving from Across the Pond & Christmas Markets

Thanksgiving
The last Thursday in November, as I'm sure everyone is aware, was Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving isn't celebrated at all in Germany and so it was really weird to be in school while everyone at home watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. However, due to my love of culture (and turkey), I knew I needed to celebrate. I cooked the dinner on Saturday, when I had time, and cooked for about nine hours. Nine hours. My host mom and sister helped with the turkey, whom we named Francisco, but I cooked the rest. The most ambitious dish I'd ever cooked in my life was probably Paula Deen's parmesan cheese sauce. This consisted of about three ingredients: cheese, milk(or half and half), and, of course, butter. On Saturday, however, the menu consisted of:

• Garlic-lemon green beans
• Sweet potato casserole (topped with marshmallows)
• Orange-cranberry sauce
• Stuffing
• For dessert, maple bread pudding

I would have loved to make a pumpkin pie or something of the sort, but canned pumpkin isn't available here and I couldn't see the scenario myself attempting to smash pumpkin ending well. Pecans are available although very hard to find, and so I settled on walnuts instead. I was so glad to have the measuring cups that my parents had sent over so that I didn't have to convert everything, which would have been a nightmare. I had to run to the grocery store to pick up celery and parsley, and we had to use a neighbor's oven for everything while we cooked our turkey. Finally, though, everything was finished. My host family and I sat down and all said what we were thankful for, like I've often done on Thanksgiving back at home. Finally, we ate. I have to admit, I was really proud of myself. We're still working on those leftovers. Leftovers are also another new idea for Germans. They typically just don't save food like that. Grocery shopping, at least in my experience, is just to pick up a couple things, whereas at home we buy a lot more, not as often. Of course, I included some pictures of this Thanksgiving dinner. I may have been thousands of miles away from my family, but I'm so glad I celebrated anyways!

Christmas Markets
My absolute favorite part of the Christmas season here has easily been the Christmas Markets. Almost every village and city has one. Some last for just a couple days, some last all of the advent season. My village had one which was absolutely precious. These markets consist of two parts. One: shopping. Two: food. There were over a million lights there and dozens, maybe even hundreds, of small wooden booths. Some sold mistletoe, others sold handmade crafts, some just sold toys and candy. I also roasted bread. In America, we may like roasting marshmallows, but here you literally just put bread dough on a stick and hold it over fire until you have a roll. To be honest, it was delicious. Then, today, I met up with an American friend in Dortmund. That Christmas Market was huge, complete with a gigantic tree. We also went to Essen, where there was yet another market. It reminded me of something that Busch Gardens, the amusement park, would try to do. Traditional accordion music, plenty of bratwurst; it really couldn't get more German than that! There was a ton of fruit for sale, so we felt obligated to buy a coconut...and we did. We also accidentally stumbled upon a medieval market. Everyone was in traditional dress, and the vendors ranged from selling rabbit furs to make-your-own various wooden toys. I had no idea what was  going on but it was great. Of course, I've included photos of almost everything below.

Oh! Forgot to mention. December 5th was Nikolaustag! I was on a class trip, but all of the children in the village walked around with lanterns and sang songs, followed by a visit from St. Nikolaus himself. Then, all of the children put their shoes out with bits of bread for St. Nikolaus's horse, and the next day there's candy inside the shoes. Also, thanks to my awesome host parents, I'm enjoying a lovely Kinder chocolate advent calendar. It almost beats the Lego one I got when I was little. Homesickness also hasn't set in yet, and I'm hoping Christmas-away-from-home won't be as hard as expected. It'll be strange though, that's certain. Anyways, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll post after Christmas, but until next time,
Tchüss!

Crowning the Beer King. There is a beer king.

That oh-so-fabulous Dortmund Tree

Literally one of the coolest things I've ever seen

Thanksgiving stuffing

Lemon and Garlic Green Beans (that container was temporary)

Cranberry-Orange Sauce

Maple Bread Pudding

Francisco, the Turkey

Starting to put everything out on the table

My advent calendar. Eep. 

Wie War England?

Sorry I'm so late, I've been working on this for days. I got back from England on Saturday morning.

After 14+ hours of travel, I'm safely back in Germany with my host family. So how was England? Awesome. I was there for two weeks, as the only American Jürgen Matthes, which is over 30 years old, has ever had. I stayed with a British host family, who was great, and went to English lessons daily. (heh). Anyways, it was wonderful!

