It has been quite a while since I have last written.
Here's a recap on what has been going on...

Two weeks ago I attended the Rotary Interviews in Wisconsin Dells.
I, along with some other rebounds, were asked to help answer questions before the outbounds went to be interviewed, and we also were on a panel interviewing students and parents. It was a very nice time, I enjoyed the company of all of the rebounds and it was nice to talk with all of the prospective outbounds. They all reminded me of my sophomore self SO MUCH! I'm excited to see what an exchange year will teach them, and how it will make them grow into the amazing young adults. Every district of exchange students is unique in its own way, but this wave of students will be more unusual than normal because all of the outbounds are female, except for one male (and me). I have never come across such a district! Teenage guys really have to step it up, I am disappointed!

Before the interviews I had a little chat with the district chair about my gap year and we went over what it would entail. I believe it still would be a fantastic time, and a perfect education opportunity before college starts up. It looks like there are 17 open outbound spots, and 19 people who are signed up. As of now, one other rebound and myself are alternates, but I am not too worried about being accepted because there is bound to be someone who drops out after country selections, and even if no one does drop out, I'm sure we could find a way to send two more students abroad.

All of my paperwork is done, my check is sent in, and all I must do now is wait to see what comes out of it. I do not know if they will automatically assign me a country, or if they will wait. It is to me a mystery! I am just along for the ride. It should be quite interesting to see how it turns out. I am very excited at the unique process I am going through. If it were to be exactly the same as last year, It would not have been half as interesting!

In other news, about a month ago I visited two of my best exchange friends in NYC. It was so nice to catch up with them, and actually see living people who share so many memories with me from my year in Berlin. One of those friends in NYC is coming to visit me after Thanksgiving, and it will be SO MUCH FUN! exchange students are awesome! Speaking of... I was just hanging out with three of them last night ;) (Finland, Germany, Holland). Ohhh exchange students!

I am also happy to announce that I have successfully sent in all of my college applications. I applied to Macalester College, UW-Madison, and UM-Twin Cities. Everything on my apps leads me to believe that I should get accepted to those colleges... except my ACT score. I took the ACT last month and studied a lot before taking it, but unfortunately, I did very poorly. I was expecting to do MUCH better, and was quite shocked when I received my scores. Honestly, I have no idea what happened- on all of my timed practice tests I did much better... but when the real test came about- I bombed. I RECOMMEND TO ALL OUTBOUNDS TO TAKE THE ACT BEFORE YOU GO ABROAD, AND ALSO WHEN YOU COME BACK! I regret not taking the test because now I have only one more chance to take the test in December, and if that doesn't go well, I may jeopardize the likelihood of my acceptance into Macalester. (where I reallllly want to study!)

All Applications are done- rotary and college - and it feels fantastic. My hours at work are a bit lower than normal, but that is due in part to the role I just received in the School Musical. This year James Madison Memorial is putting on Cabaret and I got the Emcee part! I am thrilled to get to work on the musical... it will be so exciting to be a part of! Between work, school, cabaret, and forensics (I'm doing 3 events: DI, Duo, SOS), I really do not have much time to think about exchange. This time 2 years ago I was ecstatic and could not focus on ANYTHING except exchange! Doing it a second time definitely is easier because our (rebounds) patience has grown so much!

I will try to post up more updates as they come. Life is so great! Senior year is GREAT! living in the moment is great! I continue to attribute all of my happiness to my exchange year. It really did drastically impact me, and molded me into the passionate person I am today..

Good Luck Outbounds!!!!

I just wanted to inform all readers that I have officially turned in my Rotary Youth Exchange Application last Friday and my top 5 are as follows.
(I only am eligible for 8 out of 40 because of my age)

1. Argentina
2. Brazil
3. Bolivia
4. Thailand
5. India

Next year should be quite a change from Germany!!!

In other news I am just about finished with completing my College Applications. It is a piece of cake in comparison to Rotary Applications so I'm not too worried. I decided to apply to three schools, and after I get answers I am planning on deferring acceptance for one year!

I am just excited about life :)

So as I said before, I am currently applying for both college and Rotary Youth Exchange!

I'm SO excited at the prospect of going out AGAIN for another exchange year! If that somehow doesn't work out, I'm still very excited about going to college. It's looking like I will probably be going to either Argentina or Brazil... but who knows?

I'm pretty much done with my application. All I have left to do is basically put my pictures in, make copies of everything, and get signatures!!! Who knew I'd be going through this again..


... actually the more I think about it... I kind of KNEW it the whole time that I would be applying this year. I even had an inkling when I was filing out forms last year.

I have had no time to write ANYTHING!

school, work, homework, college applications, rotary applications.

I still don't know where I'm going to end up. I am applying to college and I am applying to Youth exchange. We will see what happens! I will try and update ASAP!

I miss it, I miss it, I miss it... I miss exchange so much.

