So I'm back. I still remember booking my plane ticket from my dorm room in San Marcos last October. It still hasn't quite sunk in that I'm sitting in Germany again.

For a little refresh, I was an exchange student in Montabaur, my hometown's sister-city, last year through the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange scholarship. The scholarship, a State Department-endorsed grant, is truly wonderful; about 300 American students ages 15-18 (myself included) received full funding for a 10 month stay in Germany where we lived with host families and attended Gymnasiums (spoken as'Gim-nasium'), German college-preparatory schools.
I learned a lot during my time here, both about the German culture/language and about myself. I'm now an annoying saleswoman for study abroad.
At the end-of-year conference held in Berlin in May 2009, Partnership International (our German host program) announced to us that we, as CBYX alumni, had the opportunity to complete an internship with the company at its headquarters in Cologne. A work program with the German Bundestag (Congress) in Berlin was also offered.
At the time, I wasn't considering an internship all too deeply, but after some strong consideration during the fall, I recognized that this opportunity would be a great way to get back to Germany, visit friends, and gain some real "work world" experience.

I arrived a week and a half ago- Friday, May the 14th, to be exact. My travel was rather "knapp", as the Germans would say; I rounded off my Spring semester at Texas State two days before hopping on the plane. It was a bit stressful, but I pulled it off with a 4.0!

My friend, Christian picked me up from the airport and we spent the day wandering about Frankfurt. I enjoyed once more the blissful taste of German bread and cappuccino and again experienced a 50° summer day. We spent that evening at Christian's home in Niederelbert -2km out of Montabaur- with some old friends, reminiscing and sharing updates. It felt so right to be back.

The next morning Christian (kindly) drove me to Cologne, which is normally about an hour and a half away with the Autobahn; Christian's 200 kmph cut that time significantly :)
We met my host mom and sister at McDonald's at the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) and parted; I'll be visiting my friends in the Westerwald region again soon!


I've been fully enjoying the past week of working and getting to know my host family. I started my internship last Monday, and it's great so far! I've been doing a lot of sorting, etc., but I have also designed a Host Families For Thai Students poster and I got to use the "Buttonmaschine"- I must say that I make a mean pin-on nametag button.
All of my coworkers are quite young and all very entertaining and helpful. I look forward to spending more time in the office.

Things Zuhause (at home) are great, too. Hannah, my host sister, is wonderful. She is 19 and is about to complete her Abitur, the exit exams within the Gymnasiums. We have a lot in common and have already had some fun working out, dancing, and watching movies, and I have been teaching her some about cooking. She definitely saved my life the other day- I went on a walk through the forest hoping to find Bagersee, a nearby lake, and definitely ended up an hour's walk away from our town. I called Hannah, she Google-mapped my location, and she drove up to find her Ami (slang for American) sister, exhausted and hungry, squatting on the sidewalk.
My host Mom is a pretty hip lady. Helga runs her own tax consulting business and has a passion for travel; she's currently in southern France with her sister and will be back in a few weeks. She and Hannah will go to Thailand in the fall.


So I think that's enough for right now. Hope that's not too descriptive for you all; I really enjoy writing. I think I'll pick it up again...maybe I could start a blog like in Julie & Julia. I'll let you know what I decide :)
Until next time. I hope summer in the States is going well.

Liebe Grüße aus Köln,
Hylary