Progressing

Good Morning All!
I had the in home interview! This part of the process is required by the AFS faction of CBYX. It was on Tuesday for about two hours, all the typical questions. My whole family was requested to be there for the meeting to get a sense of our "family structure". Because I'm going my senior year I won't be back in time to graduate with my class. Most of my teachers and friends were totally enthusiastic for me to take this opportunity, and some suggested I finish my senior year and take as many college credit classes as I can.

So, in the big scheme of things lets take a look.

 I received a full scholarship to study abroad in Germany for ten months, who knows how this will develop my character and my brain! Or take college classes while I'm still in high school to get a head start on the whole college process and graduate with my friends. After a bit of research, it became pretty evident that graduation is an "american" thing. I talked to the assistant principle and she said yes I would graduate and get my diploma, just not get to walk across the stage. For my family (they're SUPER supportive!) and almost everyone else's this process is important because it's a final wrap up for all the things that have happened during the time their son or daughter has been in high school.  For the kids, its a last whoo-rahh before everyone leaves for college as I'm sure you know.

It took me about a millisecond to weigh the options, I was blessed with this opportunity and I have peace about going. The next step is waiting for more information on Germany's behalf, they have yet to accept my application (CBYX already has). I also have to save up some money to get my German residence permit and clothes(?) Is it cheaper to send it over plane before I go or try to bring it all during the initial flight (45 or 55 lbs limit), I don't know. It still amazes me and the reality of this happening is beginning to come into full swing. As for now, its absolutely gorgeous outside and I'm going to enjoy this day!

God Bless,
JG

It's Final!

Well, not much to say but I sent in the acceptance form to say I accept the scholarship, and we're scheduling our interview. It's supposed to be an hour to an hour and a half long, wow! It's starting to feel more of a reality as each day passes..!

My First Entry

Well Hello!

I'm sure not too many people will read this but I promised myself if I won the CBYX scholarship, I would make a blog to illustrate my journey. My name is Genevieve, I'm from Connecticut and I am apart of the 2011-2012 CBYX finalists, (yay!) I will be going for my senior year of high school. For those that made it congratulations, and those that didn't-try next year. Either way, the suspense was awful for the both of us. Not to mention the interview. So in lieu of procrastinating my stoichiometry homework..let me fill you in on what has happened so far.

I'm taking a German class already, so I'm learning the basics. Dative, Accusative, Nominative, Genitiv, Masculine, Feminine, Neutral, Past Participle blah blah blah. So, one day she has a pamphlet for this opportunity and recommends it to the class. I really think that my classmates must have been sleeping because they all seemed quite lifeless (school starts at 7:20), whereas I jumped up and grabbed the first one. I started that night. There are about five or six essays that have to be 250 words long, which was pretty hard for me because I like to talk talk talk. Anyways, I completed the general forms and medical stuff then waited back to hear if I was a semi-finalist. I was! Now what? Another email- a continuing medical form and teacher recommendations. I ended up having to get a couple shots to check for something, but ew! Shots! So, we sent those in and waited once again. I don't remember how long it was until we heard back that I had an interview in NYC. My mom and I made the reservations that night and were totally stoked. 

Time passed, then the weekend was here. My mom boarded onto a bus for the long ride up. In order to distract myself from being TOTALLY NERVOUS, I wrote a paper for an engineering class I was in. The bus ride wasn't bad, but the city. Oh the city. My town is on the rural side so I'm Never prepared for city congestion. We had to do some last minute shopping once we got settled because I had left some stuff in my room (oops!). (Simply dealing with NYC salesman is a totally new blog in itself, maybe another time). After a long day of shopping and wandering around, we were more then ready to sleep in our cozy hotel beds. 

(I'm getting butterflies just writing this!) The morning of the interview arrived (the next day), apparently I was so nervous my mom and I assimilated a fake interview session so I would be more prepared or something. It calmed my nervous enough until I got there. It was a huge looming building, and the security guard freaked me out so when he told me the buttons to press for the elevator (which is common sense) I pressed this big lit up sculpture thing on the wall... yep.. a nervous wreck. For the sake of time, and I'm getting tired- the interview went kinda well I thought (they were all super cool and relaxed). Now was the worst part, the wait! I prayed about the decision, saying God if its your will allow me to go, if it's not I will be more than willing to stay at my high school- as long as its your will. ALMOST TWO MONTHS LATER, we hear back and I'm in. We were expecting a phone call or Something, but nope- only an email saying Congratulations! 

Now I'm here, writing this blog I promised myself I would make. Even if it's next year and you applicants want a word of wisdom on the whole process let me know- I definitely could've used someone to help me through it. The only website I could find was this really long blog that I couldn't understand. And if you're a winner/finalist get in contact with me too! We'll be meeting at some point. 

Until next time, Just Genevieve!