I love it when I get info from AFS--especially when there is A TON of information :) Today, we finally got our schedule for the gateway orientation:
(And I'm sharing it for all the people who are thinking about applying for CBYX, because I know when I was first applying, I was searching like a madman for any and all information on the program).
Gateway Orientation
The Gateway Orientation is a key element of your preparation for the CBYX program. Keep in mind that our time there will include a rigorous schedule of orientation sessions and political and cultural activities. As you prepare to leave your home community, do not overestimate your ability to sleep during your travels to the Gateway Orientation or on the flight to Germany, but rather please come to the orientation well-rested, ready to learn, and ready to represent the CBYX program to our funder.
On top of preparing you for success in Germany, the Gateway Orientation serves as a buffer between life in your home community and life in Germany. For this reason, let this serve as a friendly reminder to say “goodbye” to your friends and family before leaving your home community, or upon arriving at the orientation site, at the latest.
- Gateway Orientation Location
Crowne Plaza Dulles Airport
2200 Centreville Rd
Herndon, VA 20170
Tel.: 703-471-6700
http://www.cpdulles.com/
(Please be advised that use of the pool and fitness room is not permitted.)
- “DC Day” Meal Selection
In advance of our Gateway Orientation, I kindly request that you follow the below link, and complete the survey on that page by this Monday, 08/27. The survey mainly consists of you indicating your cultural meal preference for the evening of Wednesday, September 5th, when we'll dine at Cafe Mozart in Washington, D.C. The meal choices were provided to us by the restaurant. Unfortunately there is no flexibility regarding the menu and I have no further details regarding the choices provided, except what is included in the survey.
- Domestic Travel to the Gateway Orientation Site
If you have not already booked or otherwise arranged for your travel to the Gateway Orientation in Washington, D.C., you should arrange this as soon as possible. Furthermore, if you haven’t yet communicated your orientation transportation intentions to AFS Travel by responding to the email of 07/23 titled “AFS USA Travel Notification,” please do so right away. AFS Travel requests your response, even if you’re arriving by car. Please be mindful of the strict guidelines regarding your arrival time.
- Trouble en Route
Should you experience difficulties while traveling to the Gateway Orientation, such as a delayed flight, a canceled flight, inability to locate AFS representatives upon arrival at the airport, missing baggage or a traffic jam which will delay your arrival, please contact Allen Evans at his office number, which will be forwarded to him on-site: 800-876-2376 x1152 (or directly at 212-479-1152). If you do not reach Allen, leave a message, then call Dana Reinoos, Orientation Coordinator at 718-753-4713. Further important details about traveling to the site by air and car are in the attached ”CBYX Crowne Plaza IAD Gateway Orientation Details” document. Please print it and keep it on your person while underway.
- Organize your Congressional Meeting
See "Organize Congressional Meeting" below.
- Agenda
In advance of your arrival in D.C., please find a preliminary agenda following. It is likely that this agenda will be modified before being finalized.
Tuesday, September 4
• Registration
• Dinner
• Welcome, Overview, Expectations, Meet your Group
• Congressional Representatives 101
- Prepare to represent yourself and the CBYX program
Wednesday, September 5
• Breakfast Boxes
• Busses to U.S. Department of State
• U.S. Department of State
- Appropriate attire
- Express knowledge of Germany and CBYX program
- Express thanks for CBYX opportunity
• Lunch at Union Station
• Congressional Meetings
- Appropriate attire
- Express knowledge of Germany and CBYX program
- Express thanks for CBYX opportunity
• German American Heritage Foundation or German Embassy (TBD)
• Cultural Dinner
Thursday, September 6
• Ongoing arrival of core AFS students going to Germany
• Effective Ambassador Workshop
• Journaling for Growth Workshop
• Effective Communication with your Host Family Workshop
• History of AFS Workshops
• German Copyright Law Workshop
• Cultural Resource Session
Friday, September 7
• Travel, Safety and Responsibility Workshop
• Carrying the Mission Forward Workshop
• Busses to Dulles Airport
- Chaperoned Flight to Germany
Organize Congressional Meeting
As a part of your orientation, all participants will meet with their Congressional Representative to put a face on the CBYX program, and offer thanks for the opportunity to participate in the CBYX program.
