Ways to Connect...

Alumni Contact Network
Chorale Alumni Site (leave our site)
Alumni Activities
Contact Volunteers and Staff
Volunteer Interest Form
Be an Alumni Coordinator
Alumni Referral
Join a YFU Email Group

General Info | Contacts | Role

Hi! My name is Helen Truax, and I had the experience of a lifetime in 2000-2001. I spent that year as an exchange student in Germany. It was a truly unique experience, and everything I did over there gave me a new perspective on my life. Often I would be asked "Why is something like this in America?" or find myself thinking, "Why is it we do this differently where I come from? Why one way and not another?"

Another wonderful part of being an exchange student was the opportunity to meet people from all over Germany and the world. I made many good friends in school in eastern Germany, but because my OSK was in western Germany I knew people from there as well, who sometimes offered a different perspective on things. Not only that, but through various YFU-sponsored activities, I met people from as far away as Romania, Khazakstan and Japan, as well as closer-to-home countries such as Mexico and Australia. All had a different view of things, and everyone was incredibly friendly and willing to share their background and opinions. I really have YFU to thank for opening up the world to me.

-Helen Truax, Germany '00-'01
gold_elf@hotmail.com