On Aug 8 Lea Moldenhauer arrived in the U.S. as a foreign exchange student attending Big Spring through a program known as CPYX, where she came from a small town in Germany called Keil.
Moldenhauer became a foreign exchange student through a program called CPYX, which is a scholarship program for high school students offering a chance of school in both America and Germany. Three hundred and fifty students are selected for the completely cost-free scholarships with an extensive list of requirements. This scholarship has a 2% admission rate and is considered to be one of the world’s most competitive scholarships.
Moldenhauer said, “The whole application process was quite exciting for me, but also very interesting and nice, because I was able to learn a lot about myself and also got to know a lot of new people, and I still am.”
Moldenhauer is a junior from Germany who is looking forward to learning about American culture and improving her English. She speaks three languages, but her native language is German. In Germany, they begin teaching Latin in elementary school and they will continue taking classes for four years. She started learning English in Germany, hoping to improve her skills after coming to America. Moldenhauer is most looking forward to Christmas in America as it differs from Christmas in Germany.
Moldenhauer said, “I’m looking forward to Christmas because I get to experience it in a completely different setting than usual and I’m sure I’ll get to experience some new traditions.”
German Christmas begins four weeks prior with the lighting of the first candle, which will continue with the lighting of a new candle every Sunday until Christmas. Christmas in Germany is much more based around food with the rise of Christmas markets and baking traditional Christmas treats. She hopes it’s just as fun as that of Germany and is interested to see how they differ.
Even though Moldenhauer is returning to Germany after this year she has still established good relationships at Big Spring. She will be sad to leave her new friends behind as she will return to Germany to finish her senior year of schooling. Moldenhauer said, “Making friends with people at Big Spring is easier as they are more friendly and willing to talk while in Germany people are more quiet and tend to stick with themselves.”
