Foreign Exchange Travelogue

HEY

2007-10-10T08:10:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted at all since I've been here! I have been really busy and this computer at home here at my host family's house is old and I type faster that it recognises! So, I normally go to my new friend Lennart's house to put photos off of my camera, and I have put some online. HERE! There aren't a whole lot of photos there but I will upload more soon... and hopefully I can find a new photo site where I can upload unlimited photos in the same album format as flickr that I love so much, then I will upload all of my photos, but sadly flickr has a limit...

Now, About my first impressions... Germany is great! Everyone speeks German! In east Germany very few people speak English! My host family speaks no English. My host family is great! My host brother is creepy. Mc Donnalds here sucks. I am now poor because of a crap exchange rate that makes no sense. School bores me cause I don't understand anything. Sport class kills. The plugs and lightswitches are different. I can legaly drink here. Kirmes is great! Bumpercars are cool. Students here are very mature and studious. I'm not so much. Windows 98 sucks. Apfel Schorle (sparkling applejuice) is great! (I had to cut back cause my host mom said that I would cost her €60/mo. in Apfel Schorle alone.) The Autobahn is fast. Feraris are great! Besides the Feraris, most germans drive crap cars... Renault, Pigiout, Trabant, and Ford Fiestas Suck! Clothing sizes run tighter here. My feet a BIG. Shoes are expensive. The Bus driver is an ass sometimes. KinderSchokolade rules! I gained weight... I started walking a lot. The dog now loves me, and I lost the weight. My host brother is creepy. Communist Cola rocks. VITA! I am tired after school here. I need a nap. I really need to get busy on my online classes for school in America, but I haven't even had time to update my blog.

I guess by reading that you can figure out a few things... Like the parties here rock... I don't really remember... Maybe they rock... ah... yeah... they rock.... I remember now...
Youth Hostel food sucks by the way... and the town of Ilmenau looks like Bratislava in the movies... They even have those buildings here like the one on the movie Hostel where they kill people... The old run down buildings with the smoke stacks... that's scary...

anyways... I am going to go walk with the dog now. Email me if you want to know anything. Check out once in a while for new photos. And Mach Spaß! Tschüß Bis bald!

Finally!

2007-09-05T19:53:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow morning is the day I've been awaiting for so long! My flight leaves for JFK New York City! I will update you all after I finally get to my host family's house! ...

Updates...

2007-08-25T06:59:00.000-05:00

I have been getting ready for Germany. I'm getting really excited and it's only 12 days til my New York Trip, then one more day til Germany! So, I meet my host family in Erfurt at around 18U40. (That's like 12:40 Eastern Time.) on the 8th of September.
School started the 22nd for Barnesville, but it's great not having to go since I'm taking my classes online for here!
I will though, sadly, have to go to school until mid July in Germany! :-(
BUT I just look at it this way: I'm soaking up an entirely new culture, and I should enjoy it! So, I'll make the best of everything!

I think I'll go to a concert in Erfurt in October! I don't know for sure yet, but I think!

I'll post some pics of my host family today on flickr. My flickr page is HERE. <--Just click! :-D

I'm also keeping my Myspace up to date so you should visit it! I've actually converted most into German, but you can still comment and things in English. :-)

Comment to me if you're reading! Let me know who you are!

WOW!!!

2007-07-17T02:42:00.000-05:00

A lot sure has happened since my last post!

I just really haven't had time this summer to post anything, but I will update you all now.

I have been milking cows for Dad this summer and he will pay the last 4,000 dollars of my tuition. So, I've been very busy.

I also am taking my senior classes online. I am taking English, Economics, and Political Science classes through the Virtual Learning Academy. This way I will finish my highschool classes even though I'll be away for the school year. - I may even finish school early.

I am going to unlock the website so that everyone can read it. I think maybe it wasn't so good to privatize it.

In May I had Pre-Departure Orientation where I got to meet other students traveling abroad with AFS, and I even met a girl staying in Columbus that was from Hamburg.

I applied for my Passport at the end of May, and now I'm just waiting for it.

