I am Till and I am from Oldenburg which is in the North-West of Germany.

I am here hosted by the Rotary Club of Concord which is according to my Club in Germany a pretty big club. All people in both clubs are really nice and helpful which is what appreciate most.

My Rotary Counselor Memory Woodard is great. I see her at least once a week and she helps me with everything. I know I get help for every problem I could have.

My High School, Ygnacio Vally High is nearly as big as my German High School and I have gotten to know many people there. Because school in Germany is a lot harder than here and you do not have as much freedom to choose your classes in Germany, it works pretty good for me here. All the teachers are really good and help me with the language, if I have any problems in there assignments. Most of the students here are also really nice and I have not had any problems finding friends. Of course there are also people I do not like, but that can happen everywhere. I guess it was very important that I joined the school Marching Band because they had a Band Camp a week before school started and I got to know many people before the beginning of school. This group of people is also the group of people I want to call my friends.

My host family is awesome. I have a lot of fun with them and they show me many things in California. Additionally I get to know a lot from the American culture like Halloween, Thanks Giving and Disney.

I like the USA very much and discovered from the beginning, that every person is very friendly. So you feel comfortable with virtual strangers. I got to know that a few things we say in Germany about the American people are right, but most things are pretty wrong.

The start of my exchange year already did what all people said. It changed my mind about how to view things differently. It basically opened my eyes about things I have never seen before. I am happy that I see them now, because I think they are really important.

I hope the year will stay so great like it is, that I will have many friends for a very long time and that I will have a second home here.

If I should decide right now what I want to do for a career I would decide to do something in the field of Economics. Knowing the Language, Culture and a bit about the country of the United States will be most important in that field since the US is the biggest Trading Partner of the European Union.

Rotary has helped me a to understand different cultures better and because of them I now know many people from other countries. Sharing cultures with one another makes understanding easier.

THANK YOU ALL WHO MADE THIS POSSIBLE FOR ME!!!