Sunday: We arrived after 14+ hours of traveling at probably about 11am, but I'm not positive. We were all picked up by our host families, and there were no planned activities. Marlene, the other Jürgen Matthes student in the family, and I went for a hike, got really lost, and found our way back home after probably an hour. We had actually been about 50 meters from the house the whole time. The hike was absolutely beautiful though. Then, my host dad took us down to the town center. There's a store that my host family helps out with that sells, wait for it, American candy. Poptarts, Gobstoppers, Twizzlers, Nerds, then throw on the 10% friends and family discount and I'll be good to go for a couple months. I also had my first Starbucks in well over a month. I have to admit, holding that pumpkin spice latter really made my day. I also had my first KFC in probably years, which was another memorable moment.

Monday: On Monday we all met at the pier, bright and early, for a sight´seeing tour. We drove by the downs, which are chalk (I think) cliffs near Eastbourne. One in particular, Beachy Head, is internationally famous as a suicide point. I thought that was interesting, I suppose. Anyways, after the bus tour we had some free time. I bought a Union Jack umbrella which turned out to be very handy during the stay. Later was a JM meeting, which involved lots of strobe lights, lots of of German that I didn't understand, and a lot of papers. We got our bus passes and such, and soon after the meeting we had a scavenger hunt. We were also given 25+ JM hats, which we passed out to random members of the community. It was great. If I remember correctly, we had a JM party that night. There were a lot of JM parties.

Tuesday: We had out first day of school. I was in a minigroup, so there were only four other students and we went to the teacher's house each day. I learned some new British English vocabulary, which was cool. After class, I think this was on Tuesday, we had the choice of bowling or laser tag. Naturally, I chose laser tag. I was horrible at it but it was really cool, medieval themed with lots of neon paint and black lights. We had to wear these huge vests with guns attached. I go pretty into is.

Wednesday: If we had signed up, we had the option of going to London and going to the Harry Potter studios, the Lion King (the musical), and I think the other option was going to a stadium of sorts. I had signed up for The Lion King, so I didn't have class. It was absolutely amazing. I saw the show when I was about seven with my family, but then again, I was seven so I didn't remember too much. We took the train back home after some quality chicken McNuggets and then went to a JM party.

Thursday: We had class, and then an excursion to the nearby town of Brighton. Well, everyone else went to Brighton. I couldn't find anyone at our meeting point and ended up getting KFC and then walking on the beach and taking photos. So it really wasn't so bad.

Friday: Okay now my memory is getting foggy. We had class, Then I actually have no idea. Then we had, wait for it, a JM party.

Saturday: We had class, but afterwards had the choice of several things including mini-golf, bumper cars, and swimming. I went swimming. It was in a large indoor pool with what seemed to be the world's slowest slide, but every ten minutes there was a series of waves, which was really really neat. Not to mention a human-sized dryer for only a euro.

Sunday: We woke up painfully early, and waited for the bus at seven o'clock, and then it was off to London for a sight-seeing tour. We drove around the city, taking blurry pictures out the bus windows of Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, everything. We drove over the Tower Bridge and then went to Madame Tussauds. I took plenty of pictures with various wax celebrities, and there was a haunted house that I went through. My friends were really amazed by how loud I could scream. Here's the thing - it was dark and foggy, and in between strobe light flashes it was impossible to tell who was a real person and who was a wax figure. After that traumatic but fun event, we went on a ride in the museum called The Spirit of London, and you got to sit in little miniature british taxi cabs and see London's history. After Madame Tussauds, we drove around the city some more, and then I got to meet up with a friend who I haven't seen since I was nine. We spent a couple hours at the British Museum and got to see the Rosetta Stone, which is currently housed there, along with plenty of hieroglyphs. It was awesome seeing her! We had tea and talked in the museum cafe, basically filling each other in on what had happened in the past six years. It ended to quickly though, and I met back up with the group. Then we all headed back to Eastbourne...for a JM party.

