Eden Prairie High School - Eagle Yearbook (Eden Prairie, MN)

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AFS sends Linda to Germany. . . Traveling from New York to Frankfurt, Germany, I was with 110 German-bound AFSers and another 90 going to other countries in Europe. Arriving in Frankfurt, the American students went to a Youth Hostel, once an old castle in Russlesheim, a suburb of Frankfurt. We were there a week for orientation on customs and language. My second week was Spent getting acquainted with my German family; Inge, fifteen, and her mother, father, and grand- mother in Machtolsheim, a southern farming village of 1, 120 people. Machtolsheim is twenty miles from Ulm, the city with the highest church steeple in the world. In June, we attended school in the next village. During August, I toured old castles and churches. We took a week long trip into Austria and Switzerland, climbing five mountains, seeing cows and sheep and even find- ing Edelweiss, the famous flower of the Swiss Alp. The last week was spent in the north harbor city of Bremen. Reunited with American AFS -ers for deorientation and staying with another German family. We took a boat ride on the Weser River, had a reception at the city hall, and attended a Parliament meeting where we questioned repre- sentatives. My last day in Germany came, going by train to Frankfurt, and on to my flight for home--USA. I will always appreciate this experience in Germany, for it opened up my life not only to other people and my surroundings, but to myself. TOP RIGHT: picking currants in her German garden; FAR RIGHT: Castle Lichenstein in Southern Germany; RIGHT: Linda in her German bed- room wearing a native dirndle dress; BOTTOM LEFT: On t0p of a mountain at the Swiss -Austrian border; BOTTOM RIGHT: Her German family; mother, sister, Linda, grandmother, and father.

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My summer in India was a unique experi- ence for me. AFS had a lot to offer me in the way of learning and eXperiencing. I ate with my fingers and was a vegetarian for the most part. As well as assimulating into the Indian culture, I also felt a part of it. I had parents and sisters. The hardest, as well as the funniest part of the whole summer was attempting to speak three different languages and trying to guess which one I was speaking. In the way of learning, I learned and be- came a part of an entirely different way of life. I became subordinate Iwhich is a far cry from being statistician for the foot- ball teami and learned to become a true Indian. I felt Indian and acted Indian, but my physical appearance did not look Indian--I never saw an Indian that was- 5'9 with brown hair and white skin. Experience was an everything thing. A monkey waking Effie tip, a snake escaping a snake charmer and heading in my direction, walking through cow and buffalo herds and bicycling through camel herds were quite ordinary. High points in my summer were seeing the T aj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world, and speaking with the prime Minister of India for an hour and one half. However, the most rewarding factor was the people. All three of my host families were exceptional in their own way. The villagers, beggars, princes, gurus and others all helped me see India to a greater extent. All of these factors and more helped me become more aware of others, myself and 1ife--awareness that can be applied everyday of my life.