Dear Haters,
A few weeks ago we wrote some e-mails to people who lived abroad one or more years as an exchange student. In these e-mails we asked them some questions about their trips, for example whether they liked the country they went to, whether it was difficult to understand the language and things like this. One week later the guys answered us with e-mails. These are our questions and the e-mails:
Was it difficult to get to know your friends?
Yes, very difficult! I’ve been in Long Beach for almost a year now and I’m just starting to make friends. Of course, you meet many people at university all the time, but it takes a while before you start hanging out with people outside of university. Also, Americans have a different understanding of friendship than Germans. They are very friendly to everyone in the beginning, but it’s hard to get to a deeper level. But I guess it’s difficult to make real friends everywhere.
Do you like Long Beach very well?
I like it, yes. Long Beach has a huge art scene and there are many independent stores and coffee shops. People are very relaxed and friendly. The city is very bike-friendly which is uncommon in the US.
Can you tell us something about the American Lifestyle?
It is hard to generalize that because America is such a big country and there are huge differences! It’s a little like asking “What’s the European life style?” In Southern California, for example, many people are very health-obsessed, so you don’t see the typical fat, burger-munching American that often. Also, people take the bus or ride their bikes – that is not common in other parts of the US. I think that California is not THAT different from parts of Europe.
Dear Mr Kohlmann,
my name is Udo from the 9b. I’d like to ask you some questions. How is it to live in New York and how are the hotdogs there?
I think its harder to study abroad then studying in your native language, isn’t it? And my last question: Do you like Kohl?
My name is Benjamin and I usually teach British literature at a university in the south of Germany. However, for the past eight months, I have been a visiting researcher at a university in New York City. I have also visited a number of archives and attended several academic conferences during my stay in the US. That said, I have also enjoyed the pleasant side effects of not having to teach on a regular basis – most of my conferences have been followed by a few days’ worth of traveling.
More technical kinds of advice aside, if you are spending time abroad as a high-school student try to mingle as much as you can with the locals, make many American friends (Americans are very easy to get along with!), and keep an open mind about US culture even if there are aspects of it you initially find puzzling or strange.
Do you like England?
Wich is your favorite place in England?
Wich is your favorite English band?
Did you enjoyed the time in Germany?
Wich city in Germany do you like most?
Where did you go in Germany?
Do you like german bands
What music do you listen to?
What music do you listen to?
Sorry this is late, it’s been half term and I was away! I’m really sorry, I hope this is still of use to you all.
“Do you like England?
I love it! It’s my home and where I feel relaxed. It’s also the most varied, interesting, influential, creative and beautiful little island in the world.
Wich is your favorite place in England?
Liverpool. It has everything; the music, the architecture, the history, the iconic river Mersey, the football and the sense of humour. Shame about the litter and the incomprehensible accent!
Wich is your favorite English band?
Coldplay
Did you enjoyed the time in Germany?
Germany is my favourite place to visit and I’ve been there many times.
Wich city in Germany do you like most?
Probably Berlin. It’s cool, has traditional and modern architecture, lots of live music and the history (a big interest of mine) is so easy to engage with.
Where did you go in Germany?
I’ve visited Frankfurt, Berlin, Aachen, Nuremberg, Munster, Heidelberg, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Munich and some other smaller places. I also lived for 6 months in Bielefeld.
Do you like german bands
Yes, but where are they? I still find it very strange that so many German bands sing in English. Germany has such a rich musical history and creative, innovative culture that I am amazed it is so hard to find a cool band singing in German. If you have any tips for me, let me know…!
What music do you listen to?”
Coldplay is a good indication of the kind of music I like, but I also enjoy jazz.
I hope I could help you a little bit.
Regards,
George Ray
Dear Mr Jorge,
our names are Marc, Georg B. and Georg G. and we are students at the ninth class at the Cristophorus school in Rostock.
We want to ask you some questions about your experience in the USA. We come at the tenth in just a few month and we think about to spend a year maybe in America or somewhere else.
Where did you live there? Was it a problem to communicate with other people there?
What did you experience there and how do you finance it?
We are really looking forward to hear from you.
Sincerely
Marc, Georg B., George G.
Dear Marc, Georg B. and Georg. G,
thank you for making me remember the time I spent as an exchange student 16 years ago. I was a sophomore student at the St. Augustine High School in Florida. It was nice because you have the beach and the weather is fine but you really need a car for anything you want to do! The distances are very long for anything! For me it was not a problem to make friends and to get to know people, you just have to be open minded and a good advice is to do sports at the high school! Because I was from Germany everybody expected me to play soccer very well, which is not so, but to play in a high school team any kind of sport is a good way to get to know the people! It is always easy to make friends with other exchange students but you should really try to get to know the native speakers!
I went to St. Augustine with an organization called Into Douglas, which wasn’t a good choice because they had to many students and not enough families. The first family i got was a couple whose children already left home, so I was alone and I didn’t get along very well with my stepmom so I changed the family!
My parents at that time paid for everything, I worked a little bit to earn some extra money but it is expensive to go abroad with an organization.
