Today we got our first reply from one of the previous exchange students that we won’t be able to interview face to face due to the fact that she lives on the other side of earth; her name is Emperatriz Yamin, she’s 17 years old and she’s from Caracas, Venezuela. She was an exchange student in Germany 2010 / 2011. This is what she wrote:

En mi ano de intercambio aprendí muchísimas cosas, las más importantes creo que son: el idioma, convivir con personas completamente diferentes a mí durante todo un ano, lo importante que es la comunicación, el respeto por otra cultura y aprendí mucho sobre mí.

Para mí fue un ano relativamente duro empezando porque me fui sin saber nada de alemán y eso fue una barrera que logre vencer a lo largo de mi ano, tú debes saber lo que se siente querer decir algo y no poder hacerlo y/o que por falta de vocabulario te mal interpreten lo que quieras decir, en muchas ocasiones quede como mal educada o antipática por esa razón, fue muy frustrante.

Mi familia fue lo más duro de todo, tenía 2 hermanas gemelas que me tenían muchísimos celos y me hicieron mi estadía poco agradable, mis padres son las personas más raras que he conocido, tanto que me sentía incomoda estando alrededor de ellos. Estando todos en familia me sentía fuera de lugar, de sobra, la razón por la que me quede ahí todo el ano, a pesar que más de una vez estuve por cambiarme de familia, fueron mis amigas y mi colegio, esa parte de mi intercambio fue lo mejor para mi. El colegio es completamente diferente a lo que estaba acostumbrada, allá en verdad van al colegio a aprender hahaha, pero me gusto estar en un salón de clase con un ambiente sin burlas cuando alguien intervenía y se equivocaba y en serio ver clases, incluso al final del año en mis clases de inglés yo intervenía mucho, yo jamás intervine en clases en Venezuela, aprendí a tomar en serio mis estudios.

Recalque muchos valores, el no juzgar a una persona por sus costumbres y hábitos fue una de las grandes lecciones, todos tenemos culturas diferentes y hay que ser tolerantes y respetarlas. La comunicación no era algo que veía con gran importancia hasta que en mi ano se hizo presente que para resolver muchos problemas de convivencia hay que comunicarse y decir las cosas en la cara aunque duela o no guste.
Lo más impactante para mí fue lo que descubrí de mi misma. No me conocía en situaciones “extremas” como lo fue mi familia, sabía que era tímida pero no que fuera tanto, no sabía mi manera de llevar estar triste, especial en esas navidades, aprendí a ser independiente y manejar mi propio dinero y tiempo, madure muchísimo en ese año.

Mi ano de intercambio fue una montaña rusa de emociones y aprendizaje que me servirán a lo largo de mi vida. Ya hoy estando en la universidad mi convivencia con mi familia alemana me ha ayudado a tolerar y saber llevar a compañeros de clase que son insoportables y a profesores. Toda experiencia en un ano de intercambio te ayuda o te es útil en un futuro aparte de que te hace crecer y ver las cosas desde muchos puntos de vista, te crea una mente “abierta”

Now, to make it just a little bit easier for those who don’t speak Spanish, we’re (or actually only Frida) going to translate it for you! Sit back, relax and enjoy …

“During my year as an exchange student I learned a lot of things, and these are the most important ones; the language, to live with people that are totally different from me during a whole year, how important the communication really is, respect for another culture, and I learned a lot about myself. For me the beginning of the year was really hard because I went there with no knowledge what so ever in German, but that was something I managed to overcome later on. It’s really frustrating when you feel like you want to say something but you can’t, or that your vocabulary isn’t big enough, or that they misinterpret what you are trying to say.

My host family was the toughest thing of the all, because I had two twin sisters that were extremely jealous of me and they made my visit anything but nice. My parents were the weirdest people I have ever met, so weird that they made me feel uncomfortable just standing next to them. When the whole family was gathered I felt left outside, like I always was in the shadow. The reason to why I stayed there throughout the whole year, and to why I didn’t change host family, was my friends and my school. That was the best part of the whole exchange year for me. The school was completely different to what I was used to, there they really go to school to learn! I enjoyed being in my class because they don’t behave ridicules when someone says something that is wrong and they really take the classes seriously. I also developed a lot when it comes to English, because I never did that in Venezuela and I learned to take my studies seriously. 

By emphasizing many values, not to judge a person by their customs and habits was one of the great lessons. Everyone has different cultures, and you have to tolerant with that and respect them. The communication wasn’t something that I took that serious until the point in my year where I had to solve many problems, and then you have to communicate and say things face to face even though it hurts and you don’t like it.

The most important part for me was what I discovered about myself. I didn’t really know myself in “extreme” situations like in my case was the family, and I knew that I was shy but I didn’t know how shy I actually am. I didn’t know in what way I could be sad, especially in Christmas. But I learned to be independent and to have control over my money and time, and I really matured at lot that year.

My exchange year was a mountain filled with emotions and knowledge that will benefit me a lot in my life. Now when I’m in the university, my interaction with my German family has helped me to be more tolerant and understanding with my classmates that are unbearable and with the teachers. The whole experience with an exchange year will help you in the future and it makes you grow and you learn to see things from many points of views. You get a more opened mind".    

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