ExCEL Abroad

   Today I'm going to take a different route and not talk directly about my experiences but instead talk about my program. Exchanges for Culture, Education, and Leadership or ExCEL started six years ago when the first group of Lithuanians were sent to the United States as youth ambassadors to represent the country of Lithuania and to make lasting connections and friendships. After five years of successfully sending Lithuanians to the U.S., the Kazickas Family Foundation issued a three year grant for the ExCEL Abroad program, to send high school aged students from the U.S. (current 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders) to Lithuania. Like the ExCEL program these students are also to serve as youth ambassadors and to form lasting relationships between their home and host community that will bring a mutual understanding between the two countries. The participants attend a local school, live in a host family, and are strongly encouraged to get involved with activities within their host community  through community service, culturally related classes, and after school activities (all of these help the participants to make those connections in which the program was made for). This program is a fully-funded scholarship therefore the only costs to participants are extra pocket money (whatever the monthly stipend doesn't cover), required medical examinations and immunizations prior to departure, fees associated with obtaining a passport, and any fees associated with obtaining a third visa (for travel outside of Lithuania if needed but this will probably not be likely). Eligible students are current high school students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents born between January 1st, 1997 through June 30th, 2000. The ExCEL Abroad application is due February 3rd, 2016. For more information I will put the ExCEL Abroad website at the end of the post as well as a link to the application.

  I'm a part of the first group participants of the ExCEL Abroad program and to be honest I'm so glad I chose to come here and am very honored to be part of the this group. There are only two of us here,  a girl named Emma and I (as far as I know for next year there will still be only two scholarships but don't let that stop you from applying). We attend different local schools. I attend Vilnius International school which an IB school running through the 10th grade (though next year 11th grade will be added as well as 12th the following year but they will not be a part of the IB program) and courses are taught in English. Though it is school and is quite similar to my school in the US, I really enjoy going because my classmates are great. Not only do I get to make friendships with Lithuanians but other people of different country origins such as Russia, Ukraine, Portugal, Kazakhstan, and many others as many of my classmates and teachers are from all around the world. Emma goes to Vilniaus Jėzuitų Gimnazija which is a school taught in Lithuanian, one of the top schools in Vilnius, has and currently hosts many exchange students. Overall we both like our schools and enjoy what we are taught everyday even if it's not academic.

  Living in a host family is one of the core parts of the exchange experiencel. I live in a wonderful host family that really has made me feel a part of the family. I enjoy spending time with them and have done a lot with them (please refer to other parts of my blog for examples). As far as I know Emma enjoys her host family as well. We don't live close to each other as I actually don't live in Vilnius like she does but we both enjoy the city life and have friends that we spend time with as well. Many parents (and students for the matter) get nervous when it comes to host family living which is completely normal because you have no idea what kind of family you are going to be placed in. Just to be clear, the program coordinators screen, interview, view the house, and have an orientation of a sort before participants are even assigned their host families. They also go through background checks so there is no need to worry (though it is very natural and hard not to). The key is to communicate with the host family as much as possible and to communicate with your coordinators as well if there are any problems. I can not stress more of how important it is to communicate. Overall, host family living is a very important part of this program as students are completely immersed in the Lithuanian culture and experience everything first hand.

  Participants also have the opportunity to learn the local language, Lithuanian. Emma learns from her school as courses are taught in Lithuanian and I have Lithuanian classes at school. We also have attended a language course at the local university which has helped us become more functional in everyday life. Since we both live in host families we both have the opportunity to practice our Lithuanian with our host families and to learn more from them as well. Learning a language through immersion is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to learn because you are not just repeating words from a teacher, reading from a text, or doing exercises, you are living it and have to think on your own on what to say and how to respond. Though Lithuanian is difficult, it is still something I'm personally striving to be functional in everyday life by the end of my time here. Lithuanian is not a commonly spoken language around the world or in the US but it is still something that one can put on an application and be able to say that they speak it. Also, once you learn one language, it's easier to learn another and it would help to other potential language learning that may be quite difficult as well (grammar rules may be similar to other languages or the cases). It also helps teach perseverance and not to give up when something is difficult or you don't understand and to ask questions.

