Maggie (Without) Borders: My Year in Germany

Guess who's back [back] Back again (it's me) Every year, at least one person finds this blog and then reaches out to me for help with their own application, interview, or program year preparations... and I'm so happy every time that happens!!! I respond to every email that comes at me through my "Contact Me" page, so reach out!! Anyway, I wanted to write this post because I realized that I didn't have anything on here regarding the specifics of the interview. Most of the emails I get are from candidates who have gotten an interview and are curious about the process, so I will answer some of the most common questions about that here.  In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, I do want to mention that I am sitting on an interview panel this year (2022). I have not read or watched any of the interviewer training materials yet, and I will not look at them until this post is published. This post will not be edited or updated in any way after posting, an...

You've probably volunteered in the U.S. before, and in many different ways. US Americans love volunteering, and they make it easy to do. After all, who doesn't love free labor? The Germans, that's who.  Okay so maybe that's dramatic. But! It really is drastically different in the Vaterland. As part of the CBYX program year, we were all required to do 40 hours of Ehrenamt  (volunteer service) during the university phase of the program. This didn't mean "show up and volunteer," this meant find places that accept volunteers, figure out who to contact, schedule an introductory meeting, figure out if there are issues with insurance, then  show up and volunteer. I recall hearing discussions about how difficult it was to find volunteer work, but I figured that there would be plenty of opportunities in Hamburg due to the size of the city. In large part, I was right. My friends and I in Hamburg really had no issues finding places to volunteer--they worked a...

I don't want to put too much emphasis on the Virtual Exchange, but since it's a mandatory part of CBYX now, I'll go ahead and give you as much detail is necessary. The CBYX Virtual Exchange is meant to be a way for us to connect with our German counterparts currently participating in CBYX in the States. Previously, the Virtual Exchange was an optional part of the experience. This year, the 34th year of CBYX, they decided to make it mandatory for all participants. As a part of the Virtual Exchange, we were all told to choose one of three topics based on our personal interests: Free Speech and Debate The Role of the Media in the US Volunteerism We were also all assigned a German partner. We were never really told why  we were assigned our particular partners (other than because we had chosen the same topic), and we only found out how  our partners were chosen at the mid-year seminar. As it turns out, the Cultural Vistas staff went through all 75 Americans and all ...

From the moment you hear that you’ve been accepted into PPP, you start thinking about the internship phase of the program. This is necessary for a couple reasons:          If you manage to secure an internship before a specific date (May 30, in my case), the city in which you got your internship will be your final placement           They tell you from the very start that you should look for internships ASAP The internship phase is the longest phase of the program, as well as the part that requires the most work from you. Everyone knows that obtaining an internship in the US is hard enough as it is--there's resumes to tailor, cover letters to write, cold emails to send, letters of rec to request, networks to build... and that's all done in English. If internship searches seem daunting in your native language, just wait until you've got to do it all in German.  For me, that really was the most difficult part of t...

As foretold by the great program manual, all of us PPPler were required to schlep ourselves to Frankfurt for a week-long seminar celebrating the fact that we had made it through the first half of our year. I went straight from Dresden to Frankfurt, and arrived in time to meet up with the same PPPler from my language class in Cologne before the seminar began. It was so good to see them all together again, but it wasn't long until we had to report to our hostel for check-in. Since I spent a week in Frankfurt for the seminar and  so much  happened in that time, I've taken the liberty of dividing up this post into little sections regarding the city itself, the mid-year seminar, and how we spent our free time outside of the seminar. Frankfurt Frankfurt is located in the the German state of Hessen, which is fairly centrally located. Fun fact, Though home to what is the economic powerhouse that is Frankfurt, Hessen is the greenest state in Germany; 42% of its surface is fores...

I made it!! The flight was alright. We were flown economy class (of course) and it lasted almost eight hours, so of course it could’ve been more comfortable. However, Lufthansa started offering food and drinks basically as soon as we hit cruising altitude. I took the very first opportunity to have a glass of wine, and that was a very good choice. I was pleasantly surprised by my first transatlantic flight. Arrival was very strange. There was no sense that I was in a new place. Sure, the signs were in German, but there was an English translation available directly below. That didn’t sßeem odd to me—maybe it’s because it’s an international airport and also had signs in Chinese and various other languages. Once we got out of the airport, things were a little different. The first thing I noticed was the atmosphere. It’s currently summer, which, to Americans, means sunny skies, humidity, and endless heat. Frankfurt was a bit different. We arrived at 8am and it was very cloudy an...

The program year has officially begun! My adventure begins with a 3-day orientation seminar in Washington, D.C., where I'll learn from people within the CBYX staff, the State Department, our representatives, and the other participants. Day 1 - July 23, 2017 The orientation seminar began officially at 4pm, where we all checked in with CBYX staff and obtained our room keys. Before that, I had been adventuring with my dad starting on the 21st. We drove to D.C. from Dublin and spent a few days eating food and doing some touristy things around the city. I had a really great time, and it was really nice to spend some time reveling in what it means to be American with my dad.  We arrived at Georgetown University, the location of the seminar, around 3pm. I was a wreck. My stomach was in knots and I didn't want to face the future even though I knew I was so incredibly excited. It was the epitome of mixed feelings. I dragged my luggage behind me anyway and finally, FINALLY star...

From the moment I found out about CBYX in late 2015 until the application submission deadline on December 1, 2016, I had a post-it stuck above my desk that read "CBYX Application 2016." This was not an opportunity that I was willing to let slip from my brain. With the help of my trusty post-it, I remembered to start the application process in September 2016. The entire application and interview process looks something like this: 1) Submit application to apply 2) Submit application by December 1st 3) Wait patiently until January for interview notification 4) Interview in February 5) Wait patiently until March for acceptance notification Of course, there's more to it all than that, so I'll try to give you a general overview of each step here. 1) Submit application to apply This part sounds... dumb. But it makes sense! To ensure that you will be a viable candidate for the program at the most basic level, they have you submit a teeny-tiny application in orde...

I'm sure that most of the people who will read this will know me, but I figure I should explain a little bit about myself and why I chose to pursue the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals. The Facts: - My name is Maggie. I'm 21 years old and I come from Dublin, Ohio. - I am currently in my third year at the Ohio State University, and I study Environmental Science and German. I also focus a lot on sustainability. - I have studied German language and culture since my junior year of high school. - I have lived in central Ohio for the past 17 years of my life. - I look like this: Me at Yellowstone in March 2017. #penguinpaddle It's hard to pinpoint exactly why I chose to study abroad in the first place. I love my school, I have a really strong support system in Ohio, I adore my boyfriend.. but I suppose I needed to get out for a bit. I've been here for a long time, and I've been wanting to gain a more global perspective and put my kn...

Hello! I'll be using this blog to track my journey throughout my time in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals, and I hope you find it interesting/useful/educational/fun to look at. I suppose I should first give a general overview of what exactly the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (affectionately referred to as CBYX) is. The official CBYX webpage says: "The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX) is a fellowship funded by the German Bundestag and U.S. Department of State, that annually provides 75 American and 75 German young professionals, between the ages of 18-24, the opportunity to spend one year in each other’s countries, studying, interning, and living with hosts on a cultural immersion program." http://culturalvistas.org/programs/abroad/congress-bundestag-youth-exchange-young-professionals/ Neat, right? The program promotes citizen diplomacy, cultural exchange, and professional ties between Germ...