American Association of Teachers of German

Danielle Relyea (above with her Gastschwester) was a student of Kate Stewart at Fayetteville-Manlius High School in Manlius, New York, near Syracuse. She was nominated by her chapter testing chair, and was selected to receive the Endowed Scholarship by the National Selection Committee. She will be attending college this fall at State University of New York - Geneseo, where she plans to continue with German and major in biochemistry.

Before I went to Germany, I was comfortable. I knew my way around town, had my friends to visit, knew where to buy anything I wanted, had a car to get there whenever I wanted, had a cupboard full of familiar food, and a family I could always chat with. I was able to be my own person because I knew all that I needed to know to survive in Manlius, New York. At age eighteen, it was time for me to step out of my comfort zone and take on an adventure. And it was quite an adventure that I found, or rather, found me.

When I learned I had won the Endowed Scholarship, I was excited, but soon terrified. How was I supposed to talk to these people? I took five years of German in middle and high school, so I felt quite confident in the language, but there is so much still to learn. However, when I arrived, I quickly learned that it was nothing to be afraid of. The other students I traveled with had an average of two or three years of German, and I never saw them breaking down because they couldn’t communicate something right. If you attempt it, Germans usually know what you’re saying. And even if it’s still too hard to understand, most Germans know enough English to get by. The only real communication mishap I found was when another student, Alex, asked his host brother’s girlfriend, a hair stylist, to give him a few blonde highlights. However, he ended up with a full head of bright yellow hair to go with his dark Italian skin. At least then we could pick him out of a crowd if he wandered off. Traveling with the AATG does improve your knowledge of the language, as it is meant to, but it is also important to know that you can get along with as little or as much as you know already. Everyone’s there to help you.

The most challenging aspect I found wasn’t communicating, but that I really had to rely on others. I’m normally a very independent person; I do what I want to do when I want to, and don’t ask others for help. Germany was therefore a very humbling experience. For a while I couldn’t go anywhere without my host sister, Mizzi, with me, because I had never used public transportation before. Once when I had to travel back home from school by myself I got helplessly confused with the train schedule. I was petrified; lost in a train station, needing to get home, and I didn’t want to call and ask my host family to drive thirty minutes to come get me when the train stop was five minutes from their house. So instead, I asked a woman boarding the train if this was the train going to Wörsdorf. After explaining something complicated to me in German that confused me more, she walked off. I went over to the train schedule, trying to decipher it again, and I saw her walking back. "Do you need help?" she asked in English, and I thankfully nodded "yes". I sat with her on the train, and we had a nice conversation in English and German about where I had come from, and what I was doing in Germany. She alerted me when it was my stop, and I was relieved when I walked up to the door of my host family, just in time for dinner. Being a self-sufficient person, it was hard for me to ask for help, especially from a stranger. But that was what Germany was about; doing things I hadn’t done before, no matter how simple.

My favorite part of Germany is its history. The United States is such a new country compared to those in Europe. Germany has centuries of history, with numerous buildings dating back to the Middle Ages, and I even visited an old mausoleum that was made B.C. Of course there were inhabitants here in America before the Europeans came over, but America lacks the ancient architecture and we just don’t learn or hear about detailed American history before 1700.

The best way I can describe my trip to Germany is that it was something that I needed. I needed to break out of the box that I had tightly fitted around my life in Manlius, I needed to see how other people live, I needed to see something different. People are people. Germans are essentially no different than Americans. They go to work, go to school, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, they go grocery shopping and do homework just like Americans do. Going to Germany made me feel like the world is a little smaller and that humankind is a little closer than we think. I am so glad that I went, and so thankful I was given the opportunity. I can honestly say it has helped me grow. The best advice I can give to anyone that is going to Germany is advice that I was given myself: just open your eyes and ears, and experience it. Germany is such a beautiful place, and it is so wonderful to take an adventure.

-Danielle Relyea