Monday: We had our usual three - three and a half hours of school, and then, if I remember correctly, had a tennis/volleyball/soccer tournament. However, due to the fact that the first hurricane since the 1980's was passing through, well, it really turned out to be a less-than-mild storm of sorts, thankfully, but it still made Monday very cold and wet though. I went with the intention of playing volleyball, which I have never played in my life, but there was no one playing so i sat inside watching people play tennis. I got a third-place medal. I didn't even touch a racquet. Man, I wonder how well I would have done if I'd actually played! Anyways, after our failure tennis time, my friend and I got Starbucks and then went to Claire's in search of outfits for a bad taste party that night. Then, to complete our shopping trip, went to Primark and tried on animal pajama onesies. No shame, I ended up buying one. No shame. It's a tabby cat and it's fabulous. Anyways, we had our bad taste party, to which I wore a weird spider headband and made my hair really strange.

Tuesday: London, round three: shopping. Once again, there was no class, and we boarded the bus at a painfully early hour. Then, it was off to London once again. Those who had booked it ahead of time went on the London Eye, and I wasn't in that group so I started shopping with some friends. We also saw some guards and horses, who we took pictures with, and continued on our way. London had pretty much every store imaginable; from Chanel to Urban Outfitters to H&M. There were plenty of touristy "I <3 London" shops and then, of course, Harrods. I wanted to go but to be perfectly honest, six hours is not near enough time. I went when I was younger though, so I wasn't too disappointed. To get back to the JM meeting point, my friend and I took the London Tube which is always an adventure. Then, after an exhausting day, we headed home.

Wednesday: Our last day of class! Slightly sentimental. Then, we had a photo session followed by a scavenger hunt, which I didn't participate in. I did go to the photo session though. That was it for the day.

Thursday: Our final day started off with a JM meeting, where we were given plenty of JM pens and papers. We watched a slideshow from the two weeks, followed by an awards ceremony and final goodbyes. Then, that evening, we had a Halloween/Pajama party. I sported that oh-so-fabulous cat onesie, which was very uncomfortable to dance in but was worth it. My host family also had a small Halloween party with games like dunking for apples and pinning to tail on the cat. It was a great Halloween.

Friday: There were no planned activities. At 3:30 we got on the buses, and 14 hours later I was back home!

Updates from Germany:
I'm now assisting with a 5th grade English class every Monday, which I love. All of the 5th graders asked me if I spoke American, which made my week.

There are advent calendars here with beer. Wow.

I'm go to my first Fußball game on Saturday!!

In less than two weeks, I will be one-third through my exchange year. How is this possible?!

There's probably so many more but look at this long blog post I've just written. I'll try to write another post before December but no promises.

Big Ben!!

I took this from the ferry as we left France. I feel somewhat accomplished as a photographer

Have a Ferry Merry Christmas! Get it? *Ba-dum-ching*

One of the first things we saw in England - a castle. This was in Dover, where the ferry arrived. 

Eastbourne is lovely!

The pier in Eastbourne

That time I "hattified" Eastbourne, as I mentioned earlier - basically, during our first scavenger hunt, my group was given over 25 JM hats. We didn't need any, so we passed them out to people. The bus driver, the janitor, the woman behind the counter at the supermarket: anyone who would take one. The people in this picture promised to wear them to a party. 

Selfie with a guard. He's not the smiling type.

Seeing Astara!!

All of the JM students had group leaders, and here is my group's picture. 

Just Another Blog Post

Well, it's been a while since I wrote a blog post, so I figured I'd give some updates. I've been with my new host family for around a month. In this month, I've:
1. Learned how to rollerblade. Yeah, it's still a thing in Germany. Loving it.
2. Went to The Netherlands. THE NETHERLANDS. I'm lucky to live so close, it was a short car ride to Winterswijk, a town there. There were some really cool markets, and I was amazed at how the second we crossed the border (marked by a tiny blue sign that was hardly noticeable) the language changed. The next billboard we saw was in Dutch. I don't really know why this surprised me, but it was cool.
3. Went to a great Stadtfest. This featured people in traditional Dutch attire, music, candy, games, and of course plenty of sausage.
4. So, so much more.

