The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
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From Germany to Chelsea
Exchange student enjoying her time in United States
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 8, 2009
Lisa Krischok isn't from around Chelsea, Michigan or even the United States.
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She's one of countless exchange students brought to Michigan by Youth For Understanding USA, an organization that began in Ann Arbor in 1951 with 75 German teenagers coming to Michigan to live with American families.
The goal of the program is to place exchange students with volunteer host families in an effort to immerse young people in new exciting cultures.
Krishok describes her experiences as fitting that bill nicely.
Hailing from a small eastern German town named Grimma, she says that Chelsea is quite similar to her hometown.
"It's about the same size, the schools are the same size," she says, but everything is "big."
Rick and Joni Benson are her host family for the duration of her stay, which began at the outset of the current school year and will end sometime next July.
"All she kept saying for the first few days was 'big," Joni recalled.
After heading out from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Krishok noted the big roads. Then the Benson's ironically took her to Big Boy.
"The menus were huge," she joked, to say nothing of the portions.
As the days and weeks went by, observations about how much more spread out we are here in America than folks back home became less and less frequent, as other more prevalent differences became apparent.
Sports are of keen interest to Krischok, who didn't know she would be a fan of American football (not to be confused with soccer, which is called football virtually everywhere else in the world).
Sports in a school setting in Germany are also different than they are here in the states - they don't have any.
"They have games from (one) school against another school so that's really cool here," Krischok said of her exposure to school sports at Chelsea High School.
The girl from Germany is a member of the CHS bowling team, when she's not singing in the choir or studying.
Krischok says she enjoys the added dimension to school spirit and pride that comes with school sporting events and the dimension that they add to student culture.
She has only completed one trimester at CHS so far as a senior. Krischok is actually a junior back in Germany, but the YFU program places all exchange students in 12th grade. Her time in Chelsea does not count towards her education, which is currently in a hold status until her return to Europe.
Thanks to technology it's not hard to be an exchange student from an emotional perspective, although the holidays are rough for anyone far from home, Krischok being no exception. And in Germany there is one less holiday to "holidays," as Germany does not celebrate Thanksgiving, she noted.
"I keep in contact with friends over email and chat, and I use a webcam," she said. A calendar given to her by her parents also has a picture of Grimma for the month of July in which her house in the picturesque German town is visible.
The Benson's had some of their own culture shocks taking a German exchange student into their home. For the holidays, they had to introduce Krischok to the idea of Christmas stockings. Initially a simple expression of nationalism like a flag had unexpected pitfalls, according to Rick.
"That thing that surprised me with Lisa was that we have a flag out ... when I knew we were getting Lisa from Germany I got a German flag and she said that in Germany you wouldn't hang your flag outside, (since) you might be considered a Nazi."
German history of the last 100 or so years is probably the touchiest subject for German students. Krischok says she enjoys hearing different perspectives on history in her American classes. In fact, she and some other exchange students have things bounced off of them in class all of the time, she says. "We can put all of this international stuff from our own countries (into the discussion)."
The material recently touched on World War 1 and 2, which will be studied more in depth this month.
Krischok laughs as she talks about one of her history class assignments. "We had to make (U.S.) war propaganda against Germany ... my teacher was like "I'm so sorry."
It wasn't an easy assignment, but she's aware enough of the cultural differences and points of view to appreciate a chance to express a German's view on the subject.
When she's not in school, participating in extracurricular activities or socializing, Krischok absorbs little pieces of American pop culture, such as music. Movies and television shows aren't much different here, aside from the absence of German voices dubbed over the original English voices.
One thing she longs for in Chelsea is a movie theater, which Grimma has.
With two more trimesters to go, Lisa and the Benson family will have more experiences to share. And that's what this program is all about.
Life in America: A German teenager perspective
What is your favorite movie?
I have a lot of favorite movies...American History X, Forrest Gump, Harry Potter, Brokeback Mountain, Europa Europa, Die Kinder des Monsieur Mathieu, La Fabuleux Monde d'Amelie Poulin (the last two are French movies)
What is your favorite music (German and American)?
German: Silbermond, Die Aerzte, Die Toten Hosen
American: I don't know...I don't really like the music at the school dances.
What is your favorite food (German and American)?
German: Spaetzle (kind of noodles)
American: I don't know
What is your favorite television program (German and American)?
"Scrubs" and "Grey's Anatomy."
Where is your favorite spot in Chelsea?
Chelsea High School because I like to study and learn something new, the football field and the bowling alley.
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