Friday, July 24, 2009

Making Up Credits

I know that I wish someone had given me direct guidance in how to handle credits while overseas. I would assume that a big deterrent for people considering a year abroad would be the fact your school may not accept credits. So I'll share what I did, and maybe that will give you some ideas of what you could do.

First step: Stake a claim in the guidance office. I practically LIVED there this year trying to figure out all my Germany stuff. Not only do you need their help on your application, but you'll need their help with credits. I would find the most liberal and probably the youngest guidance counselor you have and go the extra mile to get on their good side. I was really tight with my GC and it seriously pays off.

Second Step: Find out in general what classes you will be taking in Germany. This can be done by contacting former exchange students or asking AFS. Then find out how many credits you already have in school and how many you need for the coming year. If you have taken AP classes or an extra course, this will help you a lot because you wont need as many credits. Take this to your guidance counselor and ask him/her what credits the school is willing to give you for your school year in Germany. Important: Most schools will give you credit for math and science in Germany because it's pretty much fact that their standards are higher there. As for English, you will be taking ESL and therefore will not get credit for that and history will depend on your year in high school. Since I was supposed to take American history, I will not get credit for history in Germany.

Third step: Once you know what classes you wont get credit for, find a good summer school program. I highly suggest doing Summer school (even though it TOTALLY sucks, I'm not ganna lie) as opposed to some kids who do it during their year in Germany. Doing it during the summer gets it out of the way so you can enjoy your year abroad. I would think that taking it during the year would greatly take away from your experience plus your german. Oh yeah, and summer school. This is another thing that guidance will help you with. I did it through a program called Aventa. Important: Make sure that your summer program is the FULL COURSE and not the remedial course. I almost made this mistake and it could have cost me a lot. Also, summer school does cost a fair bit of money. I think each course was about $1000 dollars.

As a sidenote, for those who are told by their guidance counselors that they do not need the credits or that they will work it out when they get back, I would suggest getting a second opinion. The last thing you want to happen is to get back and realize that you should have taken Summer school. Some kids are taking courses just in case, which I think is smart but I would suggest figuring out exactly what credits you need so your not doing too little work but your not making up credits you dont need either.

So thats my two cents on making up credits. The only reason I post it is cause I got so frustrated trying to figure out where to start with making up what I need to for my year away. I am sure others are doing it differently, but I feel comftorble leaving with the credits I've made up.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Meine Gast-Familie

So, my name is Claire. I'm 16 and live in West Chester Pennsylvania. During Christmas break I stayed with a friend Irina from camp in NYC. She had gone to Mexico through AFS and suggested I take a look at what they offered. Long story short, now I have the CBYX scholarship to study abroad for the year in Germany and I leave September 11th, 2009.

After what seemed like a lifetime waiting, I finally got my host family. They live in a town called Forst which is in the former East Germany on the Polish border. It's a pretty big town, about 20,000 people, which is almost the exact same as my town in America. I have a host mother Jutta (though she goes by Peggy) who is....an opthomologist...I think haha it's really hard to translate that word cause so many words in English are close to it. But yeah, something with the eyes. And she owns her own practice which is located on the bottom floor of their house. I have a host father Sven who is a used cars salesman and also flies miniature airplanes<--something that sounds sort of lame but actually looks pretty cool. Lastly, I have a host brother Chris who is my age and plays soccer. I was ecstatic to hear that I had a host brother and not a host sister as I grew up with three older brothers so that puts me in a very comfortable and familiar situation.

This is the house I will be living in. The bottom floor is the practice and my bedroom will be the one in the far left corner. Across the street is a supermarket.


This is my host family of Peggy, Sven, and Chris.


See, sort of cool right?