I am really happy to have this experience, I think any country is good as an experience for a young student to go abroad! I can recommend you not to go only for half a year because you need half a year to adopt yourself to the new life and then you want to stay for a longer time! That’s what happened to many exchange students who first planned to stay just half a year!
If you have any further questions you can write me again!
Sincerely ,
Ilan Jorge
Dear Tara Rensch,
we are some students from Rostock, who are learning English for 5 years now.
At the moment we have some student teachers in English, so we write this E-mail to you.
We have some questiones to you:
What´s about the weather in Long Beach, is it always sunny?
What are you doing in your free time?
What are you learning at the University?
Was it difficult to get to know your friends?
Do you like Long Beach very well?
Can you tell us something about the American Lifestyle?
What do you think about your future?
Does Long Beach belongs to LA?
What are you studying?
Do you understand everything in your course?
Do you ever have met a star in LA?
Do you ever have visit New York ?
Thank You very much!
Dear Students,
here are my answers to your questions:
What´s about the weather in Long Beach, is it always sunny?
The weather in Long Beach is mostly very nice. It’s not always sunny (especially in the morning it’s often cloudy), but it’s almost always warm and it hardly ever rain. I miss the rain and the cold sometimes, it gets a little boring!
What are you doing in your free time?
I don’t have a whole lot of free time, since I’m studying and teaching German but when I do, I like to hang out with friends at my favorite coffee shop, go running, skydiving, rock climbing, or I read. I don’t go to the beach as often as people think – the beach in Long Beach is not very pretty.
What are you learning at the University?
I’m studying German Studies (Germanistik) and Linguistics, so I read a lot of German literature (Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, …). I’m not very interested in that stuff though, what I really like to study is second language acquisition – namely how to teach languages to people more efficiently. I’m also learning to work hard and study a lot, something that I never had to do in Germany.
What do you think about your future?
If I only knew! I’ll be done with my Masters in December and I’m not sure what I want to do after. I could work in the US for one year (my student visa allows for that) or I could try to get into a PhD program. Or I could go back to Germany and find a job. Sometimes it’s scary to think about the future, not knowing what’s coming, but right now I enjoy that I have so many options. I’m more a living-in-the-moment kind of person.
Does Long Beach belong to LA?
Long Beach is in LA county, but it is a city by itself (the second largest in the area after LA). There’s a train to LA but it’s not very safe.
What are you studying?
I’m studying German Studies and Linguistics. And I’m taking French and Italian classes as well! But those are just for fun.
Do you understand everything in your course?
Language-wise, normally yes, sometimes not every single word, but that’s not important. I’ve been in the US long enough that my English is almost as good as my German now. But sometimes there are still things that I don’t understand, just like you probably sometimes don’t understand something in your German class.
Do you ever have met a star in LA?
No, but I also haven’t been in LA a lot. I’m not a fan of huge cities, I find it pretty stressful! But my brother has met Raj (the Indian guy from the Big Bang Theory) when he went to a concert in LA!
Do you ever have visit New York?
No, I haven’t, but I would love to! I’ve been to Chicago, San Francisco, Saint Paul, Minneapolis, LA, and San Diego. I hope I can visit NY some day, but it’s sooo expensive!
Have fun with the answers and let me know if you have more questions!
Tara
Hello Julia, Dana, and Mairin,
I feel honored to answer these questions, and I would like to thank you that for asking me for some answers, to help you three out.
1. How is it like to be a diplomat’s child?
– Well, it is pretty cool, because they play an important role in the country they live in, because they make passports and visa’s for germans, that live in the country we moved to. The negative side of this is, that we have to move around every four years, and we never know where it is going to go next.
2. How does it feel like, to travel around so much, and where did you like it the most?
– Well as I said, that is the bad part about it. Yes, I get to see the world, like a lot of children or people in general would love to, but the fact that I have to make new friends every four years, and then leaving them, and then making new friends again, is very rough after a while. I liked it a lot in South Africa. Yes, it is dangerous there, but the view that we had every morning, and no snow, the beach. I still wish I could have stayed there. Sadly, that is not my decision to make, it us the decsision of my parent’s boss.
Well, it’s ok that you didn’t have any more time left. If you need some more help, or some more information, or have some more questions, I will answer them as fast as possible, and again, no worries about asking, it was a plessure to help you guys out.
Good luck for your assignment, I hope my answers helped you guys a little bit!
Regards,
Amelie
Hello.
Thanks for your interest. Here are my answers…
*How is London?*
London is great, thanks! Samuel Johnson once said that ‘If you are tired of London, you are tired of life’ and there’s always something new to do, see or eat. It can be very busy though!
*Is it true that it always rains?*
Not at all! In fact, London is drier than Istanbul: http://www.waterwise.org.uk/data/resources/25/Water_factsheet_2012.pdf
Although it did rain all day yesterday…
*How long do you live in London?*
I’ve lived in London for 10 years, since I graduated from university.
*Why did you choose to work in the communication?*
I studied English and German at university, and so it’s great for me to work in an international context and helping young people from the UK and Germany to get to know each other better.
If you are interested in going abroad, have a look at the European Youth Portal: http://europa.eu/youth/DE_en
All the best,
Sian
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