Goodbye from Lisa Bayer

Hello everyone. I’m Lisa from Germany and I will talk tonight about my exchange year as a Rotary exchange student in Australia. I arrived last year in the end of July in Melbourne and have been living since then in this area. When I arrived at the airport after 24 hours of travelling I was exhausted but so excited to, after months of looking forward to it, finally being in Australia and to meet and live with my first host family. I didn't quite know what to expect when I arrived at the airport but definitely not seeing such a big bunch of people waiting for me when I came through the gates at 6 in the morning just to welcome me and pick me up.

And neither did I expect or know about the importance of the yellow scarf I was given to and what goes with putting it on…. I found out all about football some time in my first month…

 

I think my first weeks here in Australia were the most exciting ones in my life. Everything I did, saw or experienced was so new and different. Every day I would have something new to be amazed about from seeing my first living kangaroo ( the first one I saw in Australia was dead on the side of the road sadly ) to eating my first meat pie or just being with my host family or going to school and meeting new people. I found out how special it is to become a part of my host families and spending time with them to experience the Australian culture . I am so lucky for how much I got to see through them and other Rotarians of this amazing country. Through Rotary in general I also got to do stuff like helping out on the farmers markets or other events. I have never taken part in community work like that and I experienced what a good feeling it was to give something back to the community like that. I experienced being away from home for way longer than 2 weeks which has been the longest I have been away from my parents and home before coming on exchange. It was a challenging but rewarding experience to be on more on my own for that long. I had the whole experience of a Australian kid going to an Australian school, taking part in school events and competitions and school camps which was really exciting and so interesting to see.

And to Australia itself, I have seen so so much of this amazing country and I loved every part of it. The Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island were 2 of my favourite parts in Victoria where I got to learn surfing which became my favourite thing over here. The beaches here are just amazing and I couldn't imagine my exchange here without them because I spend most of the summer down at the coast.

Just recently a few months ago I went on my trip around Australia ‘Rock To Reef ‘ which has been one of the biggest highlights of my year as well. We went with a group of about 50 exchange students on the bus starting off in Melbourne and travelling all the way over the Great Ocean Road and Adelaide to Alice Springs in the middle of the outback. (I have got the whole travel route marked on the map up there ) From Alice Springs we went over to Cairns down the coast all the way to Sydney and from there on back to Melbourne. It was such an amazing trip we got to see Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef, the outback, Sydney and so much more. We got as a group so close with everyone and I got to know so many more amazing people. I will show a bit later a few pictures and videos of the trip and all the other highlights of my year.

 

During the year I have experienced many things to be really different than from Germany … To start with being in a country now which is about 21 times bigger than the one I am from I wasn't used to the huge distances we sometimes had to cover to get to places. How big this country actually is became apparent to me only when I marked on a big Australia map all the places in Victoria I have been to during my year in Australia and even though I have travelled quite a bit it only covers the tiniest part of Australia in comparison to its enormous size.
Really different was also the nature over here, the landscape and the wildlife is so amazing and diverse and I am still excited when I see on the way to school parrots flying around which Aussies just call noisy but I love them. What I also found really different from Germany was the way more easy going lifestyle most of the people have over here. I love how spontaneous and welcoming most Aussies are , everyone is always really nice and interested when they notice I am not from here.

I also experienced the school life over here to be totally different. Wearing school uniforms was unusual to me and most of the subjects like Food Tech or Outdoor Education we haven't got in Germany. German school is in general more strict and less easy going. I also noticed Rotary to be different from home. My Sponsor Rotary is an all men’s club and way not as active as clubs over here.

Food wise, I actually don't think there are too huge differences apart from of course Vegemite which I won’t miss too much. A lot of the food over here is European and that’s how we cook at home as well.

What I found amazing is the passion Aussies general have for sport. Watching the Olympics in school or the whole fuss about football I still don't really understand… In Germany not everyone barracks for a soccer club even though that is the more popular sport but that’s maybe just something about the culture here.

 

But I think I have learned and experienced so much more in only this one year here in Australia than I would in 5 years at home. To start with I think I definitely improved my English and hopefully sound a little bit more Aussie to than when I arrived ;) I have during my time here made family and friends on the other side of the world who I am so grateful for and I really hope to stay in contact with. Being on my own without my parents who have done all my life everything for me has made me much more independent and I am proud of to see what I can achieve on my own. That has shown me for myself that I can do so much more than I think I can and knowing that is definitely something which will help me in the future taking on other challenges. Through staying in 3 totally different host family’s I think I have become way more open and tolerant to new things and it was really interesting to experience so many different ways of life which has changed my view on some things completely. The weekly reports I was asked to give at the rotary meetings have made me more confident speaking in front of a big group of people which was something I have never enjoyed before.

Getting to know all those exchange students from different countries has taught me so much about different cultures, ways of life or their countries in general which improved my understanding of the world we live in greatly. I now want to travel to all of those places I never heard of a year ago to experience myself what they were telling me about.