Things got kind of silent with AFS for a while and then just the other day, I got an email from my host family in Trusetal, Thüringen, Germany! They're really nice people and we've been emailing back and forth for a few days now. Then just today my hostmum called me. (She was updating me on my host brother Christoph's condition since he broke his arm the other day. He did it arm wrestling.)

This is my family:

Familie Winges

Karl - PA (52)
Kerstin - MA (45)
Christoph - Bro (20)
Matthias - Bro (26)
Katharina - Sis (24)

Matthias und Katharina live away from home. (For the time being Christoph lives in the hospital, but he will be home soon. He otherwise lives with ma and pa.)

Tomorrow, the 18th of July, Oliver is flying in from Sigmaringen. The time has flown by since we made his travel plans in March.
I pick him up at the airport in Pittsburgh at 6:45pm. He's flying from Stuttgart via Paris and New York (JFK).

Oliver flys home August 29th, and I leave for New York a week later.
My flight leaves Pittsburgh at 10:30am on September 6th, and arrives at JFK at noon.
I have to find my way then to the Doubletree Hotel for Gateway Orientation with AFS. I am in orientation from 2pm until just before my flight the next evening.

My flight to Germany is from NYC (JFK) to Frankfurt. I leave JFK at 4:35pm and arrive in Frankfurt at 5:55am on September 8th.
From Frankfurt I will take the train to Erfurt, the Capital of Thüringen. (Thüringen is the state in which I will live.)
My family will meet me in Erfurt, and will drive me home from there.

A few days after arrival I will go to apply for my residency permit. That is the official paperwork that says I am living in Germany legally.

Then I will go with Christoph to Erfurt and we will go clothes shopping. (I am only allowed to take one suitcase with me to Germany so I will need to take minimum clothing and buy new there.)
We will also go school shopping as I will need supplies.

I start school very soon after my arrival.
I will not be attending Realschule in Trusetal but the Philipp-Melanchthon-Gymnasium in Schmalkalden.

Then, about 3 weeks into my stay I will have weekend post-arrival orientation camp with AFS.

This is all I know as of now.
I'm very excited, and I can hardly wait!

If anyone's got any questions, don't hesitate to EMAIL me! :-)

Passport

2007-04-22T21:42:00.000-05:00

This is just a photo. I was going to use it for my passport, but I couldn't get it printed in the right size. I'll have to go to get the picture done at Wal-Mart. Then I've got to apply for my passport.

I just opened an account at Sky Bank to help make payments on my exchange tuition and to keep my money safe. So, hopefully I'll be able to make the next payment before mid May. I'm going to raise more money when I get out of school though cause I'll have time to work for it.

Also, just to start telling you about my life, cause, after all, this is supposed to be a blog about me... I went to the park in Barnesville today. I road bike and enjoyed this great 83°F weather! I hope it lasts. Also, this coming weekend is PROM. I'm getting excited. I hope it's all it's hyped up to be...

And! Last night, I went to "High School Musical" at Martin's Ferry High School. It was great! I had some friends in it. (I was in a play at OUE in March. That's how I met the friends in theater at Martin's Ferry High. I'm really getting interested in theater. It's great. I'm going to see "The Dinner Party" at OUE theater in May.)

Thanks again to everyone for all the donations... Keep in touch.

Why should I give the posts titles? - Update!

2007-04-17T19:23:00.000-05:00

SO, I've got a few things on which to update you.

I've opened an account with SkyBank to make payments to AFS for my tuition. Then I have attached a savings account through ING Direct. This is a high yield savings account, and I'll be able to make some money saving up for my trip in this account.

So, I've also been raising money at school by selling candy bars. I spent $22.24 on candy bars from Sam's Club. I got 60 bars and sold them for $1 each. This made me $60 which was $37.76 in profit for my foreign exchange in two days. So, If I keep selling these for the rest of the school year, I can make quite a bit of money for my foreign exchange.

I'm also going to start cleaning up the farm when the weather gets nicer. So, I'll be selling scrap metal to the junk yard for my exchange fund.

I'm also planning the yard sale for summer, and I've begun to put in my applications for a summer job.

If any of you need help with odd jobs this summer, I'd be glad to work. I just need any way to raise money on this exchange. Also... Remember to tell anyone you know that would be interested in donating. I still need donations. Thanks Everyone again for making the donations that you have so far.

