Monday 21 June 2010

Gastfamilie, Stadt, Schule, etc.

Hey everybody! So finally, after months of overthinking it, I decided to keep a blog! I'm writing it in English, so that everyone can understand, so forgive me if there are misspellings or mistakes.

Well, first of all, I'm Alejandra (Ale), I live in Mexico City and I'm going to exchange for a year to Germany with Rotary! So from September 2010 to July 2011 I'll be living with German people, going to a German school, learning German and living as a German!



Mexico City

Studying aborad is something I've been always dreaming about. I was always thinking of studying in a boarding school in England or Ireland, and the idea of an exchange was crazy to me: "Living with strangers in another country? No way!" but then I realized I wasn't going to a boarding school; they were too expensive. So it was either exchange or staying in Mexico with my daily routine. And finally, in October, I told my parents about it, I thought they were going to laugh at my face and tell me I was out of my mind, but they didn't. Instead they told me that I should apply, but they didn't want me to get too sad if I wasn't accepted. In late November, I handed in the extremely long application (filling it was a nightmare! :S) and I had to do a knowledge exam (math, world history, geography, history of Mexico, etc.). That day I was told to choose 3 countries that I wanted to exchange to. My first thoughts were Scandinavia and Russia, but my district didn't exchange with Russia, and the only Scandinavian country they offered was Finland, so it was my first choice. I've always loved the German language, so Germany was my second choice and Austria was the third.

On December 30th, I received an e-mail saying that I was going to Germany! This surprised me a lot because a. I thought I was going to receive my placement in February or so, and b. I was 100% sure that I was going to Finland, don't ask why, I just had the feeling. But I can't say I was disappointed, because I wasn't! So, since that day, I started to get impatient at that point of checking my e-mail 5 times a day, but it wasn't until mid-March that I received an e-mail from the chairman saying I was going to district 1840, in South Bavaria. :D


Districts in Germany

And in mid-May I finally received an e-mail from my first host-family! I will have 2 host-sisters, though one of them will be on exchange in Brazil, a host-mother, and a host-father, but he does not live with them. I will be living in Dachau, a town that's 20 minutes away from Munich, and I will be going to school to Ignaz-Taschner-Gymnasium (ITG) which is only 5 minutes away from where I'll be living.

Dachau Old Town


My school: Ignaz-Taschner-Gymansium

So, it was a long post, but I had to describe what the past few months of my life have been. I don't think I'll write too much until I get there, but if I have some information in the next few weeks, I'll update.

Bis dann! ;)

2 comments:

  1. Hi! I'm a Rotary exchange student going to Finland and I just wanted to say that your English is Amazing! Have you studied it for a while? I have read a few blogs in English but not written by English speakers but this one blows it out of the park! The only thing I can find is that you asked IN October and not ON October, if it was a date i.e October 3rd it would be ON though.

    Anyways, just though I'd say hi! I found you on the Cultures Shocked website. Hope you have a good time preparing for everything! I am so excited, but scared too!

    Julia

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  2. Hi Julia! Thanks, I already corrected it ;). And yes, I've been studying it since I was in kindergarden, and I practice a lot with movies, books, music, TV, etc.


    I know, I'm scared too and excited at the same time! :)

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