Packing Anxiety

I look down at the 27 piles of clothes around me. I have sorted and resorted all of the clothes that I own. I have decided what I'm taking with me, what I'm keeping but not taking with me, and what I'm giving away. But I keep changing my mind. I know its not that big of a deal what I take with me, but I feel like it's a life or death decision and maybe it is...for my wardrobe. I have 2 younger sisters who will take possession of anything left behind before I get on the plane for Germany. :)

My mom bought me 2 of the biggest suitcases that I have ever seen in my life. But the cost and the inconvience of taking 2 big suit
cases weighs on my mind. I think about putting all my winter clothes in one and then putting it in storage until I need it. But then I look at the clothes that I'm taking with me, and I realize...I barely have any winter clothes to take with me! I start stressing out because most of the time I will be over there, it will be winter! I go back to resort my clothes yet again and try and pull out any more warm outfits.

Now that I have figured out what I am taking with me, I have to decide how to pack them. Do I use space bags, or do I try and jam everything in? I look at how many things I am taking and I decide that using space bags will be more practical. I keep saying that I need to pack, and yet I keep putting it off. I have barely packed anything and I have so little time remaining that it is starting to take its toll on me. I try to tell myself that I have so much time, but I really don't. I have less than 2 weeks before I leave, and I keep procrastinating. At the rate I'm going, I won't be packed until the day before I'm supposed to board the plane. :)

Who am I, where did I come from, and where am I going?

The title of this post seems very existential, but this post is going to be more of an introduction to my current situation.

My name is Madison Connell. I graduated in May 2013 from Timpanogos High School in Orem, Utah, and I loved every minute of my high school experience. During the last half of my senior year, however, I decided to branch out a little bit and take the road less traveled. I decided that I would apply to the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program, which exchanges US and German students for a full school year. The first 2 weeks of February were spent vigorously filling out the application and getting the documentation I needed. Finally, the day came when I finished the application and hit the "Send" button. Then came the hard part: the waiting.

I went about my daily life, keeping the program off my mind so I could focus on school. Then one day, the inevitable happened: I got an email from the director of the program. I read the subject line which said "Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship - FINALIST NOTIFICATION". I was at school when I saw this and I almost had a seizure because I was so excited. I had applied just to see if I could do it, but I never expected that it would actually come to something!

I had to go in for face-to-face interviews with the director of FLAG (which covers the southwest quadrant of the US) Tim, the inbound specialist Connie, the outbound specialist Luke, and a few other people. I completed my interview and left there feeling pretty good about myself. About a week later, I checked my email and I found that I had an email from Luke. The subject line said "CBYX Scholarship Recipient Notification". This was it. I was accepted and I was going to do something that I had always dreamed of doing in my life. It was just sooner than expected. I was heading to Germany.

Since then, we have had an orientation at the FLAG headquarters in Michigan, where I met other students that had been accepted. We have also had several online orientations preparing us for our year abroad. And that brings us to today, 24 days from takeoff. I will keep posting about all of my adventures and I hope you enjoy reading about them. :)