Mason OH
11-05-2024 5:02pm

Mason Teen Shares Her Experience Living Abroad In Germany

Contributed Photo: Aditi in the middle with a CBYX friend (left), and one of her host sisters (right) in Nuremberg at a Christmas market.
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To hear more about Aditi's experience as a foreign exchange student in Germany  watch the above video.

MASON, OH -- Getting to travel and study outside the U.S. is only a dream for many, but for Mason Junior Aditi Muthyala that dream became a reality last year. During her sophomore year, Aditi attended school at Reichenbach Gymnasium in Ennepetal, Germany.

"We were so proud of her," said her father Vishvanath Muthyala, who explained that Aditi did most of the investigating and application work herself. Also, she was one of only three or four freshman in the U.S. that was accepted into the Council on International Educational Exchange.

"Most of the other 250 students (who were accepted) were upper classman," Aditi added.

The Cost 

Aditi's experience was basically a non-expense for her and her family for it was paid for by the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) Scholarship, which is a bi-lateral exchange program co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and German Bundestag (Parliament).

(Contributed Photo) Aditi and the rest of the 50 students who also took part in the CBYX Program, specifically with Experiment e.V, as well as some of the Experiment volunteers who were in charge of our group during our End-Year Seminar in Berlin. In the photo, the group is on top of the German Bundestag building!

The youngest of the Muthyala children, Aditi’s parents said that they were so excited she was chosen, it really didn’t hit them that they were sending their "baby" off for a year until it happened.

“When we dropped her off in August, she was just 15," her father explained. 

“She had her 16th birthday while she was there," her mother Roopa added. 

Even though their daughter was over 4,000 miles away both, Aditi and her parents said that they felt she was safe. Vishy explained that ICEE kept them very informed and did a great job with communications.

"And with technology, we were able to talk with her once a week and did daily messaging," her mom said, adding that Aditi's host parents were very good at communicating with them, as well on what Aditi was doing and places she would be or had visited. 

The Language Barrier

(Contributed Photo) Bad Laasphe, where the language camp was located. The photo was taken in front of the Mayor's office in the town.

Aditi, not knowing any German when she first arrived, explained she spent her first four weeks learning the language and the culture.  "It was pretty much like a boarding school. We all stayed together and took the same classes," she explained, adding that it wasn't until two weeks into this part of the program that she learned where she'd be going and who her host family was. 

Aditi, who was already bi-lingual, explained that getting to live in the culture and being surrounded by the German language made it easier to learn. Aditi said by winter break she was dreaming in German, which According to research, particularly a study by Canadian psychologist Joseph De Koninck, it is a sign you are mastering the language. 

Traveling

(contributed) Aditi in Amsterdam, which was one of her favorite solo trips that she was able to take throughout her time!

Some of the places Aditi had the opportunity while inf Germany were such as Berlin and Düsseldorf or Bavaria.

Aditi hopes to travel back to Germany again someday and is very happy she applied to ICEE to be a foreign exchange student.

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