As I was accepted to the program and as a couple of month later my host father Dean invited me to stay with him, I was very excited about what experiences will be waiting for me in the United States. To stay with a single father was not what I first expected but as I received the information about him I started to like the idea more and more.
The moment I arrived in Sacramento when my adventure had already begun I was super exited and very happy. I always remembered the sentence that Cathy [CHI Academic Program Administrator] wrote to the CHI students in her first letter: “Leave all your expectations, at home!” In the first month here I was already so happy about my decision to stay with Dean and we just kept getting along better and better. The arrival in California also brought a lot of differences with it because I had to get used to all the small or big differences between Germany and California.
Of all the differences the new mentality of people around me was the best! I love the openmindness of everyone and the fact that nobody would have the idea of bullying somebody. It also appears to me in the little conversation that when I would meet a person, the first thing you always ask would be “Hi. How are you’?”, because that is such a nice was of beginning any kind of conversation.
The hardest part of the American culture was the acceptance of waste all around me, but after a while I just started to roll my eyes over, if I would see somebody throwing food away or the immense amount of fuel that some of the cars are using in my area. It was an interesting experience because I really had to control myself not to say something and accept that I won’t change much. I started saving as much food and wasting the least I could for myself but I realized that I won’t change people’s views.
The American school system appeared as an easy but very exciting part of my year. I quickly made friends with many different students in each of my periods, because I was the foreigner now and students would come and ask me about Germany. I started getting used to the way of teaching and all the different subjects I could take now (Film Class, Sociology or Teacher Assistant). The best part of school was definitely the school spirit and the fact that I could play for my school. It is a great thing that the school has rallies where everybody proves their spirit and I also started to go along with all the 300 seniors when they scream “Uh! Ah! You wish you were a SENIOR!”
All in all I can say that I don’t regret any of my steps and that I am also proud of myself to manage it to fit into this new culture and get along with the new people around me. I learned a lot about myself and noticed that I changed a lot in California. I can now take more responsibility, I become even more open-minded and I can take good care of myself. I am always so grateful for the opportunity to spend one year here and all the different experiences that I had.
The best thing to say would be that my dream became reality and I was incredibly happy in my second home in Rancho Cordova, California!
-Max, Germany
