A School Year Abroad

Nina Kloss reports from Ridgefield (USA)

german version

Vast landscapes, gigantic skyscrapers in the city centers, and very friendly and open-minded people - that is what America is famous for and how I got to know the land of unlimited opportunities.
Together with my host parents and two younger host sisters, I live in Ridgefield in the state of Washington close to the Oregon border. Ridgefield is a township in Clark County with 2147 inhabitants, but also refers to the region between the Lewis and the Columbia River in which I stay.
Both the mountains, among them the 2550 m volcano Mount St. Helens, and the Pacific can be reached within one hour by car. Washington has the nickname “Evergreen State” and is famous for its natural landscapes and national parks which stretch up to Canada in the north.
We live in the zone of the Pacific Standard Time and are therefore 9 hours behind compared to the Central European Time.

Since the beginning of September, I have been attending the Prairie High School in the Battle Ground School District. Even before my first day at PHS, which is with 1450 students significantly larger than the ASG, I participated in the practice of the school’s girls’ soccer team. The tryouts, a kind of test training in the different sports, start about a week before the actual school year and have the purpose to assess the participants based upon condition and skill.

Sport plays a big role at American schools and is done very seriously and with a lot of discipline. The team spirit is top priority and due the sport, I was able to make a lot of new contacts already at the beginning of my stay.
Soon, I was to find out that my soccer coach also teaches German besides Physical Education at school.. With shouts like “Beeilung!” and “Das war klasse!” he brought my home a little closer.

School starts at 7:30 in the morning and ends at 2:00 in the afternoon. Punctuality is very important and delays can almost only be excused when at least one natural disaster was the reason.

Together with students from the neighborhood, I take the bus to school every morning - a traditional yellow school bus with leaf springs and solid benches as shown in a lot of American movies. The home of my host family and my school are located in two different school districts. Therefore, the bus ride takes about half an hour.

My day starts with the early-morning exercise in my Aerobics class.
The jaunty music even wakes up the people who are grumpy in the morning and when there were still sore muscles in the beginning, the gymnastic exercises have become normality for a good start into the day at school.

In American high schools, the students are, for the most part, responsible for the classes they take and their schedule. The guidance counselors talk to the students before the beginning of the school year and give advice which electives to take aside from the mandatory classes, as for example English or U.S. History, depending on the grades and interests of the students.

As an exchange student, I was also required to have a meeting with the counselor before the first day of school. For the teacher, it was already a good opportunity to find out about my English. My goal, of course, was to be in the senior class and walk in cap and gown on graduation day next year. My interview was a success and now I am dealing with, for example, Honors American Literature, physics, biology, U.S. History, and calculus.
My schedule is the same every day. I have the same classes at the same time on a daily basis and taking a lot of tests is not something unusual. Although the workload is rather demanding at times, I have gotten used to it and I am getting along very well. Not too long ago, I was inducted into the National Honor Society, an organization which has its high reputation all over the United States due to organizing charity events and humanitarian campaigns.
American high schools also play a big role in the teenagers’ spare time after class. From the Drama Club over the Science Club, a club that deals with scientific topics, to the high school sport, subject of many movies, the school offers something for every taste.

The highlight for most students, but also for teachers and parents, were the football games, which where scheduled weekly from September until October. Here, it is important to show the school spirit. Through wearing shirts with the school colors, the affiliation and the team spirit are emphasized.

With support from the school band and the cheerleaders, the own team was rooted for and the jubilation was even greater after a won game. All these rituals are taken very seriously and nobody would understand it, if someone made fun of it or stayed away. Many of the starters, especially in football, continue their athletic career at colleges and universities later on and often, the athletic performance is an essential part when it comes to winning scholarships.

The school dances, especially the Homecoming Dance, are of equal importance. Students decorated the building according to the motto “Guys and Dolls; a Broadway Show”, got a DJ who took care of the music and everyone was dancing of course. A lot of former students were present and took the chance to visit their old school and see their classmates and teachers.

Before I went to the ball together with the other seniors, we met at my friend’s house for dinner. For this occasion, we ordered a chef who cooked us a special Homecoming Meal.
Homecoming is a sophisticated ball and therefore, all the girls and guys wore dresses and tuxedos and everything was very festive.

On October 31, it started to become spooky when everyone dressed up for Halloween.
Costumed children and teenagers knocked on doors. “Trick or treat” was the motto to get some candy. Even some of my teachers wore costumes at school and brought along chocolate.

The majority of my host family’s relatives came together in order to scoop out pumpkins which illuminated the entrances of the houses later that night. The shops start to prepare for Halloween already at the beginning of September. Whether it was groceries, writing utensils, or clothes, everything was decorated fitting into the theme. Halloween is of great importance in the USA and its intensity is not (yet) comparable with the Halloween in Germany.

On November 23, I have experienced my first Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a family holiday which is traditionally celebrated by all Americans on the fourth Thursday of November and reminds of the mutual meal of the Native Americans and the Pilgrim Fathers, who landed with the Mayflower on the east coast of the New England states in November 1620. From Thursday until Monday, there is no school of course. The whole family gathered and we ate the traditional stuffed turkey together.
Cheerful conversations and laughter filled the room. In the afternoon, we watched a football game between two rivalling regional colleges, which was titled “Civil War”, on TV while the children played in the backyard. In my host family, football enjoys a very high popularity as well.

After Thanksgiving, the Pre-Christmas Sale was officially started. The shops and stores opened at 5 a.m. already and enticed the costumers with numerous offers to visit the shopping malls. Scenes from this massive spectacle, which strongly reminded me of our summer and winter clearance sales, were shown on TV in the evening.

Now, Christmas is coming closer and closer; another event that is celebrated with different traditions and customs over here. I am also going to join this hullabaloo of course and I will make sure to get all the X-mas gifts for my family and friends right on time enjoy the wonderful atmosphere. Maybe I will be lucky and see the big red Christmas truck which delivers the famous lemonade with caffeine and is being driven by Santa Claus himselfJ

I am doing fine here in America and I have not regretted a single day that I have spent here. The first months were expectedly very work-filled and I have acclimated to the way of life for the most part. When I am working on my homework on the computer, I also visit “Albert” of course so that I am informed about what is going on at home. It was really nice to read that all the other “globetrotters” are doing fine as well and enjoy their stays.

I would like to conclude my first article with the best wishes to everyone at home and out in the world and I am already looking forward to further reports.

german version

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