Lizzie's Introduction to Deutschland.

Meet the TROCKENBRODT family:

They live in Eschau, Germany. Ralph is 33, Karola is 32, Johanna is 8, and Fritz is 4.

I just won the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship for a full high school year abroad in Germany.

I seriously can't believe how I pulled that off.

This Friday, I am going to Texas for the YES Selection Camp. It's for a full high school year abroad in a country with a significant Muslim population.

When I was chosen as a YES semi-finalist I didn't know I had already won CBYX. So I could potentially win two scholarships. Which would confuse the hell out of me.

Also, NSLI interview was last weekend. I applied for a full high school year abroad in Egypt. I didn't know I won CBYX when I interviewed for that one too.

How crazy would it be if I won all three?

(I am so happy that I won CBYX. I'm a winner, yay!!!)

As you may have heard, a couple months ago I applied to the CBYX Scholarship.

Today I applied for the NSLI-Y Scholarship. It is for an exchange with a focus on language learning.

I also applied for YES. It is for a year long exchange to a country with a significant Muslim population. If I make semi-finals I will be going to Texas in March for interviews.

Just now I won a partial scholarship from AFS Global Leaders Scholarship. I won $3,700 for a full year to Germany.

Thank God for scholarships.

P.S. I have an interview this Saturday (February 7th) for the CBYX Scholarship.

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This is old news by now, but I won't be going to Ghana.

I have applied for the CBYX scholarship. I've heard that CBYX favors seniors, well I hope that's true.

It will be my last chance to go on an exchange during high school.

Since I've come so close before, it would be devistating to never reach my dream of being a high school exchange student.

CBYX is a scholarship for teenagers ages 15-18 to represent America in a complete tuition paid exchange to Germany for a full year.

I have already sent in my application and recieved a confirmation that it has been recieved and will be reviewed.

I think I have a fairly good chance at finally winning a full exchange scholarship. (I have previously entered Global Leaders, AFX, and Toshiyuki Tanaka Scholarships of AFS). This time my essays were well prepared and perhaps enticing? I don't mean to sound so sure of myself. As past experiences go, I never win anything.

So today I'm feeling fairly confident. I suppose the only thing stopping me from going to the next round would be...well I guess anything could stop me from going to the next round. Maybe I'm just not as cut out for this as I thought I was.

I feel so ready to go to Germany! Germany is pouring out my ears right now! Honestly, I recieved this months issue of German Life magazine today. I'm not even the slightest bit German! Why do I read this magazine? Because I love "german life" hahahahaha. I'm such a sketchball.

Not only am I a major sketchball, but I'm also an internet author. Author of the worlds sketchiest online story. Read it all at http://www.fictionpress.com/~katcrick. 

Have a good evening~ 

Dear Prospective Sponsor!

My name is Elizabeth Michael, and I am a junior at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School. This blog post is regarding my anticipated student exchange trip. I have earned a partial scholarship to study in Ghana (Africa) this January for six months. I am looking for sponsors and donations to help me obtain my goal of studying in Ghana while providing community service to people in need.

Ghana is a country with a lot of poverty. As an exchange student I hope to learn about the culture of Ghana, and I plan to give my time in service to the community in programs such as assisting in the orphanages.The exchange program that I have been accepted to is called AFS, American Field Service, which was founded in 1914. My goal is to raise the $8,900 tuition. My scholarship was for $2,700 and last summer I raised $1,000 working six days a week. That leaves about $5,200, which is a lot of money and doesn't include costs like luggage, transportation to the airport, and miscellaneous living expenses.

Any donation that you can make no matter the amount will be greatly appreciated. I am very interested in promoting peace in Africa and the world in general. This past November I was in Washington, DC to rally to stop the genocide in Sudan with a group called STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur). Advocating peace in Sudan last month was a great experience that fueled my desire to go to Africa, but also enlightened me about how much the people in Africa need the support of Americans. In DC I jogged with a teacher from Harwich HS every morning at daybreak around the White House, he told me, "You never truly understand the conditions the people in Africa are living in unless you've been there. It really opens your eyes to the world." I want to experience that for myself.

I hope that you will take my request for monetary assistance into consideration. I will be writing more in this blog about my experience and if you are able to help me in any way, I would be happy to share an informal talk to your membership. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post. If you would like any more information you may email me at lizzielake@yahoo.com.

Thank you for visiting this blog. Please visit my blogger blog at lizzie-michael.blogspot.com to read my updates which will be more frequent once I am finally in Ghana.

To support my AFS tuition, please check out the new AFS Sponsor-an-AFSer Interactive Map, where you’ll click on Massachusetts to find my name, then click Sponsor Me Now.

Thank you for your consideration.

Elizabeth Michael