Last year Wadsworth High School hosted several foreign exchange students. Two of those students, Vivienne Katarzyna and Aaron Kienlein, from Germany, traveled back to Ohio for their spring break. The pair always knew they wanted to come back to visit and experience the U.S. again outside of their exchange year.
“After I left, it was hard for me to adjust to Germany again,” said Katarzyna. “I missed America so much, my friends, and the environment. I wanted to say a final goodbye and experience everything again before starting my adult life.”
During their two-week visit, they stayed with Kienlein’s previous host parents. Katarzyna left school a day early for spring break to catch her flight from Germany. She arrived in Cleveland, Ohio on Friday, March 15th, 2024, and flew back home on Friday, March 29th, 2024, where she now has 4 days until school resumes.
Kielein departed from Germany on Sunday, March 24th, with his friend Timo Jaeger, who was also a previous foreign exchange student from Germany last year. However, Jaeger was at Revere High School.
Kienlein stayed in Wadsworth for one week, and Jaeger stayed with his previous host parents in Fairlawn for one week. For the final week of their trip, they vacationed in Hilton Head with Kienlein’s previous host parents and their current exchange students before they flew back home to Germany. They all got the chance to see their friends and classmates they met during their exchange year and also got the chance to indulge in food and entertainment opportunities they did not get to experience during their exchange year.
Jaeger got to go to Topgolf for the first time with some of his friends, Kataryna got Dairy Queen for the first time, and all three got to try Raising Canes with some of their friends. Katarzyna also attended school for a day to visit her former teachers and classmates. They were happy to have the opportunity to visit and get to experience more of America but say it will be a few years before they visit again.
“My friends are gonna visit in 2025, and I will probably take a gap year [before college] somewhere besides America to experience different cultures outside of America and I plan to travel a lot,” Kienlein said. ‘
The two will be forever grateful for their take on the American Dream.
“I will always love the time I got to experience here in America but I think this is the end of an experience,” Katarzyna said.
