Frohes Fest!

Happy Holidays!

Also, für den Weihnachtszeit hatten wir ein ganz schöne Woche. Meine Gastgroßeltern aus Berlin waren auch da. Wir haben viele Advents- und Weihnachtslieder gesungen und lustige Spielen gespielt und das hat viel spaß gemacht.

Am Heilige Abend (morgen..solle ich sagen) haben wir gefrühstückt und danach sind wir zu Gottesdienst gegangen. Dann hatten wir Glühwein und (und für mich) Kinderpunsch mit die Familien dass wir Skiurlaub mit gehen werden. Ich freue mich für Skifahrern! Ich habe das noch nie gemacht und echte Schnee noch nie gesehen! Danach haben wir alle unsere Geschenken ausgepackt und Raclette gegessen. Das war sehr lecker.

Am erste Weihnachtstag haben wir auch viele Lieder gesungen, Spielen gespielt, und leckere Essen gegessen. Heute (26.12) auch! Aber heute sind wir zu ein Kunstgalerie gegangen und haben ein bisschen gewandert. Morgen kommen die Großeltern nach Berlin zurück und ich muss für die Skiurlaub einpacken. :D

Okay, so that took way too long to write. Obviously, my Deutsch isn't perfect because that took me too long and it's ridiculously simple. I probably also made a lot of mistakes because I still don't understand the cases but I tried. (:

Merry Christmas!

Herbstferien in Berlin

Since I'm really bad at updating this blog and I usually have spurts of motivation, I thought might as well post some pictures. I'm probably going to be uploading random pictures like this because it's a lot easier ahha and I like looking through pictures. (:

Thanksgiving in Deutschland

Savannah, Lauren, Finn, Lizzy, me

This past Saturday I woke up unusually early and went to Köln to make a Thanksgiving dinner with some other exchange student friends. It was my first time actually having an American Thanksgiving dinner because usually my family just has Filipino food. Although I didn't really do any actual cooking and all I really did was cut some onions and peel potatoes and run errands, I'm really proud that we managed to produce a really good dinner. The turkey turned out really well! It was so juicy and for us not ever having cooked on our own like this before this is a feat.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the whole table set because by the time we set the table everyone was so hungry and we devoured everything.

Bis später, Bianca

PS I can't English anymore.

Before I Forget

I've been in this country a little less than four months and I've slept in ten different houses.

Two Months Down

This marks my third month in Germany and my second month in Happerschoß, Hennef.

I know this has been a recurring theme, me saying I'd post and then not posting but I promise it's not because I'm lazy. Or maybe it is. Or maybe too much has been happening but at the same time not enough is happening.

At this point, I've gotten used to life in Germany and the little things that used to make me surprised or annoyed are gone now. I'm pretty grateful that we had language camp at Hedersleben before coming to our host families because not only was it helpful because I knew no German whatsoever but because Hedersleben literally had nothing in it and it made me more appreciative of where I am now.

Speaking of where I am now, I live in a village of 1,500 people and we have a restaurant, a dentist, and I think a few farmers? I don't know but in order to get in and out of the village you have to go up or down long and winding roads through forest and that was really cool at first but now I'm kind of getting tired of it because the bus only comes once every hour on weekdays and then every other hour on weekends. But that's okay because it's manageable.

Because I take the bus to school every morning and go home with it, I have a SchülerTicket which allows me to take any public transport anywhere in my Bundesland south of Köln (Cologne). It's pretty cool that I live so close to a big city because I get to go there any time I want but also enjoy the village life. But to be honest I had a hard time accepting the village life at first because it's the complete opposite of the OC life. I have to travel an hour to get to the closest Starbucks. It's a little heartbreaking but I manage. ~

But that's okay because Starbucks here is overpriced. Everything in Germany is overpriced. I cry a little bit inside when I go into a store and see a nice T-shirt and see that it costs €25, which is relatively cheap for Germany, and then realize that in dollars that's $34 and think about how much cheaper it would be in the US. Hollister is also very overpriced! I mean it was already overpriced in the US but here it's inflated to the max. But still everyone seems to always be wearing Hollister. That can also be annoying/sad sometimes because every time I see a shirt or a jacket that says Huntington Beach or Laguna Beach or Newport Beach it makes it difficult not to think about home.

