Youth Exchange Student Zoe provides an update on her year in Germany
In February I had a Ski Tour in Austria with 40 other exchange students. The Austrian Alps are absolutely gorgeous! We spent a week in a small town next to the Alps. We skiied everyday from morning until afternoon and by the end of each day everyone was so tired. Skiing was something new to me and by the end of the trip I knew how to ski! By the time i came back to Germany it was already March. I went back to school, saw my friends, etc. I spent almost everyday of the month with my german friends. I'm proud to say i'm conversationally fluent in German now. I can carry on a conversation and understand everything. Of course it's not perfect, but it's getting better.
In March I had the most homesickness I've had this year. I literally wanted to go home. Things with my host family weren't going too good and it made me feel horrible. I started missing my family back home and how my life used to be. My second host family was really nice, but we just didn't understand each other very well. It was a good experience to live with that family though. Although there was a lot of tension between us, I learned a lot while i was there. I learned that typical German families need to always have a plan. They need to follow an exact schedule everyday, otherwise they'll stress out. That's the main reason I had problems with them. I just didn't want to plan everything I did. They didn't like how I decided to do things last minute. Thankfully, after my ski tour I only had one month left with them.
In April I switched host families and I absolutely love it here. My host parents are very nice and a lot more relaxed than my other family. I've been here for roughly a month. I say roughly because one week after i changed host families I had my Europe Tour. For 3 weeks I was all throughout Europe with 50 other exchange students. We went to France, Monaco, Italy, Austria, The Czech Republic, and Hungary. 5 countries, 10 cities. Europe is beautiful! I never though I'd see the Eiffel Tower, or the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was an incredible trip with the best people from all over the world. That is something I will never forget.
I've been in Germany for 9 months now and now i'm going for the last stretch. Two months left and I'm taking advantage of everything. In June I'm heading to London and in July i'm off to France again. I'll be sure to send another update before then. I return on July 25th, let me know when i can come down to a rotary meeting. :) Thanks again for this amazing opportunity!" Zoe Nunez