Just Two Weeks Left Until It All Begins!

Hi everybody!

I’m Samantha, but you can call me Sam. I’m 15 years old and currently live in the small town of Pawleys Island, South Carolina. The reason I say “currently” is because my family and I move around the country a lot. I’ve moved nine times and I’ve lived in large cities like Washington D.C. to small towns like where I live now.

I’m so excited to say that I’ll be spending my junior year of high school in Germany! I and 49 other participants, and soon-to-be friends were very lucky to be chosen to spend a year in Germany with CBYX/CIEE. In about two weeks, I’ll be getting ready to leave for Washington D.C. and then Germany!

Growing up, I’ve always been told that I’m German. My dad is from Germany and I still have family that lives there. Despite having a German passport and family that speaks the language, I don’t speak any German (the reason is too long to explain here) and I’ve never been lucky enough to truly experience and understand what it means “to be German.” I’m so excited because I know this next year abroad will really help me understand more about my heritage and learn new things about the world around me.

Ever since I heard about this program in fifth grade, it has been my dream to participate. This past school year has been a whirlwind of essays, recommendations, applications, and interviews, but it was all worth it to be where I am now.

It all started in the fall when the application became available. At first, I was intimidated, but then I realized that I just needed to show CBYX who I was and why I should go to Germany. After I turned the application in, I was invited to interview as a semi-finalist. The interview was absolutely amazing!! I flew to Atlanta where I met so many great people who quickly became my friends. We were all in touch with each other even after the interview weekend ended.

I will say that this next part of the process was probably the worst: waiting. It was hard to be patient, but I eventually received a call from CIEE a few weeks later letting me know that I was a finalist! I was going to Germany!!! That phone call alone was worth the wait. Even though I was crying and overwhelmed with excitement, it was one of the best moments of my life. Now, I’m not quite two weeks away from pre-departure orientation in Washington D.C. and language camp in Bad Laasphe!

After I found out I was a finalist, we were told that we’d get our host families anywhere from May to August. We were all required to make a ninety-second video to introduce ourselves to prospective host families. I knew that my introduction video was going to be people’s first impression of me, so I did my best to show my true personality. It’s very easy to get nervous in front of the camera and clam up, so make sure that your video shows what you’re actually like and not just what you’re like in front of a camera.

I was very fortunate to receive my host family quickly. They’re absolutely amazing! I’ll be living in Höxter, which is about an hour and a half away from Hanover. I have two host sisters, one who’s 15 and one who’s 9. My host mom is an optometrist and my host dad is in the military. One thing I am really excited about are the pets my host family has. I have two crazy cats, so I was really excited when I found out my host family has two dogs and two rabbits! My host family has been very sweet to me and I’ve been texting and Skyping with all of them. We’re all so excited for our next year together and can hardly wait until we see each other in September.

I know that my year in Germany will present me with challenges, but I couldn’t be more excited! My older sister and my parents have been extremely supportive, so it’ll be difficult to say goodbye. Luckily, we all know that my exchange will give me all sorts of new experiences that I’ll remember for a long time.

That’s all for now, but you can bet that I’ll be sharing more about preparing for this next year and what it’s like when I finally arrive in Germany. Please check back soon since I will try to post often with LOTS of photos. As they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Tschüss,

Sam