Why follow me?

For any of you who just stumbled on my blog my name is Austin Beckett and I am a Rotary Youth Exchange student from Elkhart, Indiana to Berlin, Germany for 1 year. If you are interested in anything, or have questions about anything, feel free to send me an email! austingermanexchange@gmail.com Thanks for reading and enjoy :)!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

"Excitement and Envy"


           It is so unbelieveable that I now know where I am going for my year abroad! Everyday I think about my family I wish I could leave tomorrow. But also, I know I cannot, I have to spend time with my biological family first. Family is everything, that is what I always say. I have worked some plans out to spend time with Philipp, (my best friend here from Bremerhaven, Germany) on the weekend of June 11th. Also, him and I are going to be purchasing tickets to go see the midnight special of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II. That is one of the first movies I want to see in Germany. Then also, I have thought of some gifts for my family. One was espically easy Ben. He is an awesome kid, I love the fact that he plays American baseball. The older brother is kind of a challenge, but the two parents are a true challenge. I think I have some things in mind, espically one for all of the family, it is something that is truly a huge part of my culture! Sorry, can't reveal it until I give it to them in case they are actually looking at my blog ;). But once it is given to them I will post a picture on here of what it is. When I skyped with them the first time they said that they knew who my 2nd host family is. They said that they were good friends of theirs, even though I haven't met the 2nd host family yet, I really wanted to say, "So that really means I have to leave you :( ?!" but I didn't. The family is amazing in everyway and I cannot thank Rotary Youth Exchange enough for putting me in one of the greatest places on Earth and with some of the greatest people I know!!!
           Now on to the envy part of the story, everybody I have talked to has said something along the lines of, "I'm so jealous, why didn't I do foreign exchange?!" or, "You are so lucky man!". Although the attention is good some days, other days it just gets annoying. I understand having someone you know being sent to another country is different but don't keep going on and on about it for days! Even Al Diefenbach, the Youth Exchange Chairman is envious. It sometimes is a good thing but other times you just want people to leave you alone.
           I have found that on almost anything I have I write Berlin, or Kleinmachnow or something along those lines. "It seems like you are excited" said my Biology teacher Ms. Jennifer Seidl. At that point I just smiled and said, "Beyond what you will probably ever fathom, being a student studying abroad for a year espcially in Europe. I cannot wait to study the music program there.!!!!!" She just smiled and said, "Have fun but be careful." I said, " I will."
           If you find any spare time and want to see the town I am going to or the school I am going to you can go to the following websites


or my school: http://jfks.de/

I will let you know how the skype meeting this weekend goes after we are done.

Yours truly and ever so excitedly,
Austin A Beckett.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

My Host Family And My City!!!!!!!!

I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!!!!! Ich werde nach Berlin gehen!! I am going to Berlin. Actually, it is a suburb that is a 15 minute bike ride to inner-city Berlin. It is called Kleinmachnow, Germany. My hosts are Terry, Bettina, Anton, and Ben Martin. They are so great! I love everything about them, we were perfectly matched and I wish to thank Rotary Youth Exchange for that!! Below is the letter they sent me and the family picture:


Dear Austin,

with delight we have heard from our Rotary Youth Exchance Officer, Herrn Buchheim, that we will be your first host parents in Germany. Thank you for your long letter in which we could already get to know you a little.  We are really looking forward to having you in our family! We – that is me, Bettina, and my husband Terry and Ben, our 13-year-old son. We also have another son called Anton. He is almost 16 years old and going to Taiwan with the Rotary Exchange Program in August.

We live in a beautiful green suburb in the South of Berlin called Kleinmachnow. We have a nice house with a garden, a chocolate lab called Fido and a black cat called Woody. The neighborhood here is very friendly and quiet, but at the same time it is very close to the wonderful and big city of Berlin. You will be going to the John-F.-Kennedy-School in Berlin-Zehlendorf.  It is a German-American bilingual and bicultural School, where both languages are spoken – German as well as English. The school is about 15 minutes away by bike (there is also a bus). Our two boys have been going to this school all their lives and really love it. They normally take the bike as many of their class mates. The school offers a lot of opportunities – sports, music, cultural experience. There are about 2.000 students from kindergarden up to Abitur (12th grade). You have written that you love to play your saxophone. If you want you can probably  join the brass orchestra at school. I am sure, they will be happy to have a new member.  

You might now wonder, why our children go to an American-German school. It is because I am German and Terry American. He spent his first five years in Canada and then moved to North Carolina, before he came to Germany in 1990. Terry is a journalist and works for Deutsche Welle TV as well as for the European Union as a consultant.

I was born in Berlin and have lived here all my life. Except for 1 year, when I went to University at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. That´s where Terry and I met. I work in politics. When not working, we enjoy spending our time in nature – we have a canoo and like touring the Berlin waters with it. Ben and I love to play tennis. Terry regularly goes swimming. We  enjoy nice weather outside, go hiking  or biking with our dog. But we also tremendously enjoy to go to the theatre, museums or just spend time with friends.

Ben is already looking forward to having you as a “substitute brother”. He is a very friendly and sporty guy. He enjoys playing the violine and plays it in the school orchestra. He plays tennis and in the summer he plays on a baseball team. He loves that!
I am attaching a picture of us.

We are looking forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions and if we can help you with any information for getting ready for the big trip, let us know.
Herr Buchheim told us that the Rotary Club “Spree” will help you with German lessons at the beginning. Ben, Anton and I always speak German at home. So, you will have plenty of opportunity to dive into our language… ;-)
Please give your mom our best regards.

Yours,
Bettina, Terry, Ben and Anton

Happy to finally have a home and family! I cannot wait to meet them in person!