As I said before, I had a really hard time accepting the village life at first and during the first week I had homesickness. It was just a combination of all the culture shock and then starting school and realizing I couldn't just listen to the teachers and understand what they were saying. School was really difficult and is still pretty difficult because of my lack of German speaking abilities but it gets better little by little. Making friends is pretty difficult for me because I'm paralyzed every time I try to speak German so I always end up finding people nice enough to say hi to me and then just standing with their group. This isn't the case with everybody, I promise. I'm just slow (if not the slowest) on the Freundschaft business. That wasn't the case at home but I guess now I know that this is what happens when you take away American humor and ratchetness and sass and mutual understanding of language? It's all still a learning process.

I've gotten along pretty well with my host family, though! I love them and I appreciate that they always try to make me feel like part of the family and I do feel that way. I've gone to a political seminar with them about the Israel and Palestine conflict and while we were there we visited Bergen-Belsen which is the camp that Anne Frank passed away in. We've also visited the Deutsches Museum in Bonn together which was also very interesting. I'm so glad that we do activities like this together and I'm very excited to go skiing with them for the first time during Winterferien.

This is a lot of information to be just thrown at you all at one time but because I haven't been posting I thought I'd just talk about a few things. More posts about my Herbstferien will come soon and about the exchange student life. (:

Bis später ~

P.S. I forgot to write an actual post about the Hedersleben life so I think I might make one about that.

Two weeks down

I promise I'm not dead.

I'll make a new blog post soon!
(actually... probably multiple)

Trip to the Feurwehr

Last Friday (August 30) a small group of people got to go to the fire brigade in a nearby town called Gatersleben. It was a really great experience and I've actually never been to a fire station in America so this was a first for me. We got to use the really powerful hoses and the tools they use to break cars apart. It was pretty legit. I volunteered to wear the firefighter outfit but I was way too short and weak for it! Here are some pictures. (:

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but internet at the monastery is very limited. There's no more wi-fi and everyone has to share one ethernet cable so I think I'll hold off writing about the whole Hedersleben experience until I get to my host family...which is in three days! I'm really excited!!

Quedlinburg

Group 3
My class for language camp.

Bratwurst!!!

Some views from Quedlingburg.

Hallo, ich heiße Bianca.

I really don't know where to start. So I guess, first off, I am in Germany now in a little town called Hedersleben. There's really not that much going for this town except the Kloster (monastery) hosts CBYX kids with PI every year. There's a sports place with some soccer fields, two restaurants, and a little grocery store. It's different being in the monastery because everything is so old and they have basically artifacts out on display. It's very renovated but it still feels very old.

Classes started about a few days ago. I'm in the beginner class because I've never taken a day of German but I think I'm progressing a bit. We have class in the morning from 9-12 and then another class from 3-6. We have "study hour" at 1pm when we're supposed to look over our vocabulary and do homework and then free time at 2pm. That's usually the time when people go to "town" meaning they go get Döner or buy things from the supermarket.

I'm still very excited about being in Hedersleben but I have the feeling that after this first week, I'll be bored of going to the grocery store everyday and not having much to do. Today I went to the beekeeper and he taught us all about bees and honey and it was really fun. I got to hold a frame of honeycomb and honey. He let us try different kinds of honey and it was so good I bought two jars. One for my host family and one for my natural family.

Speaking of host family..I finally got my host family! The weird thing is I've actually had them since June and in some strange occurrence of fate I just never received their information. I'm so glad I finally have contact with them though because it's so exciting to be finding out about where I'm going to be living and how I'm going to be living for the next ten months. I got a year placement meaning I won't have to switch in the middle of the year so I'm very excited!

I'm going to to be in a little town called Happerschoß in Nordrhein-Westfalia much like Hedersleben but it's 45 minutes away from Köln and 30 minutes away from Bonn. It's like the best of both worlds because I get to be in a small place like I had hoped for but also close to some city life. It's also good that a lot of the kids in my group are placed very near me so if I ever am in need of someone to talk English with it won't be a struggle to get to anyone.

The wi-fi is not very good here, it doesn't work half the time and only works in two places. I'm going to upload pictures later.

Bis bald!!!

Before the Departure

It is 2:02 am and I am in bed in a hotel DC trying and completely failing to fall asleep. I leave for Germany tomorrow and cannot be more excited but also apprehensive. I've spent so many months dreaming about this day and I can't believe it's finally here. I leave the US tomorrow and won't come back for ten months. As cliche as it sounds, words cannot express the feelings that I have towards this moment. I feel incredibly thankful and blessed to have this opportunity. Thanks to everyone's support and well wishes!

