"Journey of a young business woman- Part 2"
2012-13 has been one of the best years of my life so far, a dream come true and definitly plays a huge part in my development not only as a business woman, but also as a human, the person I am today.
When I was 13 in 8th grade I already felt the urge to explore the world.
So far I had travelled to Spain (Family living there) and other European countries, India (once because I have Family there) but never visited the States. Still I somehow knew I would love it and that I wanted to live there at least for some time. I had to wait 2 more years before being able to do a High School Exchange year. When I finally turned 15 the time had come and after a year of preparation I was ready for this adventure.
My organization AFS recommended to not pick a State myself but rather let them find the perfectly fitting family anywhere in America. My hope was to get a loving host-family with children, I secretly was hoping for a little sister since I had been an only child my whole life and to have a sibling was my dream.
Only a week before my take-off I received an email with the Information about my host-family...The Corteses in Suffield, Connecticut.
I was very happy, and super excited... I would soon have a little sister, Mia and a real American family with Italien and German roots. They already seemed nice and friendly just from the mail, but I never expected anything close to what happened in real life...
... It's difficult to put it into words so I want to give you a glimpse into what happened through pictures..
My first Impressions:
When I arrived it was late at night and I was so tired that I fell asleep right away.
When I woke up the next morning I started realizing where I was. My host-mom, I call her mom, could not have been any sweeter. She took the time to not just prepare a room for me, but design a room with so much love and details, I felt overwhelmed by such a loving welcome. The pillows had my name on them, she printed out and hung up pictures from my Friends and Family so that I would feel at home and so much more! When walking downstairs, taking a look around the house and the neighbourhood I could not believe that out of all families in America I was put into the one family that I dreamed about living in. The neighbourhood felt surreal to me at first, since I'm from a City in Germany and a Suburb like Suffield I had only seen before on TV watching "Desperate Housewives".
3 of my first impressions of America in general:
1. Everyone seems friendly, I remember how shocked I was in a positive way that everyone even the cashier at Target would ask me "How are you?" and smile. Even though this might just sound superficial to you, it creates a nice and friendly atmosphere.
2. The American Spirit and unity (explained below)
3. Yes they really have yellow school busses like in the movies but they are not cool or comfortable at all!
My host-family:
I really could not have wished for a better family. They adopted me as if I was their child and for the first time I could feel what it was like to have both parents, a little sister as your sibling and even two half-brothers who would come around occasionally.
It's kind of crazy that my little sister looks and acts like a mini-me. Even though we aren't sisters by blood, it sure feels like it. Just like I always wanted a little sister, she wanted a big sister and even though she drove me crazy at times, loved to embarress and annoy me, I love her and she'll always be my little sister.
When I had to leave, it broke my heart, but I promised her to visit and I kept the promise for the next 3 years and will continue to do so.
I still feel really lucky and am extremely thankful for everything they did for and with me. My family wanted me to see more of America so we travelled to different places: Cape Cod (often on the weekends, because they have a beautiful Beach-house/ second home there), New York City (my host-mom Kathy is a serious shoppaholic and of course needed to take me shopping in the Fashion-Metropole), Boston for a Red Sox Game (does it get any more American?.. Yesss it does during Superbowl Sunday when Friends and Family would come over to watch the Patriots Football Game), North and South Carolina for Vacation, Rhode Island, and finally we flew to Florida, first Boka Raton (where they have a lovely condo), and then went to Disney World for New Years and stopped by my favorite City MIAMI for some beach days.
While I'm writing this I again realize how I was blessed with the best host-family ever. During all the travelling I felt free, like living in freedom and when I came back I knew one thing.. This is what I want, a life with no limits, being able to travel when I want to, meet amazing people around the globe and make a change.
For my host-family a lot of this is possible because my host-dad owns a family food company, he works a lot and gets up really early in the morning, but he enjoys to work with people he likes and can live a life on his terms.. His family is an Italian family who achieved the American Dream. The story behind the beautiful life they have now has truly inspired me as an entrepreneur.
The High School:
What I really love about the American High School System is that the focus is much more on activities and sports than in Europe. The school is like a giant team made up of different groups... Athletes, Clubs, Orchester, Drama etc.
The School Spirit is simply amazing to experience! Events like spirit week, homecoming, volleyball match, competitions, senior week and sport games are huge and very meaningful.
The students are proud to represent their School and Class. It is a powerful unity that I became a part of and loved every single moment of it. You can argue that education should be the main focus of school like in Europe, but I personally think that combining fun with education is a great way to motivate students to do well in school. Unlike in Germany, school is where you learn, have all your friends, go to lunch, do activities and sports after school. At home I was a dancer outside of school and this was where I had most of my friends. During my exchange year the sport would change with ever quarter which is a nice way of forcing to try different things.
I got into the Dance Team which was fun, but I also tried different sports that challenged me like Cheerleading or Track. Track was something I never had considered before but I decided to sign up for it and found out that I love pole-volt and actually enjoy running.
So many things happened where I discovered new skills of myself almost every day. Besides learning a new kind of discipline through all the sports, I also discovered skills and opportunities that partly led me to where I am today.
I took some fun classes (that don't exist in Europe) such as Entrepreneur-Class and Journalism. These classes inspired me, Journalism helped me develop better writing skills in english any some techniques I now can even use here on Steemit.
Friends:
Finding friends when you're completely new in a country, talk with an accent and are known as "the german girl/exchange student" is not the easiest, BUT America in itself makes it a lot easier. Yes you should be open to making friends and talking to people in the hallway and in your classes, but for anyone considering to do a High School Exchange, definitly do After-School activities and do Sports. I met my still best friend Sam in Gym Class, through her met a group of friends and I started getting invited to parties and hangouts.
However it wasn't until the second half of my exchange year, that I felt fully intigrated and had different groups of friends and became a real Suffield (Farm town)-girl. By being open, outgoing and talkative I established friendships for life, got to experience what tailgating at Country Concerts means, playing Beer Pong on St.Patricks Day, Night Swims on Fourth of July, Thanksgiving with a huge Family and so many more amazing memories.
This post is already pretty lenghty and I could go on for hours. Even though this is just a description and quick summary of my exchange year I will stop here and won't to further into detail for now.
Now I miss living in the states a lot and I'm planning on coming back soon.
Next I want to travel the West Coast, since I've only seen the East so far.
I'm sure I will love it and can't wait to feel the American freedom and kindess again and
YES I know America is not just the life I got to experience and there are a lot of problems inside the States. I also did have ups and downs during the year, there are things I don't like and I even experienced what it is like to be close to horrific events that took place that are more common to happen in America than Germany, like the Boston Marathon, Pre-School Shooting... I will never forget those sad days...
But still I always try to look at the bright side and when someone asks how my year went I automatically focus on what I love about America and all the amazing experiences, because it's a feeling that stuck with me.
THANK YOU AMERICA😄😊🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Please leave a comment, let me know what you think, if you're interested in more details on my year in the States or if you have particular questions on the topic you would like to have answered, feel free to ask.
XOXO from Germany
- Mrs. STEEMIT 👑💖