Youth Exchange News
Posted by Laura Friesen
YE STUDENT SHARES EXPERIENCES
Once again, as I am reflecting upon the last month, I find myself wondering where the time could possibly have gone. The month started off with many relaxing days spent with my German friends which made me feel incredibly refreshed and simply happy. When I first started school in September, I became terrified with the thought of making no German friends here in Oldenburg.
But over the last 5 months, step by step and conversation by conversation, I can now enthusiastically say that I have a wonderful, solid friend base that I never want to leave behind. After spending a few days with them, I was presented with the seemingly impossible task of packing for my second host family — all I can say is that I never would have thought that one could accumulate so many things in 5 months. But alas, I managed it and arrived safe and soundly to my second host family. Major changes include having 3 host brothers and now I live more directly in the city, so I ride my bike everywhere (which I actually really love doing, to my surprise!) instead of taking the bus. As for my first impression, I really enjoy the family, as we had a lovely weekend in Hamburg touring around and attending a hockey game together. Sometimes I feel like we aren’t connecting too well, but I’ve only lived with them for approximately 2 weeks so I think it may just take more time. The following weekend after Hamburg, I participated in a Model United Nations event at my school which was really interesting, but also really hard to understand despite my confidence in German. I had a lot of fun with my friends though, and our topic was the refugee crisis which is something I am very passionate about, so overall it was a great weekend. I also had the opportunity of listening to a refugee’s story about travelling to Oldenburg from Syria which really solidified for me how the refugee crisis isn’t only something that we merely hear flippantly on the news - it’s really happening, it’s horrifying, and we need to help. I believe I will be joining a volunteering initiative where people in Oldenburg help integrate Syrian refugees into the society, and also help with teaching German and English. Hopefully it will all work out! Then for the last 8 days, I have been in the Austrian Alps for a ski trip with 30 other exchange students. I had the most incredible time of my life being constantly surrounded by the mountains and the most accepting, crazy group of international people I’ve ever met. The past few days have been a sort of “back to reality” shock, but I will always cherish the memories of this trip in my mind. For the next two weeks, I will be working at an elementary school with 3rd graders - on Wednesday I will be doing a presentation about my life in Canada which I am really excited about! Overall the recurring themes of this month have been growing friendships, daily exercise, understanding the difference between tolerance and true acceptance, global citizenship, and eternal laughter. I can’t wait to see what adventures February will bring. Danke schön für ein unvergessliches Jahr in Deutschland :)
Liebe Grüße,
Laura
Rotary Club of Grimsby YE Student to Germany