Going to spend one year in a foreign country with people you have never met, another language, traditions you have never heard of and food you probably don’t like – sounds crazy doesn’t it?
“What the heck am I doing right now?” That’s what I was thinking as I was sitting in the plane on my way to the USA.

I was living in a small town for ten months. Casey, Illinois had a population of 3000 people and I was living out in the country on a farm. It was a new experience and so different but I liked it a lot. Although, at times it seemed that there was nothing to do in Casey.
Everybody knows everything in a small town like that. So everybody knew that I was coming. “Hi! How are you?” “Aren’t you the new girl from Germany?” That’s what I got to hear a lot in the beginning as I went shopping with my host-mom.
My host-family was very friendly and living with them worked out well. I had two host-brothers. Tim went to the same school with me and we both were seniors. My other host-brother was Michael. He is 24 years old and wasn’t living at home anymore, but he worked at the farm of my host-dad. My host-father, Bill, was a farmer, and my host-mother, Monica, was a special education teacher.
 
Illinois is flat and there are corn fields everywhere! It took us 15 minutes to go to town, 30 minutes to go shopping and 45 minutes to go to a movie by car. The first weeks were really exciting. Everything was so new for me, most of all high school.
 
My high school had 300 students. Everybody was open and friendly and it was easy to make friends. Our school mascot is the Warriors and our school colors are purple and gold.
Casey-Westfield Warriors – go big purple!
I was a senior, so I was going in Grade 12. There are a lot of differences between school there and here in Germany. I could choose all my classes; so I took Band, Food, Drivers Ed., American History, Choir, Algebra 2 and English. After half a year my classes changed a little and I had Art and Study Hall. School started at 8:12 a.m. with the pledge of allegiance. Everybody had to stand with their hand on their heart and say the pledge to the American flag which was hanging in every room:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

You have the same eight classes every day. School is over at 3:10p.m. I wished I had a car over there. It took me 1 hour to go home by bus. It was because I was one of the last ones who got dropped off.
If you play a sport, you have practice three hours after school every day. Yes, sport is very important in America. I played Volleyball in the fall and was in Track & Field in the spring. Although we had a lot of hard practice, it was a great experience and a lot of fun going to all the competitions.
American football and softball were the “big things” in Casey. These teams are always very good and they usually go to State competition every year.
It was so amazing for me that everybody from school was going to all the games in order to be there for their school and cheer on the team. That’s the high school spirit: It doesn’t matter if it is a football game, a concert, play or musical. Everybody from school comes to watch and to support their classmates.
My favorite subject was Band. It was really different from Germany. Band started with Marching Season in the fall and our marching theme was “Pirates of the Caribbean”. It was a lot of work to memorize the songs and all the steps for the show. We went to field competitions every Saturday where we competed against other high schools, but our high school was pretty good and we always got placed well.

Church was very important, too. It was so amazing for me to see how people my age believe in God and live for him. At the beginning, I could not understand how people can cry when they sing songs about God, and I felt so weird, because I wasn’t feeling what they were probably feeling, but church changed a lot about me and I am thinking differently now. We went to church every Sunday and there was a “youth club” every Wednesday and Sunday night. This is where we had the chance to get together and hang out. We talked a lot about God and things we can do better in our life and in Casey.
I went on a few church trips and it was always a lot of fun. We went on a Missions Trip to Chicago where we helped homeless people, and it opened my eyes at how lucky we are.
 
I went back to Chicago for a weekend sightseeing for, and this time it was different. On the one hand, there are all these amazing buildings and parks there, and on the other hand, there are a lot of homeless people. I got to see both faces of Chicago. Another trip we took with the church was to St. Louis to a Hawk Nelson Christian concert.
 
I got to experience all the American Holidays: Labor Day, Columbus Day, Thanksgiving with the traditional turkey meal, Christmas, New Years Eve, President’s Day, and Memorial Day. The whole family got together and we always had big meals. On Christmas it was very weird for me to open my presents on December 25th in the morning.
 
Because I was a senior and finished high school that year, I got the chance to go on our Senior Trip. We went to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin in January. We stayed in a really nice hotel with a huge water park! It was a lot of fun and we could do whatever we wanted. A few of us went skiing or tubing. Others decided just to stay in the water park and relax.

Although there was nothing to do in Casey, we always had a great time. There are a lot of memories locked-up tight in my heart. My friends were so crazy, but I love them. “The German Girl” that was my nickname that was given to me very quickly by my friends. We hang out at somebody’s house every weekend, or we went to a movie or to the park! You could do nothing without a car, so it was pretty cool that everybody age 16 and older could drive.
Illinois always issues a lot of tornado warnings. I was always afraid when we had a tornado warning. My friends made fun of me and always said that I shouldn’t be worried, if we really get a tornado, we will go to the basement and we will be fine. It is normal in Illinois that they receive a bad tornado once a year but thankfully I didn’t experience that.
 
My year was pretty good and almost everything went well. It is normal that there were some problems and mistakes you made. Nobody is perfect!
The highlight of my Senior Year was Prom! That’s the event of the year and everybody gets crazy about it, especially the girls! Prom is the topic of conversation throughout the year. It started with “who am I going to prom with?” When you have found your prom date, you have to look for a prom dress. Some girls spent up to $500 for one dress! Especially the last weeks before Prom were pretty crazy. You need a prom date, prom dress, the matching shoes and jewelry. A lot of girls went tanning and they got their nails and hair done and some people rented limousines for that night.
Prom started at 8 p.m. in a nice dining hall. “Under the stars” was our theme of prom this year. First there was a nice dinner and then the dance. At the end of the dance, they chose the Prom King and Prom Queen. Prom was over at 12 p.m. and everybody went home to change for After Prom. After Prom was at the Jr. High and there was free food, a lot of funny games and a lot of prices to win. After Prom was over at 4 a.m. So you went home really tired but happy. Prom was awesome!

My High School Year went by so fast. First you thought: Oh my goodness, you still have to spend ten months here, but it was flying by. Thanksgiving, Christmas, senior trip, prom and then there it was: Graduation-May 25th! Class of 2008 – Kiss my class, goodbye!!!
The Graduation ceremony was new for me and I was happy that I got the chance to experience it. We wore our caps and gowns and walked out to the traditional graduation music “Pomp and Circumstance”. After a few speeches we finally got our High School Diploma and we threw our caps in the air! As they were showing the senior video, we noticed that we were going to have to split apart and everybody would have to go his or her own way. Some started working, others went to the military and most of them went to different colleges or universities. It was very sad because a lot of people were crying and I noticed that this would be the end of my high school year. But I still had two weeks left which I spent with my family and friends. They threw a surprise party for me and I held one to say goodbye to all of them. It was so hard saying goodbye to them. America became my second home and I made best friends for life. All in all I have to say that my EF high school year in America was the best year of my life!

Dream, what you want to dream
Go, where you want to go
Do, what you want to do
Because you have only one life and one chance
To do all these things you want to do!