FUNNY STORY!!

Okay so I know I've been updating a lot lately BUT this is an extremely funny story. It just makes you wonder...how small is the world really? Like people say it and stuff but there is some theory that in some way you are connected to anybody in this world some way some how. Here's what I'm getting at though.

I went to the doctors office today and I had a lady doctor...she left....then I had another lady doctor...SHE LEFT...NNOOWW I am back to my male one that I've had well..since birth actually. ANYWAYS we were chatting and I am just awkwarded out my doctors offices...I am all of awkward moments because funny things happen but doctors offices are a no no for me. I would rather be in a hospital. Back to the story once again....I'll give you it in conversation form.

Doc "OH! You'll be going on an exchange program I see...with AFS?"
Me "Yes."
Doc "Really? Well where will you be going?"
Me "I'll be in Germany!"
Doc "Where in Germany?"
Me "Owmoola (Aumühle) right near Hamburg"
**That's how I pronounce it and the parenthesis is the actual place name**
Doc "Oh well that means a lot of ice, snow, and rain for ya"
Me "oh great.."
Doc "Actually when I was a Junior going to be a Senior I did an exchange program with AFS. I went to Italy!"
Me+Mom "WOW"
Doc "I did the summer program instead of your winter program...?"
Me "nnooo it's more like a year-ish"
Doc "Well I went in...66 I believe and I got a call on June 1 and they go 'Congrads you will be going to Italy this summer on June 8 you will depart' and I was trying to study for exams while packing in a week for a whole summer. I got a whole packet of my info for the host family and I was truly excited. The way we got to Europe though is actually kind of funny. AFS put about 600 of us on a boat **pause guys do you see this a BOAT!! to Europe...back to story** and we all sailed to Rotterdam (spelling?) and it was everyone that was going abroad. When we got there we all split up in our different directions for our different countries Italy took an overnight train to Milan and then they split us up even more into trains for our host places."


Okay so now I'll just summarize this from now on. He ended LOVING his family and let me tell you I would not last on a boat to Europe in 1966. My doctor repeatedly went back to visit his family and ended up doing medical school in Italy. Even after he got married to his wife and had children his host family would invite him back for more. I can only imagine have a relationship like that with my host family. That would me flipping amazing!!


That was my story for ya. My doctor says he didn't regret one thing of his trip and that it was basically the best thing he has ever done and he totally suggests it.


I'll be back darilings.


We Are The World,


xoxo
Kendra Rose

Late Night Blogging

hello my lovely blogsters and at the moment I am starting this blog post at 11:19 PM because frankly I had nothing else to do. Who knows if I shall remember this in the morning BUT I am going to write write write. I was just slightly reading back to my post on July 1 and let me tell you I got a TOTAL shock. (I just reached 500 views on my blog...about 492 from me and 8 from Kevin)

I know what you are thinking GET TO THE POINT SISTER! and I actually have one...kinda. I was in the middle of describing a shock that I received. Well I was all nonchalant saying I had 70 days and wow that's totally a lot of time. uumm I THINK NOT KENDRA! I am now 44 days away which is 6 weeks and 2 days! Like I have so much shit to do it's ridiculous...you know I give up I swore...whatevs it was gonna happen at one point or another. I don't swear in front of my parents but I feel like if you swear in a sentence and you don't mean it in an aggressive manner to another person it should be fine.

Like I just did. If you are offended well just skip over it...Anyways I also Googled how many days until I return and it is 343 days and 49 weeks on the dot! I am just honestly going to miss my friends SO SO SO much and I feel like I am going to do a post just before I leave but I have some pictures just to show you guys how much I love my friends. I don't have them all in here but here have been some really awesome moments. Don't feel awkward because you don't know them, these pictures are hilarious no matter who you know and don't know!

this is JuJu a.k.a. Julia....basically we are best friends

FHock moment JuJu C-Bear Dee

C-Bear.......she's just....Cara

I love these girls no matter how much drama we have.

Freshie FHock 2010 FOREVER!

Big Mooommmmmaaaa 

she's too attractive for her own good

the flying ginger

otherwise known as

Julia Nelson Butler Waznak

some JV Softball moments yeah I'm cool

too legit to quit

i LOVE photobombing but here is the Raper and Carina

(she's not a rapist but it's a play on words lets just say)

FAMILY PICTURE!

