I guess that I have not yet explained what the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) is exactly, so here's an explanation. Basically, CBYX is a program funded by the US State Department, and it sends 250 high school students from all over America to spend a school year in Germany. I first became interested last April, when my family hosted a German exchange student for three weeks through a different program. I had more fun in those three weeks than I ever could have imagined, and after she left, I decided I would find some way to go on a foreign exchange, no matter what.
Then, a couple of weeks later, I saw on Facebook that a girl I knew was going to spend a year in Germany on something called a CBYX scholarship. At first I was so envious, but then I realized that that could be me! All I needed to do was apply! And thus began my CBYX adventure.
When I saw on the CBYX website that only 50 teens are picked from each region of the US, I was pretty disappointed because that's an average of only five from each state. I was reluctant to even apply considering that my chances of being selected were so tiny, but I went ahead and spent the majority of my winter break filling out the application. There were essays, questionnaires, notes, letters of recommendation, and a whole page where I listed every extracurricular I have been involved in. In early January, the night before it was due, I clicked the submit button and expected to never hear from them again.
But then, one day in late January, I got an email telling me that the CBYX staff was impressed by my application, and they wanted to interview me! When I got this email I was in a coffee shop doing homework, and I was so excited that I began to cry a little. I called my best friend and my parents, because for the first time it seemed like there was actually a realistic possibility that I could go to Germany.
Unfortunately, the interview was not until March, so I had two whole months to thoroughly freak out. Luckily, though, I was able to join the "CBYX Hopefuls" Facebook group and talk to people just as excited as I was. Before I knew it, the day of the interview arrived. It was in Richmond, which was pretty lucky for me because that's only an hour from my house (some of the people there had to fly from Florida, Louisiana, and other distant states). I knew I had to "dress to impress", so I wore stockings, a nice dress, black flats, and a pearl necklace.
It was pretty cool how the interview was conducted - basically all of us with the best applications had been invited to spend the whole weekend in a hotel together. I checked in with everyone else on Saturday morning, and then went up to the big conference room. Everyone was just sitting there, looking at each other kind of nervously. We all made small talk but it was undeniably tense - as one girl said, "The Hunger Games have begun", meaning we all want to make friends, even though everyone is your competition.
After about an hour of us all sitting in the conference room, Julia Littlefield (the program director) came upstairs and introduced herself, and the fun began. So you know those activities you do at summer camp to get to know everyone? That's pretty much what we did for five hours. Name games, hand games, team building activities, question activities...every single type of interactive game imaginable.
We were being led by the CBYX staff, all of whom had clipboards, which they used to write down everything they noticed about how each of us acted around other people. It was nothing like what I was expecting; to be honest, it was a lot more relaxed, which was pretty awesome considering how nervous I had been.
During the group activities, we were pulled out of the room one at a time to have our individual interviews. My individual interview was also nothing like what I'd been expecting. For the past week I'd been searching every CBYX blog I could find that could give me an idea about what type of questions would be asked. Unfortunately, I was not able to find much information online - I guess that former applicants didn't want to give us that advantage ;) The only thing I knew was that I would probably be asked about what I would do in certain hypothetical situations.
My two interviewers were both girls who seemed to be in their late 20s. The interview itself was really more of a conversation; they would ask me a question, which I would answer, and then they would ask me about my answer and I would talk a lot about my life. At one point I started to go so in depth about something that I forgot what their question was, and it was kind of embarrassing when I had to ask them to repeat it. The interview lasted around fifteen minutes, and I left feeling okay. I was fairly certain that I'd proved to them I was a worthy candidate, but I also didn't really say anything that I thought would make me stand out.
(My advice for future applicants - If you make it to the interview round, make sure you know the exact reasons of why you're applying - they're very interested in that. And also, hint-hint, be prepared to explain what makes you a worthy candidate).
After my interview I went back to the group activities room and joined back into the games. Then around 6pm we all ate a nice dinner together (I was kind of disappointed it wasn't German food, though!). The seven people I sat at a table with were all so much fun to talk to. After dinner was over, we all were enjoying each other's company so much that we just stayed at the table and talked for the next hour while everyone else went to hang out in their rooms!
In the evening we did more group activities and then went back to our hotel rooms. I had planned to stay up late talking with all of the other girls, but by 10:30 we were all so exhausted that we went straight to bed. When we woke up the next morning (Sunday), we went downstairs, had breakfast, and then watched a presentation about CBYX. Next a girl from Germany named Stella showed us a PowerPoint about German culture, which was awesome. After that there was an alumni panel, where some of the people who received the scholarship in prior years talked about their experiences and we asked them a lot of questions. By the time that was over it was almost time for our parents to pick us up, so we all exchanged phone numbers and promised to stay in touch.