My German is significantly better. I speak pretty much all German with my host family, filling in with English when I don't know the German word. In school, I still understand pretty much nothing. I think this has a lot to do with the speed at which the language is spoken and the vocabulary. I know almost no words associated with physics or history. That's okay, I'll get it eventually. I can understand more and more each day, and that always keeps me going. I can also laugh at myself like nobody's business. I've probably made some horrendous mistakes and am just not aware, but I think people understand that my German isn't exactly top-notch. Another exchange student came to my school this week, and she's from Malaysia. So it's me, a girl from Peru, and girl from Taiwan, and her. They're all great. I also went to my first English class at here, and there was a The Far Side comic in the textbook. Then we all drew cartoons about manners and politeness. I'm still taking German classes three times a week, which I really like, and as of today I'm off for two weeks for fall break! And, wait for it...I'm going to England! So. Excited. My host family is going to be in Turkey and I'll be in a town called Eastbourne, on the coast. I'll get to visit London at least twice. I'm with a program, and I'll have English classes too. I leave tomorrow evening and I think the bus ride is 11 hours. Anyways, really looking forward to it. If anyone has any questions about Germany or anything at all, feel free to comment or email me!

NOTE:
The application for CBYX 2014 - 2015 HAS come out for all organizations! I strongly encourage anyone and everyone to apply. I've been away from home for two and a half months and trust me, I'm glad I came. The website is usagermanyscholarship.org and, as I mentioned before, email me or find me one facebook and I'll be happy to answer questions.

Major Updates

I've been really busy recently so I haven't really been able to sit down and write a long, detailed blog post. So here it is.

I switched host families a bit over a week ago. I won't go into detail, but we weren't very compatible and I think a switch was best for all of us. I was picked up by my Betreurin tuesday afternoon and then stayed with another CBer, Emily, until my new host family was ready for me. Actually, it's Emily's host cousins, so we'll be spending the holidays together. On thursday evening I went to my new host family, only 11 minutes away from where I was. I live in a village called Velen and I have 2 host sisters, ages 8 and 15, and an 18-year-old host brother. Plus 2 guinea pigs. I have my own room, and my host family is really, really wonderful.

On Friday I went to my host sister's school with her and shadowed for the day. However, I'm currently in school in the nearby town of Coesfeld. After school, I got to eat my first Döner, which is a turkish food. Basically, it's bread with lamb and vegetables and it's basically amazing. It was the size of my face. The secret is napkins. Lots and lots of napkins. Check out the photo at the bottom. Anyways, after that we watched Mama Mia dubbed in German. Thank goodness the songs were still in English, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to sing along. We also had popcorn with the movie, topped with sugar. Popcorn isn't a salty snack  here, which I found interesting. It reminded me of kettle corn.

On Saturday, I went to the Schulefest, which I'm probably spelling incorrectly, with my host sister. All of the proceeds went to a school in Africa. There was plenty of German food, including waffles, brotwurst, currywurst, chocolate fondue, and more. There were also games. There was a giant spinning table on top of a bouncy-house type thing and...you know what, just look at the picture. It's hard to explain, but it was great. There was also a lift bucket you could go up in to see the school and town from high up, so I did that. There were other activities but after a couple of hours, my host sister and I left and went home. We watched Angels and Demons that night in German, which is a great movie in ANY language, but I have to admit that hearing a voice other than Tom Hank's when he opened his mouth was slightly depressing. I honestly can't remember what we did Sunday.

On Monday, I went and visited my new school. Good news: I can walk to H&M from it. Bad news: I can walk to H&M from it. Resistance. Resistance. Anyways, My school seemed very relaxed about what classes I can take and all that. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning I go to to vocational school for German lessons. The group is very diverse, and in a class of about fifteen I think almost all continents are represented.

Tuesday I went back to work on my class schedule, and wednesday was my first day. Everything went well. I joined the local fußball club and tomorrow I'm going to an amusement park with my host sister.

I've gotten a lot of questions lately. Am I homesick yet? I'll be totally honest here. Yes. It's been a pretty rough week for me, but I think once I'm settled in everything will get better. My german is getting much better. Do I understand what's going on in class? Am I conversationally fluent? No and no, but I can carry simple conversations and communicate with other with much more ease than before.

A little more about my village: It's small, 9,000 people, and features both an old church and a castle. Woo! Pictures included, of course. It's been very hard lately. Homesickness and culture shock make up for a less-than-ideal time, but as long as I keep my chin up and stay positive, I know everything will be alright.