My Packing List

Going Away and Birthday Party

July 28, 2013

My Oxford broskis ~

My PK homies <3

My birthday is actually on September 7 but I'm going to be gone so my mom wanted to celebrate it. (:

My parents (:

OC Fair Performance

As you guys may or may not know, I am in a traditional Filipino dance group and this past Friday (the 19th), we performed at the Orange County Fair. It was really fun and I'm really looking forward to next year's performance dancing as a senior. 

The Pinoy Kids aka PK perform at the fair every summer and we also perform at local cultural events, birthday parties and stuff like that. We also carol every Christmas season to raise funds because our group is made up of families just working together. We don't get paid for our performances and we make time to practice. I'm incredibly grateful that I was introduced to join this group because they have honestly become my second family. As an only child, I was always alone but when I'm with them I feel like I have a million brothers and sisters both young and old. (lol so sappy) 

Anyways, I initially wanted to make this post to talk about how busy I was this whole week but then I turned sappy so... I basically spent six consecutive days with these kids for practice and then a party. But before practice, I was at school working on my remaining credits so I could graduate early. (btw I finished on Thursday! :) It was really tiring but I got through it and ended up with ten more stars on my Starbucks card. Yay!

Time is flying by so fast. I can't believe that my going away party is a week from now! I know I alway say this but omg this is cray. And I know in the last post I said I wouldn't write until after my French cousins come but lol I just wanted to mention this.

Here are some pictures~

EDIT: One of the moms uploaded a video so here it is (:

Approximately One More Month

August 11th is coming so close it's crazy! It's still pretty surreal that I'll be leaving so soon to another country where I don't even speak the language.

July has been and will continue to be a pretty hectic month because once August comes, my family will be busy tending to our European visitors and there's a lot of them.

Anyways, college admissions classes started yesterday and it's still a little bit daunting that I'll have to apply for colleges while abroad and also without having visited them. But I hope that when I finish this class I'll be prepared for the college admissions process. Speaking of college, my AP scores came in and I did not do too well in chemistry but whatever. Chemistry and me were not meant 2 be. I got 4s in Language & Composition and US History, though. I'm really happy I passed my expectations for those two classes.

I have also been doing summer school to finish my credits and it's a lot of work. I really have to focus and be self-motivated in order to finish all the work and graduate early. I think that the self motivation will help me in Germany because I won't learn all the German I need in language camp. I still have to work on my German like learning new vocab and grammar. I've been doing Duolingo but I don't think it's helping much because it just tells you that you're wrong and then gives you the correct answer without any explanation.

I still can't believe that a year from now I'll be back home but with a full exchange year behind me. And I'll be able to speak a new language! But before I leave I have to pack for the year and I'm having a really hard time with that. It's incredibly overwhelming to have to pick and choose parts of my life that I'm going to bring in just one check-in bag. I've been postponing starting to pack because it just feels like too much to handle. I'll probably start packing next week, though.

The next time I post will probably be when my cousins from France come. I'm really excited to see them~

Bis bald!

Bye, American High School

June 12 was my last day as an Oxford student. I'll be back on campus during the summer for a college admissions class and it's not like I'll be far away since I live across the street... But anyways, I made it! I'm done with Oxford Academy. After five years of uniform, I don't know how I'm going to live my life in "free dress."

Now I have to finish English and Gov during the summer and then I'll really be done with high school. I'm so excited.

Here's a slideshow of some of the pictures I took on the last few days of school. ~

Last Day of Cluster

June 2011

June 2013

June 2011

June 2013

We've been in the same cluster for five years now and it's pretty sad that these are our only group pictures together. I wish we had one from seventh grade, that would have been so cute.

Anyways, this Friday was my last Friday of high school. Weird.

Two months left!

Last Choir Show

I don't really know how I'm feeling right now. One second I'm sad I'm not going to be in the senior slideshow but then another second passes by and I'm excited to go to Germany. I guess life has its trade-offs.

Right now, I'm feeling more happy than sad that I'm done with choir. It feels like a burden has been lifted off of my shoulders. I guess that's just the show week stress. I don't know. I used to really genuinely enjoy choir but now it's just meh.

