The Grinnell Rotary Club held its regular weekly meeting on Tuesday, August 4, 2026. Following the opening of the meeting, members shared good news and club business. The speaker for this week’s meeting was Kat Neville ,2025 Rotary Exchange student to Germany.
Kat left Grinnell on August 25, 2025 and returned on June 11. Her trip over took three flights to reach her destination! Her first host family was in Dusseldorf, where she arrived. She began to get adjusted during the first week. Thankfully she was given a tour around Dusseldorf.
Kat found that many things were different about attending school there. Public transportation was used for transportation to school. For the first week, she took the bus and then switched to train.
Once school started Kat found out she was able to leave the school whenever she wanted and go whenever she needed to. School started at around 8 in the morning and then her day would depend on what classes she had. Classes lasted 45 to 90 minutes, and then a 20-minute break. Lunch break for around an hour or so. School ended around 6 pm.
Kat found Rotary in Germany very different, almost strict. Drinking was not allowed (although one of the leaders who was in charge of Kat would sometimes allow a sampling of the traditional alcohol of the region). With guidance of one of the members who acted as Kat’s counselor, Kat did a lot of public speaking during her time abroad, particularly on behalf of Rotary.
That Rotary district was special in that there was a total of 56 people from all over the world. It was probably the largest district in Germany. Most were from Brazil and Taiwan. Also Poland and Korea were represented.
In Germany there are four different levels of schooling. Kat was in top level, the Gimnasium (grammar school) which culminates in the Abitur. It compares to going to college. There is also more difficult preparation for college. The teacher lectures for an hour, followed by work for 30 minutes and then a lot of homework. It was difficult because all the classes were spoken in German for a total of two hours or more.
The local Rotary district sponsored tours in Germany and Europe that were free to Kat. The German tour was around a thousand dollars and the European was between 2000 to 3000 dollars for 5 to 10 countries. Some of the larger countries were France, Austria, and the Czech Republic. There were around 150-200 people. The exchange students were split off in buses with a ride for maybe one half of the day. The following day, she would head to the next city and more bus rides. The buses had upstairs and downstairs seating. Kat’s favorite country was Italy. The country has the most historical things. While there, she had plenty of free time to see and choose to see the Colosseum or one of the many famous museums in Italy.
Most of Kat’s host families were Italian, which she found quite interesting. She was served delicious Italian food.
Kat’s third host family brought her to the airport for the flight home. This required a very early rise to be at the airport at 6:30 a.m. for an 8:30 flight.
Kat’s best exchange friends were from Canada and the US. They made plans to visit each other.
Kat Neville’s presentation appears on the Rotary Club of Grinnell website in the section labeled “Stories, August 4th, 2026.” Grinnell Rotary Website https://portal.clubrunner.ca/1642
If you are interested in learning more about service to the community, membership, and the power of networking, come visit us at the Rotary Club of Grinnell. The club meets every Tuesday evening at 5:30 at West Side Family Restaurant.
Peter Jackson
