Insanity - MWUHAHAHAHAHA.

Okay, so I've decided the most insane thing about an exchange that happens before you actually get on the plane and leave for a year. It's the fact that there's a piece of paper that you sign, and your parents sign, and your club and district people sign that is then sent ACROSS THE OCEAN to your host country, where it's signed by: your host family, your school, and your [new/other] club and distrikt people. And then, it's sent ACROSS THE OCEAN AGAIN, where it will eventually end up in your hands. Yep. One little piece of paper (actually, it's a two-page sheet) pretty much ends up circumnavigating the globe, was held by lots and lots of people, and will end up in your hands at the end of its travels.

In other words, somewhere out there, somewhere in Distrikt 1860, is a Guarantee Form with my name on it. It's four o'clock in Distrikt 1860 now. Maybe someone is leaning over their desk, with a pen in their hand, glancing at a piece of paper that has MY SIGNATURE ON IT, and is preparing to put THEIR SIGNATURE ON IT. Kinda heady, no? Hopefully, in a month, that Guarantee Form will be put in an envelope with my address on it.


So...this post is completely...random, and unnecessary, considering the fact that I've explained all of this at least once in this blog. Please forgive an outbound's excitement and realization.

*rant over

It's Alive!!! Or is it....?

Hmm. I feel the need to blog. But I have no clue what to blog about. I have nothing to report regarding my placement. Yes. This is a post practically bereft of any reference or connection to Rotary. Except for the fact that this is mostly a blog about Rotary. Hmmm....something is going wrong in this post.

I just emailed my Club Youth Exchange Officer regarding the upcoming Jamestown weekend. I also told him about this blog and asked him to tell the other Rotarians in the club.  I'm hoping this is the first post many of the Rotarians in my host club read!! I welcome you, Westfield-Mayville-ers.

And yes, that title....I felt like a Frankenstein reference would be cool. OH!!! Did you know there's a town called Frankenstein in Rhineland-Palatinate (Pfalz) (Pfalz is Palatinate in German. Or something like that.)??? Didja?? You need to go check it out. It's a tiny little town in the middle of the woods in the middle of the Administrative district, outside of....Bad Kreuznach, I think? Nope, it's Kaiserslautern. I was going to link a map or a webpage or something, but it didn't work. :( You can go look it up, though. It's nifty.

Wowza.....this is a very rambling post. English teachers, I again apologize. I can write with more direction than this. I promise.

Well....spring break is almost over. :( I saved all my chem for the last three days, of course. Oh well, I'm done with the one chapter. Just one more. And then a week of review, and then the exam - the day after Jtown weekend, of course. Which means I'll probably be exhausted and epically flunk the exam. Oh well. I'm going to Germany next year!!

Speaking of going to Germany next year - three months and a week, actually - I'm terrified. Yep, it's come to the point where I'm...scared. So scared. I mean, in three months I'm going to be leaving the only town I've ever known. I've lived in one town all my life, and I don't even live in the town, for Pete's sake. I'll be leaving the only home I've ever known for a country I've loved from afar for practically my entire life. At this point, a mere three months (I should probably stop saying the phrase "three months." It'll just cause more...problems. lol) before I leave for A YEAR, I don't know where I'll be living. I don't know who I'll be living with (that's you, FHF, or rather ZGF - zuerst(erstens) Gastgeber-Familie) and it's SCARING THE CRAP OUT OF ME. So...it's resulting in a Do-I-Really-Want-To-Leave-My-Home-And-Family-And-Spend-A-Year-In-Germany? sort of emotion. I don't like it. Because I DO want to leave my home and family and spend a year in Germany. I mean, it's Germany. Come on, of course I do. But then I think...it's a whole year. Well, most of a whole year. I'm not going to be able to hug my mom or dad or grandparents or cousins or Zachary for a WHOLE YEAR. I'm going to be learning a new language, eating new food, experiencing a new culture, making new friends - without my own beside me. It's scary. I'm scared. I don't like this whole being-scared-out-of-my-mind thing. I'm not usually like this.

In any case...I'll do as my family reminds me quite often - Suck it up, Fluffy.

