Feature Article
It was last august and it was my last few hours I spent in Germany for 10 months. It was early in the morning around 3:30 am and I had to get up and get my luggage in the car. My mom and my sister brought me to the airport, which is only about 30 minutes away from our house. I had a weird feeling in my stomach because I knew that I’m not going to see my family for almost a whole year. I got my plane ticket and checked my luggage in; the next step was the security check. But before I went through the security check I spent a little time with my mom and my sister because they couldn’t go with me through the security. I had a weird feeling in the line where we waited. But after a little while it was my turn to go through the security and that was the last time that I saw my mom and my sister in person for a whole year. After I passed the security check I was lead to my gate and I had to wait for my flight. After my first flight, which took only about 20 minutes, I arrived in Frankfurt. I met my traveling group there and we got to our plane to Washington DC. It was a long flight, which took about 8 and a half hours. When I arrived in Washington I got the message that my plane to Dallas Texas a little late is and I cant catch my plane from Dallas to Cedar Rapids. Because of that I stayed a night in Washington in a nice Hotel. At the next morning I woke up at around 5 o clock and a bus drove me to the airport. I got my plane this time and everything worked out fine and I was on my way to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. When I arrived at Cedar Rapids, my host family was already waiting for me and it was really nice to see them again. I went to pick my luggage up but I couldn’t find it. I waited for 15 minutes in front of the luggage place but I wasn’t able to see my luggage. After that I went to the airport staff and told them that my luggage wasn’t there and they started to check where my luggage was. After a little while, they figured out that they forgot my luggage in Dallas, Texas. I didn’t have any cloths with me and because of that we went to a mall and got some cloths for e because I didn’t have any idea how long it would take them to bring my luggage back to my house. After a week, my luggage arrived at the airport and they dropped it off at my house. It was still summer break when I arrived and I had still one week left before school started. The first school day was there really fast and I was able to experience the American High School. It was a little weird at the beginning because I only knew Jordan. But I got comfortable pretty fast with a lot of people and we became friends. It took me a little while till i was able to understand everything in school and when people were talking to me. It got easier pretty fast and everything got easier. After a few months it was like home, I felt completely comfortable with everything and it started to feel like home. During the summer time we did a lot of things outside with friends but during the winter it got less, because it was so unbelievable cold outside. We got around 70 days under 0 degree Fahrenheit. My favorite sport I did was wresting. At the beginning I wasn’t sure if I would like it but I gave it a shot and it was more fun than I expected. The practices after school every day were a lot of fun, but it was really hard, but it gave me a good feeling after we were done. I also liked the team feeling; it was like one big family. The competitions were a great experience and I can remember the first match I got. I went out on the mat and the whole team cheered for me. It was my first match and I won it with a pin. Another sport I did was cross-country. During the season I didn’t like it, because the practices were hard and I didn’t want to run so much. But thinking back to it, it was a lot of fun and I would do it again. We had a lot of team suppers, which were really good. My favorite thing we did in cross-country was the football run. We drove with a bus to MFL Marmac and got their football. We divided the bus in a few groups, which had to run for a little while, and then we switched the runner group. It took a long time till we finally reached Clermont where we got lunch. After that we continued running to the NFV High School and we reached the High school in time. That was a great experience and I’m lucky that I was able to experience that. After wrestling season the time rushed by really fast. I have now about 2 and a half weeks left before I have to leave to Germany. It makes me sad because I don’t want to leave my friends and my family here in the us. But it is also a nice feeling to see my family and my friends back in Germany again, but i would like to stay longer here.