My English Experience

A Year Abroad

It was January 2008 when I decided to study abroad for a full academic year. I wanted to explore new things and I wanted to learn about a different culture in a foreign country. At first I had to decide where I wanted to go, but after some days of thinking I decided that it would be best to improve my English skills a bit, so I was sure that I wanted to go to an English speaking country. I thought of New Zealand and Australia, but that was a bit too far away for me, so my final decision was Great Britain. I can still remember how it felt when I found out who my host family was going to be. I was very excited but also a little bit anxious at the same time because it is an enormous step to go to a foreign country, to go to school there and stay with a family you have never met before. The family’s name was White.Their hometown is Oldbury, a suburb of Birmingham, the second biggest city of England. I thought Birmingham was an ugly and industrial city. However, when I saw all the beauty of it the first time I was stunned.  Birmingham is such a great city, you can do lots of things and the city is also a shopping paradise. So I had luck with the destination but better my host family was really nice as well! My host mum usually cooked for me and I also talked to her a lot about school things etc. With my host dad it was slightly different, he wanted to know everything about Austria and my hometown and sometimes I went to play golf with him. Although my host family was nice, it was very hard to settle in because I really missed home but after two weeks of homesickness I was finally cured and I could enjoy the whole experience.   I also went to school there. My school was called Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy (short OSCA). The school was not too good but I got used to it after a little while and then I could actually enjoy it. I especially enjoyed Performing Arts, a subject where you learn about different musicals and you also have drama, singing and dance lessons. The highlight of the subject was a musical theatre performance. In a group we had to perform the musical “Little Shop of Horrors”. We started with our rehearsals in January and we presented the show in April. I was very grateful that I was allowed to play a main character in a country with a different language.

I think that English people have a very different lifestyle compared to the other European people, they drive on the left side of the road and they do not use Euros, they use Pounds. I just think their whole way of being is different and now after ten months being there I can say that I met some nice English people and I also met some friendly people from other

countries, also staying in Great Britain for a year.I am glad that I used this great opportunity to go to England, and I will never forget this great experience.

Jakob WINDISCH 6B

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