Hi there! My name is Margaret, and I’m currently
- seventeen,
- a high school graduate, and
- an exchange student living in Germany.
Here are some other things you may be vaguely interested in knowing, if you bothered to come to this page:
- I spent a month in Germany during the summer of 2009. Before that, I’d never seriously considered becoming an exchange student.
- Despite my obvious interest in Germany, I studied Spanish for five years and had only the most basic knowledge of German before arriving here.
- I’m graduated from high school in three years in order to facilitate my exchange (and in order to facilitate getting out of high school already).
- For this reason, I am navigating that scary world of applications and acceptances while on exchange. (I left “rejections” out of that on purpose. I’m trying to be positive here.)
- You don’t need to be rich to do an exchange. Mine is being funded by the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange scholarship, which is awesome and not well-known enough.
- I am beyond thrilled that this is really going to happen, and hope you’ll stick around to hear about some of my exploits and adventures!
Heeeeeey. I had planned on making this the most fabulous reply ever, but I still have homework to do (curses!) and I really shouldn’t be online in the first place. Sooooo, long story short…
I can’t believe it. We’re both doing the graduating-early-so-we-don’t-have-to-freak-about-grades-in-Germany thing. CBYX: funding serendipitous encounters since 1989. How cool is that?
Haven’t had a chance to read any of your posts (since, y’know, I shouldn’t be web-surfing right now), but I do plan on checking your blog out. But for now, cheers!
I had planned on making this reply far more fabulous than it will be as well, but alas, life happens.
What a crazy random happenstance! It’s also kind of awesome to think that right now, you’re just an invisible person commenting on my blog, but in less than four months, we’ll be in the same room in Washington, D.C. (and ultimately on the same plane to Germany)!
Spectacular, haha. :] Tschüss!
how’s it going margie? i totally didn’t realize you were a hipster blogger on one of these tumblr-like websites. but seeing as this isn’t about some shitty homemade artwork, i’ll approve. so how are you faring for college/germany/life these days?
hey Sammy. thanks, I think? I’m doing pretty well…I have like three common app supplements done/I wrote an entire email in German last night/life is a bit hectic, but not bad at all. How about you? looking forward to your wise-fool year of college?
Hello,
I know you don’t know me, I stumbled upon your blog a little while ago. I am looking to go on exchange next year (I’m a junior), and had plans in order to be a junior grad, as you did. However, I just learned that that makes me a Gap Year exchange student, and not a High School one. So my question is, are you one too? I don’t see how you couldn’t be. Has your experience as a Gap Year student been any different than what could be expected from a High School one?
Hi Anna! yes, I am a gap year exchange student. To be honest, the only difference I’ve noticed so far is a bit of a lack of motivation. I definitely have days when I think “Why bother to try and understand this biology lesson? I’ve already graduated…” However, it generally annoys me to not be able to understand, which helps me to overcome that, haha.
The other difference that I can think of is that some programs/countries don’t accept exchange students who have already graduated. (I wouldn’t have been able to go to Germany with AFS if I hadn’t gotten the CBYX scholarship, although they’ve changed that this year.)
Where are you thinking about exchanging to, and with what program? Feel free to ask me any other questions here or by email.
Margaret
Thanks for your reply! I expected as much, about the whole occasional motivation vacuum, but I’m assuming college stress abroad should usually be enough to keep me in check
Well, I’m going to talk to AFS (who I’ve decided I’m going with) about some things, I had wanted to go to France, but alas, they do not accept gap years. Germany is my second choice, so most likely Germany then.
Which I want to ask you about, you did an intensive German sesh for a bit, how much did you know prior to leaving? I’ve taken Spanish too, so while I would try to learn as much as I can in my extensive amount of free time that us students have, I’d still be rather green.
Again, thanks!
Yeah, doing the college thing on exchange is really a treat.
If you’re considering going to Germany, are you applying for CBYX?
I learned a bit of German on my own over the summer. When I got here, I had basic introductory phrases, a smattering of random vocabulary, and some shaky grammar knowledge. So, I wasn’t going in totally cold, but it felt close enough, haha. It’s a bit hard, but it’s working out. I’ve found that the actual classes helped with a lot of the basic grammar stuff, but my conversational skills improve the most when I converse with people. Fancy that.
So, I’d say that I’m already more comfortable speaking German than I ever was speaking Spanish, and that my German is on the verge of catching up to my Spanish in other ways, too. Being on exchange makes you learn fast (unless you allow yourself to be spoken English with).
My daughter is a CBYX AFS finalists for the coming “gap” year. She also plays the cello in an orchestra. We are wondering how you obtained a cello and any recommendations of how to expedite the acquisition process. Thanks for any advice you can provide.
Hello! Sorry for the somewhat belated response. (: First of all, congratulations to your daughter! I hope she’s psyched, but that she’s enjoying her last few months at home (for a while). The waiting was awful, haha, but soon enough it will be “so weit,” as the Germans say.
Acquiring a cello was actually pretty simple as soon as I decided that I really wanted to have one. I went into my exchange year with the attitude “Eh, what’s a year off after playing for eight…” which is why I didn’t get my hands on a cello until January. My advice would be to let your daughter’s host family know asap (whenever you get her placement information) that she’s interested in playing during her exchange. Her host family may know about the school’s music program, if there is one, and if not, there may be an independent music school in a nearby city. If the host family really has no ideas, then she should ask around at school (music teachers, classmates…) when she gets there. My music teacher was actually royally unhelpful, but three of my friends take lessons at the music school and gave me information about the orchestra, and my English teacher got me in touch with the other music teacher, who has connections at the school and got me a cello for 10€ a month. Just be persistent if necessary — it should definitely not be impossible!
Let me know if you have any more questions (or if your daughter does). Good luck to you both! (: