Gateway Orientation

Gateway Orientation

I’m sitting on the plane right now, and I don’t really have anything to do, so I figured I try and do something productive and write a blog post. For the past three days, I have been at AFS’s Gateway Orientation. For CBYX students, this orientation consists of two days of regular orientation stuff, lectures about German culture and what it means to be an exchange student, and “DC day” where we meet with our congressional representative (or one of their staffers- shoutout to Pete) and visit the German Embassy. Then, we fly out together with the rest of the AFS Germany students.

The first day we arrived at orientation was definitely the worst. I had to say goodbye to my family, which I was very sad about, and on top of that, I had to walk in to a room full of kids I didn’t know, sit down, and start a conversation. I walked in to the meeting room where we were waiting, and I had two seating choices. I could either awkwardly join the table with everyone talking, or I could sit at the table that had one girl who was Facetiming someone.  Or I could just walk out, which was another option I was considering. Thankfully someone at the big table said Hi to me, and it was fine from there. The first night, we had a few sessions, mostly talking about how our meeting at the Embassy and with our congress people should go. We also had our first of many buffet dinners, which I sadly forgot to take pictures of, but were the most hilarious assortment of foods. They showed a movie in one of the conference rooms that night, but I decided to go up to my room and watch the office instead, which I definitely don’t regret.

The next day was DC Day. We had to get up at 6:45 to get ready and everything, then we took a bus into DC. That morning, we had an awesome meeting at the German Embassy. That place is so awesome; it literally looks like a ski resort.

The presentation that we were given was done by two employees of the State Department’s Bureau of education and cultural affairs (which funds CBYX) and two German people who work at the embassy. The main speaker described himself as the “Ambassador’s third in command”. Hearing him talk about what it’s like to work in foreign service and all the amazing places he lived really made me want to do what he does.

After the embassy, we went to Union Station to get lunch, and then Ava (one of the other girls on the program with me) and I went to out meeting with our congressional representative. We didn’t actually get to meet Sarbanes at all, but instead met with his legislative assistant, who was super nice and very interested in the program, which was cool. Ava and I then used the rest of our free time to visit the Library of Congress, which was a really amazing thing to see. It was one of the prettiest buildings in DC, in my opinion.

After that, we took the bus home, and had even more sessions about exchange student-ing, and then we had some really great conversations with the CBYX returnees that were volunteering at the orientation. If any of you are going on program next year, I would really recommend using the Returnees. They are great resources, they know most of the answers, and they can answer questions that you might not want to ask the AFS staff people.

The next day was jam packed with a million more sessions, and the AFS Germany kids arrived as well. It was definitely more boring than DC day, but a lot of the sessions are really helpful, and I know I will actually use this stuff during my time in Germany.

Today started out with all 78 of us dragging all of our luggage up two blocks and across the street to a different hotel. Let me tell you, there is nothing fun about carrying 100lbs of luggage across a road that is probably a highway, and then up a dirt hill. I wish I got a video of us all sweating and yelling at our suitcases, but sadly I did not. After our perilous journey, we had a few more little information sessions, and then left for the airport. I thought that getting through baggage check and security with 78 teenagers would be bad, but I am now convinced that Dulles Airport is the most efficient place in the world, because we got from the airport doors to our gate in like 2 hours.

So now I’m sitting on the plane, and they just turned the lights off, so I think I’m going to start trying to go to sleep because I don’t want to be too exhausted when I first land. I am feeling such a weird mix of emotions right now, and I might do another post just talking about what it’s like to be leaving, but I think this post is long enough for now.

I know I said I'd update every Sunday night, but my first few days have been very busy. Yesterday I went to a barbecue at another exchange student's house, and we were gone until later, so I didn't get a chance to post this. I will do another post tomorrow about my first day of school and my first few days in Germany, and then I will (hopefully) start updating every Sunday!