Preparation for my 10 Months in Germany!
The time has finally come for my gap year! I can remember the day I received acceptance into the program. I was tutoring a middle schooler in algebra when a loud bzzt rang on my phone. I quickly checked the notification while my student worked on a problem and saw the email title: “CBYX Program Decision: Congratulations!” I held in my excitement until my session was over and once I arrived home, I was greeted with a big hug from my dad. The application process had finished.
Fast forward two months from that point, and I’m on a zoom call with my host family. I learned that they had an adorable pug named Edgar and the mom was a police officer. They all were quite welcoming and had cheery attitudes. Weirdly enough, the English accents of the children were oddly more British than my friend who lived in the UK for the first 11 years of his life. By the end of the call, I wanted to ask more questions about their lifestyle and eventually, in person.
Before my summer ended though, I went on two backpacking trips in Philmont and the Great Smokies. I felt like I wanted to have some good send off experiences before leaving for almost a year. Highlights include the burrow named Louis that I hiked with for almost three days in the New Mexican heat and the ranger at Double Springs Shelter who trekked the entire Appalachian Trail in 6 months. I don’t know how she could stay sane in the wilderness for that long. As my second trip in the smokies ended in early August, I realized that my departure grew near.
Thankfully, I had been preparing language wise throughout summer. I gained a decent chunk of new German vocabulary through Duolingo and brushed up on my grammar with Lingolia. I think my writing skills improved with the language but actually improving my spoken German would take time. Resulting from my last two years in high school being a mix of asynchronous and virtual learning, my German 4 & AP German courses did not help as much as an in-person classroom in terms of conversing. I believe that my first few months in Germany might be rough in public and in the classroom when speaking, but I’m hoping there will be a time when the language clicks in.
As the departure date inches closer, I have become more excited and afraid. I’m excited because I will see aspects of German society, from the unique architecture to the straightforward demeanors, that I have only heard about in the United States. On the flip side, I’m scared that my German isn’t proficient enough and it will be difficult to fit in. Time will tell what happens but I know that through good and bad, what I gain this exchange year will be invaluable.