And until later, adios, O-Wondrous-Readers-of-my-Blog.

Oh, and P.S. Sorry I lied earlier. That was a lot more to do with Rotary than I had thought.

P.P.S. I got a prom dress!!! Went shopping with my cousins on the day that we were going to go to DC but didn't because of weather. It's awesome. :)

Finally!!!

Yes...finally, there is news. Not the news, but news nonetheless. Just got the following email, forwarded from my coordinator:

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

we are in the placing progress of our Inbounds. I plan to return the completed Guarantee Forms until end of May, if no problems occur in our Districts.

Please forward the following information to the Inbounds coming to Germany.

·     We expect our Inbound to have some German language knowledge when they arrive. If the don’t learn it at school or have different sources, the online courses offered by the Deutsche Welle are very helpful and free of costs. They can be found under: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/0,,2547,00.html

·     Latest six weeks before arrival the students have to buy the German Health and Liability insurance. They can enrol online under: http://www.rotary-jugenddienst.de/jugenddienst/versicherungen/index.php

·     We have solved the difficulties with our database. All Inbounds will receive an email and are asked to update their account and keep it current during the exchange year.

·     The arrival dates can be found on our website: http://www.rotary-jugenddienst.de

·     The Welcome Letter which all Inbounds receive with the return of the Guarantee Form can also be found on our website: http://www.rotary-jugenddienst.de/jugenddienst/06_english/longterm.php

Thank you for your support.

Yours in Rotary

Friedrich 

Yes. Well. I'll be leaving for Germany between July 29 and August 4. Unless I get news about the language camp. Which might lead to a week or so earlier departure date. And my guarantee form??? That thing that's been plaguing me?? At least I know of it's continued existence. And I still want my host family to email me. Or send me a letter. Or something. I know they have my email AND mailing address. 

My proof? The other day in school, I was über bored (yes, I looked up how to do an umlaut on the mac.) and looked at stuff. Other than maps, stuff. I found the huge epic ridiculous application that caused me much stress and looked, specifically, at the guarantee form. There is a very clearly labeled box for both the email and mailing address of the applicant. Yes, First Host Family, whoever, wherever you are: I know I will love you. I am sure of this. But right now...I'm very much an impatient American teenager who just wants to know where she'll be spending a year. This is no attack on your personal merits, just an expression of my impatience. Please forgive it. Also: I realize you may have not gotten the guarantee form yet. In that case, I apologize, FHF (First Host Family, the current and future acronym), and shall shift my irritation to....Distrikt 1860. Though, you must understand, Distrikt 1860, my irritation isn't really very deep or rational. Because, for my impatience, you have accepted me as your exchange student from District 7090. 

Summary: FHF and Distrikt 1860, I love you. I get impatient. Who doesn't? In the end, I love you. 

Other news. Senior trip = awesome. I love Chicago. Prom dress shopping: tomorrow. Maybe I'll actually have luck. Zachary: Wednesday. Our six month anniversary. :) Family visiting: wednesday night - next weekend. Going to DC. :) I love DC.

OH!!! The nation has a budget!!! Congress finally agreed on something!!!

^dwell on the amazingness of that as I wish you a good morrow and....yeah. lol. I'll be back soon enough. 

And now I'll introduce my constant companion: impatience.

The title pretty much says it all. I have literally no new news regarding Rotary. None. And it's really irritating. I understand that there are a lot of people who need to sign that thing, but....I want an email or a letter or something. :( The only new thing that has anything to do with Rotary is this: my searches have transformed. Instead of just looking at pictures and articles, I'm now looking for schools. Yes, I zoom in on the map of a city or town and scan for the schools. And then I find their websites. And make google translate them. You could say I'm obsessed. But really, there's no singular, specific thing I'm obsessed with...just...next year in general.

Beyond that...fourth quarter has started. Senioritis is spreading within my cells. The senior trip and history club convention are coming up. Prom is coming up, I'm going to Zachary's. I'm excited...egads. I need to find a dress.... We've begun to talk about skip day. Graduation committee has been selected. The play is over. It's practically April and when I was walking into school today it was below freezing. Spring break is approaching, which means going to DC with my aunt and uncle. Which is very exciting. I love DC.