We ask participants to organize these meeting themselves. Using the attached “2012 AFS CBYX Hill Representatives” document to identify your Representative and his/her contact details, you will need to schedule an appointment with your Representative. Call the Representative’s office during business hours (generally 9AM – 5PM, Eastern), and identify yourself as a constituent, and a recipient of a Congressionally funded Department of State scholarship. Explain that you would like the chance to meet with the Representative in order to speak about the program, and thank the Representative for his/her support. Schedule your appointment to begin between 2 and 3:45PM on Wednesday, September 5th.
Should the office indicate that your Representative is unavailable to meet with you during this period, please ask if there is someone else with whom you can meet. Most offices will offer for you to meet with a staff person, who will be able to pass information along to the Representative.
Please reach out to the appropriate office before Friday, August 24th. We request that the student him/herself make this appointment, rather than relying on a parent to do this for you.
Please review the attached “2012 AFS CBYX Hill Representatives” document to identify if any other CBYX students share your representative. If you do, you’ll receive a separate email from the CBYX Team containing the contact information of your peers soon, to organize as a group. Please delegate one student as the person who will contact the Representative’s office, and share the details with the group. It’s important that every Representative’s office receive a communication soon, but that none receive multiple requests.
Please remember that you are already a representative of the CBYX program; be polite and professional to the staff member with whom you are speaking. Be sure to have enough knowledge about the program that you can speak confidently and answer any questions the staffer might have for you to make the appointment.
Once you have scheduled an appointment, immediately fill out this survey with the complete visit information, including date, time, and location:
We need this information from you no later than Friday, August 31st. Please note that we will not be facilitating these visits on an individual basis; as a group, we will depart from and meet back at one central location, but it will be your responsibility to get yourself to the appropriate office on time for your meeting. You will be provided a map of the area and emergency contact details. Most offices are within a few blocks of our meeting location. We’re only requesting your answers to the above survey questions in case of emergency.
If you have any questions, please contact Dana Reinoos, Orientation Coordinator at dreinoos@afs.org.
Baggage
Do not underestimate the difficulties you will incur with baggage that is outside of the following allowance:
• 1 Carry-on bag, not to exceed 8 inches x 16 inches x 21 inches, up to 22 pounds
• 1 Checked bag, up to 44 pounds
AFS has stricter luggage regulations than some airlines. These reflect the baggage allowance provided by transportation authorities abroad. AFS assumes no responsibility for the expense of baggage in excess of the above, which may be significant. You will need to be able to carry all your baggage unassisted for significant distances.
Arrival in Germany
AFS Germany has informed us that you will be met by AFS staff and volunteers upon arrival at the Frankfurt International Airport. From there, you will either be picked up by your host family or you will travel by volunteer-chaperoned train to your host communities. AFS staff and volunteers at Frankfurt International Airport will be wearing blue AFS t-shirts and will meet you and your flight chaperones as you exit the baggage claim area. You will partake in a four day long orientation within the first week after you arrive in your host community and will have another after four weeks. This orientation will cover topics such as family life, school, culture and history.
Medications
If you are traveling with any medications, we recommend that you carry them in your carry-on, unless they fall outside of the TSA carry-on regulations. The following sites may be used to reference TSA regulations: http://www.tsa.gov/311/ Furthermore, we recommend that all medications be transported in their original containers (generally bottles or boxes), and that you keep copies of your prescriptions on your person and with the medication. If you have not done so already, please inform Anna Sharp-Whitcomb and Christie MacLean of all medications you plan on taking while in Germany: cbyx@afs.org
Appropriate Dress
As discussed on the conference call, you shall require appropriate dress for the “D.C. Day” at the Gateway Orientation, as well as for your visits to the Reichstag and U.S. Embassy in Berlin in the spring. As a CBYX student in Germany, you may also require appropriate dress for potential visits with local politicians and/or social events you may be invited to. Appropriate dress for our “D.C. Day,” which includes a visit to the Department of State as well as with Congresspeople and potentially high-level officials from the German Embassy consists the following.
- Young men: Slacks with dress shoes and a tucked-in button-down dress shirt, with an optional tie
- Young women: Modest attire with slacks or a dress / skirt that falls below the knees
Health Form Addendum
You have received a Health Form Addendum which must be completed by your physician / healthcare provider and returned as soon as possible, but not later than one week before your international departure.