Thanks again. Bye!

Update...

2007-04-08T23:48:00.000-05:00

I would like to thank Mr. Brad Wilson (my high school English teacher) for his donation.
Also, I'd like to thank Marcie Williams.

Thank You Mr. Brad Wilson and family.

Thank you Marcie Williams.

I would also like to let you all know what I'm doing to raise more money. I am planning on placing donation jars around in local stores. When you see them, please donate what change you can spare! Thanks!

I also am going to be placing fliers on bulletin boards around the area. This is just going to be informing people of my need for funds. Since you already have my contact information and have already made a donation, this is just informing you all that I'll be placing the fliers around.

Now, I am also will be mailing in the final part of my application on Monday (if the post office is open, it's easter Monday). I have only to mail in my Photos and Photo Collage to AFS. Then my application and information will be mailed to the German branch of AFS. From there, they will distribute my info to families. I could even have a host family by the end of the month! It's not for when I'll get one exactly, but I hope very soon! Hopefully, my host family contacts me before AFS does. I've heard of this happening. I think it would be so exciting! This would only happen because the host family gets your contact information before you're notified by AFS. So, they may decide to call before AFS gets the chance. - I would be so excited if that were to happen!

To the right is the photo that will accompany my application. Now you can see why I procrastinated for so long! I am just not so photogenic, but I hope some host family picks me! I can't wait!

Here is also my collage that I am mailing to AFS. It is part of the AFS application, and will be sent to my host family. You can see the full size scan by clicking on the little photo. It will open in another window.

It seems like a long time before my departure date... but not for me! (As far as I know, my tentative departure date is September 5th.) It seems that September is approaching so fast. I've got a countdown going, and I'm already obsessing over what I'm going to have to pack to live on for a year out of two suitcases.

Anyways... I'll notify you all of incoming donations and any information I get in this process. I hope for the best. And again, THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR DONATIONS!

The past week or so!...!

2007-03-30T23:10:00.000-05:00

Okay... A lot has happened in the past week. To begin with, things went slowly. I got a call from Fred Cooper of Barnesville, Ohio on March 22nd. I called him back and he said that he was going to make a donation. Thank you Jean and Fred Cooper!
Then I got a call from a woman named Mary Meek. I met with her at school on Monday March 26th. She gave me some great fund raising ideas for this summer! Thank you Mary Meek!
I did run out of time to raise the money as it was due on March 26th. I was only told two weeks in advance that I had to make the down payment by the 26th to secure my grants. I didn't know how I was going to make the money, but I called AFS, and I told them a little white-lie: that I had the money but i was waiting on the mail. I said that I'd need another week before the checks came to me so that I could mail them the down payment, and I asked them to extend my due date. They gave me until Friday March 30th. So, I got cracking!
Later that Monday, I went to Jerusalem, Ohio (That's where I live, but I actually went into town.), and I knocked on a few doors telling people about my foreign exchange plans and asking for donations. I placed my contact information with a few people, and on March 27th Sheila Wilson called to tell me that she would be making a donation. I went back to her house that night to get her check. Thank you Sheila and Roy Wilson.
Then my mother talked to her doctor (also my doctor) and she made a donation to my tuition also. Thank you Doctor Fereshte Khavari!
Mom also called my aunt Blondel and she said that she would make a donation to my foreign exchange! Thank you Blondel and Alex Zimmerman!
I also called one of my mothers ex-coworkers (as she is disabled and no longer working) and he made a donation. Thank you Jane and Roger Plumly!
Then I asked my father for all of his change that he had piled on his dresser for years. I collected it all and made quite a bit of money from that also. My father also gave some old vehicle batteries and pop cans that were laying around the farm. I made 120 dollars from those. There were quite a few cans and it was a job collecting them in bags, but it was for my education! Thank you Charles Winland, thanks DAD!
Thanks also to Regina Winland for helping me to raise the money, letting me use her car, and asking her friends and family for donations. I love you Mommy.

So, in the end, I did make the necessary $500 to make a down payment on my tuition and I did secure my grants! I now must raise the remainder of this money throughout my summer vacation.

