My SAGSE Exchange in Germany

Over the summer holidays, I was lucky enough to be selected as one of 12 students from Victoria to receive a scholarship for a 10 week exchange in Germany through SAGSE, Scholarships for Australian German Exchange. The selection process was competitive and thorough, but it was more than worth it, being able to take part in an exchange where I not only made unforgettable memories and lifelong friends, but I also acquired invaluable skills that will assist me throughout the rest of my life.

Arriving in Germany I was confronted with freezing temperatures, mountains of snow in a completely foreign environment and a brand new school, all of which was initially incredibly overwhelming but I took it all in my stride. The picturesque little town where I was staying with my wonderful host family near Rostock in northern Germany soon began to feel like a second home to me and I can't count the wonderful memories I had there: going sledding on a Tuesday night after school, training with the local soccer team, but the most special of all, was simply getting to know so many wonderful people - having the opportunity to form these new friendships on the other side of the world is something I will forever be grateful for.

Through the SAGSE exchange program, there are many events where all scholarship recipients and their host siblings would meet up, including regional days where we would explore a city for the day and a winter camp all together. These events not only offered a great opportunity to make strong connections with the Australian scholarship recipients, but to also meet Germans from all over the country and form strong bonds with them too. The most exciting event of all though was free travel, where we were able to plan and book a week of travel for a small group of Australians through Germany to visit the many wonderful towns, sights and experiences on offer. While I not only got to visit Heidelberg, Freiburg, the Black Forest, Munich, Schloss Neuschwanstein as well as Salzburg with a close group of friends, I also gained many invaluable life skills through this time spent living and travelling independently.

Another key highlight of my trip I simply have to mention is the week I spent skiing in Austria thanks to my incredibly generous and kind host family. It was quite the road trip to Austria from Bad Doberan, but it was all worth it. Staying on an 'Alm' on the mountain in a traditional wooden Austrian lodge, we spent the week living in traditional style, fetching wood for the fire oven, bringing in buckets of fresh mountain water from outside and eating hearty meals by candlelight at night. That's not even to mention the skiing, in the stunning Austrian Alps - I had the most amazing time on the slopes!

Our exchange concluded with a stay in Berlin where we explored the city and saw its many monuments and had a visit to the Australian embassy, where I was selected to make a speech on behalf of our group about our learnings and experiences in Germany, which, I am quite proud to say, I delivered in German. Coming into the trip without very much confidence in my German skills, throughout the trip I diligently worked on my German skills, keeping a diary in German and making a conscious effort to avoid using English and to only speak German, something that was initially difficult at the start of the trip when trying to express myself, but at the end paid off, as I left with an incredibly improved confidence in my German abilities.

This exchange truly showed me all the doors that learning a language can open, and reflecting on my time overseas, I see that all the experiences, learnings and new friendships that I now have all occurred thanks to studying German and I hence could not recommend learning languages any higher!

If you are interested in taking part in the same exchange, applications are currently open for students in year 11 and year 12 studying VCE German and you can apply through this link here: https://www.sagse.org.au/scholarships -  I am sure the incredible LOTE department at the University High School will help you tremendously with your application as they did with mine, and also feel free to reach out to me through the Senior Sub-School at any time if you have any questions!

Will Richter, Year 12