Q: What are your hobbies?

A: I do gymnastics and jump rope

Q: What do you miss most about back home?

A: My family. My little brother and my mom.

Q: What is one thing you couldn’t leave home without?

A: My jump rope

Q: What do you want Americans to know?

A: Americans, please build roads for bicycles because I can’t drive and I’m not allowed to drive and I want to get from one spot to another one. But, it’s so hard because everything is so huge in America. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just everything’s bigger than I’m (used to). In Germany, everything’s just a little bit smaller. I wanna just ride (my) bike but the cars are so big and everything’s so fast I can’t go on the street.

Q: What is your biggest pet peeve?

A: What I really hate is when people judge people without knowing them. They’re like, “Oh no, this person is German, I don’t like Germans,” and I’m like, “what the heck, you don’t know every German, I don’t know every German, I don’t know every American,” so that’s kind of what annoys me. Or when they judge about a culture but (they have) never been to the country. If you judge something without knowing what it is, I think that’s it.

Q: What is your favorite American food?

A: I think just burgers.

Q: What’s been the hardest thing to adjust to?

A: You don’t have public buses or trains. In my home in Germany I’d just catch the bus every 20 minutes and just go to the city and meet my friends. It’s so much easier and here I’m not that independent. I always have to ask my host family “could you give me a ride” or something.

Q: What is your favorite color?

A: Really dark red, like Bordeaux (burgundy).

Q: What is your favorite food back home?

A: It’s flammkuchen. It kind of looks like a pizza but without any cheese. It’s like a dough and then you (put) sour cream on it, onions, and bacon. And then you bake it.