Alex and Tessa

Dee Raper Carina JuJu

they all look so pretty!!!!

she's normal?

no not really...the friend i've known the longest...

wow that's sad

no i'm JKing with you

LOL Chad's gonna kill me for this if he sees!

biology period 5 <3

you don't know the torture we were put through in this class

couldn't imagine better people to have it with!

Nostalgic To The Max,

xoxo

Kendra Rose

P.S.

I PROMISE that my next post will be flipping awesome....but it might be about my friends but don't feel left out because the stories I have to tell you will laugh A LOT at. 

P.P.S.

I pledge to be completely honest on this blog I will not lie or hide ANYTHING from you what happens happens and is meant to be shared!

:)

P.P.P.S.
I ended this at midnight.....
no life

Guten Tag!

So I have a few updates for the blogging world that happen to read this here blog. At the moment I do not have any pictures for you although I have been promising non-stop that I actually will have some....hhhmm I'm quite the liar aren't I. WHOOPS! Anyways I have my camera for my trip coming in the mail soon! My uncle works for Panasonic and he gets us items for low prices so it's great this is what it will look like!

I guess I lied again because I just gave you a picture......I think I actually have a picture of my host family that I haven't shared with you guys it's from their application thingy that I got from AFS two months after I found out about my family....

I searched through my email for this.....I have a bad habit of not deleting things....but anyways there they are!! They have been nothing but kind to be this far and it's been great getting to know Neels and Frida! Sometimes I wish Frida was going to be with us for the year but sadly she will be in Texas which is definitely exciting. She leaves SSSSOOOOO soon! 

One thing that completely amazes me is the fact that some people have no clue what AFS is about and stands for...like did you even read ANYTHING before you decided to jet around the world to an unknown country and clearly an unknown program to you. I just don't get it, I know people are getting nervous and maybe forgetting the small things but come on.....it's just a little bit ridiculous. I know AFS and the program I am going on inside and out. I have wanted to go since 7th grade and NOBODY was going to stop me. I read everything I could about this and I never stopped reading blogs and advancing my knowledge because I knew that was how I would most likely be able to go. I wonder about how these people approached their parents with no information as well. Some kid going to China made a VERY VERY VERY valid point in the Facebook group. He basically said stop asking stupid questions in the Facebook group and maybe read up a little on the biggest trip of our teenage lives. It was basically everything I had been thinking but not saying because my annoyance was only slowly building.

Sorry for that rant but it just bugs me sometimes you know? WWWEEELLLLL I got my luggage tags!!! They are two lovely yellow things! But here's the thing. I know you are only allowed ONE checked 44 pound bag...which I can deal with BUT this is the one part that I get confused. You are allowed ONE 22 pound carry on which I believe is like a small suitcase right? Then you can carry like a back pack or a purse which is considered like a personal item/bag. AFS says nothing about that though which bothers me because I don't wanna show up being the only one with technically two carry ons.....I'll ask around but who even knows!! Tell me what you guys are doing!!

Excited and Anxious,

xoxo

Kendra Rose

The Moment I've Been Waiting For

I GOT MY TRAVEL INFORMATION BI***EZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!

I was trying to keep it clean haha I think you can imagine what that might say underneath all the *********. So yes the rumors are true I got my info and now I'm officially ready. That moment when everything on your online application is filled up is a great moment honestly. You just feel complete and whole. I am gonna put in a picture of my itinerary stuff.

So I have to be down at the hotel no later then 3:00 PM on September 8, 2011 which is in Washington D.C. so yes everyone I WAS RIGHT! I have to be there on a Thursday, I leave on a Friday, and I arrive on a Saturday. 

Honestly everything is just so real now. I wouldn't have made a post yesterday if I knew that this was going to occur but whoops too late now! I am going to Rhode Island this weekend with my softball team so I will share some pictures with all of you later. This is getting crazy, the thing that I am honestly MOST excited about would be all the people I am going to meet. I don't know if you have picked up on this or not but I am a people person to the extreme I LOVE LOVE LOVE people and talking so these orientations are gonna be ballin. 

Hope all is well with you folks who read this thing.

Forever Dreaming,

Kendra Rose

xoxo

Things I Have Recently Learned/Realized....

Okay so I feel like this is a good post that I can write at the moment. I was thinking that I would do one of these every month while abroad!! I mean it gives me a structured topic to always be able to write about. I will also blog about other things but this will be a regular post most definitely. So let me bullet some things for ya!

