Spending a year abroad is an exciting prospect for any student. Making new friends and being steeped in another culture are unmatched experiences.
One young man from Idstein, Germany is experiencing all that Belmond and Iowa have to offer. Leo Ertel is spending the year with hosts Cheryl and Adam Gardner while attending Belmond-Klemme High School. On a busy Friday evening before winter break, Leo sat down with The Belmond Independent to share his experience.
To spend a year in Iowa is to face both unbearable heat and cold, from August’s unforgiving humidity to January’s bitter winds. Germany does experience four distinct seasons, but without the extreme swing in temperatures the Upper Midwest routinely has. Winter temperatures in Germany typically range from 25 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit; spending days below zero Fahrenheit is an unimaginable concept.
When asked how he’s holding up to our winter weather, Leo simply said, “I think I got pretty good used to it.” Adam piped in, joking, “He’s like the other American kids – shorts and sweatshirts,” adding, “I’d say he acclimated just fine.”
Weather aside, education here in the U.S. is very different than in Germany, from there being different types of high schools students can attend, to how long the school days are.
Leo explained that there are three high school tracts in Germany. One is comparable to high schools here in the U.S., another is geared specifically towards students who plan to go into the trades, and the third is more academically rigorous.
The high school Leo attends in Idstein (area pop. 25,000) is enormous by northern Iowa standards; there are approximately 1,100 students. The high school he attends has 13 grades. While he is in 12th grade at Belmond-Klemme, he is considered in 11th grade back home. So when Leo returns to Idstein, he will have two more years of high school to finish up before he plans to attend a university.
School days are much shorter, running from 7:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Germany. He noted that in the upper grades, the days might go a little longer for students. With a shorter day, a lunch served and prepared by school staff does not exist in Germany. Students eat lunch at home after school gets out for the day. In Idstein, older students may stay in town to eat with their friends.
Another icon of U.S. education, the yellow school bus, is absent from German culture. Children walk to school, are dropped off by their parents, or take public transportation, which is much more widespread.
Shorter school days means teachers go over lessons in class, and then students are expected to spend quite a bit of their own time on homework. Leo added that in Germany, “We have just big quizzes, where you study a month for it.” Unlike in the U.S., daily and weekly quizzes aren’t typically part of the curriculum.
German schools offer PE classes to help children stay active and fit, but athletics are private and not a part of the school system. Leo took advantage of school-based sports by participating in the cross country team. Later this school year, he also plans to do track and field and trap shooting.
As for “Why Iowa?,” finding a host family that was a good match took precedence over location. Leo said that when he was arranging to study abroad, “I preferred to choose the family first.” And by all measures, Leo chose wisely. Cheryl and Adam are seasoned hosts who, a few years ago, hosted a girl, also from Germany.
Leo has been to the U.S. several times previously, including New England and Texas. Adding the Midwest further expands his knowledge of our vast and varied country. He shared that culturally, Germans tend to be more straightforward in conversation. “The people here in the U.S. are really nice, and also what is more common here is to do all of the small talk. In Germany, we are more direct. We get directly to the point without small talk around it.”
For many people living abroad, food from home is often missed the most. Leo said he misses schnitzel, a thin, breaded meat patty, and a special type of pancake his grandmother makes with apples and cherries. But there is no shortage of food he enjoys here. “The barbecue is really good here in the U.S.,” said Leo.
“And you love ranch dressing,” added Cheryl. “We can’t get ranch in Germany. That’s true,” he replied.
Geographically, Leo misses the woods and hills of Idstein. “The landscape is different from Germany because we have more mountains. Everything here is flat. We have way more forests and everything.”
Another cultural difference is the amount of driving people in the U.S., and in particular Iowa, do. Belmond residents don’t give a second thought to driving 50 minutes to Mason City. “We don’t drive very far in Germany; an hour would be a far drive. If I drive two hours, I could be in the Netherlands.”
While Leo hasn’t gone back home for a visit this year, some family members have visited him or plan to. When he graduates in May, his family plans to fly over for the ceremony. He plans to stay until the early summer, then he will head back to Idstein, taking his Iowa memories, and maybe even a bottle or two of ranch dressing, with him.