Passport
Keep your passport on your person for the duration of your travel from your home community to the Gateway Orientation. You may use your passport as identification if traveling to D.C. by air. If you have any concerns about your passport, please contact us as soon as possible: cbyx@afs.org
The CBYX Program
As outlined on the previous conference call, it is key that each of you be versed in the history of the CBYX program and the significance of being a young adult American in Germany and the CBYX program. I expect you to be able to summarize the below in your own words by memory.
• Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange program established in 1983
• Already a number of German – American student exchanges available at time of establishment
+ Why did members of Congress and the Bundestag decide to create and finance a new program?
- Important for both of our countries that young people get to know each other, that they understand each other’s cultures and that they play an active role in the future of the German-American relationship
- Training program for future transatlanticists
- This program is an investment in you, so that you’ll represent the U.S. well abroad, and so that you can work towards positive transatlantic relationships in the future
• Germany’s influence
+ Significant source of cultural and economic production in the E.U.
- Founding member of the E.U.
- Largest financial contributor to the E.U.
+ Globally significant
- Full member of U.N. since 1973
- Thirst largest funder of U.N.
- NATO member
- World Bank and IMF member
• German businesses in the U.S.
+ Siemens, Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Lufthansa, T-Mobile, Bayer, Nivea, Adidas, SAP, DHL, Hapag-Lloyd, MAN…
• Influence of CBYX
+ Some 20,000 German and American CBYX participants since 1983
+ Huge impact
- If each CBYX participant met and talked with just 100 people during the time on-program, 2 million people have been impacted by the program
• The future
+ World is much more connected than it was in 1983
+ 60% of world population is under the of 30
- CBYX gives you the opportunity to be a young leader
• Your participation
+ Test you in many ways
+ Just the beginning of a larger opportunity and obligation that you’ll have for the rest of your academic and professional career
+ Represent the U.S. in the most positive manner possible
+ Thank the appropriate people
- U.S. Department of State
- Members of U.S. Congress
- Taxpaying American and German people
Reading
In my email “CBYX: Homework Assignment and Program Goals Overview --Your Action Required” of June 18th, I wrote the following. Please be sure you have taken care of these responsibilities.
I am writing with two homework assignments, as well as one piece of information. Please read this message completely, so that you do not miss any important details.
"Facts about Germany"
The German embassy in Washington, D.C. provides free bound copies of the German Federal Foreign Office publication, “Facts about Germany.” This book provides excellent details of German history, Germany’s political, economic and education systems, as well as information about German culture, society, and life. One of your homework assignments is for each of you to visit the Embassy’s website and request that they mail you a copy, and to read the following sections, in their entirety before August 6th:
- German Unity
- Past and Present
- Political System
I strongly recommend that you prepare yourself for success as a CBYX participant by reading the publication in its entirety, but the sections above are the only required reading.
To obtain the publication, follow these instructions carefully:
- From the drop-down menu titled, “subject of your inquiry,” select “facts about Germany, general information”
- Enter your name, mailing address, and email address
- Under “your inquiry,” make a friendly request to be mailed a copy of the “Facts about Germany” publication, and express your gratitude for this free material.
Obviously you are dependent upon the German Embassy to send you this publication. Should the publication not arrive in time for you to have read the required sections before August 6th, you may visit a website with similar information: http://www.tatsachen-ueber-
It is further recommended that you browse on a regular basis the website of the “German Missions in the United States,”http://www.germany.info/, where you can access current events and cultural news. Below are some potential starting points on the site.
CBYX Program Goals
As with any project, goals must be set outright so that success can be defined. The CBYX program is no different. As American CBYX students in Germany, you have an obligation to the United States Department of State, the U.S. Congress, AFS-USA, AFS-Germany, and the American taxpayer to do you very best to meet the goals of the CBYX program while in Germany. Since the goals of the program are multifaceted –extending beyond simply learning German, building a bond with your host family, or performing at school—they can sometimes be hard to define. Understanding your role in Germany as part of the larger connection between the United States and Germany will also help you to understand what it is you’re doing in Germany, a question you may find yourself struggling with during challenging moments. During our Gateway Orientation in Washington, D.C. in September, we’ll meet with the CBYX Program Officers at the U.S. Department of State offices. This meeting is a highlight for State Department staff, who work hard to keep the CBYX program going, but don’t have the pleasure of interacting with the students as often as we do. This meeting will offer you unique insight into the role of the U.S. Department of State in the world, as well as provide you with information about the career potentials they offer. You’ll have the opportunity to ask the Program Officers questions, but they’ll also have questions for you. How did you find out about the CBYX program? Was it easy to work out all the administrative details that got you here today? Why do you want to participate in the CBYX program? To what end does the CBYX program exist? What actions do you plan to take in Germany to meet the goals of the program?
