The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange is basically a scholarship through the US and German governments that high school students can apply for to exchange and live with a host family.
I first heard about CYBX in German class forever ago, and I immediately really, really, really wanted to do it; though, it wasn't until my senior year in high school that I finally persuaded my parents to let me apply.
The application process is long... strenuous... bordering on ridiculous... but understandable. There are about 250 students who receive the scholarship from (I'm guessing) at least a thousand applicants, so they need to do a lot of weeding out. My advice for those who are going to apply: get it done early so you don't have to rush it (there is a lot of stuff you need to put together); get a lot of feedback on the essay portions from everyone (consider what you're writing from the organization's view and what they're looking for); don't give up!
When I applied, the first application was due around the middle of December, but they pushed back the deadline so it was due in January. And thus began the waiting... waiting... waiting... Next came an email saying I am a "Formal Candidate," which required the second application and a trip to Denver during Spring Break for interviews and stuff. I was slightly devastated because I had an orchestra trip planned and paid for on the exact same days, but luckily they do phone interviews. Mine was set for February 24th. Despite this, I was certain that my chances of being accepted had just been murdered by my orchestra teacher. If you end up not being able to go to Denver (it's usually there), do not despair (like I did..). There is hope! Do as well as you can on the second application and get it in ASAP. The interview wasn't bad: the only question that threw me for a bit of a loop was "If you could only take one thing, what would it be?" because I didn't want to sound dumb or overly-attached. My general feeling of the interview was bad: I thought I did terrible, and it didn't help that I didn't answer the last question very well (pretty much not at all) because an ear infection I had randomly decided to start bleeding and I was a little distracted.
Three days later I got an email saying I was chosen as an alternate for the scholarship, which just about crushed my soul. I was convinced that it was a lost cause, and so started planning for college. Though, lo and behold, on April 5th I received an email saying I was promoted to "semi-finalist"! Woo! That meant my second application would get sent to the German side of the program and if they accepted me, I would then be a FINALIST! It took about 3 weeks to find that out :)
Since then has been all the passport-getting, German-studying, information-getting, research-doing, and people-meeting stuff. Still waiting to know about host family and such. So here I am now, feeling vaguely ridiculous writing a blog, on the verge of something huge and exciting, and with no idea what to expect. I never anticipated getting this far :P A blog just seemed the easiest way to let people know what I've been up to and thinking, so I'll do what I can to update it as often as possible. I'm terrible at making up names, so I asked around and Seth Porter gave me the idea. Despite its nerdy reference to Lord of the Rings, I thought it was really fitting. :)