Right now, everything is a smooshed-up ball of....madness. There are three weeks left of actual AP Chem left: two weeks of new material and one of review, spring break in the middle and then the exam. Senior year is trying to kill me. I'm trying not to die. Focusing on next year is...doing something to my brain and cognitive processes. I can't tell if the constant presence of the idea of next year is making this year worse or better....

Oh! I've finally started thinking about German!!! Yes....ich hasse schnee. Es ist wahr. I have some of my dad's old books, and his Pimsleur tapes from eons ago. They're actual cassette tapes. I'm going to start learning German!!!!

Ack for such a...random, rambling post. Please forgive my lack of development and organization. English teachers reading this, I ask for mercy.

What now?

So half of this post just got deleted. Grr. And it saved RIGHT AFTER IT WAS DELETED. So now I'm going to try and rewrite it.....


I'll start with Tuesday. It was good. Feels like a millenium ago. Or at the very least, a fortnight. That write-up I wrote up and posted? It wasn't the one that got read. :( Take out all of the parenthetical phrases, the introduction of my cello, Siggy and any mention of poltergeists and ghosts and you've pretty much got what was read. Oh well. It still went pretty well. No Rotarians seemed to hate me. Hopefully it's the same story in Distrikt 1860.

Speaking of Distrikt 1860: I want my host family to contact me. I've been doing loads of research, just going down the clubliste on 1860's website. Which I had tried to link to in the part of this post that got deleted. But it didn't work anyway. So...I dunno. I suppose I'll try to figure that out and then link it in another post in the future. But...I know my family might not even have my guarantee form yet. All I know is that it's in Germany. I've known that since orientation. It's there...I don't know who has it, but...hopefully if it hasn't been in my host family's hands yet it will be soon and then it CAN BE IN MINE. That would be nice. But it would be nicer if my host family doesn't have something against curly hair (my hair is curly...very very curly) and they email me or send me a letter or something. Because don't get me wrong, it's fun to just google images and google maps and wikipedia the towns that the clubs are named after. It's fun. But there are a lot of clubs. It would be nice to be able to know where I'm going and just research that singular place. 

Yesterday was good. Epic and awesome, really. I went to a birthday party of a friend. Lots of friends there, lots of good times to be had. Rock Band was played (not by me, of course...that would have been bad), jokes and fish faces were made (one of the guys HATES fish faces. hahahahahahaha) and Zachary was hugged. A lot. He was there. :) Before yesterday, it had been like, two weeks since I'd seen him. Then we went to get food. That was fun. Mom and dad went out to eat, too, and they BROUGHT ME HOME STEAK. I like steak. Steak is good. Okay, rant over.

Everything is progressing. Slowly. I got my passport application sent out - it was half renewal half not. As soon as that comes in, things should (hopefully) move faster. I'll have to get new pictures for my resident alien permit once I get to Germany....the requirements make me sad: I can't have my glasses on (which is DUMB because I WEAR glasses) and I can't smile!! How lame is that? As a rule, I don't take very good pictures, but at least if I'm smiling it looks like I'm not angry....

Also. I need to start making my powerpoint presentation for the Jamestown weekend coming up. I'll do it after the play. Hmm...speaking of things I need to do, I have a mini-paper I need to write for forensics. Glarg. Enough post-age for now. Until later, Sarah Lynne.

Thinking...

            This coming Tuesday is the Rotary Student of the Month Luncheon at my club. It's also the first time I'll be in front of my club as their sponsored youth exchange student. I know I'm not going to be there because of that, but it's still a little...nerve-wracking? That write-up I posted last time is going to be read, and there are going to be students from the other schools in the club's area there, too. But I'm going to be "The Youth Exchange Student." Probably even the crazy youth exchange student.

