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General Info | Contacts | Role

Found Alumni from our class:

Kelli Gaffield kccgaff@qwest.net
Susan Eby-Chism susanchism@hospitalitech.com
Sheila Russell Sheila_Russell@jdedwards.com

Richard Tierney tierney@fh-pforzheim.de
Richard's update:After YFU, I went to the University of CT, went on the overseas program to Austria but stayed 3 years. I returned to the US, finished my degree and worked for a year for the State of CT. Then I moved to Boston and worked for a year as a Risk Management Consultant (insurance), and later moved to London, taught German for 3 years and finally moved to Germany and have been teaching ESL ever since.

From David Smith (daveochkristi@msn.com), your class contact:
Even though I wasn't smart enough to keep photographs of my year in Germany in a convenient place so that I can now post them here, I have great memories lodged deep in mein Kopf that are worth more than a million pictures. Like our first week together in Hamburg, where that "witch" of a lady with the black hair tried desperately to keep us corralled in the Jugendherberge. Although YFU was kind enough to "throw" a beer tasting party for us, remember that "the brains of the outfit" hammered a tap completely through one of the wooden kegs and wasted half of our Bier supply.

Ooooooh, then we all split up and went to our little "language camps". I was in Bremen, where a few names come to mind whom I desperately would love to talk to again. Richard who reveled in riding in "Vati's Bay-M-Vay 7 litre" and Melissa (aka Kate J.) who rode with me on the train back to Lesum every afternoon. What was our teacher's name? I still see her blond hair and rather "accommodating" attitude towards our constant "field trips" and afternoon Schlafpausen. Riding bikes with Stephanie to the point of complete disorientation. Our final "farewell party" at my house, where we received our actual host family information. We all said good-bye to each other and in most cases, quickly lost touch with each other.

But then we had the best year of our lives, didn't we? Going to school, traveling, probably breaking a few rules along the way. Getting to know and live with our host families. In my case, the family dog knew more Deutsch than me, but I was always able to understand when dinner was ready.

The first couple of tough months turned into an absolute blast. The card games (Skat anyone?), family parties, and the day when I suddenly realized that the class I was in at school was Biology and I blurted out "this is Biology" and the teacher said to me "Der Ami spricht!". By Jan. I was invited to give "lectures" on the American Constitution (auf deutsch natürlich) and was able to understand all of the jokes from my friends told me and occasionally appreciate that special brand of German "humor".

I took a few trips, some with the Familie and others by myself. But the YFU trips were interesting weren't they? For some of us, let's leave those late night images for another, more private venue. The year was definitely way too short, and we all met again in Hamburg for our flight home. I would guess most of us left noticeably heavier, much wiser, and a little annoyed that the people in the U.S. were not going to be able to understand German.

That was 1977/78 meine Damen und Herren! My host family and I still talk and email each other constantly. My brothers have kids the same ages as mine, so our late night talks include family exchanges, wedding arrangements (the oldest kids are 5 and 6, so we getting an early start), and knowing that the world is a little smaller and our lives together are pretty "verdammt gut!"

now if I could just find those pictures................