Exchange of Cultures By Jill Seiler Enrollment Manager Mater Dei experienced a European invasion of a fantastic kind this school year. For the first time (in recent memory), three foreign exchange students have walked these hallowed halls at the same time. Emile Rejou-Mechain arrived last September from Niort, France, and is living with Jerry and Melanie Blanton and their son, Gabe, who will graduate in 2022. Michael and Julie Forcum and their daughter, Gretchen (Class of 2021), hosted Caterina Salpietro Cozzunella. Cate, as she likes to be called, arrived in January as did Linda Rattman from Straelen, Germany. Linda stayed with Jason and Marie Allen and their daughters MaKayla and Austin (Classes of 2022 & 2023 respectively). I had the pleasure of sitting down with each of the exchange students to talk about their experiences during their time in Evansville and some differences they noticed in American culture compared to their own.
Linda Rattmann, Age: 16 Languages spoken: German, English, French & Dutch Tell me about your hometown, Straelen, Germany. It is a very small city, only about 500 people live there. I can ride my bike to all my friends’ houses and the Netherlands are at the end of my road. I can walk there. Also, my town is known for flowers and making flower pots. What are some major cultural differences that you’ve experienced in America? Everything is bigger, everything is fried, and everything is extra large! And Americans are lazier (she giggles) in the way that they drive everywhere and have drive-thrus for everything. I also noticed there aren’t many family-owned businesses, most are big corporations that I see. Where I’m from, everything is family-owned. Also, we are more environmentally conscious. In Germany, there are no plastic bags, and we recycle almost everything. How does the education system differ in Germany? We start taking English classes in 2nd grade. In fourth grade, we decide what school we want to go to, a lower, middle, or upper school. I’m in the upper school. If you decide after a while that you want to switch to a better school, you can, but it adds a year more to your education. What do you want to do after you graduate? I want to go into either media design or marketing. I’d like to make commercials!
Evansville is home to the Fall Festival which is known for offering some bizarre foods, have you tried any foods that you thought were weird? (She laughs) My host family mentioned the Fall Festival! I tried a donut burger one time. It was weird and ok, but I don’t want it again. I do love Chic-Fil-A though and wish we had those in Germany! Do you miss any food from home? Ahh! Yes, the bread! Ours is homemade and whole grain, not white, and we have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is so good! Did you pack anything that you thought for sure you would use, but haven’t here? Yes! I brought my electric toothbrush, but it won’t work in the outlets here. It’s a totally different plug! (laughing) I also packed about 15 t-shirts and have only worn about 5 of them. What do you like best about your host family? Lots of action! It is never boring and they know how to have a lot of fun. Tell me what you’ve enjoyed most about Mater Dei. Two classes are my favorites. I love yearbook class with Mrs. St. Clair and 3D Art with Mrs. Wallace, she’s pretty chill. But I love the school spirit. In Germany we don’t have school sports, so being able to participate on the cheer team and going to Archery State are memories I will always cherish!
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