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.
I have officially been on American soil for just under a week!
Tracing back in time-
On July 5 at 5.00 in the morning I made my way to the Tegel airport in Berlin with my host family. A few of my close friends from school came to the airport at well, and a bunch of exchange students came. After saying goodbye to all of the people I had grown close to this year, I boarded my plane and took off at 7.15 to Amsterdam. During the flight I read all of the letters that my friends had written to me and looked through a photo album that was made for me. It was a very emotional time and I cried for a good 20 minutes. In Amsterdam I made my way through the airport in a confused haze- tears were in my eyes, I was in awe that this year was actually- OVER... After getting something to eat I got myself into shape, and really started to just focus on all of the amazing experiences that I had this year and it made the whole situation a lot better. The flight from Amsterdam to Detroit went pretty smoothly. On my last leg of the journey to Chicago, I talked to a girl my age about going home, and she really helped me prepare for my reunion with my parents.
Once I got through security I was veryyy excited to see my family. I walked down the escalator into the baggage terminal and slowly my family came into view holding a "welcome home" sign. Everyone looked so DIFFERENT! It was as if I was looking at the whole reunion from a bystander's perspective. I ran towards them and gave them all hugs... and it was GREAT to see them again after SOOOO long!
After the airport I went with my family to eat some great TGI Fridays- and it was so great to get free refills!!! After eating we drove home to Madison. I gave my family their presents that I had collected over the months- and then I surprised my friends later that night. I had barely ANY jet-leg the first few days home... it kicked in right as the adrenaline stopped about 2 days in. I just spent my first days adjusting to the new environment... unpacking, meeting with friends... and spending time with my family. It felt good to be back home.
On Friday morning my Mother and I drove up to Grand Rapids, Michigan for the Central States conference that I attended last year as an outbound student. It was quite different than what I experienced last year. I realllly did NOT feel like going to the meetings planed for us to get us "re-adjusted"... I much preferred just hanging out with other rebounds and talking about our life. Our past-present- and future. Probably one of the coolest moments was when I was with my old friends from last year and we were going around a circle saying how to say certain things in German, Spanish, Turkish, Japanese, and Czech... not many friends can sit in a circle and do that! It was amazing to just reconnect with everyone after a year. I love how everyone changed so much... but they still are exactly who they were when they left. (that probably doesn't make sense at all).
So now I am home again. The weekend was like I have already said- GREAT... but it still sucks to not be able to hang out with everyone for a longer period of time! I guess it was nice when it lasted! As of now- I'm really trying to just live... I got a lot of stuff going through my head at the moment, but in the scheme of things... yeahh... I guess I am just trying to wrap my head around all the stuff I saw, all the people I met, and all of the relationships I made this year. I have no idea where I would be if I had never done exchange. I can not imagine my life without it.
I have some thinking to do.