The Shloß

The Church

That other thing

the Lift Bucket

First Days of School

Yesterday was my first day of german high school! Apparently I'm attending the biggest Gymnasium in North-Rhine Westphalia. It has about 1,600 people, and I come from a school with 128. Wow. It was pretty overwhelming,  but good. There's another girl from American (Pennsylvania), a girl from Brazil, a boy from Thailand, one from China, and one from Azerbaijan. They all seem nice, and I'm glad to have them around, since we're all in similar situations. The first day, wednesday, I had a meeting with a school counselor who helped me pick out my classes. Germans take a lot of classes, just sayin', but they don't have them as often. Also, instead of having, say, a study hall instead of a class, you can just leave school for a while. A lot of kids go to the nearby bakery, or just hang out, as long as you're back in time for class. The school seemed very chill about everything. The counselor basically said that I was here to learn German, so the completely understood that my grades would be lower than usual. Especially since I don't actually speak German yet. I'm picking up a ton already though! I'm pretty sure I seem socially awkward right now, since the language barrier is pretty brutal, but I've already made friends. Also, apparently I don't have to take the exams because I'm an exchange student. I'll have to talk to my school in the U.S. about it, but that would really make life easier. I'm in the tenth grade, by the way, like I would be in the U.S. I was going to be with my host sister in 9th, but I think it's good that I'm not. I'll get to meet more people this way. The way that German schools work is that up until 10th grade, at least in my region, everyone stays in the same classroom and teachers come to the class. In 10th and up, though, you move around like in the U.S. Anyways, after the meeting I went to English class, and that was good. I helped other people out some, and I think we'll be doing some pretty interesting stuff. After that I had a break (I tried to make fiends, which kind of failed) I had music. It was all pretty average until the teacher threw music books at us and told us to open to page 7, aka Country Roads by John Denver. Let's just say off-key is a GREAT word to describe how that went. It was hilarious. I also noticed that "here" had been changed to "there" in the lyrics. Then, school was over, because the teacher for my last class was sick. Yeah, that's how German schools work :) After school, which ended at about 12:30ish. I think, my host mom picked my host sister and me up, and we went to look for a bike but with no success. I'll need to keep looking for one that fits and isn't too expensive. Then we went home for a while, and then I went to Fußball (soccer) club. I met more people, which was great. We all laughed at how terrible I was at soccer. In Germany, sports aren't a part of school. You go to sports clubs instead. I'm really glad I signed for that.

Today, I woke up at 5:45, as I did yesterday. I have to be on the bus (a public bus, there are no school buses in Germany. I have friends who take the train to school) at 6:45. that's when I wake up at home, but I'm adjusting to the earlier schedule well. Tomorrow my first class is at 9:30, so I get to sleep in! This is new. Anyways, I took the bus to school, like yesterday. Then I had geography, followed by chemistry. Both were equally traumatic as I had no idea what was going on. I've learned to take out pencils when everyone else does, and listen for the world "pause" (pronounces p-ow-suh: It means break). I know that it will get easier, so I'm just going to keep trying! Oh, and I get to go to London on a school trip this fall, so I'm really looking forward to that. Anyways, after chemistry, all the other exchange students and I met with the counselor, and that went well. Then we had spanish. I liked it but man, that was tough. I was thinking in English, listening to German, and speaking Spanish. There was a lot of awkward GerSpanGlish going on in my head. I'm glad I'm taking this class, though. I've forgotten SO much. I had to introduce myself in Spanish and even that was hard, but like anything else, it'll get better. After class, The exchange students from Thailand, Brazil, and the other from America went to the bakery with me. I had my first Berliner, which is a jelly donut. It's famous because JFK accidentally called himself one. At least, that's what I've heard. After that, I took the bus back to Groß Reken, and then to soccer again. It was a different group of people, and I'll play in games with this group. I liked both a lot. A girl asked me if I had played soccer before and I tried to say "last spring" but accidentally said "last breakfast". Mistakes happen, and I'm glad I can laugh that kind of thing off easily. :) Then, I played wii with some neighbors, adorable ten-year old girls. They didn't speak any English, and we communicated successfully! I'm proud of myself. I also found an animal park about 5 minutes from my house by car. I wanted to go in but I didn't have any money with me. They have buffalo, moose, wolves, etc. It looks cool. There's also a golf course! I'm already to planning to go out with more friends, and monday I take the train to Essen to meet my Betreuer, or local coordinator. Alles ist gut! Keep in touch everyone, and I'll write agin soon.
Tschüss!

With my Host Family! (Plus what camp life was like)

I meant to post this friday. Whoops!

