Language Camp and Departure Part One

• Hi, I think in bullet points, so I an going to write in them!! Enjoy!
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• Pre Departure was at the Dulles Hilton Hotel
• Had orientation with German inbound students
• Roommate Carlo Hapke, 15
• Found out I was going to Frauenlob Gymnasium in Mainz, only a few miles from Wendy Osbourne
• Said Goodbye to Germans. Special to those who helped me read my school's webpage (Vincent and Stella)
• Airport
• Flight 989 to Frankfurt, United Airlines
• Economy Class, last row on plane, ICK!
• Seat 45B
• Left at 5:30 pm
• Sat next to Joy'e when she took an empty seat
• We talked for 8 hours straight because our movies wouldn't work
• I REALLY WANTED TO SEE IRON MAN 3! I will have to rent it soon…
• I ordered mineral water in German! "Eine mineralwasser, bitte?". The flight attendant rolled her eyes, but it really boosted my confidence.
• Joy'e and I drew pictures for the two flight attendants. She drew a really cool flower and I did an abstract design. They were really nice and tried to get our movies working again, but with no avail. I wrote the quote on my drawing- "When life throws you curves, go with the flow". She was really happy and gave me a big hug and United wings that they give to kids. I put them on my Nautica bag where they will stay for a long time.
• Landed at 7 am in Frankfurt. Saw lots of world airlines.
• Took pictures of all the Lufthansa signs. Set it as cell phone background. Really funny signs….
• Saw my first German bakery. I could have spent €100 really easily.
• Went through customs. That was quick and efficient because be arrived earlier than the usual America-Europe rush. Got a stamp!
• Got on a bus with a reeeeeeealy slow driver. Cars were literally going 90 to 100mph on the Autobahn. Coolest thing ever!
• Arrived at Schloss Wittgenstein, after 2 hours of German studying. Drove up a huge hill, and realized will have to climb up and down that every day to get to the town of Bad Laasphe. Really pretty town.  That's the view.
• Met the staff (All under 26)
• Had Lunch. It was in the basement of the castle and a buffet. It was among the best meals I ever had. However, nothing compares to my mother's cooking! I tried spetzle, which is thick and soggy noodles with a meat/red sauce. It's hard t explain but I understand why the German students we met love it. It was amazing! They also had sausage, which was the best I had ever had, and really good yogurt. The bread and the butter was to die for. It was so fresh and fluffy, yet still like a hard roll. I tried one with pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Yum!
• Got unpacked and I will be rooming with Dylan Mittag. He is sleeping right now.
• I started making plans with Wendy who is 10 minutes from me to hang out after school with our friends.
• The dorm room door decorating championship is in the bag. Dylan and I are so going to win! I used the buttons I brought to spell "Aaron and Dylan"
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• We brought a case of sparkling water up to our room to drink. I love it already!

Less Than Two Weeks

Hey All,

I haven't posted much of anything, because I still haven't gotten a host family yet! It's kind of annoying that I'm almost ready to leave and I still have no idea where I am going to be. I hope that I found out soon. I haven't bothered to start packing yet, but I bought some clothing. I got my first smartphone about 3 weeks ago (Samsung Galaxy S4) and I really like it. I bought it for $650 unlocked so I could put it on a German carrier. I am going to get a camera in a couple days. I can't wait to go! I have been getting to the Facebook group and talking to my fellow CBYXers. I can;t wait to meet them all in Washington DC on the 8th.

Aaron

My First Real Post- May 13

Hello World! This blog is going to be about my time in Germany,  So let me begin. My name is Aaron C. and I am a 15 year old freshman from Virginia. I live in the country, but close enough to suburbia that it's only a 5 minute drive to the grocery store. I am a bubbly, dorky, and fun-loving kid. I play tennis and I do Tae Kwon Do. I am a pretty normal American teenager, except for one thing- CBYX!

 The Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange Program (or CBYX) is a program funded by the American Congress and the German Bundestag (parliament). It allows 250 students from the United States to spend a year on full scholarship to study abroad in Germany with host family for a year. The scholarship includes pretty much everything except your trip getting to Washington D.C, your discretionary expenses (clothing, gluttony, etc.) and your dental insurance. Not kidding, either. I found out about the CBYX program in June of 2012 and had been patiently (not) waiting for the application to be released, which happened in November of 2012. I found out about this program simply by internet searches. The application was long and arduous, but I got through it. I submitted it in the beginning of January 2013. Oh by the way, if anyone has questions or is interested in foreign exchange, please feel free to ask questions!

OK, so let me talk about the next part of the application process. I had an online application, which consisted of mostly general info, my transcript, but also included six essays and a host family letter. Then when I got selected to go to an interview, I had to go to Richmond to interview. There were 25 of us there, twice as many girls as guys, which is true in general, which increased my chance as a male... of getting in. My interview was about 30 minutes long, and it was well.... terrifying, it really was. The rest of the interview consisted of group interaction, which involved a variety of mini projects. Sorry, I can't go into the interview much more, because I can't really talk about it. One thing that was interesting was that more than half of the interviewees were planning on going in their senior year or as a gap year. A few were planning on going as a junior, and only two were planning on going as a sophomore. I was one of two. Then they had an info session for the parents, and then the wait began....

 

CBYX is kind of hard to explain because of its strange structure. CBYX divides the country into 5 regions, each with their own foreign exchange organization. Being in Virginia and thus in the Southeast Region, I had to apply to the foreign exchange program called CIEE. CBYX itself isn't really a program- it's hard to explain and you'll just have to trust me on this.

 

 

 

Now, to the present....

 

I wouldn't be writing all this unless I had gotten accepted, but yes, I did get accepted on April 1, 2013. Yay! Once I had gotten accepted I had to fill out a horrendous application that contained for information about me, like my likes and dislikes, so that they could place me with a host family. I hope to get my host family by the end of this month. Last Friday they sent us out an e-newsletter about how to deal with our school credits and whatnot. I had already had that pretty much down pat with my school, as they were very open to flexing with me in order to get my credits. As of right now, I will be able to get everything but my second English class, which I will have to make up some how, probably through summer school or something. Anyway, concerning German, I speak no German whatsoever, and I am planning on getting a tutor over the summer to help me. Once again, if you have questions, feel free to ask!

 

 

 

Aaron C.

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