• I am absolutely crazy. "Why?" You may ask! I....am going....abroad...WILLINGLY...to a country that I don't know the language of...!!!! I know I know that the language will all come in time but let's be honest..WOW this is insane..in a good way of course.
• I will most likely gain a ginormous German food baby.
• Not biting your nails is a very freeing feeling.
• I should start brushing up on my German politics/events!
• I will SEVERELY miss my dog Sebastian because he's 11 and I don't want anything to you know...happen...while I'm abroad.
• I'LL BE GETTING MY TRAVEL NOTIFICATIONS THIS WEEK!!!!!!!
• I actually won't need to bring as much clothes as I think because I will be able to shop...and apparently its common wear the same outfit over again.
• Do no pet stray animals while abroad.
• I apparently don't need a visa..? I need a Residency Permit.
• I am going to miss getting my driving permit so I'll get it RIGHT when I get back.
• I don't know if I will be able to satisfy my addiction to lemons for 10 months.
• My hair is going to look like CRAP when I'm done...I won't get into why.
• Schlampe has a multitude of ....not so nice meanings
• 16 is like the drinking age
• I have to pack a 40 pound bag for 10 months
• I definitely don't have enough German to survive..yet
• The people I've met so far because of AFS have been some of the nicest, most fun people I've ever met. I honestly just connect with all of them!

So that's about it so far! I shall do another one in August!

xoxo

Kendra Rose

How To Approach Your Parents About AFS

Hallo meine Lieben! (please be advised that anything I write in German comes from a translator except for maybe *Das Gras ist grün* or *Was ist das?* you know easy stuff haha) So I got the brilliant idea to do this post while writing my last one and I got really excited about it because well it's an AFS topic and frankly I'm an AFS nerd. So "How do I ask my parents to do this magnificent experience...?" you ask wweeelll I'm going to go through it step by step with you!

PLEASE REMEMBER: These are my own steps that I feel would work and many types of parents. I'll try to create different situations for each type of parent that you may have because if I just base it off my parents it won't help anyone...unless we are siblings...which is impossible because I'm an only child...anyways...

STEP ONE: The Right Reasons

I know that you are probably like what does that have to do with anything but honestly it has to do with EVERYTHING. Please do not believe that this is for you if your friend is doing it and you don't want to be separated or like someone is forcing you. To go you must want to do it for all the right reasons because if you aren't happy now you most DEFINITELY won't be happy in another country that you never even wanted to go to.
You must have the idea already if you are looking at this blog questioning should you even try or not but make sure you are ready for the commitment, this isn't a vacation from school for a year and any AFSer will tell you it isn't easy. So basically the point of this step is to make sure you are going for the right reasons here are mine for an example:

• I have always been interested in traveling and different cultures especially ones with a lot of history.
• I have a knack for languages and pick them up quickly.
• I've always been an independent child because I AM an only child so I've always had to be resourceful and creative to keep myself out of trouble you might say.

STEP TWO: Research AFS

It always surprises me how much people that are actually going on AFS with me currently know about AFS. I have wanted to go since 7th grade and I even applied, but I was sent back a kind email explaining that they were sorry because I was too young to go so since then I've been waiting for the very first year I could go and here it is! I studied AFS and read ALL the featured blogs about....France. I don't think I've mentioned this yet but I was actually ready to go to France and then I thought hey you know what would be fun...going some place random that would REALLY challenge me.
Anyways, please realize that you are going to have to sacrifice a year of high school (for the year program) or you can do a gap year, a semester, or just a summer community service program. See there is already a whole bunch of stuff that you may not have known! Make sure you pick the right program for you specifically! I am going to focus on the year program though because that's what I actually know :)

STEP 3/4:  Make An Appt. W/ Guidance Counselor / Bring Up The Idea To Your Parents


So here's the deal you can do this two separate ways that's why either one can be step three or four. I'll start with the Guidance Counselor portion. Let's say that you have really strict parents, over protective parents, or parents that maybe don't necessarily take you seriously you should the guidance counselor is definitely your first stop. In my school all you have to do is go in and fill out a strip of paper and honestly unless you only have one more month left to apply the urgent box shouldn't be checked off.
You don't want them to get worried or be afraid that you are an emotional wreck that needs to be quickly serviced because you don't. You really want to go through each and every academic year(s) that you have left to maybe figure out what would be the best one to propose with your parents. Also you should figure out if its even good for you to go at all. I'm pretty sure you must have either a 3.3 or a 2.8 average it's one of those so if you don't...you can't apply. Here are some discussion topics you REALLY want to bring up when you're there:

• CREDITS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I know some people are having A LOT of trouble with getting credits for somethings and sometimes EVERYTHING. Not all schools will be workable with you but you can honestly try because if you are hell bent on this experience nothing is going to stop you! For my school in Germany I will be getting the credits but not the grades so my GPA is not affected. <-- a good amount of people get this I've actually noticed)

• What classes won't carry over to your American school career.

