Foreign experience

Moritz Krug becomes immersed in American culture

For a 14-year-old, leaving his or her home country for a full year might be overwhelming. That wasn't the case for Silver Lake senior Moritz Krug.

Krug elected to enroll as a foreign exchange student because his English wasn't as skillful as he thought it should be. Krug became connected with the group SHARE that sponsors foreign exchange students.

"My English wasn't very good, and the teachers in Germany weren't very good, so I decided to come to America," he said.

To enter America, Krug had to provide his visa and was asked if he was involved with terrorist activities or selling drugs. After providing the proper forms, Krug took a flight from his home in Berlin, the capital of Germany which has a population of 3.5 million people, to Frankfort, Germany. He said the flight lasted two hours. He then flew nine hours to Chicago and then about an hour and a half to Kansas City.

Krug said he really misses one sport since he left Germany.

Krug said, "Soccer is my favorite sport. I played it for 11 years in Germany. It's very fast and exciting. Things can change very quickly, and you have to play as a team."

Since Krug left Germany, he has experimented with a few new sports.

"For two weeks, I played football. It was like a new language. It was hard to learn because I was always watching and really never got to play and didn't have enough time to learn  all the strategies of football. I then switched to cross country and won two medals in my first two races," he said.

Since switching to cross country, Krug has really enjoyed the sport.

Krug said, "It's most similar to soccer. I like how everyone is involved in the sport, and our coach, Mr. Lampe, is very nice to me."

Back home in Germany, Krug has one sister who is 15 and three step brothers who are one, five and nine. His school life has also changed since he left Germany. Back home, Krug had more subjects, no block scheduling, and the hours he was at school were different every day.

Krug is enjoying his stay with his host family, the Corwins from Silver Lake.

"They are very kind. I don't have to do much house work, just clean the dishwasher and take out the garbage," he said.

Krug did say his main dislike about America was the air conditioning.

"It makes it very cold. In Germany, we don't really have air conditioning," he said.

Krug also expressed some of the misconceptions by Germans about America.

"I heard that everybody rides bicycles in America, and I heard America was very Catholic," he said.

He said he liked the atmosphere of America because everybody's more social. Krug also expressed some of his new favorites about America. His favorite food is burritos. His favorite animal is a moose, and his favorite places to visit are Las Vegas, Hawaii, and Niagara Falls, or a nice afternoon in the the "Big" Topeka shopping mall. His favorite bands are System of a Down, Green Day, EmenEm, Kenye West, and 50 Cent.

Krug also compared social activities between America and Germany.

"The biggest difference for me is in America, school and athletics are combined. I like that a lot better. I also like football. It has a lot more emotion than sports in Germany," he said.

Krug also stated that another substantial difference between America and Germany is transportation.

Krug said, "In Germany, we use public transportation like trains or buses. In America, most people drive cars."

Krug talked about differences in laws between America and Germany.

"In Germany, it's legal to drink when you're 16, and most people in America get drunk when they drink. But in Germany, you just go home after school and have one beer. Also, you can't drive in Germany until you're 18, but in America, you can drive when you're 16," he concluded.

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