No longer homeless

Previously on Ginger Takes Germany: I was anxiously awaiting news of a host family. It seemed like all of the other CBYX students had their host families, and I was still left alone. What if no one in all of Germany wanted to take in a strange ginger child? Would I be released in Germany as a homeless vagabond?

Actually, things weren’t that bad. It takes a while to find so many students host families, and the good folks at CIEE* and Experiment** work their hardest to make sure everyone has a good placement.

Well, I received word that I should be getting my placement after the weekend. So Monday and most of Tuesday looked something like this for me:

1. Wake up

2. Check email

3. Wait five minutes

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for the remainder of the day

Of course, I would occasionally get an email that wasn’t my placement and that looked something like this:

1. Refresh email

2. See 1 new email downloading

3. Get extremely excited: “Is it my host family? It has to be my host family!”

4. “It’s not my host family”

5. Sad face

Then the whole cycle changed Tuesday night:

1. Refresh email

2. See 1 new email downloading

3. “It’s probably more spam”

4. “Wait that’s not spam…”

5. “HOST FAMILY”

6. I repeat “HOST FAMILY” x10

Suddenly, all of the waiting and avid email refreshing were worthwhile.

They are my permanent host family (some students receive a temporary “welcome” family for the first month or two). I have three host siblings (ages 9, 6, and 3). The whole family loves soccer, outdoor theater, singing in choir, sailing, and they have one dog. They live in Lübbecke, which is an adorable town in north Germany.

I’m so happy to no longer be homeless, and having a host family makes this exchange so much more real for me. I am so excited to learn more about them and become a part of their family over this year!

*CIEE is the regional organization in charge of CBYX for the southeastern US. They select fifty students from the southeast to be part of CBYX each year, and they work with us throughout the year coordinating things such as orientation and other events.

**Experiment e.V. is the German counterpart organization, and they select the German students who will come to the US as part of CBYX. They are also in charge of the American CBYX students while we are in Germany.

This is the beginning

Hello, friends, family, and Internet vagabonds, and welcome to my blog! I plan to use this as a way to share my adventures from the next eleven months.

For the short version of why the next eleven months are going to be so interesting, please reread the title of my blog. For the longer version, please continue reading this post.

I will be spending the next year in—you guessed it—Germany! I was accepted to this wonderful program known as the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX). CBYX was created as a way to strengthen ties between the United States and Germany, so each year 250 students from the US are chosen to participate in this 11-month exchange. Apparently, it’s pretty successful because the program has been running since 1983.

During the exchange, I will be going to school—the German equivalent of high school—and I am expected to immerse myself in German language and culture. The ultimate goal is to return to the US as a bilingual and more cultured young adult who can make wonderful German food and music recommendations.

For those of you wondering how much German I speak, I know somewhere between absolutely none and very little. I can say “Bier und Brot, bitte,” so at least we know I won’t starve to death. I like to consider this complete lack of German knowledge to be part of the adventure. Yes, it will make for some hard times throughout the year, but I’m sure it will also make for a lot of funny stories.

However, I will not be thrown into daily German life the second I land in Frankfurt to see if I sink or swim. Part of CBYX is a three-week language camp (this will be at Schloss Wittgenstein in Bad Laasphe). Pretty much, we have an extra three weeks to cram in as much German knowledge as possible before being unleashed on the rest of Germany.

Oh, and by the way, I leave for orientation in DC this Thursday, then off to Germany on Saturday. I don’t know where in Germany I will be permanently staying after the language camp. I (along with about 10 other students in the CIEE division of CBYX) do not have my host family placement yet. I should be getting it soon, and I will be certain to update this when I know.

This year is certainly going to be an adventure, and I can’t wait to share it with you!