   My experience through ExCEL Abroad, though it has only four months and I still have around six more to go, has been amazing, unforgettable, and very impacting on my life. I've learned a lot about myself that I'm happy to have learned now instead of later. My everyday experiences are helping further shape me into the person I will become. It has really helped me overcome my anxiety and gain more self confidence. This experience has also made me even more independent than before (if that's even possible) and has really helped me reflect on my past, appreciate the present, and to really think more about my future and what I want to do exactly. It's helping me weigh options and to be even more open to roadblocks and changes in life. The relationships I've already made with my host family and some of my friends are really great and I hope to continue to build them in order to reflect the goal of the program. I really am enjoying my time here and would like to strongly encourage you or your child to apply to this program. The impact it will have on your life will be incredible and it will be something that you will never forget (any experiences that you may have here may also be good for any future college essays, interview questions, or the like... just saying). Though I was terrified to come here and scared of what the future held I'm so glad I walked onto that plane and faced the unknown. Therefore, please look into this program and seriously consider applying to it. It could change your and or your child's life, I know it has for me.

ExCEL Abroad website: https://www.americancouncils.org/programs/excel-abroad-program

ExCEL Abroad Application:  https://ais.americancouncils.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/AIR.woa/wa/login?brand=excel




*There are other programs that you or your child should also consider, However, the application deadline for the majority of them have already passed expect for maybe some of the CBYX locations. I will put the website links here as well:

- NSLI-Y the National Security Language Initiative for Youth is a State Department scholarship that offers high school age students the chance to study abroad for either a summer or a year and learn either Arabic, Russian, Persian, Chinese, Korean, or Turkish.
http://www.nsliforyouth.org/


- CBYX or the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange is a scholarship that focuses on trans-Atlantic relationships with the United States and Germany. The US send 250 kids to Germany to live with a host family, attend school, and learn the culture of Germany and Germany send 250 kids to the United States to do the same.
http://www.usagermanyscholarship.org/

- The YES Abroad scholarship send students from the United States to significantly high Muslim populations to learn about the culture and fill in the gap between Muslim stereotypes and USA stereotypes through intercultural learning and understanding. They send 65 students to either Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Turkey, Egypt (terminated), Tunisia (terminated), Ghana, Senegal (new this year), South Africa (terminated this coming year), Oman, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and India. 
http://www.yes-abroad.org/

Mushroom Hunting

During the start of autumn break my host family took me mushroom hunting. Before we go over my experience, let us first look over the history of mushroom hunting. Mushroom hunting is an activity was especially popular during the Soviet era. There was a lack of food available so people had to find a way to fend for themselves thus they started picking mushrooms and berries. Whatever the land could provide for them. People would then either bring the mushrooms back to their families or sell them in the market. This cultural aspect is something that is still evident and somewhat popular in the Lithuanian culture

A few days before we went on the hunt for mushrooms, my host mother, host brother, and I had a debate over why it was called mushroom hunting instead of picking. The side for picking was that we weren't trying to chase the mushroom down or trying to shoot it, we were just going up and cutting/picking it. The side for the hunting was that the mushrooms, like a deer or elk, are hard to see and that we had to have a hunter eye in order to find them and grab them. Therefore, since we had to have the eye for it like a hunter we agreed to call it hunting.

  My host family and I got up at some hour early in the morning, picked up a friend who was our guide (aka mushroom expert), and drove out to Dzūkija (or somewhere near that area), a south eastern part of Lithuanian that borders Belarus. When we got there we put on our boots, grabbed our baskets and knifes, and started the hunt. My host mother and were teamed up and my host sister and father were with the friend (or separate, one of the two). The ground was soft and nice to walk on but it was quite hard to see any mushrooms. I found a couple but they were not the ones we were looking for. All throughout the search my host mother was passing on some of her knowledge of mushrooms to me. She told to always remember that the most beautiful ones that sort of scream 'pick me' are the ones that you do not want to pick. Ever. They are poisonous. Also that the ones with a collar sort of thing around it is another indication that they are poisonous.

 
This was one of the mushrooms that we saw a lot of but never picked because they are classified as poisonous

   After about 20 minutes, my host father shouted that he had found one. It was a portobello, which were the ones that we were looking for. They let me do the picking and put it into my basket. We then continued the hunt. We were going deeper and deeper into the forest and my host mother and I weren't finding anything. Another 10 minutes passed and we started to hear shouting. We had gone too far and nobody knew where we were exactly. We also weren't quite sure the way back to the car. But my host father and mother kept doing their calling/shouting and we slowly found our way back, searching for mushrooms in the process. After having not much luck in that area we decided to get back into the car and try somewhere else.

