Exchange grows confidence

By Shaun Inguanzo
ALLICIA Rae could not speak a word of German when she arrived for a 12-month educational and cultural exchange in the country.
The language barrier and conservative streak of the German culture came as a shock to the 16-year-old Dingley resident, who the Rotary Club of Noble Park selected for the organisation’s Youth Exchange program.
But upon her return to Australia in January, Allicia has since transformed and grown from the experience – she is fluent in German, and more confident than ever.
“I stayed in two towns with four different families,” she said. “One town was Holzminden, and the other was Stadtoldendorf.”
Living in Germany was difficult, getting there was arguably more so, with Allicia giving the process three attempts prior to being successful.
“Once I was chosen I went on orientation camps, then met all of the other (participants) from the other 13 clubs, and you go on camps and learn about Rotary, and learn about the exchange.
“For eight months they prepare you, and then we flew out in January of 2005.”
Each participant was allowed to choose three countries they would like to visit.
Allicia’s first preference was France, and Germany was her second.
With no knowledge of the country’s language, and limited understanding of its culture, Allicia said she was close to returning home prematurely after the experience took its toll on her.
“I got really, really homesick and was almost sent home in the first month just because it was really difficult,” she said. “I was not having the best time with the language.”
But her grandmother’s encouragement in getting Allicia into the program and expectations from friends and family motivated her to continue and overcome the steep learning curve.
After returning to Australia, Allicia said she presented a speech on her experience at a Rotary function, and would travel to Adelaide this month for a conference.
While she plans to return to Germany to visit new-found friends, Allicia says she has returned to Australia with a valuable life lesson under her belt.
“Not being afraid of making mistakes,” she said. “When you learn a language you can’t sit there and say ‘no I can’t say that because I might get it wrong’, or ‘I can’t make friends there by not introducing myself correctly’.
“You have to have confidence in yourself – no-one is perfect when they try to speak English either, they stuff up too.”