Week 0: Orientation

The first week of my experience Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange was a whirlwind of activity; many seminars were experienced, photos taken, people introduced, and food eaten.

It marks the beginning of a year-long cultural exchange wherein 75 Americans are sown across the many states of Germany, to study the language, share and exchange culture, and eventually join the workforce (if only for a six months).

The program is part of an initiative to strengthen the political bonds between the United States and Germany and to put a face to countries’ citizen counterparts. Funded by the Department of State and the German Parliament, the program has been facilitating cultural exchange for the past 32 years.

#Orientation

Orientation totaled four days of the first week - beginning in the United States at Georgetown University, continuing in a castle in Budenheim, Germany, and ending in language school in Saarbruecken, Germany. The process felt nomadic, brief (but internally drawn-out), and informative.

At Georgetown University, Professor Gary Weaver (of American University) presented a thorough understanding of culture, culture shock and how to think about (as well as be prepared for) our upcoming time abroad and the conflicting emotions we’ll experience.

We later met with our congressional representatives.

I personally met with Congressman Glenn Thompson (R-PA), whose support in the house ensured the continuing success of the CBYX program.

I wish I could’ve had the chance to meet with my representative (McCaul, R-TX), but hey - he’s a busy guy, I hear.

We continued the next day (more seminars, woo!) rounding out our knowledge of the program and some culturally-specific german knowledge.

#Travel

That afternoon, we ate lunch and boarded a Lufthansa flight from Dulles International to Frankfurt, Germany. Checking more than 70 people in to the same flight (at once) in a row was an experience for the check-in desk, I bet.

The food was okay, I guess - for airplane fare, not bad. The stuffing that came with the chicken was surprisingly good! It overshadowed the rest of the food, for sure.

On the other end, we were picked up by the friendly GIZ staff, who led us to a bus that would then take us to Schloss Waldthausen in Budenheim, Germany.

Schloss Waldthausen is a castle, by the way.

We each had private rooms, too. I’d stay here again, for sure.

#Orientation, Part 2

It’s now about 10 AM - keep in mind that at this point, most of us are a bit tired and jetlagged; staying awake here was a trial of will - and bless their hearts, the staff did the best they could to help us beat it.

We had a brief introductory speech (allowing time for people to shower and change after the extended travel), followed by decent lunch fare. I spent a bit of time getting acquainted with the my fellows here while we waited for the walkabout tour.

A historian recommended by the city told us about the rather conflict-filled history of the castle - which had apparently been taken, re-taken, sold, bought, destroyed, and re-built quite a few times since it was first established.

We also visited the nearby tower (not related to the castle, but it offered a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside.)

The nearby restauraunt was nice enough to open up for us during their off hours; the city of Budenheim treated us to a round of free drinks! (Thanks!)

Afterwards, we ate dinner, where I had the opportunity to talk current events and politics with program director Theo Fuss - there’s a lot going on, to say the least.

I took to bed a bit early (8PM or so, local time).

Early the next morning, we had a typisch deutsch breakfast - bread, marmalades, cold cuts, and softboiled eggs; another hour-and-a-half seminar; a brief break; and another hour-long seminar.

We moved out, took a few group photos, said good bye to the fellows in other language schools, and got on busses.

…and that’s everything from Orientation.