Student Exchange Testimonial

How was your overall experience?

It was a fantastic experience. I loved my exchange family, they were such great hosts and made me feel so welcome and at home right away. They treated me like one of their own kids and ensured I had the most authentic experience possible by taking me to do things all the time to allow me to experience German culture and way of life. On our spring break from school, we went on a 2 week trip to Bosnia to visit their extended family, which was a very eye opening experience for me as I have never traveled to a country in that economic state before. It was nothing like I had ever seen before and I still think back fondly on that trip to this day. The food during the trip was amazing as well, I was able to cook for myself or go out to eat whenever I wanted, but my host mom was an amazing cook so typically we would all eat at home together for dinner. School was fun as well, courses were of course taught in German which was a bit overwhelming at first as I didn't understand much but I caught on pretty quickly and it ended up fine, especially given the fact I wasn’t actually being graded on anything I did in class, it was more so just for fun and to practice my German. I was taking a few online courses from Canada as well simultaneously as I needed to keep up with my credits in order to graduate on time but I had taken a heavier course load the semester before I left to avoid having to take more difficult classes abroad. I mostly worked on my own classes outside of school hours (at night when my exchange partner was doing homework anyway) and I also got a free period at school to be able to go into the library and get some work done which was great.

What are some personal benefits or skills that you gained from participating?

I think the most important skill I gained was independence during this exchange. It was the first time I had been away from home for more than a few weeks at a time and it was different for me to be in a foreign country without my family for so long. I learned to rely on myself more to solve my own problems, but also learned to ask for help a lot more when needed. Of course my German language skills became infinitely better as well, there truly isn't a better way to learn a language than to be fully immersed in it.

Do you continue to keep in touch with your exchange student and/or their family?

Yes I do keep in touch with her, it's been many years now but we still are friends on most social media platforms and text or facetime occasionally. She’ll always have a special place in my heart as someone with whom I spent so much time, and we really did get along very well. We shared similar interests, hobbies, and now even career paths as she is a bit younger than I am and actually decided to follow the same educational path as I decided to take in university. It just goes to show how exceptional the matching process was for the exchange, they really took everything we wrote on our applications into consideration. I didn’t know anyone who did the exchange that didn’t absolutely love their exchange partner and get along super well!

What is some advice you would give to future participants?

Try to push yourself out of your comfort zone as much as possible; sign up for courses you might not usually take (grades don't count anyway!), take lessons in a new sport maybe (you’ll never see most of these people again so who cares if you’re bad at it!) and overall just try to be open minded! Also, don’t be afraid to try to speak German. It's definitely intimidating initially as you’re not super proficient yet and unable to fully express yourself, but try anyway, everyone starts somewhere. Think of how you would feel if someone non-English tried speaking in English to you. Would you start laughing at them? Probably not, and that's how you’ll be treated over there too! Everyone is super nice and will applaud you for even making the effort so take advantage of your time there to speak it as much as possible so you can return to Canada with as much German knowledge as you can!