All ready to start the hunt

Picking the first mushroom

 We drove for a couple minutes, stopped, and then continued the hunt. My host mother and I found plenty of mushrooms but none of them were the ones we were looking for. Then we reached the Dzūkijos Nacionalinis Parkas and could no longer walk through the forest or pick mushrooms so we walked up the road. Then we reached the Čepkelių Gamtinis Rezervatas which is home to a bog. We walked onto the lookout and then hiked around to go to an area where the ground was like a sponge. We walked on it which felt unreal. I had no idea that natural ground could feel like that. We also ate a few cranberries that we found which is also something I've never done before. After exploring the bog, we slowly started to head back to the car. My host father and the friend/guide continued to search for mushrooms as we walked back while my host mother and I looked but weren't trying as hard (or at least I wasn't because I was super tired and my contacts were being weird and I couldn't see very well). When we made it back to the car we finally had some breakfast of tea and breakfast cookies. My host mother then taught me some others ways of trying to find your ways through the woods. She told me that the sun is one way to remember where your car is but isn't always reliable because the sun moves throughout the day. She also told me that there is more moss on one side of the tree than the other and that the side with more moss is generally north. Finally, she told me a story about how she remember when her father went mushroom hunting and didn't come back until late into the night because he had lost his way in the forest and was alone. We found about four mushrooms overall and my host family said that we were either late going out there or that the moon just simply wasn't right for the growth of the mushrooms the night before. Overall, I was quite happy to be fortunate enough to have experienced this older, Soviet part of the Lithuanian culture and hope to be able to use this knowledge that I gained again either here or back in Oregon where mushroom hunting is popular as well.

The bog

Dealing With the Decision (Rejection and Acceptance)

   I thought I would write a post about how I dealt with rejection (and being accepted) because I went through a lot last year and it could be helpful for you (or now.. I'm actually currently writing this post in August because I'm not sure if I'll have time to write one around the time of semi and or finalist notifications and I have really been wanting to write this post for a long time, so sorry about any strange date differences and whatnot).

  I started off the application season right at the end of August when I got back from Argentina. Another exchange was something was planning before and sort of during Argentina so I was already excited and had all that energy bottled up. I even joined a message group on Facebook with fellow applicants in order to contain that energy and not annoy my friends and family too much with me talking about all the programs all the time (I really suggest you do this because I made some really great friends through it and some of them can be really helpful throughout the whole process, especially if you both get rejected, it adds support to you if that makes any sense at all). And then December came along and the NSLI-Y semi-finalist notifications came as well right on the 1st. I didn't receive one that day... The next day on the 2nd, I received an email but it wasn't the news I wanted. I was checking my email at the end of my Spanish class when I saw it, a burst of excitement filled me but then when I opened it, I was crushed. I had not been offered a semi-finalist position. This really upset as I really wanted to learn Russian and live in Russia (or Estonia or Moldova) but I tried to pull myself together for the last few minutes of school. Once I got to the car I went through my general stages of disappointment: Anger, Crying, Numbness, More Crying, Passion, Acceptance. I couldn't be upset too long because I had to go to an ACT prep class but it was hard for me to deal with it at first but then I told myself that I wasn't meant to be and to move on.

    One thing that I've found myself telling myself for the last year or two is that you can't have everything or win everything and that everything happens for a reason. This year has also absolutely enforced that and has helped me understand it even more. Later in December I got accepted by my first college to send me an acceptance, Montana State University. It made me feel better and made me feel more wanted. I also sent in my YES Abroad application that month and then my CBYX  app in early January. Then I started to the waiting game again for study abroad. FFA district extemporaneous public speaking (This is a competition within FFA that I had a notebook of 100 pages on 30 different topic. In the contest I would have to pull one of the 30 topics, write and prepare a speech in 30 minutes, and then present it in front of a panel of judges) was also that month and I placed third meaning I couldn't go on to sectionals. But it was all okay, I still had prepared public speaking to try for and I was hoping that I wouldn't be going to State convention that year anyway because of In person Selection Event for YES Abroad. At the end of January I received my CBYX semi-finalist notification which made me feel better but from what I had heard, almost everyone receives a semi-finalist position for ASSE (as long as you are qualified) so it didn't exactly feel too confident.