Anyways, my last choir show went well (I think). Made some mistakes but that's life. When have I not made a mistake on a Saturday show? My first and last solo went a little iffy because my mic wasn't on its stand but I don't think it was very noticeable. I hope. I hope I didn't sound like complete shiz. I was aiming for not bad. HAHAH

This also marks the last weekend that I've had something to do. I can now relax until June rolls in and starts shizzing on me again. For now, I will relax and enjoy my time not being a busy B.

Orientation in Michigan

This past weekend (May 17-20) was really amazing. I'm even more excited for August to come now!

I got to miss school on Friday to travel to Chicago. Once we got to Chicago O'Hare we waited a bit and met up with the rest of the FLAG kids. Then, we took a bus to Bridgman, MI to Bethel Retreat Center. It was really cute!

The first night we really didn't do much. We signed in and ate some pizza. Then we got to our rooms and knocked out. Just kidding. I didn't sleep at all that first night. It was so cold! Right after that, we figured out how to turn off the AC.

Saturday was the day I got to talk to everyone and get to know them. I got into the habit of calling people by where they're from which I think I should get rid of.. We did some activities that would show how it would feel like to be lost and misunderstood and activities to show what German people think of us and vice versa. A lot of information was thrown at us so I'm probably forgetting a lot of what happened. Then we had free time. 

Sunday was basically the same thing except we did some improv activities with two professional improv performers. This was probably my favorite part of the orientation. It was really funny! We ended Sunday with a bonfire. (With no sand, ocean, fire pit..culture shock? haha just kidding) Monday was pretty uneventful because I was in the group that left early except that I made the bus turn around because I forgot my wallet at Bethel. Woops.

The food gets its own paragraph because it was that good. It felt like we were constantly eating but I wasn't going to complain because Miss Kay was such a great cook. I was very pleased.

I skipped a whole bunch of stuff but there was honestly so much this post would be waay too long if I list them all. I'm not a very descriptive writer either. + I don't think I even remember everything!

Halfway Through May

This means I only have one more week of AP testing left! I took the AP Chem and AP Lang test last week and I wanted to cry a little bit after each one. I have the attention span of a child so having to sit in one place for a prolonged period of time was absolute torture. I hope APUSH isn't too bad.

So last weekend, May 10-11, my JV softball team had our bonding event to end the season and it was really fun. We got picked up from school by a party bus and then we got dropped off to Fashion Island where we did a scavenger hunt. I was team leader! But unfortunately, we didn't win any of the games... How sad. Afterwards we got all dressed up and ate at a Mexican restaurant called Sol in Newport Beach.

The hotel room we stayed at was so big. I think it was almost the same size as my house. It was a presidential suite and it was two floors. There were 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and a really big common area. It was so fun! I got to know more about my teammates and I'll really miss them when I go to Germany. ):

Here are pictures~

This weekend I'll be busy again because it's the on-site orientation for FLAG! I'm excited to meet everyone and to fly to Michigan where's it's raining and not hot like it is here in SoCal. I'm missing Friday and Monday which will put me behind in choir ): But I hope I catch up before the show because the show is the weekend after orientation! Crazy. I'm not used to being so busy.

Tomorrow (Wednesday), there's an online orientation to talk about what the actual orientation. It's going to be really brief but I hope Luke tells us what we need to pack because I really don't know what to pack and how to pack yet. I don't even know where we'll be staying. Like, I know what city but what type of place will we be sleeping in? ahah. I'm really excited. (:

In the Double Digits

This is surreal. In less than 100 days, I will be boarding a flight to Washington DC and then a few days later I'll be flying to Germany. Absolutely crazy.

I feel like time is going by so fast! I want it to slow down so I can enjoy and thoroughly process the time I have left in high school and at home, but at the same time I want it to move faster because I'm really excited to go to Germany.

May is going to be a really hectic month. From AP tests (that I feel like I am unprepared for..God please help me) to softball events to a choir show to the on-site orientation for FLAG, I just feel so busy. I don't want to say I'm overwhelmed, because all these things are pretty spaced out but just the thought of all the things that are going to happen in the next couple of weeks is kind of overwhelming. I've never been the "busy" kind of person. This accumulation of activities is completely alien.

So about the on-site orientation, I got an e-mail last week about it. It's 12 days away. Cray. We're going to be flown to Chicago and then we're going to ride a bus to Michigan. This kind of makes up for missing prom. I'm still waiting for my flight information, though. I hope they send it soon! I'm getting really excited to fly again with Mitchell. DC memories~ But I understand if they're getting behind because Tim, the coordinator, is not in the best health at the moment. I pray he has a swift recovery.

