Preparing for Germany

Starting off, I’m Andrew from Oregon and it’s just 36 days until I leave for the journey of a lifetime. Right now, writing this I realize how different the last few months have been from any other time in my life. Under three months ago I was anxiously awaiting the decision and preparing myself for the possibility that I might not go… now I’m preparing for Germany. 

There are obviously a lot of emotions that come with leaving your home behind for a year abroad, both positive and negative. I still feel like I‘m not totally processing the fact that I’m leaving home. There have been a few moments like the last day of school where I’ve been like “wow I’m actually doing this.” But for the most part it still feels like just something that I’m talking about but will never actually happen. Eventually I will finally realize that this dream isn’t, well, a dream, and when I do there will be a lot of tears of joy and sadness from me, my friends, and family. 

So far I’ve prepared as much as I can but still have quite a bit left before I go. I’ve been trying to finish all my classwork, but now that the school year is over I plan to hit German lessons hard and really figure out all the logistics before I go. To my benefit, I have a family friend who used to be a German teacher and he’s agreed to give me lessons which I very much need, and will hopefully give me a good foundation going into language camp in August. I’ve been buying some clothes before I go, mainly because most of the stuff I own falls into the category of athleisure and that’s not really the vibe in Germany, or anywhere else right now from what I’ve heard. Every week I’m doing something to get ready whether that’s getting a suitcase big enough to fit my life for the next year, opening a bank account (and making money to put in said account), or booking a one way flight to Washington DC. Time is moving fast and I have so much left to do to get ready for this adventure. 

Having never left the US there are a lot of things I am excited about, and equally as many that I am scared of. I love cooking and trying new foods, so I’m very excited to eat and learn to cook German meals. I also really like meeting new people and so this will definitely be a great opportunity to do that with things like school, sports, and just meeting my host family. This one is a little less related to the program but I absolutely LOVE flying. I’m not sure why but I just find it so enjoyable and exhilarating, like, everything is more fun when you’re in the air. As far as things I’m scared of, culture shock is a big one. Being somewhere new and different with its own way of doing things will definitely have its challenges, not to mention the language barrier. Learning German is actually probably one of the things I’m most excited for because it just would be so cool to be able to communicate in an entirely different language, but I know that it will take time and frustration to get there. 

The whole reason I get to participate in CBYX is because I took a leap. Wayyyyyy back in October I got an email from the  college and career counselor at my school which most of the time I don’t read, but this one caught my eye. The subject was “Fully Paid Exchange Trip To Germany” and that alone was enough to suck me in. Reading the email and looking at the website I thought to myself “wow cool program, no way in a million years I‘m gonna get in” and that was it. The next week at ultimate frisbee practice I was talking to my teammates about it and they said that we should all apply and go together. So, I worked fast and hard to finish the application before the deadline. My friends, however, never got it done even after they extended it. Fast forward a month and a half and I get an email offering me an interview. I flew to Denver in February, and now here I am. All of this to say, If you’re reading this and thinking of applying, take the step and you never know where you might end up, sometimes you might get disappointed but you could end up like me with 36 days before I leave on the journey of a lifetime.