Hello! Here's a little bit about me, and why on earth I am writing a blog...
Just over two years ago, I got hooked on reading travel blogs of exchange students, and I can tell you, there’s at least one thing that hasn’t changed about me in the last two years- I’m still hooked on travel blogs.
If you don’t know me personally, a quick introduction. I’m 5’ 0’’, I have a laugh that makes me cringe when I hear it recorded, and I get along with most folks. I had a great time in high school at Pleasant Hill and although I’m terribly fond of my senior class, I write to you now from Germany. To say the least, I haven’t opted for the normal senior year experience. This month I’m taking the SAT in Berlin and I’m making plans to spend part of January with my school skiing in the Alps. I’m juggling casually applying to college, going to Gymnasium (German high school) everyday, and hanging out with my host family on the weekends.
The question of how I got here, well, I flew on a plane. Before that happened though, I worked hard to earn a full scholarship for studying abroad. Although this path isn’t for everyone looking for an opportunity to travel, I heavily encourage anyone who is curious to do some research and find out more about what kind of programs are available. Go for them! Studying abroad for a year of high school can normally cost as much as $15,000 (and most people say it’ll still be worth it!) but since my scholarship pays for everything from airplane tickets to insurance to German public transportation, I’ve spent around $200 during my first two months in Europe. That’s huge, you guys.
While here, one of the (many) conclusions about the experience I’ve developed has been that most people will never really get to experience travel like this in their lives. And this will probably be the only chance I have. I’m not just getting to see what tourists see, I’ve been warmly welcomed into a new community with new family and friends. On Tuesdays I go to youth group with my host sister... in the basement of a 1000 year old cathedral. Every morning my host family eats a full table breakfast, and my mom even packs me a lunch to take to school, where I’m in the 11th grade.
School is naturally a little bit different. Core classes like math happen twice a week, but some other classes like philosophy or sport only meet once a week. Studying abroad is definitely more sought out, and it’s not uncommon to fluently speak english and perhaps russian or french. Language courses here are demanding, and taking Spanish is one of my biggest challenges of the school year. I’m learning how to not be fluent in two languages at the same time, and it’s not easy. I also have a gymnastics class, and so far I’ve mastered the somersault and not much else. I have learned a lot of German! I can understand about 50% of what happens in school, and at home more because I’m getting used to the way my family talks to each other, and to me. With some friends I talk in half english and half german, and with a couple only german. I have a lot more work to do, but it’s coming along. I know that the distant past version of myself was pretty skeptical about traveling to a place without knowing the language, but now I have no doubt that studying abroad in a place without your native language is the best direction to go with international exchange. It’s amazing. It’s also difficult, but that just makes everything more exciting.
In conclusion, study abroad! These incredible programs are accepting applications right now!
Kennedy Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Abroad
This program is absolutely amazing. They fund 900 kids to study abroad in the US every year, and 65 from the US to go to countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia. This is called the KL YES program (started after 9-11 to increase cultural understanding and support relations between the US and predominantly muslim countries.) and the outbound application is due in early January, and run by people who are more than amazing. Application process includes an in-person interview in Washington DC.
Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange
CBYX is a scholarship between American and Germany. There are 250 scholarships available for the next year. It’s the oldest of the three State Department sponsored programs, and it’s awesome! The application in Oregon is arranged through the program ASSE, which is very supporting. Interviews last year were held in Corvallis, Portland, or over Skype. Application is due somewhere around the beginning of February.
National Security Language Initiative for Youth
NSLI Y is a multiple program scholarship (or perhaps a multiple scholarship program?). It is more language learning focused than CBYX and YES Abroad. In the application you can specify which languages you would like to apply for. Korea, Turkey, Morocco, Moldova/Estonia, India, China, and Tajikistan are all NSLI Y countries. There are summer and year long programs, and this year’s application is due October 29th.
A little about general eligibility: these are competitive merit-based scholarships. They are available to high school students ages 15 - 18 including gap year applicants. Even though they may seem sort of big and overwhelming, I can tell you from experience that it can be done. I could probably write pages and pages journalling just about how going though the application processes and choosing between two of these scholarships changed my life. But that's just me. This application process and everything that goes with it is an opportunity to make the best out of every nick and crannie. You can be told that studying abroad is 200% worth every second of time you will put into learning how to write essays, learning how to interview, and learning what kind of person you want to be in the world, but what really matters is if you choose to embrace this, make the most of every moment and be learn how to be yourself. There is no map to foreign exchange. It's completely individual and so amazing, I can't recommend applying enough.
Thank you for reading! Have a great day!
Mila
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