Recently I've gone through a John Hughes phase and have concluded that it would be best if my life was similar to a mixture of all the characters that Molly Ringwald has played. Mainly, the part where she gets everything she wants at the end. How ideal. haha

Adios muchachos. Until next time when I actually have something of substance to talk about.

Senioritis?

It's really hard to believe that my Oxford career is coming to a close. I never realized through out the whole applications process that me graduating early would be an outcome. I mean, I knew I would miss senior year but now that it's actually happening, it feels so weird.

A couple of days ago, Mitchell and I were (finally) called up to the counseling office to talk about making up the two classes for summer school. The district let us take more than the maximum amount of summer school credits. Yay! But that was all we found out. I wish we had more information about actual graduation and how we would get our diplomas but for now this is okay. I hope we get more information soon!

Because of that news, I've been feeling very nostalgic. I looked through all of the pictures I had taken during my Oxford years and it just feels..I don't know..to be leaving it all behind. We were all babies when we came to Oxford and now we're old and swaggy. It's just a really weird feeling.

Anyways, I found out today that the on-site orientation will be in Michigan. That's super legit! I'm excited to get on a plane to a state I've never been to. (:

Tchüss, Spring Break

A very sad kitty.

This spring break flew by so quickly. I have less than 24 hours to finish the online English project and homework I've been avoiding for the past few weeks. Procrastination is biting me in the butt right now.

I spent the first weekend of my spring break having anxiety over getting the scholarship. I started using Duolingo. It's so cool! Easter was pretty chill. I spent it by going to church (obvs), eating at Cha2O, and then just chilling at my aunt's house with family friends. Then Monday-Thursday I just derped around doing nothing. I wish I could do that with my life. Hahaha.

Then Friday I hung out with Frances and we took really cute pictures after we watched House at the End of the Street and Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Afterwards we had super yummy KBBQ with my PK homies. I don't have any group pictures. ):

Then today I derped around half the day and then I went to Jeremiah's 18th birthday party. He's so old. More than a year and a half older than me. That's crazy.

 

Anyways, my spring break was pretty uneventful but it will be missed terribly. Two and half more months of school and then I'm free to worry about what I'm going to pack for Germany! ~

Sentimientos

When I first got the e-mail saying I was a finalist I freaked out. I instantly called my mom and my dad and then told every living being that was online on facebook. I instagrammed a screenshot of the letter and posted it on facebook and twitter, too. I also excitedly called Mitchell to check his e-mail! (He got it too! More on that later.)

I felt like I wasn't really expecting for the worst. Then I had to humble myself and be thankful that I am given such a great opportunity to spend a year in a country basically free. Things like this don't happen to me. This scholarship is worth upwards of $10K and that's just crazy to me. Apparently, the application committees and interviewers had enough faith in me to grant me the scholarship.

There are so many people I should be thanking for this scholarship. Without that first call from Donna, I would not have remembered that I even opened the CBYX application. Without the hopefuls facebook group, my questions would not have been answered and I wouldn't have had some of the really great tips that they gave. Without my teachers who wrote letters or rec for me without even really knowing me, I would not have finished the initial application. Last but certainly not the least, without my parents giving me the chance and helping me through out the process I would have never finished.

Obviously, I'm very thankful to God for giving me such a great opportunity and I feel like this is His way of showing me at least a little bit of His plan for me.

In the first few hours of finding out all I felt was excitement. But I also felt sad because the on-site orientation is the same weekend as my first and last prom meaning I'll never be able to attend prom. I'm not really the type of person to get excited or even go to dances it still feels sad that I'll be missing the last high school milestone that I have left. Whatever, I'm going to Germany! haha.

Right now I feel like there's so many emotions going on in my head. It feels really trippy to know that I'm going to have to finish these last two and a half months of school knowing, in the back of my mind, that I'm going to be leaving for a year in August. It's going to be so weird leaving right before the end of my Oxford Academy career and then coming back with it over and with all my friends off to college.

But I'm glad I'm not doing this all alone. Mitchell applied with me and shared the struggles of long waiting periods, too. It's such a blessing that I'll have a friend with me to go through the same things. I hope we get placed close to each other so we can just take a bus or a train to hang out on weekends or take daytrips places. That would be so cool!

