Talked on the Phone With My Host Mom

At 11:25 this morning, the phone rang. I picked it up and the caller said "This is Karin from Deutschland". It was my host mom! I knew she was going to call sometime between 9 and 12 this morning but I didn't know exactly when. My mom and I talked to Karin for a couple minutes. She told us that after school gets out, they are going to a little town near Venice, Italy for a few weeks until I get to Germany. She also said that I arrive in Aachen, Germany on August 6. Apparently, I am going to be having my language camp in Aachen. That will work out really well because then I can live with the Windhorsts and get used to the area. Aachen is only a half hour to 45 minutes from Lammersdorf by bus, so it will be an easy trip. I also talked to Meike a little. It was hard because I felt like I couldn't say anything to her (wir haben Deutsch gesprochen). We don't learn very many conversational words or phrases in class. But I did alright and I just have to remember that it will get easier if I work hard to learn the language. I'm going to return the call next weekend...maybe I'll think of some questions to ask Meike auf Deutsch. On another note, I am just waiting for my police clearance form to come in the mail before I can send my visa application off the San Francisco. Hopefully it will come this week!

Email from my host mom

Yesterday I got my first email from my host mom, Karin. She sounds really nice. I also got some pictures of my host family. In a couple of the pictures there is so much snow! So I asked my host mom if it normally snows that much. We'll see what she says. Also, Karin said they live about 5 minutes from Belgium by car and that they go there to buy coffee and go to the vet! I guess coffee is much cheaper there. I also got a couple of letters yesterday from ASSE. One was an official acceptance letter for the program along with a profile of my host family and some papers I need to get signed for my Visa. The other was a generic letter about host families. Both were very exciting to read and I hope I get a couple more letters soon!

I GOT MY HOST FAMILY!

Wow...I am so excited. After a week of seeing kids with CBYX posting that they had received a host family and me getting increasingly jealous, I got an email today from my host sister. She is 14 and I also have a host brother who is 16. They have 2 cats and 3 guinea pigs. My host family lives really close to Aachen, near the Belgium border. It's also pretty close to Holland. Aachen is actually the city where Germany, Belgium, and Holland all converge, and my town is a little to the south east of Aachen. I'll keep updating when I get another email :)

Waiting for my host family

So it's been a couple of months and I'm really anxious to find out about my host family. Everyone keeps asking me where I'm going to live and I always have to tell them "I have no idea!" I got my passport though which is good. I got my first info packet last week from ASSE...lots of reading about Germany and their culture, economics, and history. I have to say I haven't read it yet. So hopefully I get my host family soon...

I GOT ACCEPTED!

I was officially accepted to go to Germany for the 2009-2010 school year as a Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange student! I am so excited and I've been so busy over the last couple of weeks that this is the first chance I've gotten to write a post now that I've been accepted. I have no idea where I am going to be living yet, but i'll post it as soon as I find out.