Choosing subjects in school over here that I have never heard of in Germany like outdoor education has increased my horizon of school life and education. Especially outdoor education which became my favourite subject has made me so much more interested in the outdoors and I would even consider now studying something in that direction after school which I would have never considered before coming on exchange to Australia. To sum this all up I think my exchange year has impacted me greatly and changed the person I was when I first arrived 12 months ago.

 

From the outside the life of an exchange student seems sometimes to be perfect to many but the reality is it isn't always as great as it seems on the photos you post or send home. There are bigger as well as smaller challenges on the way like always in life and even the support of your host family and new friends cannot replace the comfort you have at home if things go wrong. Being away from your family for that long is something no rotary preparation camp can really prepare you for. I luckily didn’t feel homesick too bad because everything new I experienced was so exciting and I had always caring people around me but there were points during my exchange where I did  miss having my parents, siblings and friends around just because I wanted to share some of the great things I did with them in real life instead via facetime.

Arriving in school as being the new, foreign one without knowing anyone isn't always easy either. Even though most students were very welcoming and interested making real friendships takes a while. It also took me at least 2 weeks to find my way to my classes by myself and getting an understanding of how things work at school over here e.g. the uniform rules.

There were challenges all along the way and if it’s just something small like going to a party where you don’t know most of the people. But looking back at my year, all those moments where I got taken out of my comfort zone were probably the moments where I learned the most.

Before I came on exchange some friends were saying how long a year is and if I am really sure that I want to go and that I’ll miss out on so much at home which I guess was a fair point... Now after all those months in Australia I don’t think a whole year in Germany could have giving me just a quarter of the great memories I have made here and that will always stay with me. Its a great feeling to say every challenge I had to take on was so worth it.
Looking back now I can definitely say going on exchange was one of the best decisions I have ever made and if I was to go again I wouldn't do anything different.

 

When I go back home I will first of course see my family and catch up with my friends I haven't seen for then a whole year. After the holidays, I will go into year 11 which means I still got 2 years of school to complete. During that time for at least 1 year I will help out in rotary taking care of the new inbounds of our district which I am already really excited for. I think it will be great to be able to give them advice and support as I will have then completed my exchange and know how to deal with some things they might face or struggle with during their time. I also hope to later join Rotex to keep the youth exchange program going and just because its so much fun to hang out with other exchange students. After graduating I am not quite sure what I will do but I hope to get to go to uni and continue my studies. And I of course also hope to come back to Australia very very soon.

 

I would like to say thank you to my three amazing host families, the Doubles, the Marshalls and the Buttons for taking me in your family and looking after me. I couldn't have asked for better host families and I am so grateful for everything that you have done for me, I enjoyed so much staying with all of you and I hope you know that you’’ll always have a place in Germany to stay when you come visiting hopefully very soon.

Also, I am so thankful for my school the Beaconhills College for letting me study there for the year, I have made so many amazing friends and memories there that I wouldn't like to miss for anything. The school is just great and offered so many amazing opportunities to me and I hope for future exchange students to have the chance to go to Beaconhills. The friends I have made on that school and the ones I have made through Rotary from all over the world made my exchange so much better. I can’t believe how close I got with some of them after only knowing them now for only 11 months now but I am so grateful I got to share so many amazing memories of this year with them which I’ll never forget.  Even if the contact with not all of them might last because of the distances , I am proud to say I have friends and family now from all over the world.

 

Last but definitely not least I would like to say my big thank you to rotary international for sponsoring me and so making this amazing year possible. But mostly here I would like to thank especially the rotary club of Berwick, all of you, to host me and welcome me so friendly in the club. I would have never expected that I might actually miss rotary meetings but I think that’ll be the case just because all the members of the club which make the meetings so much more fun. I will miss being asked how my week has been, what I have experienced and just the warmth and friendly smiles all around.  I was so lucky to get hosted by this club and to be taken to places to get to explore more of Australia by many of the members. I hope I was able to teach you a few German words and got you to learn a bit more about Germany and German culture itself. I also would like to say thank you to the youth exchange committee of our district for organising all the amazing camps, the great ocean road trip and just being there for our group no matter what :) We always had the best time at the camps and the great ocean road trip was just amazing as well and we as a group really couldn't have asked for a better committee. :)

 

So, this would be it I guess. I knew it had to come but I didn’t realise how soon. In only weeks from now on I’ll return to a totally different world than the one I have lived in the last 12 months. I will soon say goodbyes to the people who have meant the most to me lately. The people who at one point didn’t even know me but yet agreed to open their homes and hearts to me. I am about to leave this life I have build up over the last months. No more Sleepovers with my new best friends, no more spontaneous trips, no more speaking my second language everyday, no more people making fun of my accent. I will come back to the normal life I used to live and I will see the people I had to fight tears with and had to give.