(For me it was gym and whatever english class I am going to take because for college they want to see English literature classes whereas in your country you will most likely be studying English as a language and gym just normally doesn't carry over. My mom thought this was completely stupid that I might have to double up on gym in my junior year so she brought it to the superintendent and I got a waver for it.)

• Get it in writing.

(I only have my gym waver in writing I don't have my credit situation but my school has done it before so we trust them to keep doing it for me.)

• Lastly figure out if you can do virtual high school, extra work, or even summer school.

(I am not personally doing any of this yet my counselor was thinking about virtual high school but we never completely set anything I was actually going to try and do english in summer school but they just didn't think it would pass as a full credit so it wasn't worth it.)
Those are my tips but also remember that if your school doesn't want to work with you AT ALL you either take a sabbatical or even wait and take a gap-year before you go to college and after you leave high school! :)

Now for the second part approaching your parents, I don't know you all personally but here are my super quick tips for what will get you the best results.

• be the most educated that you can be
• print out the "for the parents" info on AFS's website
• be mature (even if their first answer is no)
• keep asking but don't pester
• make sure your reasons are completely planned out
• be prepared for A LOT of questions
• propose a plan to help out with finances if you need to
• be relaxed and calm

That's honestly about it I KNOW this post is really long but I just wanted to get everything out and in the open that people could actually look at for information on how they could approach their parents. Obviously if you are already going on AFS you didn't need to read this but HEY whatevs I love writing on this thing! I am gonna think up some really awesome stuff and my next post will have pictures I promise! :)

xoxo
Kendra Rose

Just Some Randomness

Hello to all! It is July 7th, 2011 at the moment and its 3:32 in the afternoon and I am driving down to a double header for softball! I don't have wifi so I clearly won't be posting this right away you know but at some point this will be published. This woman just walked by who looks like a skinny version of Paula Dean I'm not sure if you know her or not but if you do you would understand why I thought it was funny. So Germany...Germany...Germany what to say? I am actually avidly working on my German that I'm surprised I'm actually not one who is great at finishing things and keeping up with something consistently so, but I've been doing German almost everyday this summer! Today I actually started taping index cards all around my house on literally everything that I could reach, I didn't get a chance to finish yet, but its just so exciting because my dad is actually getting into it...OH! I just got the best idea EEEVVVEERRRRRR for a post, you guys are just going to have to wait to read it. The reason I'm doing so much with vocab is because Claire who I have recently mentioned in my last post told me that you can work on the grammar all you want but the key is VOCAB VOCAB VOCAB. I guess she theorizes that if you know a lot of vocab you'll be good and the grammar will come slowly but surely. I already know that after this I want to volunteer with AFS and my mom wants to be a USA liaison. 

So I am like 80% sure that we will be leaving from Washington D.C. I have been heavily debating this with the other USA->GR AFSers because they believe it's NYC but here's why I believe this:

• my mom's co-worker's son went to German this past school year with AFS (w/o CBYX) and she was surprised that she had to bring her son all the way down to D.C. because we live in Connecticut just 30 minutes away from NYC
• Claire said she would be at our Gateway Orientation in D.C. for Germany
• someone had asked about it in the Facebook group and one of the AFS women that run the group said at first that we would be NYC but then she corrected herself and said that the Germany kids were actually scheduled for D.C.

So honestly you can believe what you want because NO ONE knows for sure yet, I'm actually hoping for NYC because it's right there but who even knows. In the end though it doesn't really matter because we're leaving in about 65 days I believe.

LAST POINT: If any of you are actually going to Germany and reading my blog do you guys want to meet a day earlier or something and we go see some sites in NYC (if we're there) or D.C. (if we're there)? Ellie might do this and hang out with me and my parents or just me....I don't know yet. It all depends when she can get a flight which she doesn't know yet because of course Germany has NO info. 

