GAWLER and District College student Renee Chamberlain shares her experience as an exchange student living in Germany.

DURING the past three months I was fortunate to experience Germany as a Rotary exchange student, sponsored by the Gawler Light Rotary Club and hosted by the Rotary Club of Stuttgart-Solitude.

I arrived in Germany in the middle of winter.

I lived in a village just outside Stuttgart called Filderstadt and my host family’s home was an old farmhouse that had been modernised.

My host parents both worked for a car manufacturer and I had one younger host sister.

Another host sister is in New South Wales on her own Rotary exchange.

Living with a German family meant that I was able to experience German culture and language.

My host family spent time conversing with me in German and took me to see many historical and pretty sites near to where I was living.

The highlight of my time with them was a trip to France and Switzerland at the end of February.

We travelled to Strasbourg, where we saw the European Parliament and Colmar and I experienced French architecture and snow in the Alps.

The school year was halfway through when I commenced in January.

I attended classes in English, German, biology, physics, chemistry, geography, art, sport, ethics, technology, economics, maths and music.

The school day started at 7.30am and I rode my bike 20 minutes to get there.

It was dark, cold (often -4 degrees) raining and icy when I left home.

Many days I wore five to six layers of clothes to keep warm and dry!

School class delivery was structured differently to Australian school and sometimes I would find that I could leave before lunchtime not needing to return.

Other days I would leave for a couple of hours and then ride back again to attend a class later in the day.

Some days I would not finish school until 5.30pm and ride home in the dark and cold.

In early February I caught up with other Rotary exchange students from my German district who had come from around the world, including America, Canada and Brazil.

We toured the Mercedes factory and saw the production machines and robots and had some valuable time getting to know each other.

I caught the train to this tour which was the first time I had caught public transport alone in Germany.

I used a German transport app to assist me with finding my way and finding the appropriate trains to get to my destination on-time and safely.

Unfortunately, my time in Germany has been shortened by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Germany went into an almost complete lockdown, which included schools closing in early March.

My host parents had to take leave from their jobs and it is unsure when they will return to them.

Travelling from the house was not allowed and my host father did the shopping alone to keep the household going and to maintain our safety.

We were able to go into our garden and built a bird house.

I enjoyed watching the squirrels play in the yard and complete their own obstacle course amongst the neighbours’ trees and the trees in our garden.

During this time all of the other exchange students in my district returned to their home countries as borders started to close and air travel became more difficult.

The Eurotour that I was scheduled to attend for the whole month of April was also cancelled.

On the March 30 I found myself on the way to the airport after my parents and I made the extremely difficult decision to return home.

This decision was based on the declining health situation in Europe, recommendations of the Australian Government and the prospect of flights being not available or difficult to book in the future.

I am very grateful for the things I got to experience while I was in Germany and I am hopeful that I will be able to return in the future when the world is free of Coronavirus.