Über Column: Viktor’s Message

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Written by Viktor Kewenig

Now 3 months have passed, and I have gotten some distance from my exchange trip in America. My English has gotten worse; I don’t dream in English anymore, but once in a while I still Skype with some good American friends.

Now that I am in Berlin, the city I have always called my home, I found out that there’s something different. When I was in America I was missing Berlin and my friends over there, as well as my parents and my home. And, even though I am in Berlin again, I keep missing things. But now it is my friends in America, my guest parents, as well as the good Californian weather and the language. In the end I could say, I gained a second home.

But it is not only those things that I miss about America; what I miss more than anything else is about how you people face challenges. Never would anyone in America tell you that what you want to do is not possible.  They wouldn’t tell you that something is too weird, or too crazy for you. Always do people urge you to keep going; they keep up your spirit, they support you in almost everything you are trying to reach for. And while doing that, they always keep being friendly and nice.

In the end it is the American spirit I miss the most. Coming to school in jogging pants, talking to a teacher as you would talk to a friend, trying to support everything that’s new and revolutionary; to me all this is what makes up the American spirit. That indeed is the reason why it was never hard for me to be here, why I never had to argue with anybody, and why everyone I talked to was really friendly and nothing but supportive of me. I think in the end I have to thank M-A and all the people who go to M-A, for being so open-minded and accepting of a completely foreign person who couldn’t even talk English very well. What I experienced here, I will never experience anywhere else, and I think there’s nothing in life that could be even more important than experiencing such a thing as I did at M-A. Not only because of learning a new language and getting to know other cultures, but also because of gaining self-confidence, responsibility, and learning independence. Even though I repeat myself, I can only thank all the people I was in contact with, and tell everybody that there is no such good, important, awesome, crazy, difficult, and intense thing in life, as experiencing a semester like I did at M-A.

1. Barbara (Parent) Says:
   June 4th, 2010 at 3:23 pm

   Viktor – it is so good to hear that you are alive and well..and playing soccer this summer I hope. School ended for James this week – he is a happy guy!

   Coach Barbie

   [Reply]