sarah nguyen

This afternoon I received confirmation of my application from CBYX via email. I suspect that there are several representatives, so I can only see the addresses of seven other applicants, whom I’m *very* tempted to get in touch with.

Other than that, the email contains all the usual pleasantries, notes that an interview should be scheduled soon, and ends with an unpleasant zinger: more application materials to fill out. The lazy part of me says just go Rotary (already accepted), the Asian part says MUST GO ON. These include:

• ASSE final application: 4 pages to fill out asking mostly for information I already gave in the original application. I also will need to attach another passport-sized photo to this - I can’t seem to find a copy of the other one I took; hope this doesn’t mean I have to spend another $8 at Walgreens.
• Certificate of Health: to be filled out by your doctor.
• School Recommendation: This one baffles me. I already sent in two teacher recommendations, for one thing. But this one is specifically for your principal/guidance counselor, and I have no idea how these people would know how to rate things like “behavior in school,” “outgoing personality,” or “humility” from 1 to 4. Subsequently, the following criteria to be judged is rather questionable and strange, though some of you may think otherwise..?
  • Poise
  • Grooming/Appearance
  • Articulation
• Legal Stuff: Follow the rules and don’t sue us later.
• Copy of School Transcript: meh.
• Photo Collage: two standard 8.5”x11” papers filled with beautiful photos! Should be fun.

In summary, this all seems very last minute and unorganized, but that’s what you get with bureaucratic discretion (AP Gov!), it seems.

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Yesterday I had a conversation with my dad about luggage limits:

Me: 100 pounds is about two suitcases right? And the carry-on?
Dad: No way would they let you bring 100 pounds. It’s 70 max. Probably one suitcase.
Me: One suitcase?!

Well, since it’s (sort of) a new year, I decided apply some feng shui by decluttering my closet and get rid of old and/or unused clothes. It’s a lot easier (and less guilt-inducing) to get rid of clothes with the knowledge that you won’t be able to keep/bring most of it anyway.

Giving away:

Recyling:

Keeping: (excluding underwear, socks, and shoes)

Conclusion: I might not actually have enough stuff to fill up a suitcase + carry-on. The question is, does this give me an excuse to go out and buy more clothes? (The American Way: Yes.)

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Cultures-Shocked is the largest exchange student forum on the internet. It has 1,306 threads, 50,988 posts, and over 1,000 members. These members range from obsessed high school students such as myself to their helicopter parents, eager to learn new strategies to torture students from thousands of miles away. In truth, most of the adults there are really amazing people that take time to give advice to distressed high schoolers, take students into their homes, and keep a safe (1,000 mile+) distance from their children.

But I digress.

The point is, CS, as Cultures-Shocked is lovingly abbreviated to (no Counter Strike jokes please), is the #1 place on the web to gather information about exchanges, get different perspectives, meet new people, and generally waste time losing sanity and sleep. Even if you’re not an exchange student or planning to be one yourself, take a look, and if you are one that has never been to CS, definitely take a look, and introduce yourself. It’s a beautiful little site with no ads and lots of people ready to help and encourage you.

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I’ve mentioned this program a few times in other posts, so I thought I’d go over it more fully. Rotary Youth Exchange is sponsored by Rotary International, the ‘adult’ version of Interact. Because it is completely volunteer-based, a Rotary exchange costs much less than a private exchange: around $3,000, including airfare.

However, you don’t always get your first choice country. This may or may not be very important, but many decide to go through another organization because of this, even with a $7,000 bump in price.

Rotary tends to be more selective than other programs, depending on the area. In San Jose/Cupertino (District 5170), exchange is not very at all big and thus this isn’t a big issue. It does make RYE a more attractive choice for students concerned about college apps…getting into a semi-selective program looks a lot better than just dropping 10k.

Aaaaand there are many other differences, including:

• multiple host families throughout the year, instead of only one
• each district (area) is apart of Rotary International, but still mostly autonomous
• exchange students get a monthly allowance that varies from $50 to $150

Summary: Definitely recommended program.

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Short answer:

Google.

Long answer:

I am a geek. Thus, starting in eighth grade (or perhaps even earlier), I browsed site like Princeton Review’s for information about high school, college, and beyond. Or, I was bored. Doesn’t matter.