            Watching the news lately has been scary, too. Looking at everything that's going on in Libya and Japan...I'm thinking about one of the girls from my district who's going to Japan, thinking about the family that was maybe going to be her first host family, thinking maybe she won't be going to the district she was originally going to go to because of the flooding. On a more ridiculous level with Japan, I'm thinking about Makoto Nagano - an all-star on G4's Ninja Warrior. The one who my mom and I cheer for every time we watch the show. 

            I'm thinking about school and how awful I'm being. It's really hard to think about how to find the pH of a solution of .10 M acetic acid titrated with .025 M potassium hydroxide. It's also really difficult to actually sit down and work on comprehension questions for English, when I could be doing research on Schwetzingen, or Sankt Wendel (check them out, they're insanely gorgeous). 

            I want to know where I'm going. But chances are, I probably won't for at least a couple months. See, with Rotary, there's this thing called a Guarantee Form. It's this paper in the application that the outbound (an Exchange student who hasn't left yet - me) and his/her family has to sign. Then it gets submitted with the rest of the application, sent to the country and district (distrikt, for me) where we're going to to be signed by the distrikt president, the club's youth exchange officer, the first host family and a school administrator. I probably got at least one of those people wrong, but you get the idea. There are a lot of people who need to hold that form, who need to sign it. And though my first host family is going to see my email address, my mailing address, there's nothing to say that they're actually going to use it and contact me before I get the form back. I'm hoping they will, but I'm prepared to not know my specific placement until a month before I leave, maybe less. 

            It's really nice to be able to write all of this out. I know it's probably boring, but all of this stuff is floating around in my head constantly, no matter where I am, no matter what I'm supposed to be doing. To write it out, to make it tangible is relaxing, stress-relieving. It's good. 

            If you're reading this, awesome. Thank you. I really appreciate someone sitting down and reading this crazy ranty-blog. 

The Beginning

So...here I am. Just under five months before I go to Germany. Yep, you read that right. I'm going to Germany. Little old me, from little old cowtown New York, is going to Germany. How, you ask? I'm a Rotary Youth Exchange Student.

            I've always wanted to be an exchange student. Ever since I knew what an exchange student was, what it meant to be one, I've wanted to be one. I remember when I was younger and there was an exchange student in the school, I was too afraid to talk to them, even though I really wanted to. I guess I saw them as...gods of a sort. Then middle school and high school came along and I always dreamed of it, but never thought it could happen. But, lo and behold, it has. 

Earlier this year, my family and I had discussed the possibility of my being an exchange student, but it was more discussion of an idea, not discussion of a possibility or probability. Then one day, while I'm in the library (she's the librarian at my school) she plops this paper down in front of me and tells me to fill it out. I look at it, and it's the first application to be a Rotary Exchange Student. I fill it out, anxiously awaiting a response, of any kind. A week or so later, I get rousted from my term paper note-taking to receive a phone call. "I think it's Rotary," mom says. Of course, I jump up, after madly typing to my boyfriend Zachary that I would be back in a few minutes. On the phone, my club's youth exchange officer introduces himself to me, asks me how I am and if I'd be able to attend an interview the next week. Trying to contain myself, I asked mom and she said we could do it. Again, trying to contain myself, I tell him that I could indeed. 

            My year all of a sudden got more interesting. The next week, I woke on the day of the interview a little antsy, considering the fact that the day was double big: auditions for the school play and the interview that would determine whether I'd be attending college or some foreign high school the next year. 

            Skipping ahead, I've survived the interview process, gotten my general placement (Germany!!), done loads of research on District 1860 (my home for a year!) and gone Germany-crazy, in general. There's just so much to say, I really don't think I can put it all in one post...there's a lot. But I do have two more things to put here. I recently had to do a write-up about myself for another Rotary event. I'm going to put it here. 

            But before I do, I want to talk a little about my boyfriend. There are two reasons this blog is called Worlds Apart. One is the obvious: Germany is going to be a lot different than CowTown. The other is possibly equally as obvious: Zachary's not coming with me. And it's going to suck. This is my first serious relationship. It's with a guy who is absolutely amazing and blows my mind with his amazingness on a regular basis. I just want to let him know what he means to me. This blog is about my year abroad, and even though he's not going with, he's part of it.