2 1/2 Years Later

Hello. Me again. 

It's February of 2021. I've been back in the U.S. since July 17th, 2018. I never really finished writing about my CBYX experience, so maybe when I find the time, I'll finally finish talking about it. All of the most important stuff is there, anyway, and I can't offer the fresh perspective I once had, but it would be nice to go through my pictures again. 

I found myself back on this blog when a potential CBYX participant emailed me and told me that she couldn't find anything about the German-speaking portion of the interview (in case you're wondering, I updated my post about the interview process as a result). I thought it might be interesting to provide a small update on where I'm at now and what I do. 

Right After CBYX

Following my year abroad, I was so excited to go home. Lots of people asked me, "Don't you want to live there now?" and "Do you see yourself going back to Germany to work?" and my answer is, "No."

I loved my time abroad, and I would do it a million times over if I had to. It was exactly the experience I needed to obtain a new perspective on the world, myself, and my home. I do not hate Germany; in fact, I really love it. It's an amazing place with a fascinating culture. I plan on going back to visit when I can. Really, though, it's not my home.

Upon arrival back in the States, I finished out the program by attending the end-of-year seminar in NYC. A lot of CBYX participants took the the opportunity to stay with some of the native New Yorkers who were in the program and explore the city. I, on the other hand, booked the first possible flight back to Ohio. NYC isn't my home, either--in fact, I really don't like NYC. It's exhausting. 

I got off the plane in Columbus, and my dad picked me up. I was so excited to see him. Finally, I was starting to feel like I was home. I felt like I could relax again; like nobody could catch me off-guard with some sudden German or foreign cultural norms. I was also feeling incredibly hungry, so we got some McDonald's. Duh. 

I had lied to my boyfriend, Patrick, and told him that my flight was coming in 2 hours later than it actually was. He was planning to drive with my Dad to the airport to get me, but I wanted to surprise him by opening the door when he showed up to my dad's house. 

Waiting for him to arrive was so difficult, even though it was only, like, 30 minutes after we got home from the airport. I saw him pull up to the end of my driveway, and I was so excited. However, Pat takes so damn long to get out of a car... I'm not being dramatic. It's absolutely unreal. I'm not even sure what he's doing. This time was no exception. 

Anyway, he takes approximately 5 hours to exit his vehicle and another 2 to walk up my driveway (that's a bit of hyperbole). He rings the door, I answer it, and he's very, very surprised. He's got flowers, I'm all excited, and he gives me a looooooong hug. Now, that's what home feels like.

Then he tells me that he was planning a surprise with my friends to meet me at the airport... whoops. He has to make some calls. The good news was that only one friend had showed up so far. Sorry, Matt. At least he got a fun snapchat out of the situation.

I still laugh when I see this photo.

Patrick and I had also lied to our respective mothers and told them I would be home a few days later than I actually was. First, we surprised my mom (obviously). My sisters knew that I was already home, so we all met at my older sister's house and she asked my mom to come over. 

When she came in, Patrick, my younger sister, and I were sitting at a table which was out of view from the door, but very visible once you come in to the kitchen. My mom came in, glanced at us, and said "HEY," in this weirdly deep voice, then did a double-take and realized that I was there. She got really excited to see me and returned her voice to her normal pitch. It was so nice to see her and my sisters again. My (at the time) 4 year old nephew, on the other hand, could not have cared less that I was back. Kids, man.

We spent the next couple of days hanging out with friends that I hadn't seen in a year, which was so nice. After that, we drove to Pittsburgh to surprise Patrick's mom. It was a success, and we know that because she cried. 

We were planning to stay with Pat's family pretty much up until school started back up again. I slept, no kidding, probably 14 hours a day for the first few days we spent there. Since we had nothing going on, we spent a lot of time watching TV and relaxing, and that was exactly what I needed. Since I left for Germany in 2017, I hadn't felt like I had truly rested. Returning to the U.S. finally allowed me to truly relax. 

After spending a few weeks with Patrick's family, we returned to Columbus, moved in to a campus apartment with our friends, and life resumed from there. 

2.5 Years Later

As I said at the beginning of this post, it is now February of 2021. My life has changed a lot since I returned to the U.S.

For starters, I finished my undergraduate studies at Ohio State. I tried to get credit for my time abroad, but since I paid no tuition to Ohio State and the language school in Cologne didn't actually give us grades like the Goethe Institute does, I wasn't able to apply any of my CBYX experience to my OSU transcript. That stunk, but it was what I expected. Though I didn't get course credit, I was awarded two awards: the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences awarded me the Outstanding Internship Award for my internship at ifu, and the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures awarded me the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award.

In addition to my classes, I became president of the German Club at Ohio State and did everything I could to expand the club and encourage students to apply for CBYX. I helped students with their applications and preparations in any way I could. After I did CBYX from 2017-2018, a student from Ohio State was accepted into the program every year after that. 

Due to the way my environmental science classes were scheduled, I was going to have to spend an extra semester at OSU if I wanted to take the classes that most interested me. Since I was going to be there an extra semester anyway, I decided not to double major in German, but to get dual degrees instead. I graduated in December of 2019 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and a B.A. in German Language and Literature, which turned out to be really, really great timing. 

After graduating, I moved to Vermont to live with my ~now fiancé~, Patrick. That's right. He likes me. A lot, apparently. We spent the hell year that was 2020 tending our first garden and enjoying our very cute apartment in "downtown" Montpelier. There's only about 6,000 people in Vermont's capital city, making it a very nice place to be in the midst of a global pandemic. 

When I first moved to Vermont, I decided to start a monthly Stammtisch. I started it in February, and the whole place was shut down by the end of March, making further meetings impossible. However, it did put me in touch with a German family nearby, so I spent a lot of time nannying with them and listening to a little boy switch rapidly from German to English and try his best to confuse me. They ended up moving back to Germany in the summer of 2020, and I miss them.

Due to the economic downturn brought on by the pandemic, finding work has been difficult for me. I got an internship with UVM Extension through the Student Conservation Association and AmeriCorps which ended up being lots of fun. That ended in December, so now I'm stuck trying to find work for between now and August. In August, I will be returning to Ohio State to study soil science (and, hopefully, go to some German Club events now and again), and I'm really looking forward to it. 

~~~

I ended up writing a lot more than I thought I would for this update, but it was fun to recount my return to the U.S. and look back on how far I've come. 

If you are someone looking to participate in CBYX in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions. I am still here, and I am still happy to help you however I can. 

Herzliche Grüße

Maggie