To review: A Giant thanks goes out to the following people and business for their donations to my education!:

Barnesville Enterprise
Fred Cooper
Jean Cooper
Mary Meek
Sheila Wilson
Roy Wilson
Doctor Fereshte Khavari
Blondel Zimmerman
Alex Zimmerman
Jane Plumly
Roger Plumly
Charles Winland
Regina Winland

First Call!

2007-03-20T21:27:00.000-05:00

Today, while I was in school, my mother took a call for me from the Barnesville Enterprise. My local paper. I sent them a copy of the letter asking for a donation. They told my mom that they would be asking their management about making a donation to me. They also said that they would be publishing my letter as a letter-to-the-editor. This will really help to get the word out to the public. THANK YOU BARNESVILLE ENTERPRISE for your donation of publishing my letter!

Letters

2007-03-16T21:10:00.000-05:00

So, on the 13th, I typed a letter asking for donations to my foreign exchange tuition, and today I sent these letters to many businesses and individuals. I can only hope that this breaks the ice and lets people around my area know what's going on and that they've got a student around that needs a little help with his education. Maybe they'll be supportive. I just hope for the best. Here is the letter:

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Adam Winland, and I am writing to bring attention to a subject which I believe is very important. The subject is foreign exchange. It seems that in other countries, many students have a year or semester abroad; however, here in America the practice is far less common. In fact, I do not personally know anyone in my school or any surrounding schools who has been abroad for a high school semester or year.

The rewards of a foreign exchange are great. To begin with, the participant learns an entirely new language. They live with a new family for a year and make many new friends, international friends, life-long friends. Also, the participant learns the culture and views on politics, religion, life, and family of the host country.

When the participant is in the host country, he or she attends a high school and makes friends there. He or she teaches his or her classmates, friends, and host family about America and his or her life in the states. This helps the world to better understand America and Americans. Upon returning to his or her home country, the participant can teach his or her friends and family about the country in which he or she spent his or her foreign semester or year. Foreign exchanges help to bring world culture to America and take America to the world. This helps to close the gap of understanding between cultures.

Foreign Exchanges will not only help to educate the citizens of the world about other countries and peoples, but by becoming fluent in the language of the host country and making great friends, the participant also benefits greatly from the experience. The experience of living abroad for a year, away from familiar friends and family, also helps the exchange student to become more mature and independent. This will prepare the student for life after high school. It shows the participant that he or she has the ability to make something of him or herself.

I believe that more American students should participate in foreign exchanges because it is very educational and beneficial not only to the participant but also to the communities involved and to the world in general.

Now I would like to tell you about myself. I am seventeen years old. I live in Jerusalem, Ohio and am a junior at Barnesville High School. I am an A/B student and have passed my Ohio Graduation Tests. My favorite classes are Accelerated English XI and Spanish III. I was also in and enjoyed German III until my school dropped German classes when it had money problems. The teacher retired, and she was never replaced.

I plan on attending Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen and majoring in German with a double major in either teaching or international business; however, because this is a German University, and I am not a native German speaker, I must pass a fluency test before I will be accepted to the institution.

If I do not pass the fluency test, I will not be able to attend the university in Germany. I will then have to spend valuable time and money in an American university where I will not be able to major in my field of choice. (German as a main language – not a foreign language) After studying German as a foreign language in an American university, I will then be able to participate in a costly college foreign exchange (which is not as unique as a high school foreign exchange). This will then help me to prepare for the German fluency test, and in the end, I may be accepted to the German University.

My senior year of high school is my last chance to participate in a foreign exchange before college. At the end of high school I will be too old (by only one month) to participate in a high school foreign exchange after my twelfth grade year.

I have been studying German for four years, but I am still nowhere near fluent. The only way to become fluent in any foreign language is total submersion into the country where it is spoken. So, I need to use my last year of high school as a total educational experience to become fluent in German. I will do this by traveling to Germany to attend a German high school. This foreign exchange will not only prepare me for the fluency test, but it will be the experience of a lifetime!

So, I have applied for a foreign exchange through AFS (American Field Service) and have been accepted, but I can not afford this experience. I applied for a scholarship through the American Congress and the German Parliament, but I was not awarded this scholarship. (Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship Program) So, now I must raise the money myself. The only choice that I have is to raise this money so that I can go to Germany for the 2007-2008 school year, or I will miss this once in a lifetime experience.

