Hello and farewell, Fallbrook High School!

I came here from Frankfurt, Germany, for the first semester of this school year as a foreign exchange student to experience a new country, a new school system and to get to know new people. In the beginning, I had a lot of problems understanding and speaking the new language. I had a very hard time finding friends at Fallbrook High School. I must say I was pretty frustrated the first couple of months and wanted to return to Germany very badly.

But over time it got better. After a while I was able to speak English more fluently and started to understand the American school system, which made it much easier. The school system in Germany is quite different. It is much more academic and we have more classes. We also don’t really have any social clubs and events after school. To tell the truth, I’m already scared to go back because I have to catch up the whole last half year of school, which will be a lot of work.

After three or four months I finally found a few good American friends and I’m so glad that I met them. They have made my whole stay and experience in America much nicer and more pleasant. I finally feel like I’m at home.

I learned a lot during the last half year and I’m more than happy that I decided to come here. Now I’m very sad to leave.

I want to thank everybody who helped and talked to me and made my experience special, especially Cori, Mayra and Jessica. And, of course, also my lovely host family, who did so much for me and were there for me all the time. Without them I would probably have never had the chance to do this exchange.

Also, I want to thank the school that allowed me to come here and be part of the student body as a foreign exchange student.

At the end, I only can advise everybody to be part of an exchange program if you get the chance. Go for it!

Lilian (Lilly) Rohde