Your date of departure is 15. August 2008. Please report to Gate 4 at Frankfurt Airport at 5 o’clock in the morning. AFS volunteers will be there waiting for you. For rules and regulations for suitcases please see red attachment.

Enjoy your stay in the United States of America!

That’s what the letter looked like that I got about one year ago. All I can see are English words. What’s that word at the end of that letter? Regulations? Probably should look that up. After a while I know exactly what my exchange organization, the American Field Service just sent me.

Google Earth. What’s all that yellow stuff right in front of that High School? Oh, those are supposed to be school buses? They actually still use the yellow ones like in the movies? And what’s that small grey rectangle at the entrance of the school driveway supposed to be? Probably some sort of sign. They have tennis courts at the high school? Ill. Alright, let’s take a look at my house. Deep in the woods. Hey, there is a lake right next to it and it has a pool! I won’t complain about that. I bet I can go mountain biking here a lot. Time goes by slowly until I leave. Every day I wonder what’s going to be expected of me over there and how my family and my high school are going to be. Only a few weeks left. Goodbyes to friends, the last parties, it is a little bit awkward to know that you will be away for one year and when you come back, everything will be changed. During the last week, I was neither nervous nor especially excited. Being away for such a long time is impossible to imagine.

I remember the day of departure. It was something like four o’clock in the morning and a group of about 100 teenagers were handed out sheets with necessary information. I remember being in the line where they take in your suitcase and measure the weight of it. After about one year of waiting and making preparations, the moment of goodbye had finally come. I could see two different crowds: A few teenagers were crying; the others (including me) didn’t feel anything special.

My goodbye to my parents felt more like: “Alrighty, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, have a good night.” Not that I don’t love my parents; it’s just that what was waiting for me is something that I cannot imagine and therefore it is nothing big emotionally. I remember seeing them leave through the door with tears in their eyes and I felt sorry that I still didn’t quite get how big this was for me or especially for them. I remember as well sitting in the plane just before it started. It was rainy outside and I couldn’t see too much of the Airport. Jets on full blast. I can still feel the vibrations of the plane and see the ground moving down when we were taking off. USA, I’m coming!

Eight hours in a plane with Singapore Airlines is definitely not the worst thing that can happen to you. I spent most of the eight hours playing Pokémon on the screen in front of me. Some students on the plane were on orientations with me. I went to a hotel were about 200 or more AFS kids were. I was only talking to kids from Germany or Switzerland who spoke the same language. After a couple of hours, I had to go on a bus with other students from all over the world that were going to be in the same area as me: the Massachusetts Bay Area. This bus ride was crazy. It was raining and cold outside, but our bus driver sat in the front with a T-shirt on and turned up the air conditioning. I had all my jackets and sweatshirts on and I was still freezing. This was about my first experience in the USA. We were all dropped off at some college in Newton and were told the rules (“da Big 3”) over and over again:
1. No Drugs
2. No Driving
3. No Hitchhiking

AFS in Germany had been over this for the year before I left; I was pretty sure that I understood. After many hours of staying up and being talked to in English, I was very exhausted. That day I went to bed at midnight (6 am in Germany) and I had been up for more than 24 hours. I had a roommate, Rolando from Panama. I couldn’t understand a word he was saying.

The following day we were meeting our host families. That’s one more moment that you will never forget as an exchange student. You’ve seen them already from pictures that they’ve sent you and now meeting them is the most exciting thing. I remember my first night in my house as well as it was yesterday. One of our cats was scratching at my door so I let him in and he spent the night sleeping right next to me in my bed. I had never had a pet. Every new day here was exciting and interesting. There are so many things to see and especially more to hear.

The first day in the school I was shown around (by peer advisor Michelle Kossack) and got to see the school. Especially the first weeks in WHS were probably the best weeks of my life. I never imagined that people would ever be so nice and welcoming to me. I met new people every day and had serious struggles to keep all the names straight. I even became friends with some teachers and my bus driver. People were so interested in me and liked to meet me. It didn’t fit with what some people said, that Americans are ignorant of or not very interested in other people and cultures.

I was not at all used to the different timing and system of school here in America. Here I got back from school and sports at about 7 o’clock, tired from the long day and translating everything in my head and exhausted from crew. For me it was totally unusual to stay up until 11 or 12 to do all my homework and studying for quizzes and tests. But I learned that wherever you go, you will get used to things. Whether it’s a totally different schedule, different school system, sports every day, pets, more family members, different family rules, different houses, cars, food, drinks, ice cream, style of clothing, language, buses, trains… (I could go on with this list forever).

During the first season, I joined the Wayland-Weston Crew team. When I got out of school I was already looking forward to Crew. Fellow rowers, whether novice or varsity, were as welcoming and friendly to me as people in school were. I have still good WWC friends although I haven’t done crew since fall. A few memories from Crew that I will never forget: one practice at 5 am where we went out on the water and there was fog on the lake, it was so beautiful and peaceful, but cold; another was the moment at states when I saw the ranking and realized that my boat had won.

Next season, I joined the swimming and diving team. I’d been diving before for fun in Germany at our town pool, but for more exercise I thought I’d try swimming instead. My coaches convinced me that I’d probably better off with diving (and they needed me to do that more), so that’s what I did. During my time on the swimming and diving team, I probably learned and changed the most. First of all, I found even more friends than I already had. It is true what people say about the team, it’s like a big family and I was happy being a part of it.

I questioned my decision to do diving instead of swimming a lot though. I did worse than I expected me to do, even though my coach disagreed with me. I came home even later and even more exhausted from practices and meets; the chlorine in my eyes basically put me to sleep when I still had to do tons of homework. I was lucky enough though to qualify for states, so I practiced over February vacation for the meet at the end of it. And we won! Jumping into the pool with the whole team when we were done and taking the group picture with the trophy are more things I will never forget.

But it wasn’t until the team banquet when our coaches honored us personally, that I realized that I had probably learned the most important life lessons in Wayland. I learned that I usually expect more of myself than I can actually do and I am disappointed when I can’t do it. I learned that if something doesn’t go that well, you have to take a deep breath and move on and learn from it. I realized how much I got caught up in my own frustration of not achieving a goal that was way too high. And even if everything doesn’t go as well as you want it to — don’t forget that it could be worse and to make the best out of it. This is pretty much what diving is about; it’s a mental thing.

I was laughing at my diving coach at first when she told me that diving will teach you lessons for your life. She was right. I learned that I was not as bad as I thought I was and I remembered so many moments when people came up to me after bad dives all across the swim team and tried to cheer me up. At the banquet I looked around and realized that I’d gotten to know so many people much better than I would have ever imagined and I found new best friends. I didn’t see anybody who would not support their teammates or not stand up for them. And this was not only the team, but almost everyone that I met at the high school. It doesn’t matter as much how well you do. As long as you give your best and work hard, people will support you. This kind of unique support from a whole big group is something that I never had in my German school and I was lucky to be part of it every day here.

In the spring, I tried track and threw the javelin. I found the same amount of support for teammates and the team itself that I had found at the first day of my life in Wayland. You can be sure that I will bring a part of this spirit back to Germany. A stay in a different country with a different language with a different family and with different friends is one of the greatest things that can happen to you, and not only as a student. I was lucky enough to get an awesome family and the best high school in America with the best people.

I changed so much. Now, after one year, I look back and I see the little me, standing at the airport with other so-called AFSers and saying goodbye to my parents. What did I know of the world! What did I know of what was possible to do and to achieve! Although that day and that hour is already almost one year ago, I remember it as it was yesterday. It seems, though, that the change that I went through went on for ten years. Some people might not even get all the experiences and adventures that I got until ten more years.

I know, I know; it sounds so cheesy to say: life is over too fast, so enjoy it. It is true though. Maybe some of you feel the same way: This year went by unbelievably fast. The older you get, the faster the years fly by. You really don’t want to waste your time being unhappy. After this year, my plan is not to find a job where I can make the most money. I want to look for something that I actually love to do. The money that you might have after 20 years cannot repay the 20 years of unhappiness.

During this year, I had four orientations with AFS students, and one more to come as I leave. During these orientations, all the other exchange students and their advisors met and we talked about what is happening, what you can improve and how to deal with the difference. During these orientations we all made friends from countries from all over the world: Panama, Italy, Thailand, Argentina, Japan, Austria, Scandinavia, and many more. It is really funny and interesting to meet people again through the year, see how much they have changed and especially how their English has improved.

Rolando (remember, the guy that from Panama that I shared a room with?), is now one of my best friends in America. And I can understand his English now. Although he basically lives in Worcester, we met so many times, went into Boston or to a beach and have so many stories to share. It is fascinating how during one year, you create a social network reaching all over the world. Wherever I want to go in the world, it is likely that I will know somebody and can come and visit them.

I am happy to say, that after one year, I not only have one family in Germany. My host family is another one. Rolando’s host parents welcomed me like I was one of their children, too. So did so many other families in Wayland, that by now, I must have five or six all together. The biggest one is our high school itself. Although I miss my family in Germany, I don’t even want to imagine how it will be to live without my families here.

Going back is not going to be easy. First of all the language. Some of you may know that talking in German is not my favorite thing to do. I have to translate words from English into German now and it is even harder than it was the other way round in the beginning. Second, as I already told you, many things can happen in one year. Friends that I left back in Germany have changed, too. Fitting into the old and new social environment therefore is going to be harder than it was when I came to America. And I will have at least four more weeks of German school to finish out the year there. I will have to think at you, who are going to be going out with your friends, a lot.

There is absolutely no way that I can thank everyone enough for what you have done and created for me. It’s absolutely impossible. I hope that my love and friendship for you is enough. Yes, I loved it here and I still do. I had definitely the best year of my life. Every day that I woke up I was looking forward for what was to come. This is a gift that you can’t buy anywhere in the world. Wayland is my second home, but I’m feeling more American than German right now and feeling like it might stay this way. I hope that I will stay long in your remembrance in a positive way.

I can repay you a little bit though. If you ever decide to go for a road trip to Germany or another European country, my house is always open for you. The part of Germany where I live is considered one of the most beautiful ones; the Black Forest in the southwest of Germany. You don’t need to speak German; everybody in Germany can speak English. Our slang by now contains more English words than you imagine… The next biggest town that I’m living close to is Freiburg; it’s about five miles away (the name of my town is Denzlingen). If you want to see some pictures, click below.

My photos,Freiburg, and Denzlingen.

So whenever you are planning on coming, contact me over facebook (which I, of course, will keep) or send me an email.

So, you know from this how much I will miss you and my life here.
Goodbye, or maybe see you later (?)

Your friend and exchange student from Germany,

Johannes (Jojo) Bremberger

Address:
Kaiserstuhlstrasse 19
79211 Denzlingen
Germany

Email:
[email protected]
[email protected]

Skype:
Kuschelrobbe

Aim:
Bremhelb