Long-distance Learning
When Students Go Abroad
Just an hour remains until her flight. Before Lina disappears through the boarding gate, her mother quickly presses a teddy bear into the 16-year-old’s hands. A new life is about to begin. Far from home, far from her family, all of whose members, including grandma and grandpa, have arrived at Hamburg Airport to wave goodbye to their “Linchen†. They will not see her again for six months. This Gymnasium student will be spending the next half year on the other side of the globe, in the Pampas of South American. No place on earth is further away. Even our young traveller herself finds it difficult to conceive of such distances. “I've always wanted to go away. I applied for travel scholarships, and now I've got one. After waiting for ages, I was accepted by my host family, I received a letter and some photographs from them. But then, I cried really hard, because I thought to myself: I won’t be able to make it. So far from home! Far from my friends, from parties, from my dog. And from my parents.† Lina rests her head on the heart-shaped pillow crocheted by her grandmother and tries to catch some sleep on the plane. “Upon arrival, students tend to suffer from homesickness. Afterwards comes a period generally characterized by euphoria, by the reception of new impressions†, says Frederike Moldenhauer of “Tauschaus†, the largest student exchange organization in Germany. “At this point, in many cases, comes a total collapse. Students now realize that there is no going back. Christmas in particular is a painful time for most. But just a few weeks later, most of our students are anxious about leaving, having grown used to their new lives.† At the airport, Lina’s host father welcomes the new family member with a bouquet of flowers. The rest of the family is elsewhere, tending the sheep. “That already seems strange to me. That I'm just sort of there, that here, nature plays a far greater role than people do.† In the evening, however, the family does sit down together for a meal. Lina has just shorn her first sheep, and she is rather proud, but also tired and hungry. Nonetheless, she hands around gifts and shows her hosts photos of her hometown. Her first impression is that her host family is slightly chaotic, but friendly. Lina finds it difficult to make yourself understood, since she speaks only a bit of broken Spanish. In the evening, all alone in her tiny attic room with its view of the fields, Lina takes out her teddy bear and has a little cry. Fortunately, there is e-mail. She writes a long mail to her parents on the other side of the world in her hometown of Bad Segeberg. And now, a change of scene. A Madrid city apartment. The family is seated around a paella at a large dining table. All of the family members have black hair, with the exception of Alex. He has been here for a week now, and is surprised to find that he too is suffering from homesickness. “Before, there was a lot of stress at home, with my parents. But I have to admit, I sort of miss them. I'm going to call them this evening and tell them about my new home.† His host family consists of two adults, four children, and many pictures. The family's mother is a painter, the father teaches music at a school. “It's really cool, I've already attended a concert here, but the differences from life at home are glaring. Things are much more conservative here that I expected, and everyone speaks incredibly fast!† Tomorrow, Alex will be attending school here for the first time with his host brother Julio. And in a uniform! But no, he will not have his long hair cut off, no chance, although all of the Spanish boys wear crew cuts, and visit the barber on a weekly basis. “In our experience, most students return with a new feeling for their hometowns. Without having lost their native countries, they have come to belong to a new cultural home. Much more than before, they perceive Germany's positive aspects. And in many cases, they have a greater understanding of their own parents. Our students return home far more self-confident, but also more self-critical, and many of them are ready now to take their first steps into professional life,† says Frederike Moldenhauer of AIS. Exchange students know what it is like to be removed from their own worlds and repositioned in new ones. And yet, many teachers and schools avoid encouraging German students to spend a year studying abroad. Parents are concerned that their children will lose touch. All the same, approximately 12,000 students annually decide to take the plunge, and the numbers are growing! Of these, 25% give up early on. The rest return home with a treasure trove of new experiences and a changed view of their world.