Through random internet browsing, I learned that in high school you can’t exactly spend your summers lazing around if you want admission to Ivy Leagues and other selective schools. But, traveling was acceptable! So being ever the enterprising middle schooler, I researched summer study abroad trips…and came up with the conclusion that most colleges and universities considered these expensive ventures that rich parents used to try and impress admission committees. BUT, a year-long exchange could be a way to stand out among cookie cutter applicants.

Being a typical thirteen-year-old with a ridiculously short attention span, I completely forgot about all of this. I would occasionally remember during random moments when my dad would mention that his coworker’s son was studying in Japan, or my German cousin was coming to the United States, and so on.

Fear not, the story does not end here! For during Sophomore year I came across those old exchange student websites again, not much changed from before, and became interested again. The clincher was that I found not only that Rotary was completely affordable, but there was a full scholarship for Germany. That’s it.

And now?

I really don’t care about college admissions. But I’m still a geek.

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Short post that is not quite as fascinating as reading about “ourselves,” but should be interesting to refer back to later on.

Germans…

1. ..are obsessed with soccer (Fußball). Considering the World Cup was hosted in Germany, this makes a lot of sense.

2. ..are inflexible, blunt, and rude. I’m guessing this might apply less to the younger generation, but I have heard from many people that Germans are very to the point when speaking.

3. ..Germans are extremely efficient.

4. ..are insecure about their history and have no national pride. But admit it guys, WWI and WWII were the best parts of World History.

+1. ..drink a lot of beer. The drinking age is 16. Hitler first attempted a coup in a beer hall. Definitely could be true, though I’m not sure if I’ll partake in any of this at the moment.

Source:
http://www.tobsy.de/?p=32

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Things to note while reading:

• Some of these are mutually exclusive.
• Are all of necessarily negative?
• How do you stand up?

Americans…

1. ..throw money around. They’re wealthy, superficial and wasteful, purchasing large meals, houses, cars, and breast implants.

Guilty as charged. Well, not completely. I definitely want to be a typical American consumer, buying expensive computers and such, but I actually like smaller homes and cars. Easier to clean and maintain!

2. ..are loud, rude, informal, boastful, insensitive, immature, obnoxious, snobby, self-centered, stingy, disrespectful, arrogant, lazy, obese, and on, and on, and on. They eat lots of fast food and their meals are always huge. Oh, and they’re promiscuous.

Loud, yes. Lazy, maybe. Obese, not at all, though I do enjoy the occasional meal at KFC and bag of Gardetto’s though. The rest, hopefully to not any extreme extent.

3. ..are ignorant of other countries and cultures. They’re racist. Despite being uninformed about politics, they think the US is better than any other country. They’re religious nut jobs* obsessed about celebrities.

For the first part, I might be, but probably less than the stereotypical American. And I’m trying to fix this! I am reasonably informed about politics, but not as much as I ’should’ be. I’m not religious, but I admit that I’m probably too interested in the ongoing Spears drams.

4. ..are fanatical about their personal appearance. Women wear a lot of make-up, and are either unusually fat or unusually thin, never of normal build.

I go shopping about three times a year, so probably not for the first part (somehow I’ve managed to find boyfriends anyway). I would consider myself on the slim side, but that’s more of an Asian stereotype.

+1. ..drink a lot of beer. What? No, those are Germans. Which brings us to..

Tomorrow: 4+1 German Stereotypes, which will be the end of the 4+1 series.

*http://www.tobsy.de/?p=30

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1. Education is free. Including college. But, all things must come to an end, and some German universities began charging course fees in 2005, which would not surpass 1,000 euros (1,474.06 dollars) per year. Sounds like chump change to us, but some 10,000 students in five cities protested the new fees anyway.

2. Prostitution is legal. And widespread, and it’s taxed. However, every city has the right to zone off certain areas where prostitution is not allowed, which could include virtually the entire city (Munich). I’m not sure what to think about this.

