I'm a Baden-Württemberger!

With much excitement, I am glad to tell all of you that today I found out my host family information! I will be living in Gelbingen, Baden-Württemberg; a village with about 500 inhabitants on the outskirts of a town called Schwäbisch Hall in southwestern Germany. My host family consists of Georg (dad, a pastor), Anne (mom), Hannah (16, host sibling), Simon (14, host brother), and Henrike (12, host sister). I will also be attended the same school as Hannah, the oldest of the three siblings! After so much waiting, I'm glad that I've finally received the good news. This location in Germany is possibly one of the best I could've wanted and I am so enthused with excitement that all of today's activities have only consisted of finding more about this wonderful place - Germany! As a matter of fact, I think I'll post some pictures of the town I'll be residing in so that you can decide whether this place is really as beautiful as I'm making it out to be! (note: the picture at the beginning of this post is also from Schwäbisch Hall)




















As I'm sure you can easily see, I don't think this town could be anymore beautiful! I also received a letter today, written by Hannah, describing my new German host family. They sound like a very neat group of people and I am very excited to have the opportunity to spend my time in Germany with them.

Another topic of interest is that I finally know the location of my language camp during the first four weeks in Germany. Originally I thought that I might be studing in Göttingen, but it turns out that I will be in a town called Wuppertal, in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany (located in the west). All in all, I hope this year will be more amazing than words can even attempt to describe!

Midsummer Days...

With less than 50 days now until my departure to Germany, I find myself more excited (if not a little bit anxious too) with each passing moment. The time since I first began updating this blog has gone by quickly, and summer is now more than halfway over. As I await more information about who I'll be staying with and where I will live during this upcoming year, I begin to fully comprehend the magnitude and awesomeness for which this experience will behold.

Although I don't know my location and family for the entire year in Germany yet (a question which seems to be one of the first when I tell people about this upcoming year), I actually have learned quite a lot more information since my last posting. I now know that during the month of September, I will most likely be at a language and culture camp location in either Göttingen or Wuppertal. Then, in early October, I will live with a host family in a different location of Germany (that of which is still unknown to me) and attend German high school until mid-July of 2008.

Furthermore, another bit of information that I recently found out is the schedule for my departure orientation and flight information. I will be leaving for Washington, D.C. on September 4th and then flying out of Washington Dulles Airport on the 7th. During these 3 days in D.C., I will be getting together with the other 50 CBYX scholarship students going through AFS, touring certain political areas of the city (including Capitol Hill), meeting with my Congressional Representative, and visiting the German Embassy. I can't explain to you excited how excited I am for this upcoming trip to Germany and at times I find it difficult to hold back the exhilaration building up within me!

And yet, I have also recently found myself slowly getting ready for this lifetime adventure, both mentally and physically. I realize that things are changing, and even with a positive outlook, certain things must come to an end. But we must keep in mind that not all change is bad, but rather simply a new step forward in the multi-faceted directions that life contains for us. Bit by bit we must take these steps, following the path that the Lord has already created for us. Then we will realize that this is no longer an ending, but rather the beginning of a new chapter.