Emilia from Germany has been an outstanding addition to her host family, 学校, 和社区在美国.S. Thank you, Emilia, for all of your efforts!

---

What surprised you most when you came to the U.S.?
I heard that 学校 was going to be different, but it was totally different. 在德国, I’m used to having one class with the same people for the whole day, 整整一年, 和, 就像, 连续五年, and then I came here and I there are so many classes  and so many teachers—it was a lot. Also the teachers and students have really good relationships. You come in, and the teachers always say, “Hi,” and they’re always really friendly and happy. That’s something that I thought was really cool. 它让学校变得有趣多了. 在德国, you go to 学校 to learn and that’s it.

And I knew that American 学校s were really supportive of sports and everything, 但它仍然是如此令人惊讶, 因为在我的学校, 他们并不真正支持体育运动. We have after-学校 activities, but it’s not the same. 这里甚至还有学校商店, where you can buy shirts and hoodies and bags, 每个人都很支持我, 不仅仅是体育, 但是对于艺术来说, 这也让我很惊讶.

What has it been 就像 to spend a year with an American host family?
事实上，我有两个寄宿妈妈. 当我准备交换的时候, I was expecting the “typical American family,我猜你会这么说. But when I first heard that, I was actually so happy, because I thought it was really cool. 他们是很棒的. They’re always really supportive, and from the beginning, they made everything easier. They always helped me when I have questions, and I was never afraid of asking them anything. They made me feel 就像 I’m part of the family. We’re definitely going to stay in contact after my exchange. 我们已经有计划了. 我已经想再去拜访他们了.

 

 

Your host parents said that you won several art competitions, including your 学校’s highest award for the district art competition.
是啊，其实我不知道. We had an assignment for art, and I did an oil pastel drawing. 他们把我们的艺术品挂在墙上, and I don’t know how it all came to that point, but I came into my drawing class one day and my teacher came up to me and she was 就像, “伟大的工作! 你为我们学校赢得了2D组的冠军.“太棒了。. They had different categories—2D, 3D, and a photograph. 这真的很令人惊讶.

在德国, I wasn’t really into art, really. That all started here, because my art teacher was really supportive. 在美国, 艺术和音乐要大得多, 在德国, 我习惯了只学科学和数学, and all those classes are considered so much more important, 艺术和音乐是懒惰的课程. So here it was really cool, because I learned so much more, and I want to continue doing art.

 

Your host parents also said that you have done a lot of volunteer work with them during your exchange. 你能详细介绍一下吗?
志愿服务对我来说是新鲜事物. There was never really an opportunity in Germany, or maybe I just didn’t see the opportunity, but I was never really that into that kind of stuff. But my host family is really active in that area, 只要学校有什么事, 他们会帮忙. 我的寄宿父母从没说过我必须这么做. They gave me the opportunity to go or not, and I went and it was really fun. I really hope I continue doing things 就像 that in Germany. Next year and the year after are going to be hard in 学校, 但我希望至少在学校多做点事, 因为我从来没那么活跃过.

 

How has the exchange changed you as a person and prepared you for the future?
我想说我真的感觉不一样了. I think I got more responsible in a lot of ways. 在我来这里之前, I didn’t really care about what I was going to do later, and I thought the opportunity to come here would help me figure it out, 我想我已经明白了. 我想做一些与艺术有关的事情. 这就是计划. 我知道我要去哪里, 我知道我想在学校做什么, and I know what I want to change in 学校 so that I can do something with art.

我也打算来这里上大学. I already looked up colleges and universities that I want to go to. I’m not even looking at colleges in Germany. I think my parents are really sad about that. But I wanted to see first if I would 就像 it here and whether I could spend so much time away, 但我想我绝对能做到.

 

What is one piece of advice you would give to an incoming foreign exchange student?
在我来这里之前, 我把一切都计划好了, and I felt 就像 I needed to do everything exactly as I planned, and that’s something I should have done differently. There are always going to be new things and it’s all going to change and it’s not going to happen 就像 that, so I would probably say be open for everything  and take every opportunity you get. 当别人邀请你参加活动时, or when they want to hang out or go to events or something—I mean, if you know that it’s not going to be dangerous—then go do it! Do activities and do stuff in 学校 so that you can be together with other people. Go there and really take every opportunity that you can to go out and do something. Because otherwise you’re not going to have the full experience.