Exchange Program Reflections

I found the German exchange program a once in a lifetime experience to both improve my German speaking, create lifelong friendships and learn more about German culture. My favourite part of the program was when we went on a week trip and visited Berlin and Nuremberg. Seeing these iconic, historic German cities helped me learn more about German life and culture as well as the history within the cities, especially Nuremberg with learning more about the holocaust. It was also just really fun to get to stay in a hotel room with my friends and go out for dinner and just enjoy ourselves, as well as seeing some really cool landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate. I also loved to learn about German school life and how their typical weekdays and weekends are like compared to Australia. It was an unforgettable experience, and I would highly recommend it to any year 9 German students who are looking to expand on their German vocabulary and experience German culture and make lifelong memories.

Ruby

I am so happy that I got the opportunity to do the German exchange and forever grateful for the friends I made and the connection I have with my host family. I loved exchange because going to Germany mostly because I got to learn about the culture, try new food, learn more of the language, meet new people and make fun memories with my exchange partner and friends. My favourite part was going on a week trip to Berlin and Nuremberg with the school because we got to see and learn lots of history and make memories with my friends. In berlin we did lots of sightseeing and learning about the country, this was very interesting. My favourite place I went to was Nuremberg because it was so beautiful and had lots of history about it, learning about the holocaust. I enjoyed the experience of going to German school because it was so much different to Australian schools. I am so grateful for doing this program and the lifelong memories and connections I have made.

Liv

Isabelle

Hi! I'm April Stacey and I was partnered with Lina back in September last year. 

Despite sometimes misunderstanding each other due to speaking different first languages, Lina was my twin and my other half. We had so many similar interests and acted the same without even noticing. 

Since Germany was my dream trip for forever, I was always excited and imagining my life as an exchange student there. And that in turn also gave me motivation to learn German.

Time flew by and Lina came, she took my bedroom and filled in another seat at our table. There was so many differences yet we were a family. She would tell stories to my mum, say hi to my sister and enjoyed the cats' company. I had a sister to share my school drama with, to eat with and to do activities with. Since Melbourne is so big, everything there is to do is right there, we went to the tulip festival to museums and even saw a marathon by accident. 

Lina was also a vegetarian, which was a bit hard to show her local Aussie cuisine since most of it was meat related but making meals for her wasn't a struggle. She did fall in love with TimTams and brought at least 10 packs home.

Then she left too soon and we had to wait 5 months again. 

Finally in March I took my 28 hour travel day with my friends. The travel was hard as I didn't sleep much and Bangkok was very humid. But it was nice having Vermont with us to have new people to talk too through the breaks in our travel or on the plane. We were all here for the same reason, we wanted to see what Kaufungen was like. I formed short friendships with them and others still text the Vermont students now. 

After our 2 hour train ride, we all met at the Kassel train station, i cried seeing Lina and her mum. Claudia, Linas mum, welcomed me with open arms and I finally got to shower when I got home. Lina's family spoke no English, a few words here and there. I had to speak my broken German to them and hope it was right. After a while I was nailing it, my brain was in German and if I needed help I would use Google translate with Claudia. I also had twin siblings who were learning English too and Anni would speak to me to practice, with her favourite question being what's your favourite colour? 

I ate döner for the first time, I painted a plate with Lina, we visited Erfurt and went shopping in Kassel. I even got to see snow on my 3rd day, that is something I will never forget. I got to wake up to birds and the noise from the twins running around. I ate so many pretzels, bread and salami. I still miss their weekend breakfasts even if at the time it was too much pressure to choose what to eat. 

Then we went to Berlin and Nuremberg for a week to see the history. I also got to spend my birthday in both cities. 

We had many history lessons where I felt connected since my grandads grandparents were on the other side of the wall to him. And being in the same country as my mum's Oma and Opa lived who I never got to meet. 

I also got to celebrate Easter with Lina's extended family and found out I have the same language skills as the 2yo cousin. Everyone was welcoming me into their lives and even got me Easter presents too with the grandparents writing a German easter poem inside. 

I got to go to German school and had to take a Spanish class which was odd to say the least. The school felt very American like the tv shows and I will forever miss their Pausenhalle. 

By the end of my trip, my listening skills improved dramatically and I felt confident in speaking German to Natives. I could walk to the supermarket by myself or to school and found a sense of independence I struggled to before. The price of the trip is daunting but the language skills and memories are priceless. 

To anyone going, take so many photos and videos because I miss hearing the river while walking around the town. 

April.