Frey Bermann (he/him), 12, is a foreign exchange student visiting from Germany. He has been in America for two months and will be departing next June, at the end of the school year.
Bermann is a student often recognized for academic success. He wanted to immerse himself in an opportunity that could benefit him for the rest of his life.
“I’m here on a scholarship, so I had to learn a lot about U.S. politics, the U.S. government and also more about the German government. I already knew how to speak English because we have that as a subject in Germany since the third grade,” Bermann said.
Along with learning about America, he had to prove to leaders in Germany that he was a student who should have the privilege to come to America.
“It [completing scholarship] took me two years in a row. The first year I didn’t get a scholarship, but we had a meeting where we wrote a head [letter] of motivation. Then we had to talk with a guy from Bundestag, our German parliament, and convince him to take me. Beforehand, though, I had a lot of meetings with him, so we had a pretty good relationship,” Bermann said.
The program that Bermann got his scholarship through is a well-known organization in Germany. The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) is jointly funded and managed by the American and German governments. CBYX allows students to travel to America, to get better acquainted with German culture by attending the local high school of the host family they stay with. They also give out 300 scholarships to different high schoolers every year.
Bermann could have been an exchange student in many different countries, but America was his top choice.
“My choice was between the U.S. and Canada, but I thought the U.S. was much cooler with culture, and Germany thinks pretty positively of the U.S…Plus, the exchange in the U.S. was a pretty difficult thing to get, so it challenged me,” Bermann said.
Bermann stated that the change to American schooling wasn’t too hard, but there are some key differences. One of the biggest changes is that German schools have an elementary school, primary school and secondary school, instead of high school. The secondary school includes a 13th grade.
Along with traveling to America for schooling, Bermann has decided to be involved in athletics, too. During this fall season, Bermann is a member of the football team at Liberty. This was way out of his comfort zone, as he had barely played American football before.
“I didn’t really play American football before I came here; I only really played a couple of practices with a German club. And I already knew before I came to the U.S. that I wanted to play American football, so I watched a lot of YouTube and tried to watch the NFL. I mainly just tried to inform myself by reading stuff and learning the rules,” Bermann said.
Bermann alluded to the fact that the U.S. takes sports, specifically football, a lot more seriously than they do in Germany.
“When I first came here I had to write and ask Chandler [head coach of Liberty football], if it would be okay to join the team and try a few practices, and he agreed. Here [in America] the practices are six times a week, where in Germany we had practice two times a week. We also can only play sports through clubs in Germany, school sports aren’t a thing,” Bermann said.
Bermann described football as “mentally challenging, but fun.” He pushes his boundaries on what he can accomplish, including sports.
Before traveling to America, Bermann played men’s volleyball and tennis in his hometown. Bermann is planning on challenging himself even further in the winter season, as he is deciding whether he wants to join the bowling team.
Within his short time in America, Bermann has already had some great experiences that he will keep for when he goes back to Germany.
“I think the homecoming dance is one of my favorite memories here, dancing with friends and just having fun, while at school. It was brand new to me; we didn’t have dances in Germany,” Bermann said.
Bermann implied that his time at Liberty has not only taught him new knowledge about America and the culture here, but has also given him some very great friendships.