Tomorrow, I leave Schloß Wittgenstein, and the next chapter of my journey begins. I'll take to train to Marburg, then Frankfurt, and then to Essen where I'll finally get to meet my host family. Tonight, we'll have our talent show, undoubtedly followed by all-night dance parties. Today, the schedule was pretty much as usual. We normally wake up between 7 and 8, or just wake up at 8:30 and sprint to breakfast if you're like me. After a breakfast of bread, nutella, fruit, and more bread, I have 3 hours of German class, with a break in between. We learn a lot in one class, playing games, listening to music, and doing plenty of worksheets. Yeah, there's homework. After class we have about 30 minutes and then lunch, which is inevitably meat and potatoes of some sort. Then, we have some more free time, followed by a plenum meeting. This is when we all meet and talk about cultural differences and such, or do activities and such. I always enjoy them. After plenum we have dinner (something with bread, who would have though?) And then we sometimes have workshops, which could be cooking, card games, sports, pretty much anything. A friend and I taught zumba the other day, which was a blast. Sometimes instead of workshops we have small groups, where we divide into groups of ten formed at the beginning of camp. We have discussions and its sort of a support group for your year abroad. Then we have free time until room check, at 10:15 and then 12:00 on weekends. It's honestly been the best three weeks of my life :)

Post from today:

I'm with my host family!! I arrived Saturday. I have my own room and bathroom, and my village is beautiful!! There's trails in the forest, so I can walk the dog or just go on jogs. It's only day two but I can already tell that running is really going to help me get through rough patches this year. It's so relaxing, and really helps clear my mind even when I feel totally fine. There's not too much to do here, but there are train and bus stations that lead to big cities that are pretty close by. Apparently there's an H&M about 20 minutes away! I still think its so cool that I'm only an hour and a half away from Dortmund, one hour away from Essen, and about twenty minutes from many, many other villages with fitness centers, shops, restaurants, and more. Everything is very accessible, and I'm excited to see the nearby villages. I'm going to try and join a sports club here, probably Fußball (soccer) because there isn't a club for running. Apparently there's a race soon, and I'd love to do that. I'll be completely honest: This is hard. It's really, really hard to keep your head up when homesick but I'm determined! I start school wednesday and I can't wait to meet people. Today was my host mom's birthday, and we had a party. I got to meet some other teenagers from Reken and I had very, very fractured conversations in German. I was so proud of myself though. I'm already picking up german, and I'll only get better.
Tchuss,
Katy

The Egg, Marsburg, and More (Meant to post it last week!)

This is from last week, I forgot to post it.

Camp is still great. So much has happened! On friday, we met up for an activity. A weird one. Basically, we divided into groups of 5 and each group was given an egg. Then we all went down to the village and began trading our egg for the best thing that we could find. My group went to a small shop that sold a lot of home decor items, and the cashier gave us a cup with a jumping pig on it. Then we went next door to a restaurant where we were offered a beer glass, and for some reason we turned it down. We then went to several other places but they wouldn't trade. Then, we went to a bike shop. The man working there told us that if e could bring him a case of beer, we could have a bike. (I'm still not sure if it was to rent or keep) So we took our jumping pig cup and went to a supermarket. No luck. We did, however, finally get rid of the pig cup for 2 bottles of beer next door, and we went back to the bike shop and received a pink bike bell, complete with rainbow flowers. We sort of wanted to keep the bell because it was so great, but ended up making a trade at the camera shop for a really nice camera bag. That was it! The team that won had gotten a lot of various things, including a date. (Yep) On saturday, we all went to Marburg, which was about an hour away by train. We spent the day basically doing whatever we wanted, so I went to H&M and had way too much ice cream. The city was gorgeous, and the architecture was very much the traditional German style.

From this week :)

I can't believe that we only have a week left of camp! It's gone by so fast, and I'm having an amazing time. Last night and the night before that, we went down to the village for the Altstadtfest. There were tons of food carts, bands, and even bumper cars. There was one tent in particular entitled the "Hillbilly Hoedown" that my friends and I loved. There were confederate flags hung up everywhere and the band ("The Henhouse Ramblers") sang country songs in southern accents. It was totally classic. We also had an activity yesterday where we were divided into 7 teams of 7 (A member of our group has left, and I won't go into detail) and we then had to come up with a name, song, flag, and uniform. We also had to complete various activities for points. Our group was first called the 'David Bowies' but then we realized that David Bowie had absolutely nothing to do with anything else we'd done so we changed our name to something german. I was our team's mascot, and even though we didn't win it was still fantastic. Plus, we got some great photos. I meet my host family in 6 days - its crazy!! I can't wait. Until next time!