The total cost of my foreign exchange is 10,000 dollars. AFS has granted me 1,500 dollars in financial aide if and only if I can make a down payment of 500 dollars by March 26^th, 2007. Then, I must raise the remaining 8,000 dollars by my departure date in late August or early September.

I am asking local businesses and individuals to consider making a contribution to support my educational experience as I must raise the 500 dollar down payment in such a short period of time. All donations are appreciated, and if only 85 people or businesses contribute just 100 dollars it will be enough to make this chance of a lifetime possible. Please support your local foreign exchange participant hopeful, me.

If you have any questions, need more information, or would like to make a donation please contact me. My contact information is below.

Thank you very much,
Charles Adam Winland

Good News!

2007-03-12T20:00:00.000-05:00

Today I got a call from AFS! I have been awarded 1500 dollars in grants toward my tuition. There is though, however, a catch: I must make a down payment of $500 by Monday March 26th. I haven't got any of that money now! I'm scared. I must raise $500 in two weeks. BUT, I know it's possible. I've just got to be vigilant.

A Major Dissapointment!

2007-03-08T23:00:00.000-05:00

So, Tonight after theater, I got home and checked the mail. In the mailbox was the letter I've been awaiting. Only, it was the small, disappointing letter which relayed the simple message that I hadn't been chosen to receive the Congress Bundestag Scholarship.

I can only hope that I get some financial aide from AFS, and that I am able to raise the necessary tuition money.

This is a major disappointment, and I can only think of what a nightmare this is... a complete repeat of what happened last year!

I've just got to keep a positive attitude, and I know I'll make it!

One year...

2007-03-06T18:44:00.000-05:00

It has now been one year since I received my rejection letter from CBYX. Last year the letters were mailed out on the third of March. I received mine March sixth. So, I can only suppose that my not receiving one today is a good sign. I figure that larger/heavier letters take longer to mail; therefore, if I had been sent a rejection letter I would be receiving it by today. I guess that an admittance letter would be quite a bit larger and full of more information, and it would take longer to send in the mail. So, I am hoping with every day that passes that the big admittance letter comes in the mail and not the small rejection letter. So, no news today could be good news in the long run, and it has caused me to raise my hopes. I can only hope that my hopes are not crushed!

Congress Bundestag Scholarship Interview

2007-02-17T18:08:00.000-05:00

I had an interview for my scholarship this afternoon at the Dennison University Campus in Granville, Ohio. There were a few other students there, four others, plus me. That makes five of us. I was the only other applicant that had been to that point in the application process before; as I did apply for the scholarship last year.
I think that the interview went well. I was the first to arrive this year. I was early. Last year however, I did arrive last and late. After the other students arrived we began to talk with a CBYX returnee. She told us about her experiences in Germany. She told us about her school day and family life. She also answered any questions that we had. Then one-by-one each student went into a room with either 5 or 6 judges. These judges asked you questions about how you would deal with specific situations in Germany. The questions were exactly the same as last year's questions. I remembered some of them, but I think that I did answer them more maturely and less nervously. I think that I made a better impression this year than I did last year. After all of the students finished their individual interviews, all of us went into the same room with the same judges for a group interview. The question was, "Discuss as a team, 10 things that you feel a German exchange student to America would find shocking or different about your culture compared to their own." We did all talk about the topic for twenty minutes. After this time, we were sent out of the room and released. Now we're all waiting for letters to tell us weather we got the scholarship or not.
I do think that I did better this year than last. So, I hope that I'll be awarded one of the scholarships.

Awesome Translator! -THANK YOU

2007-02-11T13:03:00.000-05:00

So, because my German language skills are not so great yet, my awesome friend Oliver Frommeld from Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, has agreed to help me translate the entire blog into German. I will be better able to translate this after I have spent time living in Germany, but for now, he's going to be helping me. Thank you Oliver!

First Post!

2007-02-11T00:12:00.000-05:00

This is my first post and the beginning of my Travel Blog.
I will tell you now about my experience thus far.

