When leaving Germany as an exchange student I felt sad and afraid, but also excited and curious what would happen to me. I had lots of expectations, to my family, the life over there and to myself. Now I see that less than one fourth of thern have come true. Nevertheless, this year has been one of my greatest, very important to me and really special. It was a year of great fun and laughter, but also of big problerns and tears. The very first day in my family already showed this ambiguity. After spending several day with other exchange students in Buenos Aires, I had to take another two-hour flight to get to my family. The moment I stepped into the airport I recognised my hostparents (they had sent me pictures) and the next moment they were hugging me over the barrier. I did not understand anything they were saying, although they were talking to me all the time. Nevertheless, it was 3.30 in the afternoon, it was already getting dark, a strong wind blew and it was raining. And 1 had already forgotten that it was also my birthday.. When we arrived at “our” house, I saw posters on nearly all the doors: "Welcome to your new home!". My “sister” showed me the whole house, which was really small and at last showed me the kitchen. My family and some of my sister's friends sang "Happy birthday" to me, we ate “gateau” and my “father” explained some basic words to me, like "colectivo" (bus) and “boliche” (disco). After that we went to my school (a Catholic one, which is run by sisters) because there was a mass, for it was the school's anniversary. After mass the headmaster spoke, but soon she was interrupted by shouts and applause. It was also her birthday and because of that she gave the students the following Monday off. I needed quite a long time to get it and then I could not believe it. In the evening we went to our grandparents’ house to have supper over there. Meanwhile I had taken courage to guess what they had asked me and to choose one answer out of three: "Si", "No" or "Mäs o menos" (More or less). It was really late when we got home and I was dead tired. But nevertheless I started unpacking my suitcases and I found cards and presents from "Good old Germany" my Mum had put in. I got really sad, thinking of everything I knew and loved 13.000 km away. I thought back to the afternoon when I gave them a ring and I started crying. I felt lonely, helpless and unable to speak to anyone. As I had just gone to bed, my Argentine Mum entered and kissed me goodnight. From that moment on she was one of the most important persons in my Argentine year, I had become her fourth daughter and she my second Mum. Time passed and every day things happened to me I did not understand and even some which I found very bad. We had dinner at 10 o'clock in the evening, always meat of some kind (chicken wasn't meat, but chicken, another thing I couldn't get), but in the morning nobody had breakfast. I did not like this way of eating and thought that I would get really fat, but because of the terribly cold climate I did not. Another attitude surprised me as well: decisions, plans or whatever, no matter if important or unimportant, were made in less than five minutes. Once my parents decided to go to Chile, one hour later we all sat in the car without knowing where to spend the night over there. I had difficulties not knowing what would happen in the next second, because these sudden decisions were not always the best ones. After some time I realised that I was looking at the things in a very "German" way. I judged things with my German mind, forgetting that I was not in Germany any more. But after some time I became more Argentine and I learnt to take life the way it came. But I also learnt to sing Argentine songs and to dance the way they do nearly all the time. While dancing here is often supposed to show how "cool' you are, over there it is a kind of life-expression. For the sad moments there is ‘tango’ and for the ones full of joy you have ‘cuarteto’, ‘cumbia’, ‘salsa’, ‘merengue’, all these very rhythmical Latin American dances. The boys and men dance very well and they very often lead their partners very well, which is a mirror of every day life: in a lot of houses the father is kind of monarch, who reigns over his people. After a three-month vacation (from December till March) I had accepted the Argentine culture, I could understand and say everything and at last I had found real friends; the greatest time of my year had begun. I met friends every day, we just visited each other or we went to the coast, where all the young people came together. lt was not very warm, therefore we stayed in the cars and drove around to have a look who else was there. I spent whole nights doing this (even New Year and the very late Christmas Eve), because in the summer it takes only three hours from dust till dawn. One evening we were having dinner and suddenly my Mum started crying and said: 'I didn't want to give it to you, but you have to see it.’ She passed me a letter. It was about the date of my flight back to Germany. The forty girls of my course organised a surprise goodbye-party for me and I got lots of presents.
The day when I had to leave my town was even worse than the day I left Germany, for I did not know when I would see my Argentine family and friends again. I had lived one year for becoming a member of my host family and for finding friends and just in the moment I really loved them I had to leave. It is impossible to express what I feel for my people over there, this whole experience and for Argentina as a country, I can only say that it is worth a million times more than all the sorrows and sadness before and after this year. And I am dead sure that I will always have a family and some friends thinking of me, even if they are 13.000 km away.
Argentina, te re quiero.