Katy

Wifi at Last! -In Germany

Finally! So much has happened and then finally wifi started working. Where to begin? Last thursday, I said goodbye to my parents at the Hilton in Washington D.C, and just hours later we met the 50 Germans. It was so cool. We all had German roommates and just in those three days we learned so much about each other's cultures. I was pretty sad to see them leave, and I found out that one was about  20 minutes away from my home in Virginia, and I even knew his host sister. Anyways, we flew over to Germany and landed in Frankfurt on Sunday. After a long bus ride, we arrived at camp. We eat meals in a castle, which is awesome, and I love the food. They serve Nutella at about 4 out of 5 meals. I've been placed in the second to lowest german class, so I was proud. We have daily german classes and activities in the afternoon. Today, I went out to eat with some friends. We also went to the super market and stocked up on German chocolate. I also found a store with passion fruit, and I got really excited. I've also noticed that I'm terrible at acting German. I always get the weirdest stares, but I'm not too surprised. This is such a beautiful country! We're up in the mountains so it's much colder than in other places but I love it. Anyways, I'll post more soon. I love you all!
Katy

my dorm room!

Bad Laasphe

Casual posing

morning mist

the castle, looking misty

Application Advice

Hey everyone! So several people have posted about application advice, and I found them very helpful when I was applying. So, heres mine.

Application Advice

1. Be yourself and be truthful - don't make up stuff you've done. Complete no-no. Don't exaggerate and don't be superficial, because these folks have seen a LOT of applications. Chances are, they'll see right through it all. 

2. Don't be a show-off - Let's be honest. You want to make yourself look good, but talking about your popularity and the fact that you think you're better than everyone else doesn't help.

3. Proofread - it's far better to be safe than sorry. I had my english teacher look over mine numerous times. Also, make sure you're not talking about the same thing in every essay. These people want to see the real you, so show them as much as you can!

4. Get good recommendations - Don't go to your cooking class teacher. No. Choose the teachers who you believe will give you the best recommendations. I had my english teacher (who's german) and my former world geography teacher write mine. 

5. Try to meet the deadline - This year it was December 21st I think. They give you an extension, but try to finish it before so that you're not rushed.

Interview Tips 

1. Dress for success - Don't wear jeans. You want to show them that you care about this scholarship so I would recommend business attire, but still try to be fashionable(The fashionable part is more for girls. Obvi.).

2. Be honest - Like I said in the app advice, don't lie. PLEASE. Don't be a suck-up, either. These people are smart. They know what you're doing. Be really polite but not over-the-top

3. It's all in the handshake - If you walk into the interview and give the interviewers a dead-fish handshake, your first impression isn't going to be as great as you hoped. Look them in the eye and give a firm handshake. Woooo!

4. Prepare yourself - beforehand, have someone ask you questions that could be in the interview. Here are some examples(which may not be real questions): Why Germany? What's the longest you've ever been away from home? Why should we pick you? Do you have any german language background? Have you ever murdered anyone?(urm). Well, you get the idea

5. Prepare yourself part 2 - After the interview, get people's numbers and stay in touch. Just remember, only 50 people from your region will get that call. So even if you felt insanely confident, not everyone will get in. Just remember that you could be in the "not" category. Be optimistic though! :)

6. Don't replay your answers over and over in your head - okay, this is hard not to do, but if you think you messed up, try not to hang on it. You can't go back and change it.

7. Avoid sensitive subjects - The interview is not a time to get political or  talk about sensitive subjects in German history. Like World War II. Seriously. Don't. This is also not a time to talk about how much you hate X senator and all that jazz. 

8. Good Luck! If anyone has any questions, email me at a.k.laser@gmail.com

Host Family!

I got my host family! I'll be living in a village called Reken, which is close to the western border. I have a host brother who's 16 and a host sister who's 14. My dad is an engineer. The family enjoys taking trips and walking their dog, who's a golden retriever. The school I'm going to has over 1,000 kids, which will be a major change from the 128ish in the Stuart Hall upper school. (woot woot!) I don't know too much more! I'm so excited!

