Kanadaaustausch

Have you ever given a thought to what it might be like to travel to another country for a certain time? To be precise, I don‘t actually mean “to travel”, we do that all the time when we go on holidays. I rather mean a students‘ exchange when you actually get involved with another society and other people, a different way of living, another country! I did think of that and on occasion an opportunity revealed itself to me to go to Canada. CANADA!!! I mean the country where all these beautiful looking pictures of my calender had been taken, where I could finally speak English all the time and broaden my horizons, not only Englishwise. I was thrilled by the idea of going there. Fortunately I succeeded in convincing several other people, I mean those who decided which of the applications for the exchange would be accepted, that it was indeed a good thing to send me there for three months, August to November. Not that I had really doubt ed they would, but still I was waiting ever so impatiently to get a reply. And then I got the application of my exchange-partner-to-be and she seemed such a nice person and after that we sent each other e-mails and already made friends before we had actually met. Especially the weeks before the big departure I was terribly excited. I never knew how everything would turn out and then I arrived in Canada and everything was even so much better than I had ever dared to dream. My host family, consisting of Eva, my exchange partner, my 15-year-old host sister Laura and my now seeming “second” parents Alida and Rien. In a way, soon I had adopted the whole family as a kind of “second” family.School was “awful nice” (which is actually bad slan and which you use expressing overflowing enthusiasm for a certain thing). In Canada, you have only four subjects during one semester which lasts half a school year like in Germany. Those subjects fill your four “blocks”, starting at 8:30 am and ending at 3:17 pm. I could chose which “blocks” I would want and even if there were ever so many possibilities, as for my liking, I made a good choice. I had Social Studies which was mainly about history, Drama, where we rehearsed performances on stage, Legal Studies where we read information on Canadian law that really slightly differs from German law and finally English or linguistic arts (LA). I didn‘t attend the same classes as Eva, my exchange partner, and school was first of all rather scary, but people really made me feel welcome and with the time going by I more and more lost restraint speaking English, chatting like in German. I was actually surprised how well I could follow the lessons, how well I could even join in. And a Canadian school most certainly is very interesting with lockers, the falkon which is the animal of the school (every school in Canada has such a sign that is matched to the school) and the “Facey way” you got to live as a student of Bev Facey High School which includes respect, dedication, commitment and all those big words I hardly dare to speak out aloud for speaking them feels like walking in a holy place for me. There was “Remembrance day” when the Canadian people who died during World War I are honoured and everybody showed so much respect, it was amazing.With my Drama class, we had a performance of “Dracula” and as for theatre and things like that, it is hard to describe how professional the result is that students achieve. With the family, I did a lot of things that I won‘t share for the most simple reason that, if you have a rather poor imagination, you wouldn‘t understand and e en if you have quite a good one, you wouldn‘t understand completely because I would just fail to find the proper words. Just imagine everything I am telling you was quite a bit more fantastic, more wonderful and more completely, perfectly amazing than words could ever describe. There were Thanksgiving and Halloween and lots of birthdays and parties. We went for coffees and went to the National Park not far away where bison were randomly crossing the path. I saw squirrels and chipmunks, wild horses, coyotes, deer, wild goats, a moose and a beaver! I was terribly spoiled with wild life, normally you don‘t see as much, I was told. And most of it, I saw in the Rockey Mountains, where I went for an Adventure Camp with other German exchange students (we did a lot of climbing there) and again during a trip I made with the family. This plain, untouched nature you get to see there was not to be compared to anything I had ever seen. You turn around in a circle and everything the eye touches is ever so beautiful that one can hardly believe it really exists.
But everything must end some time and so did my three months in Canada. I had never been particularly homesick, even though of course I missed my “first” family. I had just not allowed myself to get homesick. So on the one hand I was glad to go home again and see my real first family again and my friends in Germany, on the other hand it was terribly sad because Canada had become my “second” home. I came to love Canada and I always will. And when I say Canada, I mean the people, the way of living, the country by itself.
Now, if you are a student, maybe give a thought to an exchange to whatever country you can find in your heart! If you are only remotely curious or interested in language, everyone should have the opportunity to try something like that. As for me, the exchange broadened my horizons, it was a huge enrichment, it was a never-to-forget experience. I do miss my “second” family in Canada and the only thing that comforts me is that I firmly decided to come back some day. Maybe not next year, maybe not in two years but someday I will and now I am so excited for Eva to come here for three months, February to May, I am sure it is going to be great and each time I am looking forward to seeing the family on “skype”.
To summarize the exchange in only one sentence:
It was a dream that came true.