Reflections - Victoria
Minden, Germany is my second home. This exchange year with Rotary is all I could ever want in an exchange and more. I came to Germany with the aim, learn German, travel and make friends.
I can say I have done all those things. I've travelled around Germany and Europe with the Rotex from districts 1900 and 1870. I've made heaps of German friends at school and of course I learned German.
The start of my exchange was amazing! I made lots for German friends really quickly and I made a really quick and strong bond with my fellow exchange students in my town.
And there was snow! Heaps of snow, which was really cool because I hadn't seen snow before! So I made a snowman!
At the beginning of March I went on Euro tour. Twenty-three days of fun-filled madness. I went with a whole group of exchange students that I had never met before from district 1900 and I made so many friends and so many memories!
In May I did work experience at a kindergarten in Minden. As I was there my language skills bloomed. It was talking to little kids that can't fall back on another language when they don't know what a word is in German made me work hard to improve my German.
In the summer holidays I went to France for three weeks with my host family. We were a two kilometre walk from the beach and it was amazing. During that time my German improved tremendously again because in France people don't speak German and I only did things with my host family, so I was speaking only German.
We came back to Minden just for a few days because then we went to their house in Berlin! After the holidays I was glad to go back to school and just stay in Minden for a while. I was getting homesick and was glad to be home.
A couple weeks later I went on Deutschland tour with my district (1900) and with all the newbies and wow I saw so much and learned heaps about Germany! Over the course of eleven days I travelled all over Germany with fifty-three exchange students and five Rotex. I just have to say that everything I've done with Rotex has been wonderful.
Although my year was amazing I also had four different families. One of these families wasn't that great but Rotary was really helpful and quick to help, it was wonderful! I had so much support when I had a problem and that was really great.
My exchange year has been so amazing and it's really sad that soon I have to leave a town that now has a piece of me and all the wonderful nature and greenness to go back home to my home in Australia. Back to summer and cheaper public transport!
Victoria
Hosted by:
Rotary Club of Bad Oeyenhausen-Minden, D1900 Germany