To begin with, My mom was married to this one guy, Dale Rowley. He was in the military, and in 1981 he was stationed in Würzberg, Germany. My mother lived in a nearby town (Schweinfurt) with him. In December of 1981, my only sibling, Jillian, was born there on an American military base in Würzberg, Bavaria, Germany.
They moved back to the USA soon after she was born, and my mother forgot any German she had known in the eight months she lived there. Now she speaks none.
At 16 my sister was able to host a foreign exchange student from Hessen, Germany, and then she spent a month at her home in Germany. When she was 17, she hosted again; however, that time she did not go to Germany herself. She attended Ohio State University and studied German and Political Science, but she did drop her German classes and now does not remember any of her German skills.
I though have been studying German since the eighth grade. I had German level one in the eighth grade, and then the class was dropped from my school as the teacher was layed-off. The following year that same teacher was called back to teach Spanish because the Spanish teacher had retired, and we did not yet have a reliable Spanish teacher; however, Frau Koler (the German teacher) did not speak Spanish, and therefore her Spanish teaching didn't last as long as it would have. She did though persuade the school to let her have German classes at the end of the day. Then I did study German and Spanish. After the school found a new Spanish teacher, Frau Koler did keep her job for the rest of the year teaching German. So, I took German level two for the beginning of my ninth grade year, and because I knew that Frau Koler would retire at the end of the school year, I studied extra hard over Christmas break, and I skipped ahead to German level 3 for the second semester of my ninth grade year. I did still get the best grades in my class. I received an award at the award assembly for my great grades in German level 3 at the end of the school year. Then, in tenth grade, I did only study German on my own. Now I am in eleventh grade and do also still study German online and by watching German movies, and by talking to my friends online in German.
I did apply for the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship when I was in the tenth grade. This would have paid in full for my foreign exchange for the 2006-2007 school year; however, I was not awarded the scholarship, and now I have applied again this year. If I am awarded the scholarship, It will pay in full for my 2007-2008 school year abroad. I will though still need to do a bit of fund raising for spending money.
So, I have been selling candy bars at school, and I am also going to be accepting any donations for my exchange. As an incentive for donating, I will send any donors a weekly newsletter and allow them full access to this Travelogue. I hope that I am awarded this scholarship! It will be the best thing that has ever happened to me!

So, I suppose you're also wondering why I wish so bad to participate in a foreign exchange! Well, because of my knowledge of the German language thus far, I would like to become a translator or interpreter; I would even love to become a high school German teacher, or in Germany, an English teacher! So, I have decided that I would like to attend college in Germany and study German, English, International Business, and Teaching. The reason that I chose a German college particularly is that living in Germany while studying German would be the best because I would have to speak German in daily life. I would also not be learning German as a foreign Language but as a first language. It would naturally be a better course. Also, German Colleges are basically FREE compared to American colleges. The cost of the college that I wish to attend is only €500 per semester, but in order to attend a German College, I must pass the "Deutsch Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang," or the "TestDAF" (Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache), or the "Prüfungsteil Deutsch." These are all German proficiency tests. I will have to pass one to prove my fluency in the German Language before I can get into a German College. Therefore, I need to attend High School in Germany to become fluent in German to pass one of these tests.
I have already passed the OGT (Ohio Graduation Test) which is required for me to graduate High School in Ohio, and I will be taking the ACT in April, hopefully. Also I am looking into the SAT. The Universität Tübingen (the German University into which I am looking) will accept these tests as any University in the USA would accept them as proof of your knowledge and how good of a student you are. So, The foreign exchange will enable me to study German in a German College, a free German college. (it used to be free, but now it's like €500, but that's still nothing compared to the price of an American college, and this Universität Tübingen is one of the better Universities in Germany.)
I must though, if I'm going to participate in the foreign exchange, participate this coming year, my senior year in High School, because of my age. I was born on the fifth of February, but if I were born on the first of March 1990, I would have been able to participate, instead of during my senior year, as a thirteenth year of High School. So, I must participate this coming school year!

So, if you're reading this travelogue, then you've made a donation toward my cause, and for that, I thank you whole heartedly!

P.S. I will have a German Version of this blog available here.