Under 50 Days

Unter 50 Tagen! Maybe that was correct grammar. Maybe not. I actually have been practicing my German, though! Pat on the back for me. I've been using duolingo and to be perfectly honest, I don't really have much to write a post about. I don't have my host family yet, but that'll happen any day! 47 days left in the U.S. and I'm insanely excited but also pretty nervous. I'll post again once I get my host family, but until then, Bis bald!

CBYX, Explained

I was looking at my other posts and realized I never really explained what CBYX is, exactly. So here goes: CBYX stands for the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, and is a program funded by the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag. Each year, for about ten months, 250 American students go to Germany and 250 German students come to America. No, a German student won't be coming to live in my house while I'm away. I don't "trade places" with anyone, but that would be cool. Anyways, in about a month I'm going to get the information on my host family, who I'll live with for the majority of the year. Students are placed in small towns and attend the local public high school. The classes are taught in german, and the student can only return home in the event of an emergency. Family can visit after January 2nd. To start the program, there's a  three-day orientation in Washington D.C., followed by a three-week language and culture camp. There's so much more I could say, but this is the jest of it. I'm so excited. Sometimes I'll still just smile and shake my head, thinking I'm actually going to Germany. Wow. I know I'll get tons of papers, important booklets, and that sort of thing, and I'm working on my german, I can now conjugate verbs in the present tense. *pats self on back*. I've got a lot more to do before I leave in exactly 130 days, but then again, I have 130 days to do all that needs to be done. Until next time!

Finally!

Over twenty-five pages later (I had to add a couple to the twenty-three page packet), the second app has been submitted. Putting it in the mailbox and putting the little red flag up felt like the weight of the world had lifted from my shoulders, and now I just wait! I can't wait to see who my host family will be. T-minus 139 days until Washington D.C!! I've passed that OMGWHAT phase and now I'm more in the "Wow. So much to  do" phase. I hope my second app gets to where it needs to be, and now I just sit back and relax.

The Secondary Application

Oh geez. The secondary application is, well, a second application, and it's to help place you with a host family. It's nice to answer these questions knowing that I'm in and I can't be rejected, but it's twenty-three pages. Hoooly cow. There's a lot of basic information you have to put down, such as your daily schedule and hobbies and such. I have to write a letter to my host parents, and so do my actual parents. It's way bigger than the original application, and I only have about a week or so to complete it as I'll be out of the country week after next. So much to do, so little time! It'll be worth it, though. I've ordered a language-learning software program as well as a book entitled: The Exchange Student's Survival Guide, which covers pretty much everything you need to know about culture shock, your place in the host family, and that sort of thing. It's still so crazy to think that this is actually happening, a dream become a reality. More later!

Accepted!!

It started with a dream of attending boarding school. That's right, boarding school. Then, my dad told me about the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, or CBYX. Basically, 250 students from all over the country go to Germany for a year, and vice versa. Why not? I thought. I grew more and more excited as I began applying. Teacher recommendations, short essays, transcripts and so much more were required, papers signed, and before I knew it, I had gotten an email inviting me for an interview. My interview was in Richmond, Virginia. There were probably thirty other people there. We played some fun group games, and one by one, we were called out for our individual interviews. I was interviewed by two people, who were both very relaxed and cool. They asked a lot of "what would you do in this situation?" kind of questions. It lasted thirty minutes. Phone numbers were exchanged, and the waiting began. Then, yesterday, March 13th, this little beauty came in my inbox:
"Dear Anna,

We would like to be the first to congratulate you on your acceptance to the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship Program! CIEE is thrilled to have you among our 50 students chosen from the Southeast United States..."

And so, my journey begins. 

FAQs:

"How old are you?" Fifteen. That's right, fifteen. I really didn't think I would be accepted this year but here I am, prepping for departure! I know I'm young, and I know that it will probably be the hardest thing I've ever done, but I've never been more sure about anything.

"When do you leave?" August 8th :)

"Are you nervous?" Who wouldn't be at least a little? Yes, I am, but I'm SO excited I can't even describe it. 

"How long is the program?" We leave in August and return in late June, so about ten months.

"How much German do you know?" Pretty much none. I'm going to get a Rosetta Stone-esque program to help me, though.

I'll answer any more questions people send me. Until next time! Auf Wiedersehen!