  February had just started and I, as well as my fellow applicants, were freaking out about YES Abroad semi-finalist notification and the In Person Selection Event that came with it. We all wanted to meet each other so badly. We also just heard about ExCEL Abroad so I started my application for it. District prepared public speaking went by and I didn't even place in the top four. Still hopeful about In Person Selection Event and YES Abroad, I brushed that aside and didn't let it bother me too much. In about mid-February I received my acceptance letter from Arcadia University, my number one choice for college which was exciting as it is the number one ranked school in study abroad and I had the opportunity to apply for their First Year Study Abroad Experience. Finally, after days, weeks, and months of waiting it was the last business day of February and YES Abroad notifications started to come out. I checked my email, not wanting the email to come at that time but it did... I had gotten rejected.

   This rejection was the one that stung and hurt me the most. I had really thought that I would get this program and I really wanted it. I didn't understand why I had gotten rejected and was super upset about it that night. Part of why I didn't understand why I had gotten rejected was that YES Abroad called and emailed me a week before notifications about my graduation status which made all my friends (and myself partially) that I was a shoe in for IPSE. I didn't understand why they wasted my time with that phone call and email if they were just going to reject me in the end. But thanks to my fellow applicants who also got rejected that day, I had company and we helped each other out that night. I couldn't be upset too long, I had my CBYX interview the next morning which I squeaked and coughed myself through (I had gotten super sick that week and even lost my voice at my FFA district convention earlier that week) it and hoped that I did well enough to avoid another rejection.

   March was not a very happy month for me. I was still very upset about being rejected and it affected my attitude and self esteem A LOT. My mother didn't really understand why I was so upset by this rejection and I tried to explain to that I had gotten my hopes up too high and really wanted the program and to meet all the people that I had made friends at IPSE. The only positive that I saw from this was that I would be able to defend my FFA state agriscience fair title for the third year in a row in which, I ended not winning anything at state that year, including  the essay contest in which I had placed second my freshman and sophomore year. I began to believe that I was a complete failure and that everything that I was applying for I would be rejected from. That feeling started to fill my brain so much and all the time. To point that was considering withdrawing my CBYX and ExCEL Abroad application so I wouldn't have to deal with rejection again but thanks to my fellow rejectees who threatened to withdraw their own application and one even said they would put bleach in their eyes if I did it, I decided to hold on and wait for what I thought would still be a rejection (shout-out and huge thank you to Jeremy, Alexis, and Megan for encouraging me to stay in the game and keep trying). The only thing that made me feel better that month was a letter from Arcadia University accepting me into their First Year Study Abroad Experience program or FYSAE for London Spring semester of 2016.

  The end of March came and the time for CBYX ASSE notifications had finally came and I got accepted! I was so happy and SO IN SHOCK for days! April came with two acceptances from Utah State and Oregon State, one Waitlist notification from University of Washington, and a rejection from Oregon State's honor college. And finally my semi finalist and finalist notification for ExCEL Abroad.

   I don't believe that I dealt with rejection in the best way possible but I had no real idea on how to deal with so much rejection and failure as well as acceptance and success. It also didn't help that the ones who did get accepted weren't exactly nice or supportive of my fellow rejectees and I but thanks to them, it taught me how I should and shouldn't act when being accepted and how to with the ones who had been rejected. What really got me through this was, as I said before, the fact that you can't win or have everything you want, it has to even out. If you won all the time and got what you wanted all the time as well, are you really winning or actually growing from the experience? NOPE! Also that everything happens for a reason, even though I may not like it, and also that there is or was something better out there for me whether it had been college or an exchange program.

   What I really want to finish up with is that even with your first, second, or even third rejection. DON'T GIVE UP! It will all be okay. You never know what the future holds and the next year, whether it be here or abroad, will be what is best for you at the time. Remember that if I had given up and pulled my application like I started to want to in March, I would not be going to Lithuania this year or even of known that I had gotten CBYX or ExCEL Abroad. Everything did happen for a reason and even though those were the two program I thought I had no chance of getting into, I got them! It could very well be you next year so please don't give up on yourself. I wish you the best of luck and if you wish to contact me about your feelings on this or need someone to talk to about rejection (if you were rejected of course), please comment below.