3. Anti-smoking bans were just implemented on January 1. They bar smoking in bars, restaurants and cafes. This is in a country where a third of the population smokes, compared to the U.S., where 20 percent of people smoke. Not surprisingly, there has been and will be a lot of opposition to this law. Personally, I’m rooting for it; I couldn’t even stand waiting in front of the DMV Friday for my mom to pick me up. It seemed that every time one smoker left, another one appeared. Yuck!

4. Germans are two inches taller than Americans on average. Not good for a 5′4” Vietnamese girl, though it does create the interesting possibility of taking a picture of me with a bunch of tall white guys titled “Sarah’s Harem” (credit to Tiffany Chen).

+1. 1 out of 1,000 citizens are Vietnamese. I wasn’t able to find the percentage of Asian citizens in general, but I figure a 1 out of 900 figure would be safe. Thus, a school the size of Lynbrook (about 1,800 students) would have a grand total of two Asians.

Sources:
http://www.radio-d.com/dw/article/0,2144,1604308,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23002336-663,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Germany
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height
http://www.inwat.org/eurfactsheetgerman.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Vietnamese
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/gm.html
http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=39868
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4559

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These are more like common misunderstandings and misconceptions from well-meaning friends and family, but here goes:

1. Classes abroad will be taught in English. In some (rarer) programs, yes, but more often (and in my program), classes are conducted in the host country’s language. It’s not an international school or anything, it’s the exact same school normal kids your age would be attending in that country, like how ESL/ELD students attend school in America. They might not speak English well, but they still attend school with us.

2. Students live in dorms. No, that’s college (or boarding school). A homestay exchange means just that: you stay in someone else’s home for the year. It’s especially hard for some immigrants in America to learn English because it isn’t used at home; a homestay program prevents this by forcing you to speak the language at school and at home. You also get an automatic friend if you have a host brother and/or sister. Fun!

3. You have to be fluent in the language before you go. Obviously not, because I sure don’t speak any German (to my embarrassment when anyone asks). Each program has different requirements, ranging from zero to three years of study in a particular language.

4. Studying abroad is expensive. Not as expensive as you’d think. If you look at the American Field Service (AFS) website, one of the more expensive programs out there, a stay in Japan, one of the more expensive countries to travel to, puts you back:

• Year: $10,100
• Semester: $8,750
• Summer Homestay Language Study: $6,100

Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) is by far the most affordable program out there (entirely volunteer-based) at the $2,000-$4,000 mark, for a year. Our band department had a week long trip to New York City for almost $2,000. Considering that your host family will be paying for food (at home), a roof over your head, and more, that price tag doesn’t look so bad anymore. There are also lots of scholarships out there for those interested.

+1. It’s a waste of time. This is one I get from my parents when they’re steamed at me (my sister also alluded to this a while ago), and it’s very debatable. I, of course, am on the “It’s a once in a lifetime experience” side: you learn a language, grow a bit, and hopefully make some good friends and memories. On the other side is my parents’ occasional argument that staying home would be a better use of time: more AP and college classes, and more predictability/certainty when it comes to college apps. What do you think?

Tomorrow: 4+1 Fun Facts About Germany

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The program I’m applying to is a full scholarship for a year-long exchange to Germany. It’s jointly sponsored by the US Congress and German Bundestag, bringing 250-280 high school students to Germany each year and about that number of German students to the U.S. I was shocked the government supported such a thing, but just last September a bill for a new U.S./Poland exchange program got passed unanimously so we’ll be seeing more of these in the future. Times sure have changed since the Cold War.

The value of this scholarship is about $6,700 to $9,500, though some might argue for “priceless.” About 600-1,000 students apply each year nationwide, giving you a 25%-47% chance of acceptance, about the same as a shot at UC Berkeley (Tufts for you non-Californians) to UC San Diego. Eligibility requirements are:

• U.S. citizenship
• GPA of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale (so unweighted)
• 15-18 year old high school student

The application process consists of several essays and either one or interviews. GPA is very important, and older students are given priority because of SENIORITY. Or because they’re supposedly more mature and less likely to back out in the middle of the year; whatever. Note that prior knowledge of German is NOT a requirement. So no, I don’t know any German, at least not beyond “Hello!” (”Guten Tag!”), “Where’s the bathroom?” (”Wo die Toiletten sind?”) and “Can I sleep with you?” (”Kann ich mit Dir schlafen?”)

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