The Application Process

A lot of people have asked me why I chose Germany to live in the next year, and the only answer that I can really come up with is, when the opportunity presented itself, I couldn't say no! It sounds like an amazing experience! The truth is that the entire series of events all began with one weird coincidence. After I got back from Europe for three weeks traveling with People to People Ambassador Programs, I decided that traveling was something that I wanted to have more of in my life, and I began to consider that option of becoming a foreign exchange student. I went to go talk to my counselor about it, who gave me this old, expired list of phone numbers and random letters, (which I later learned stood for the different exchange organizations,) it made absolutely no sense to me at the current time. Well, as it turned out, most of the phone numbers were disconnected at that point, or the people were no longer representatives for those organizations. One of the few that worked was almost identical to the phone number that I had when I was living in Thornton (I grew up there till I was about 10.) My mom took one look at the sheet and said, call this one, I have a good feeling about it. Well, I called, and as it turned out the number actually was working and the woman that answered actually knew valuable information! She mentioned that students from my area could apply for a full-ride scholarship to Germany for a year, and I just asked myself, why not? She sent me a packet in the mail, right around late October, and before I knew it I had applied!

The application was fairly long, I had to type up lots of basic information about my life, a letter that my host family would receive if I was selected, and a few basic short-answer questions about why I was interested in the program and why I am a valuable applicant. I had finished the first application around late November, and around late January the program emailed me and let me know I was considered a "formal applicant." There were around 66 formal applicants, and they sent all of us out to a camp a few hours from Denver in the mountains for interviews and to get to know us better. We also had to complete an extensive secondary application at this point, which included getting required immunizations and even a photo album for our host families to see! Since AYUSA covers all of the kids in the Southwest Region of the United States, a lot of them were flown out for the weekend, and it was all paid for by the program. The weekend was absolutely amazing, all the kids I met were extremely friendly, by the end of the weekend I felt like I had gotten to know everyone and I couldn't believe how similar we all were personality wise. We truly felt like a family after only a few days. 

About a month after the interview weekend, AYUSA let me know that I was a semi-finalist for the program. No, the process still wasn't completely over! Next, they had to send my secondary application to their partner organization, Partner International, (you can see me explain all the confusing program info in the blog titled: About the Program.) Pretty much everyone is approved by Partnership International, and then they finally let me know that I was a finalist! It's been a long application process, and I've gone through a range of emotions throughout the entire thing. But here I am, confident and excited to start this new chapter of my life,   living fearlessly the entire time.