On top of all that, I have to manage getting good grades at school (I'm not doing too hot at the moment) and also take care of graduating early and getting all my college apps set up before I leave. I also have to make sure that I get my passport before departing because that would suck major balls if I didn't have my passport on time. I also started medication like right after I turned in my secondary app saying I don't take any medication so I have to tell FLAG about that... Whatever, I'll figure all that out later on.

Anyways, my mom was the one who told all my family in Europe that I'd be spending the next school year in Germany. I'm so thankful that I have family there because they've offered to buy my winter clothes and other heavy items for me which will be awesome. I can pack more things! Early August is going to be hectic because my aunts from France are coming with their families on the 5th and then I leave on the 11th. I'll only have a few days with them before I leave but I hope I get to spend some of Christmas or Easter break with them next year.

This is a really long post but honestly this stuff goes through my mind on a loop. It's so hard to concentrate and get back into school mode knowing that I have all of this and more to think about.

Application Tips

So while the memory is fresh, let me give advice to any future CBYX Hopefuls.

First, you'll wait until the application is open. You can sign up on the website for a reminder when it comes out! The application process varies through out the different regions so note that I'm talking about applying through FLAG, the organization for the Southwest.

General Tips

1. Join the hopefuls facebook group. There you'll find out that most of the kids are top notch and high achieving. Don't get discouraged. They will be helpful. (:
2. Know that certain organizations are much more competitive than others. If you're in FLAG region (SW) you have at least a 1 in 3 chance.
3. Know what the program is looking for. I was fortunate enough to attend an application orientation where someone from FLAG told us what they were looking for in winning apps.
• Demonstrate applicant's desire to be a great ambassador for the United States.
• Demonstrate life and academic skills that will be relied upon during exchange.
• Demonstrate the applicant took the time to have their application edited i.e. no stupid spelling or grammar mistakes.

The Application
You should be honest in your essays, but also play up your strengths. For me, the strengths that I emphasized was my appreciation of different cultures and being open to change and challenges. The essay questions can seem difficult or vague at first, but find a way to answer the questions and then bend it so that you can talk about qualities that will make you a fab foreign exchange student. Make sure you address the things that the review committees will probably be looking for. Also, make sure not to make yourself seem like you're going to be using the scholarship as a way to travel all of Europe and get shitfaced because of the drinking age. Obvious no-nos.

Honestly, the application is really straightforward and easy. Make sure you don't leave any spots blank! Also, don't wait until the last minute to get your teacher recommendations. (:

The hardest part after this is all the waiting.
I turned my application in on the first week of February and I heard back after about three weeks (February 27ish). Make sure to keep yourself busy and don't look at your application after you've turned it in. I promise you'll find something you want to change and it will bother you and make you really paranoid.

The Interview
Congratulations if you've made it this far! If it's the same as they did this year, you've already secured an alternate spot for yourself. But if it's not the same as this year, don't worry about it. The interview I think was the easiest part for me. I know it can be intimidating and nerve wracking, but trust me, the more calm you are and the clearer you'll be able to think and impress your interviewers.

There's really no way you can prepare for the interview other than to remind yourself of the qualities that would make you a great exchange student. They're looking not only for kids that will represent the US well, but for kids that will make it through the whole year long exchange.

Dress nicely. I'm not saying go out and rent a tux or buy a super nice dress, just dress business casual. Think of FBLA business attire but down one level. You don't need to wear heels or have pantyhose on. And if you're a boy, you don't need to have a suit on.

At your interview, be the best you you can be. That's so cheesy, but it's true. Be polite and make eye contact. Take a minute before answering questions so you don't end up stuttering and backtracking. (Not that it's bad, I did that a lot, but I think it would have been a lot better if I didn't answer questions so quickly.) At my interview they asked a lot about things I would and wouldn't miss and a lot about homesickness and how I would deal with it. They also asked about things I like to do which made it feel really casual.

Don't be afraid to answer honestly. If you answer a question honestly and it seems like it's something they wouldn't want to hear, solve your problem by adding the solution in your answer.

Also, don't forget to have personality! (:

The Waiting
There are many points in the application process where you'll just be waiting. and waiting. and waiting. The last waiting period was the most excruciating and I tried my hardest to find things to keep my mind off of thinking about CBYX. I kept myself busy with school, sports and extracurriculars.

Then, when you get that last e-mail, you don't have to wait anymore! Yay!

Adventure Awaits

Hi, my name is Bianca (obviously, because it's on this page at least three times) and in approximately four months I'm going to be leaving everything I know and am comfortable with to live in Germany! (: