By Dave Mast
Sprechen sie Deutsch?
Thanks to a visit from four European students, who came to the Holmes County area via The Friendship Connection, the entire student body at Hiland High School probably speaks German a tad better than they did more than one month ago.
German sophomores Lisa Klapka, Jessica Thielmann, Jonas Wiedemann and Anna Lena Wagner joined their respective host family counterparts, Hiland sophomores Samantha Regan, Lindsey Kline, Allison Schmucker and Michelle Beachy, for four weeks of interacting and connecting with teens from a new culture.
The goal of The Friendship Connection program is to provide a fairly inexpensive exchange program between German and American students that introduces them to each other's cultures and languages, and hopefully creates friendships from nearly halfway around the globe.
The program matches up American students with German students who have the same interests. In this case, the German students flew into the U.S., met with their host families, and settled in for four weeks of shadowing their host students around school. Learning, recreation and exploring were all on the agenda for the four week period, which rushed by all too quickly for the students from both sides of the Atlantic.
"I think we were all very excited to come here and learn about and experience a whole new culture," said Wagner. "We couldn't wait to get settled in."
While the German students were prepared to jump right into the American fray once they arrived in the states, they ran into one gigantic problem before they could even see one buggy or sample any of the food for which Holmes County is so well known.
"We came right in the middle of that giant blizzard," said Thielmann. "We flew into Washington, D.C. and we couldn't move. Everything was shut down, so we had to take a bus to Columbus."
They did, but the weather wasn't much better there. They were then bussed to Zanesville, where their host families finally met them and shuttled them to Holmes County.
"It was kind of nuts," said host Lindsey Kline. "About half way to Columbus we learned that their flight had been delayed and then canceled. But we were finally able to get them home safely."
The four immediately began fitting right into their Hiland surroundings.
The four German students were a tiny percentage of the 460 students who joined them in traveling to the U.S., including 12 who went to Waynedale High School, just down the road.
Their most important process upon arriving was to bond with the host families, which they did with no problem.
For instance, Allison Schmucker chose Wiedemann because both are fraternal twins, and both love to shop.
"We talked online before they came over, and it was amazing the way we hit it off," said Schmucker. "We seemed like we had so much in common."
"Connecting with the host families was easy," said Wiedemann. "And the culture here isn't a whole lot different than ours. Kids are kids wherever you go. We're all going to like the same kinds of things."
There were certain adjustments that had to be made, including the time zone change, which Klapka said wiped her out for the first 48 hours.
There were also changes like the move from eating food embellished with salt instead of sugar, which the German students were used to back in their homeland.
"The food here is amazing," said Wiedemann. "I've put on the pounds here."
And Wagner added that the shopping wasn't too bad either, noting that the prices here, compared to Germany, are far less, as well as gas prices and just about everything else. She added that the schools are quite a bit stricter than they are in Germany.
But the four agreed that the nicest thing about their trip was the way they were accepted by everyone, whether in the host homes, at school, or out in the community, where their German skills made them very much like the Pennsylvania Dutch community around them.
"I couldn't believe the friendliness of all of the people here," said Klapka. "It just seemed like we fit right in right away."
As the students prepared to go back this past weekend, they took with them a lifetime of memories, souvenirs, and the new friends they have made from far, far away.
"I love my family here in the United States," said Thielmann. "If I could stay longer, I would. I love it here. But I miss my family. It was hard to choose to leave for that long, but I think all of us knew we'd have fun and have some great experiences."
"It was pretty special," said Kline, who hosted Thielmann. "It was different when they first came into our home, but it will be different when they leave now. We've become great friends."
It was an experience of a lifetime for the German students to see firsthand how American teens live.
For German teacher Kathy Dobson, who headed up the program at Hiland, the opportunity will be there for the American students to find their way to Germany if they so desire, as part of The Friendship Connection.
"It's such a great experience for any teen to travel and be away from home and experience new and exciting cultures," said Dobson. "These four kids have really touched the lives of the students here at Hiland in the short time they were here. It's been fun having them here."
"It was an amazing, awesome time," said Wagner, who even got to be on television during the Hiland girls' state tournament game.
"We've all learned so much, and hopefully we'll stay in touch through e-mail. It felt like we got so close to our families while we were here. It was something that I doubt any of us will forget."
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Michael Mast
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