This blog just makes me so happy because honestly sharing my experience is just what I like to do. I could honestly talk about AFS for hours and if I could find someone that would listen I would just do it.

P.S.

I have an awesome post coming next that I am writing now because it takes some thought!

xoxo
Kendra Rose

Kendra's Verbal Vomit

Hello everyone! I am just in the writing mood I don't know why but I just am! There is absolutely NO point behind this post but I guess there is some stuff I can update you guys on...at the moment I am thinking of a creative title that will attract people...hhmm I mean "Updates" is just plain boring lets be honest here. At the moment I am sitting in my room blasting music with my laptop I mean these are the moments I kill for during the year when I am just stressing over school and life. Anyways HAPPY CANADA DAY! :) Okay so I was on Facebook and I was inboxing one of our "online chaperones" for our AFS group and she told me that for Germany there are about 47 of us departing this coming fall and only 9 are going for a semester while the rest are a whole year. Those 37 people going for the year are either going to think I am psychotic and annoying or we are going to be best friends. I hope for the friends part, but hey not liking people is part of life.
 I ALSO GOT A DEPARTURE DATE OUT OF HER! Well kind of I mean she said that at the moment Germany is scheduled to depart on September 9th which is exciting because that is exactly 70 days away, also she had said to someone else that we would be departing from D.C. .......and let me just tell you I am actually really peeved about this because I live in CT right next to NYC to be exact and the fact that I have to go all the way down to D.C. (5 hour drive) is plain obnoxious. I mean other people have to travel much farther of course, but come on everyone else gets to leave from NYC...kinda. I know I'm just complaining for no reason but you know that's what I do.
I have started a packing list, in a way because you can never start TOO early in my opinion. I mean I'm not going to be packed and ready to go by tomorrow but if you make a list over time you are less likely to forget things, even though I definitely will. I already have a list going for the gifts that I am going to bring and the excess crap that I will bring as peace offerings to the kids in my class that will maybe help me to make friends haha! But as I said before I got really lucky because Neels (my host brother) is like 13 days older then me so we are the same age and so I end up in the same class as him.
I know I'm jumping from topic to topic but I can't help myself I could talk/write about AFS for hours on end. I already know that I would like to volunteer with AFS after this because sharing your experience with others and encouraging international travel is important for cultural awareness everywhere! :)
This is basically THE best part of my blog that I've been kind of putting off because I mean it was just too exciting. This is NOTHING to do with my trip at all, but it has to do with AFS. Right now at this moment (3:07 on July 1) my friend Phoebe is landing on JFK's tar mats!!! Well of course I don't know exactly I mean she could have been delayed or something but it was supposed to land at 3-ish. She went to Spain and had a rough time adjusting in the beginning but then it honestly became THE best experience I know she would say! Isn't that just awesome??? It's so weird though because I remember the day she left.....like it was yesterday....and she's back...ALREADY! Also there is a boy from my town along with Phoebe that had gone abroad that is coming back on the 9th/10th I believe from Italy..his name is Mike. So I wouldn't say my town is new to AFS they are just not completely best friends yet....but we are avidly trying to change that and get AFS into our community a lot more.
FINAL POINTS: I'm not sure if you guys have ever been to the list of blogs that AFS has kind of put in the spotlight but you should find it and go there and then read Claire's blog actually I'll just put the link here for you to go to. READ ALL THE ENTRIES! She is a genius and so so so funny. Even though she went from '09 to '10 she is still relatable.  http://clairegoestodeutschland.blogspot.com/ It's funny because I emailed her and when she emailed me back she informed me that she was actually going to be a group leader at my orientation in D.C. which was just so ironic. Lastly I believe that I might be able to visit my darling buddy KEVIN while he's in France and I'm in Germany of course it isn't set in stone but I'm sure I could convince people to let me go! Also I might be able to visit Ellie because I mean...she'll be IN Germany. Ellie is in the process of making a blog so it's not complete YET but be ready for some awesomeness. Also my host mother Gabi is planning a vacation that might possibly involve Rome...no big deal or anything...JUST KIDDING that would be AMAZING!!!!!! Okay I think I used enough capitalization and exclamation posts for one entry. And plus my mom is telling me I have to leave sssoooooooo until next time my lovely blog readers.

constantly dreaming
xoxo

Kendra Rose :)