19 Days until Departure

Well, so much for monthly updates. Anyway, a lot has happened in the last 2 1/2 months. I have a departure date (September 7th), a school, and most importantly, I now have a host family. I had my fingers crossed for somewhere in the east or south, and I got my wish. I'll be living right on the outskirts of Berlin in a little town called Hohen Neuendorf. I'll be going to school at Canisius Kolleg , a Jesuit private school in the Tiergarten, right in the center of Berlin. I'm also trying to do a little fundraising before I leave, so please click on the widget on the top left, and donate a few dollars or euros if you can to help me reach my goal of $1500 (€1200). So if you can, please help out!

3 Month Update

I've decided to do a monthly update each month until my departure date for Germany (roughly September 10th). Not too much is new, but I did attend an AFS orientation last week, where I met with fellow prospective exchangers as well as people who had gone abroad. It wasn't quite as memorable as the orientation I attended back in January, but then again, that orientation was for both Americans preparing to go abroad, and a midpoint for foreign students here in America, and everything is more interesting when there are 20+ nationalities together. Interesting demographical note; from what I remember, the genders of foreign students I saw at the last orientation were split about 50/50, but of Americans going abroad, out of a sample of of 50 students at the June orientation, only 6 (including myself) were male. I guess most guys aren't as willing as girls to try new things.

Getting Started

A small introduction is in order. My name is David. I'm a 17 year old American living in St. Mary's County, Maryland, and I've started this blog because I'm leaving for Germany in a few months, and I want a way to record and share my adventure with others. Around a year ago someone suggested, based on my interest in seeing new places, and all things German, that I take a year and go on an exchange trip to Germany. The idea had never even occurred to me before, but I immediately knew a year abroad was something I wanted to do. The feasibility of the thing seemed a bit imperiled at the time, however, by my complete ignorance of how, where, or when I would go. That's where AFS came in. AFS (American Field Service) originated as a sort of field hospital system in France started by American expatriates during the First World War. It later served in the Second World War in rather the same function, but between the wars, it began to sponsor early student exchanges between France and the United States. With the establishment of an unsteady peace in Europe, and the lack of open wars on the continent, AFS morphed into an organization solely concerned with sending students abroad, with the stated goals of furthering intercultural understanding, and world peace. Today, AFS is a mostly volunteer run organization that provides a support structure for students, as well as information and orientations to make the transition to another culture easier.
AFS advises students to write a bit about what motivates them to go, and I’d have to say learning German is at the top of the list for me. Total immersion is the best language program in existence, and I’ll get to learn German from the Germans. I’ll also get to experience the customs, holidays, food, beer, and other aspects of German culture, meet a whole new world of people, form new friendships, and become part of a German family.
The adventure begins around the first week of September, when I'll travel up to New York, and fly out to Germany. I'll be in Germany until around the second week of July 2013, where I'll live with a host family and attend a local secondary school. I won't find out where in Germany I'm going until about mid-June, but AFS has all my paperwork, and is in the process of setting me up with a host family. That's the information that I have so far. My only AFS event before I leave for New York is a pre-departure orientation on June 2nd, so I'll post again sometime in early June. Until then, I'll continue to tinker with the layout of this blog, and hopefully add a donation button.