Mid-Year Weekend in San Francisco with CBYX

Hello! My name is Darla Migan and I began my journey with Ayusa's Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program in January, 2008. Working with David Beiser, Director of Grant Programs, I helped to organize the Mid-Year Weekend in San Francisco for the 2007-2008 class of German scholarship recipients. Several Ayusa staff members joined in the fun as we toured the must-see sites in the city. We spent a picture perfect day out on the town crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, ambling down Pier 39, and of course riding up and down the hills in one of San Francisco's famous cable cars.

The thirty-three students who attended this jam-packed, fun-filled and sunny weekend in San Francisco landed at SFO (San Francisco's International Airport) with the huge smiles on their faces! The happy faces and fierce enthusiasm that I encountered upon meeting these students set the tone for the entire weekend. Additionally, this Mid-Year weekend was especially exciting because the CBYX students were joined by International Education Week winner Sohaib Amjad from Pakistan, who quickly made new friends with his fellow exchange students.

What I will cherish most are the vivid personalities of each of the particular attendees. For most of us here at Ayusa, it is impossible to not want to share the stories of these students with the world at large. The personal growth that they undergo in such a short time makes clear how vital the CBYX scholarship is to the future of cross-cultural understanding. Over the weekend I took the opportunity to hear the students' stories, reactions, and deeply felt emotions - first-hand.

For instance, Anabela Matysiak-Quiala a CBYX student from Hanover, Germany told me about how close she had become with her host family. Her voice broke with emotion as she described a conversation with her 4 year-old host brother in which he questioned whether Anabela would be at his 5th birthday party. As she tried to explain to him that she will have already returned Germany by then, he went on to ask her if she could come back from Germany especially for his party! The bonds formed between exchange students and their host families are just this strong. The students also spoke excitedly about their plans to return to America for college, their plans for continuing to travel the world, and how forever changed their perspectives would be because their year in the U.S.

The students who are selected as CBYX scholarship recipients are some of the most interesting, active, and emotionally mature young people that I have ever had the opportunity to meet. I feel so lucky to have been able to celebrate the mid-point of their academic year here in America and I do wish them all the best of luck as they make plans for the future.

Darla Migan, CBYX Program