Emily Sausman visited Germany in 2013-2014. In addition to language, she talks about her interest in different cultures and becoming more culturally aware.
I'm going to start with asking who you are, where you go to high school, where you are from, and what country you went to.
I'm Emily Sausman, I'm sixteen years old, and I currently attend State College Area High School, and I spent the 2013-2014 school year in Germany.
What made you decide to go to Germany, what made you think to do that?
Personally, I've always had a lot of interest always in other countries and in other cultures because I just find it really fascinating how sometimes it may seem in distance that people are two words apart, but they still, in some way, are also the exact same. And in school, we've always had small exchange trips and I've always hosted exchange students from Germany. After hearing all the really wonderful things they've had to say and looking into it a little bit I kind of decided that maybe I would try it out and go for a year.
Did you study German prior and how is your German coming back?
Before leaving, I had two years of German in school, so just pretty much basic German. But then after returning, now it's improved greatly. I don't want to say that it's perfect, but it's really improved since the time I've gotten back.
Say something about your experience that has changed you or that you come away from and say that this was the most amazing piece of this. It's like the grand finale question.
Something that changed me? I guess that something that really changed me, and I didn't really realize it until I was already home, but it was becoming more culturally aware. Just because of the fact that I really thought that the things in Germany and America were pretty much the same. And now coming home I really realize there are some small things that I cam improve in myself to making other people very culturally aware and some things that I can personally improve to help others.