Ryan Myers travels with Rotary International to Germany

By Jessica Berg, Eagle Eye reporter

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel outside of the United States and live somewhere else for a whole year? This is exactly what TAHS senior Ryan Myers did.

From August 2010 to June 201, Myers lived in the “big” city of Fulda, Germany. Although this wasn’t his first trip out of the country, this was his first trip to Europe with Rotary International. (In 2006, Myers traveled to Canada.) While in Germany, he visited the cities of Fulda, Frankfurt, Berlin, and Darmstadt.

The population of Fulda is approximately 65,000 people as opposed to the 6,000 Tyrone residences that Myers is accustom to. In contrast to the population, much of the German landscape looked as though it was part of Central Pennsylvania. The weather was also much like Pennsylvania.

“It rained a lot in Germany, and it wasn’t too hot either,” Myers said.

Myers actually prefers the schooling here in America to the schooling in Germany, but stated that schools in Germany are more advanced.

“For example, students begin learning chemistry in 5th grade,” Myers said.

According to Myers, German students can’t participate in after-school activities or sports because they just aren’t offered.

Just because there weren’t any activities or sports doesn’t mean Myers didn’t have anything fun to do. While on his trip, he went rock climbing with a group of people, volunteered in a kindergarten class, and went shopping.

Myers said that German food was “amazing” and that he “especially loved the bread.”

While on his trip, Myers became 75 to 85% fluent in German but said that his language abilities are decreasing since he isn’t constantly using the language.

Often times foreign exchange students get to travel to other host families throughout the country they are visiting, and this was no different for Myers.
During his stay in Germany, Myers lived with two host families and about every two months, he would switch back from family to family. This allowed him to explore more of the country and get to meet more people. In Germany Myers was constantly outside with the families, and they took many family trips to other parts of the country.

Myers made many new friends that he still keeps in contact with through Skype and Facebook.

Myers became an exchange student through the Rotary International Exchange Program. According to their website, Rotary International has more than 1.2 million members and more than 34,000 clubs worldwide. The Rotary Club of Tyrone (Club No. 5292) was the club that made Myers’ trip possible.

In 2009 Myers began the exchange student process by attending a school meeting and then attending a meeting with the Rotary members at Burley’s. From there Myers had to be interviewed and has to speak with members.

As soon as he was chosen, Myers began fundraising because a trip like this was very expensive. In the months before his trip, Myers did multiple fundraisers, held dinners to raise money, and saved the money he made from working. Although this seems to like a lot of work, Myers said it wasn’t anything compared to the community donations he received.

“Community donations really helped. I received so much money from the community,” Myers said.

When asked if other students should be involved in foreign exchange, Myers replied, “Do it. [Being an exchange student] was one of the best things that I’ve done.”