FROM GERMANY TO THE GREAT PLAINS

MARIAH HOUSTON

Exchange trip offers Americans and Germans the experience of a lifetime

Tossing and turning in and out of sleep on a 10 hour plane ride to Germany, five Free State students and one Lawrence High student departed on a five week journey full of soccer spectation, schnitzel and expanded frames of reference.

The group landed at the Hamburg Airport, scanning the crowd for their German host families.

“I hopped off the plane, and I had no idea who [Julius was] and who I was supposed to look for,” junior Harrison Miller said. “It was definitely kind of shocking, but the day I got

there was my birthday actually and we got home and they had a nice little breakfast for me and some gifts.”

German exchange student Julius Herold hosted Miller over the summer in his hometown of Eutin.

“So the first night was very strange because I knew one wall behind me there was sleeping a completely strange person,” Herold said. “We know each other now, and we are just the same person.”

Herold is now experiencing the ‘strangeness’ of being immersed in American culture. “It’s a little bit different, not only a little bit, because everything is different,” Herold said. “The school is different. The look of the whole country is different. The houses are different. For example, I said to Harrison that everyone in Germany has a hedge in the front of their house, and you guys just have grass which is so strange for me.”

Despite the anxieties of being in a foreign country, Herold believes the personal growth he will experience will make the trip worthwhile. “I’m going to be more confident after this,” Herold said. “I’m starting to speak better

NEWS English, and I think I’m going to be pretty good in four weeks.”

Senior Charles Sedlock also noticed significant variations between life in America and life in Germany after his exchange.

“It was like taking a break from life and just living in another world,” Sedlock said. “It’s incredible to see what is the same in Germany and what’s different. The way they use social media is different, they bike everywhere [and] they eat home cooked meals.”

One specific aspect of life in Germany that surprised Sedlock was the school system.

“The school is way different; It seems like it’s a lot more diluted,” Sedlock said. “They take 12 classes, and rather than being super intense on them they have a broader understanding of things. They don’t have homework, and the way they acquire their knowledge is just so different and fascinating.”

While in Germany, Sedlock lived in Eutin with German exchange student Niklas Bornhoft. Although Sedlock spent some of his exchange in Eutin, it wasn’t the only part of Germany he was able to explore.

“There’s a city called Lubeck that’s a 30 minute train ride south of Eutin, and one day while our Germans went to school, [senior Will Benkelman] and I took a train down to Lubeck and just wove through the city and saw everything,” Sedlock said. “It gave us our own personal vision of the city. We sat down at lunch and started talking with this 65 year old man from Sweden, and he gave us all this life advice. It was a very surreal day.”

Bornhoft now has the chance to explore America as Sedlock returns the favor of hosting. “You have to see not only the place or country in which you live, but you have to see the whole world,” Bornhoft said. “I can improve my English, and I’ll learn to be independent.”

German exchange student Leonie Krause sees similar positive changes coming her way. “We’ll learn to be a bit more independent because we don’t have our parents with us here,” Krause said. “You can experience everything on your own, and you can make you own choices and decide what you really want to do and what not.”

Along with Krause, junior Elizabeth Grinage is hosting a second German exchange student, Pauline Bockelmamm. Bockelmamm hosted Grinage during Grinage’s exchange to Germany over the summer.

“I was looking forward to hosting because it’s like you always have a friend at your house, and you can just hang out and learn from each other,” Grinage said.

Learning the culture of one’s host family and sharing the culture of one’s own country is what foreign exchanges are all about, according to Krause.

“You learn how different it is in different cultures and how people are living,” Krause said. “They don’t all do the same thing or eat the same thing, you can really see how different it is all around the world, and you can just value new things.”

German exchange student Niklas Bornhoft and his American host senior Charles Sedlock have known each other since Sedlock’s exchange to Germany over the summer of 2016. Bornhoft hosted Sedlock in his home town of Eutin. “You have to see not only the place or country in which you live, but you have to see the whole world.” - GERMAN EXCHANGE STUDENT NIKLAS BORNHOFT

Left:

[left to right] Lawrence High School student Pierce Saturday, Free State junior Elizabeth Grinage, Lawrence High School German teacher Arne Scholz, Free State senior Charles Sedlock, Free State junior Harrison Miller, Free State senior Will Benkelman and Free State senior Rinny Herndon attended the exchange trip to Germany over the summer of 2016. Above: Photo submitted by CHARLES SEDLOCK Photo by CLAIRE PURCELL