Texas- The American Dream II

Hier der Anfang, den Marvin schon geschickt hat:

Texas- The American Dream


Hey! My name’s Marvin Groh and I’m proud to be a part of the 11th grade of the RLO. Well, maybe proud, but obviously kind of bored. I mean, what else could be the reason for spending a year in Texas, separated from your friends, alone in the desert, no one around helping you, giving you water, for ten months…
However, I am glad to state that boredom was not the reason, why I’m finally here in Wylie, a small town, about an hour away from Dallas. The problem is that I don’t really know what actually led me to this decision. All I know is that I will never regret it. Why?
Come in and find out!

Part two

November, 15th 2008

Three months have past since I’ve left the airport in Berlin and arrived at the airport in Dallas. Three months of changes, challenges, hoping and waiting, but today is The Day: I’ll watch the new Bond: Quantum of Solace! A strange feeling of satisfaction is streaming through my body, while I’m looking forward to the special agent 007, who is again going to save the world!
But as I already stated, I’m here for three months now, and a lot of things happened. When I want to tell you about my exchange year in the U.S., you probably expect me to start at the beginning. That’s what you usually do, when you read a book, don’t you? You start at the first page (or you are one of those people who read the last page first in order to tell everybody, if Harry Potter really survives his last adventure; screw you!). I’m afraid to tell you that I hardly remember all that stuff (seriously, I remember all of it as if it happened yesterday, but I don’t have that much space, so just play the game with me). All I know is that I had three days in NY before I met my family and those days were great. New York is a really nice town, and it’s just awesome to see all these sights by standing in front of them and not by staring at a fifty-cent-post card.
Anyway, the day had arrived to meet the family, with that I would live a whole year. Actually, I was meeting just my host Dad Steve and their former foreign exchange student Claudia, also from Germany. As a matter of fact, she wouldn’t talk to me in German and so the first communication problems wouldn’t have been surprising. After all it wasn’t that bad.

Sollen wir hier eig auch berichtigen oder soll das authentisch bleiben, um die sprachliche Verbesserung mit nachvollziehen zu können?^^

ist das alles? er hört ja mittendrin auf.
dennoch muss das unbedingt mit rein

So. Hier die ganze Kolumne:

Texas- The American Dream


Hey! My name’s Marvin Groh and I’m proud to be a part of the 11th grade of the RLO. Well, maybe proud, but obviously kind of bored. I mean, what else could be the reason for spending a year in Texas, separated from your friends, alone in the desert, no one around helping you, giving you water, for ten months…
However, I am glad to state that boredom was not the reason, why I’m finally here in Wylie, a small town, about an hour away from Dallas. The problem is that I don’t really know what actually led me to this decision. All I know is that I will never regret it. Why?
Come in and find out!

Part two

November, 15th 2008

Three months have past since I’ve left the airport in Berlin and arrived at the airport in Dallas. Three months of changes, challenges, hoping and waiting, but today is The Day: I’ll watch the new Bond: Quantum of Solace! A strange feeling of satisfaction is streaming through my body, while I’m looking forward to the special agent 007, who is again going to save the world!
But as I already stated, I’m here for three months now, and a lot of things happened. When I want to tell you about my exchange year in the U.S., you probably expect me to start at the beginning. That’s what you usually do, when you read a book, don’t you? You start at the first page (or you are one of those people who read the last page first in order to tell everybody, if Harry Potter really survives his last adventure; screw you!). I’m afraid to tell you that I hardly remember all that stuff (seriously, I remember all of it as if it happened yesterday, but I don’t have that much space, so just play the game with me). All I know is that I had three days in NY before I met my family and those days were great. New York is a really nice city, and it’s just awesome to see all these sights by standing in front of them and not by staring at a fifty-cent-post card.
Anyway, the day had arrived to meet the family, I would spent a whole year with. Actually, I was meeting just my host Dad Steve and their former foreign exchange student Claudia, also from Germany. As a matter of fact, she wouldn’t talk to me in German and so the first communication problems wouldn’t have been surprising. After all it wasn’t that bad. A few days later we picked up my host Mom Sharon from the airport and finally we were a happy, united family.
But very soon, the next week, a new problem came up: school. Actually, I mean by this my registration at my local school and planning my schedule. After a few auditions for one or two of my classes and after meeting all my teachers, I was officially student at Wylie High. However, the probably both most difficult and most exciting challenge was That Wylie Band, marching band of Wylie High. Since I’ve been sure that I’m going to be an exchange student, it was clear to me that I won’t leave Germany without my alto sax. And so it was. Therefore, I made a lot of new experiences, and that only by being a member in That Wylie Band. It also helped me to find new friends very easily and very quickly. First, I needed to learn how to march. It isn’t as easy as it looks like, but in the end I seemed to be better than all the Freshmen. I might have to explain this. High schools occupy four grades (grade 9-12). After twelve grades most students go to college. The order of grade identifications is: Freshman, Sophmore, Junior and finally Senior. Therefore I’m a Junior (11th grade).
Anyway, after I’d learned how to march I had to memorize steps and music of our competition show, that lasts about seven minutes. I also was in Varsity Band, which is the actual competition band. That means, that I had to get up at 5 am each morning for morning rehearsal. In the end we made a really good place at the UIL Area competition and I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot of new stuff. Another advantage of participating in band is that you are actually forced to go to all the football games, which besides are more than ‘just’ a Big Deal in America, really amazing. No kidding.
But marching season is over and concert season just started with Christmas concerts and All Region Music and although I was (besides morning rehearsal and very short nights) sort of sad that this finally great marching season is over now, I’m looking forward to all the other experiences I will certainly make. The year here in Wylie/ Texas/ USA has just started.

In the end “Quantum of Solace” wasn’t that good. It doesn’t have the old James-Bond-Flair. Sharon said they have a new director and you can tell they do, in my opinion. Tempora mutantur. Times change, the world changes and so do I.
After watching a movie I kind of hung around with my friends a bit. It was the first time that we’ve done something like this. American students are under a big pressure concerning school, especially high school, so there isn’t that much time for meeting friends or something like this. Finally I had a feeling of arrival, hard to explain. It was not the same like meeting friends in Germany, I mean it was sort of. It was like the beginning of something else, but the same, just different, in a different place. I have a second home, now. There’s no place on earth, that I can call the home, anymore. Nevertheless, I’ll come back, and I’m looking also forward to my return. But until then a lot of things will happen, I’ll meet many new people, I’ll travel, I’ll work, and the most important thing: I’ll have much more fun.
Have a great Christmas and an awesome start in 2009.
See y’all,
Marvin Groh