In the month following the interview, it was impossible to think about anything besides CBYX. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I was dying to know whether or not I'd received the scholarship. And then, on April 10th, the phone started to ring and the caller identification said CBYX...
Then, a couple of weeks later, I saw on Facebook that a girl I knew was going to spend a year in Germany on something called a CBYX scholarship. At first I was so envious, but then I realized that that could be me! All I needed to do was apply! And thus began my CBYX adventure.
When I saw on the CBYX website that only 50 teens are picked from each region of the US, I was pretty disappointed because that's an average of only five from each state. I was reluctant to even apply considering that my chances of being selected were so tiny, but I went ahead and spent the majority of my winter break filling out the application. There were essays, questionnaires, notes, letters of recommendation, and a whole page where I listed every extracurricular I have been involved in. In early January, the night before it was due, I clicked the submit button and expected to never hear from them again.
But then, one day in late January, I got an email telling me that the CBYX staff was impressed by my application, and they wanted to interview me! When I got this email I was in a coffee shop doing homework, and I was so excited that I began to cry a little. I called my best friend and my parents, because for the first time it seemed like there was actually a realistic possibility that I could go to Germany.
Unfortunately, the interview was not until March, so I had two whole months to thoroughly freak out. Luckily, though, I was able to join the "CBYX Hopefuls" Facebook group and talk to people just as excited as I was. Before I knew it, the day of the interview arrived. It was in Richmond, which was pretty lucky for me because that's only an hour from my house (some of the people there had to fly from Florida, Louisiana, and other distant states). I knew I had to "dress to impress", so I wore stockings, a nice dress, black flats, and a pearl necklace.
It was pretty cool how the interview was conducted - basically all of us with the best applications had been invited to spend the whole weekend in a hotel together. I checked in with everyone else on Saturday morning, and then went up to the big conference room. Everyone was just sitting there, looking at each other kind of nervously. We all made small talk but it was undeniably tense - as one girl said, "The Hunger Games have begun", meaning we all want to make friends, even though everyone is your competition.
After about an hour of us all sitting in the conference room, Julia Littlefield (the program director) came upstairs and introduced herself, and the fun began. So you know those activities you do at summer camp to get to know everyone? That's pretty much what we did for five hours. Name games, hand games, team building activities, question activities...every single type of interactive game imaginable.
We were being led by the CBYX staff, all of whom had clipboards, which they used to write down everything they noticed about how each of us acted around other people. It was nothing like what I was expecting; to be honest, it was a lot more relaxed, which was pretty awesome considering how nervous I had been.
During the group activities, we were pulled out of the room one at a time to have our individual interviews. My individual interview was also nothing like what I'd been expecting. For the past week I'd been searching every CBYX blog I could find that could give me an idea about what type of questions would be asked. Unfortunately, I was not able to find much information online - I guess that former applicants didn't want to give us that advantage ;) The only thing I knew was that I would probably be asked about what I would do in certain hypothetical situations.
My two interviewers were both girls who seemed to be in their late 20s. The interview itself was really more of a conversation; they would ask me a question, which I would answer, and then they would ask me about my answer and I would talk a lot about my life. At one point I started to go so in depth about something that I forgot what their question was, and it was kind of embarrassing when I had to ask them to repeat it. The interview lasted around fifteen minutes, and I left feeling okay. I was fairly certain that I'd proved to them I was a worthy candidate, but I also didn't really say anything that I thought would make me stand out.
(My advice for future applicants - If you make it to the interview round, make sure you know the exact reasons of why you're applying - they're very interested in that. And also, hint-hint, be prepared to explain what makes you a worthy candidate).
After my interview I went back to the group activities room and joined back into the games. Then around 6pm we all ate a nice dinner together (I was kind of disappointed it wasn't German food, though!). The seven people I sat at a table with were all so much fun to talk to. After dinner was over, we all were enjoying each other's company so much that we just stayed at the table and talked for the next hour while everyone else went to hang out in their rooms!
In the evening we did more group activities and then went back to our hotel rooms. I had planned to stay up late talking with all of the other girls, but by 10:30 we were all so exhausted that we went straight to bed. When we woke up the next morning (Sunday), we went downstairs, had breakfast, and then watched a presentation about CBYX. Next a girl from Germany named Stella showed us a PowerPoint about German culture, which was awesome. After that there was an alumni panel, where some of the people who received the scholarship in prior years talked about their experiences and we asked them a lot of questions. By the time that was over it was almost time for our parents to pick us up, so we all exchanged phone numbers and promised to stay in touch.
In the month following the interview, it was impossible to think about anything besides CBYX. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I was dying to know whether or not I'd received the scholarship. And then, on April 10th, the phone started to ring and the caller identification said CBYX...