By Tamsin Hulrbut

   Have you ever traveled overseas by yourself? Well, next year senior Dayanara Gamez will be living in Germany with a host family by herself. 

   She has been awarded the prestigious CBYX, or Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, scholarship which is, according to the U.S. State department website, “a dynamic and immersive exchange program jointly offered by the U.S. and German government,” with a “2% acceptance rate.”

   Dayanara will be practicing her language learning skills, learning a new culture and getting to know the German people. Furthermore, she is “super excited” to attend school there. 

   Dayanara does not yet know where in Germany she will live because before she goes to school she will go to a cultural and language learning camp for a month. There, she will be living with the 200 other CBYX exchange students. 

   Dayanara has previous experience in other countries through state department scholarships. She studied abroad in Korea with the National Security Language Initiative for Youth last summer. In the end, she is not nervous at all, she said, but “beyond happy for this opportunity.”