This was the experience of Valeska von Wickede, when she started school as a junior at the beginning of this year. She traveled here from Germany without her parents to live with her cousin, sophomore Julia Herbordt, who also attends WHS.

While von Wickede had visited the United States several times before, she had never attended school here.

“I came here to see what the typical high school experience is, and I wanted to see what it’s like to live here before coming for college,” von Wickede said.

Although Germany is miles and miles away from the U.S., their culture is relatively similar ours, according to von Wickede. For her, it was not a difficult transition.

However, there are still many aspects of the U.S. that are different from those in Germany. Most of these have to do with school life.

The differences in Germany include having less homework, not being able to drive in high school, and most drastically, sports teams.

“We don’t have any sports teams at all in Germany that you would go to with your school. School and sports aren’t connected,” von Wickede said. “I like that here we have football and basketball games.”

“The sports bring more school spirit, but at my old school we had a lot of school spirit also,” von Wickede said. Her old school had a spirit week like Wayland, and also held many events and pep rallies to make up for the lack of spirit gained by sporting events.

Socially, too, there is a slight difference in culture between the two countries. Von Wickede described how although we are more broken up into small friend groups here, kids still associate more with people outside of that group.

“In Germany, people don’t really go up to one another. You have your friends, but you don’t interact with other people that much. People aren’t as outgoing.”

While von Wickede enjoyed her experience in the U.S., she will be returning to Germany to finish her senior year and then plans to return to the U.S. for college.

Reflecting on her time here, von Wickede feels the anxiety of not knowing anyone is worth it in the end.

“I came here without knowing anyone and without my parents, and even though I was only 16 when I did it, I would recommend it for everyone,” von Wickede said. “Getting to know a different country and the culture helps so much, and it’s fun.”