Laura Haid

In August 2013, I did a Rotary Exchange in a small town near Hannover, Germany. I lived with three different host

families with which I shared unique and exciting experiences. With my first host family, I had a younger host brother, host mother, host father and a cute dog named Diego. My first host family was so caring. They treated me like their own and would help me through the various struggles I had on exchange such as homesickness and depression. We shared many memorable experiences together such as a cruise in the Mediterranean, going to Oktoberfest, visiting the Italian Alps, and celebrating a traditional German Christmas and New Year. Shortly after Christmas, I moved to my second host family where I lived in a home that was much larger than I was accustomed to. My host brother was the same age as me and he had recently returned from an exchange in Texas the previous year. With my second host family, we visited their cabin in the Austrian Alps to go skiing and watch the men’s world cup downhill. Since I had been a downhill ski racer for over ten years, this experience was very memorable to me. We also visited their cabin in the Black Forest where we met with family friends to hike, sled and eat lots of traditional Black Forest foods. Shortly before my exchange ended, I moved to a third host family where I had three host siblings: one younger sister and two younger brothers. My favourite day with my third host family was when we went to the airbase to fly my host father’s plane. It was an incredible experience and my first time flying a plane.

School life on my exchange was much different from going to school in Canada. I went to the local Gymnasium in my town where there were over 2000 students from grade 4 to 12. I made a few good friends in school however, I was very bored, much like school in Canada. The best part of my exchange was going to the city where I attended a German learning school to learn German and attended fitness classes. I also liked to explore Hannover with the other exchange students. The exchange students in my district had a lot of events to attend like a sleepover in a castle, visiting a castle on an island, having events in school gyms, and visiting Christmas markets. Most memorably, I attended a EuroTour with the exchange students in my district. We visited Belgium, France, Monaco, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. Through the Rotary Exchange, I learned to have confidence in myself, to speak German, and I made friendships that will last a lifetime.

I visited Germany again later in 2016 visit my host families. As some things are the same, many things in my life changed because of Rotary exchange. I am now close to finishing my university degree in business administration and I am currently training in the navy reserves. I have looked back on those days, the good and the bad, and I see how much I grew as a person. Rotary exchange is an experience of a lifetime and I am lucky to have had that experience.