My Future Home!

"Hemer, Germany! Hemer, Germany!" I think I said those exact words more than 20 times yesterday (and this my friends, isn't a hyperbole). I got the email yesterday around 1 pm telling me that the implementing company in Germany, Experiment e.V., found a permanent placement for my year in Germany. Of course, as soon as I got the notification on my phone I shrieked so loudly that my 7 month-old cousin woke up.

I will be living in Hemer, Germany. I'm an hour or so away from Cologne, and an hour and a half from the Netherlands! I will have a 43 year-old mother (who, by our e-mail exchanges, speaks perfect ENGLISH, which can be good or bad), a 17 year-old brother who loves swimming, dancing, and hanging out with friends, a 14 year-old brother, and two cats! I'm a little apprehensive on the idea of living with cats but HEY! this whole year is to experience new things!

I will be attending the Friedrich Leopold Woeste Gymnasium:

I, however, am a little freaked out! Neither of my brothers attend this school so I will be going in by myself and simply become Fez from That '70s Show. Not that comforting but, again, this whole year is to experience new things.

As time goes by, and the countdown nears zero days, zero hours, and zero seconds, my anxiety and excitement become unbearable. I can't wait to assimilate my surroundings and to have a deluge of emotions flood me instantly and constantly as I embark on this once-in-a-blue-moon experience.

The Name of my Blog

Before I start, I want you to keep two things in mind. The first thing is that this is my first blog post in my first blog. So bear with me as I try to get the hang of this. Second, as time elapses I might begin to blog frequently and there might be a mixture of Spanish, English, and German in my posts. So for those who aren’t familiar with all three, you might have trouble in completely understanding what I’m saying (I recommend favoriting Google Translate on your computer; it might come in handy later).

The name of this blog “Nur Alle Jubeljahre” is an idiomatic expressions that translates into once in a blue moon; a more than appropriate name for this experience in which I’m about to embark. Thanks to the law that requires the good people of America to loyally and wholeheartedly pay their taxes and to other resources, the U.S. Department of State will be sending me to Germany on an all-expenses-paid year exchange program. I consider this seldom opportunity as a blessing. Hopefully, as I begin this once-in-a-lifetime and life-changing experience I will be able to document my experiences and give you and my future self a glimpse of German life through my personal lens.

I still do not know from where or who my host family is—which causes me to suffer from mini panic attacks—but I am certain that the implementing company will match me with an astounding host family. I’ll keep you posted!