I wish I could be back in Berlin. I miss German life. I miss going to school on the subways in the morning, I miss waking up to "Guten Morgen" and eating Broetchen every single morning! I miss hanging out with my friends at Hackesher and Potsdamer! I miss the life of the city and the multitude of languages heard while walking down the streets. I miss late night Doeners and having umlauts on the keyboards. I miss the movement, the uniqueness of architecture, and the rich German culture. But most of all, I miss with all of the wonderful people I met. :(






(photos by German classmate: Marie Stoltze)

First day of school was on the 2nd... I am not saying it was bad, I am just saying that I need some time to adapt to this new atmosphere. It has been a long time since I was in American High School. I am NOT used to the sassy attitude of students (on the first day I accidentally bumped into an underclassman girl, politely, I smiled and said, "oh, I'm sorry about that." She responded by, "shoo boy, you betta be!"), the crazy amount of cliques, and the massive student body! It will be an interesting year. talk about culture shock.

I have been in a bit of contact with my District Coordinator. She told me that outlook on next year is not ideal. If I decide to go abroad again, I will most likely be an alternate (which is fine, I don't want to take the place of an outbound)... and I will probably have a very limited country choice. I will be going to an inbound orientation next week to meet all of the new exchange students and hopefully I will get to talk with some Rotarians that will help me make some decisions.

I have no idea where I'm going to be in a years time. I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA! It's actually kind of exciting! Will I take a gap year? Will I go to college? What will I be doing?

All you have to do is read and find out... (easy for you)

Yesterday I gave my rotary presentation to my sponsor Rotary club: Madison West Towne Middleton. It was a really special time because I gave the presentation exactly one year after I left for Germany. While at the meeting I met a new inbound at the meeting who is from the Netherlands who will be attending my school next year. I also just received word that there will be another inbound who will be going to my school from POTSDAM! (a boarder city of Berlin).

Also, in other big news... I have been really thinking about my future and what I am going to be doing after my senior year. I want to go into the working-world with as much experience as I possibly can. I want see as much of the world as I can, learn as many languages as I can, and learn as many lessons as I can. I'm really trying to figure out what the best bet for me will be...

Do I want to go right to college and sometime in my years pay $20,000+ for a semester abroad?
Do I want to go to college, get a degree, and after, join an organization that allows me to travel?
or... do I want to go on Rotary Youth Exchange again?

Since I signed up for RYE I always considered doing a yo-yo year. I learned SO much last year and doing another year would enable me to learn another language and experience a new culture . But... I would have to repeat a year of high school, and I could possibly experience a "been there done that" sort of feel. Also, there are more complications- WHERE WOULD I GO? There are several age restrictions on the countries I could go to... I would be 18 and 7 months if I were to leave, but the age limit on many countries is 18 and 6 months. I wonder how strict they would be in accepting me? I'd love to be fluent in French (because I've taken 4+ years).. but my mind says SPANISH. (because its the third most spoken language on the planet).

Anyways... I have been going back and forth with this idea in my mind. I definitely have NOT made a decision yet, but I'm just relying on god to help me out with this. I'm going into next year with a completely open mind! We'll see what happens.

I feel it is fitting that I write a sort of "closing" post to sum up this exchange year even though this will probably not end up being my last blog post. I plan to update everyone every so often throughout the coming months to share how all of my grades end up transferring, as well as how my year abroad affects my college plans. Feel free to contact me at any time to ask questions about Rotary Youth Exchange or what it MEANS to be an exchange student abroad. I would be more than happy to answer your questions as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

So... After being back in America for just under a month I find myself thinking less and less about Germany, and more and more on the present. It kills me to say it, but Germany seems a bit like a dream- sometimes I can't believe it really happened! I feels so LONG ago- like a distant memory, or a dream! ... I still feel like no one except other exchange students truly understand what last year really meant to me, but I'm okay with that. I guess my it is kind of like my little secret that I have inside of me. My year is a unique part of me- something that will never leave me.

I still think about Berlin every day- I still am dreaming in German - and I love all of the amazing people I met in Germany. I miss it so MUCH...but I feel like it is time to move on. Its time to focus on other things now than my exchange year. I know that my year in Germany was the most important, most influential year of my life... but I have had a whole month to get back on track and now I need to start thinking about my future- finishing high school and finding the right college.

All I can say in closing is THANK YOU of you people who took the time to follow me in my adventures in Germany this year. It really gets me excited to think that all over the world, exchange students are getting ready (or just starting) their year abroad. To all of you outbounds reading this... this year ahead of you will change your life. Go into it with an open mind and HAVE FUN! It is over soooo quick! (you'll hate me for saying that because it doesn't feel fast until it is over).


It was a pleasure to write- I hope you all enjoyed my far from grammatically correct blog, and possibly gained some insight to a year abroad through rotary youth exchange. I wouldn't trade my year for the world! It changed me, it changed my prospect on the world, and it taught me immeasurably more than I ever thought I would learn my Junior year.