On March 23rd, 2015, at 6:30 pm, I received the call from ASSE that I had been accepted for the 2015/2016 Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange! This means that I will be spending my junior year studying in Germany on a full academic scholarship! Spending a year in Germany is really a dream come true for me. My grandmother on my dad's side of the family and my grandfather on my mom's side of the family were both born in Germany, and I have wanted to learn more about the German culture for years. I know that I'll miss everyone here a lot, but it'll definitely all be worth it!
I have already been lucky enough to meet two other 2015/2016 ASSE CBYXers (shoutout to Mila and Kacey for coming to visit!), and I have talked to lots more through Facebook. I am SO excited for the regional orientation in June and the full orientation with everyone, in Washington DC, in early Aug! After the DC Orientation we'll all fly to Germany together and go to temporary host families near one of ASSE's three language camps (Aachen, Hamburg, and Dusseldorf, I think). I haven't gotten many details yet, but I'll update this blog as soon as I do. I should get info on my town and host family between May and August. I can't want to find out where I'll be living next year!
I'm working hard to learn German, so hopefully my basic skills will be reasonable by the time I arrive. I am so lucky that I have my amazing Oma (grandma in German) to help me with speaking. I am also doing my second year of Rosetta Stone German and supplementing that with Duolingo.
I have just over 5 weeks of school left, and then I'll be able to focus on getting ready for Germany! So exciting!
Auf Wiedersehen!