To prepare you to answer those questions, as well as to help you understand that the stakeholders in your participation abroad extend far beyond you, and to help you put your experience in perspective, I expect you to become familiar with the content of three attached documents:
-“Program Goals –AFS-USA,” a document written by AFS-USA about U.S.-German relations and the CBYX program
-“US-Germany Relations Factsheet –DoS,” a document by the U.S. Department of State about U.S.-German Relations
-“Department of State CBYX Intro Letter,” a document by the U.S. Department of State about the CBYX program
Principal Letters
Attached to this message you’ll find two attachments, “DoS Letter for German Host Principal,” and “DoS Letter for US Home High School Principal.” These documents were recently sent to us by the Department of State, who has requested that you please make sure the principal and/or superintendent of your home high school here in the U.S. receives a copy of the English document, regardless of if you’ve already graduated. You were also recently sent a press release, which can simultaneously be provided to these people. For those of you who aren’t able to visit with these people in-person to discuss the scholarship and leave the letter, please write an introductory letter to your principal and/or superintendent, and include a copy of the Department of State letter and your press release and mail them together.
Please provide the German document to the principal (“Schuldirektor”) of your host school in Germany during one of your first days at school.
[Berlitz language program section removed to save space. Please see original email if you’d like details]
Attachments:
Please note that because we are limited to sending no more than three attachments to each bulk email, one of the PDF documents attached is titled "Compiled DoS CBYX Documents." Pages 1 - 2 of this document are the “Department of State CBYX Intro Letter" document, page 3 is the “US-Germany Relations Factsheet –DoS" document, page 4 is the "DoS Letter for US Home High School Principal" document, and page 5 is the "DoS Letter for German Host Principal" document. Each of these four documents is referenced independently in the content of the message above.
I further very much recommend that you bring these texts with you to Germany. If you never ordered the text, you may find the chapters referenced above at the following URL:http://www.tatsachen-ueber-
Other recommended reading includes the following websites.
• German Missions to the United States
• Department of State Program Social Networking
• U.S. Department of State
• General News
• German News in English
• Fun, Simple Facts about Germany
Digital Content Needs and Warning
As we will discuss at the Gateway Orientation, the penalties for alleged copyright infringements in Germany are very high and are often exercised, as experienced by former CBYX students. For the last several years there have been American CBYX scholars in Germany who have paid hundreds to thousands of Euros in fees to organizations representing copyright holders in Germany. Students are solely responsible for such fees, which are taken very seriously by AFS Germany, AFS-USA and the German authorities. Please make arrangements now for any digital content needs you may have, such as digital music or movies. Keep in mind that many streaming sources you may be used to here in the U.S. such as Pandora, Hulu, Netflix and Spotify do not function in Germany.
Alumni Quotes
• “You’re going to have an awesome time. When you hear all this advice, and it’s a lot, remember your experience is going to be individual but this information will help you. Think for yourself and your needs. Get out there and be outgoing. School will feel weird at first, but if you push yourself it will help you make friends and help your German language. Everything you put into it you will get out of it. You will have a great time!” -Tess, 2009-10
• “It was exciting, confusing, awesome and the best year of my life to date. Always say ‘yes,’ no matter what. Get involved, it is only 10.5 months, but make them your best months. Be open to everyone because they are excited to have you there.” –Alicia, 2009-10
• “I agree! You will meet amazing people and have a great time. I came back really different. If you have trouble with your host family, don’t be afraid to speak up and work with AFS to find a solution that works well for you.” –Matt, 2009-10
If you have any questions regarding the above, or any aspect of your program, please contact Allen Evans in New York ataevans@afs.org or Anna and Christie in Portland, OR atcbyx@afs.org.
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