Current Testimonials

2009

David Lowenstein '08

I am currently spending a gap year in Aachen, Germany (a historic, German city that borders the Netherlands and Belgium) through ASSE. The first week of the program is spent in at a Sprach Camp (language camp) in Rastatt. During this first week you have the opportunity to meet other exchange students, improve on the language, and learn helpful tips about living in Germany. The camp also takes you on different excursions throughout the week. This year we traveled to Strasbourg, France and Hiedelberg. The host family I am staying with is great. At first it was hard to fully feel comfortable in a new household, but two months into the program I now feel truly at home. I attend a local Gymnasium (high school), where I take all classes in German. The classes are hard form a language perspective, but most of the information I already learned at Andover, so it truly gives me an opportunity to focus on the language. After only four years of German at Andover, I am able to take all exams (3 hours long) in German. After school I go home for lunch and then either go to sports practices (I have even joined a field hockey team because in Germany it is a men's sport) or hang out with friends. With public transportation it is really easy to travel around Germany and Europe. Already I have gone with friends or my host family has taken me to London, Paris, Lyon, Netherlands, and Belgium.

Marianna Jordan '09

I have been living and working at King's Academy, which is the first co-educational boarding school in the Middle East (quite an amazing thing, actually). We are located in Madaba-Manja, Jordan which is about 30 minutes away from the capital, Amman.

Read our blog here!

I have loved my experience here so far. Last year if you had told me some of the things that I would be doing during my Gap Year, I literally wouldn't have believed you. My friend Sophie Shimer (also an Andover '09 alum) and I work together in the Round Square and Community Partnership office at King's. Round Square is an international organization composed of over 60 schools worldwide - they work on establishing 6 IDEALS (internationalism, democracy, environment, adventure, leadership, and service) into programs for students around the world. Simone and Nayab (both Andover '08) worked tirelessly last year so that King's could become a Round Square regional member and this year Sophie and I are working on creating programs that fall under the Round Square umbrella so that we can become a full member.

Our boss, Tessa Fairbairn (who is a fabulous woman from South Africa) is in India right now representing King's Academy at a Round Square conference. I can't stress this enough about my gap year at King's - it is PHENOMENAL work experience. Sophie and I essentially run the Community Service program here because our boss is so busy teaching her English classes. Simone and Nayab did a great job last year of setting up several community partnerships around the Amman region in Jordan (and also beyond) and now it is our job this year to solidify these partnerships.

I will tell you a bit about some of the projects that we are working on, and with which organizations. Right now we are in the midst of setting up a Habitat for Humanity chapter at King's! We are going on several Saturday building projects, which will be full day events stationed in different locations all around Jordan. We are going to Habaka, Jordan in a few weeks for our first build. It looks like we will also be going to Budapest, Hungary on a Habitat trip over spring break! It is quite eye-opening to be doing the logistical work behind this sort of thing - I have a whole new appreciation for the kind of effort it takes to send a group of students and faculty on one of these kinds of trips!

We also had a big event this weekend with the King Hussein Cancer Foundation - we are running/walking in the first ever Amman International Marathon! Sophie and I put together a team from King's and we all ran 10k in support of this organization. Reclaim Childhood is another organization that we have a partnership with. The organization was started after the Iraq war - we run sports clinics and other activities with Iraqi refugee girls. Yesterday we also spoke with a Jordanian representative from an organization called Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). They bring Jordanians, Palestinians, and Israelis together to fight common environmental problems in the Middle East. They primarily address the water shortage issue and environmental sustainability in farming. We're going on a conference to the Dead Sea in a few weeks to meet with representatives from the other schools and then we're going to Southern Israel for our November vacation.

I love working with these organizations (many of which have just gotten off the ground) although it is difficult at times - I definitely have a huge appreciation now for American efficiency in the workplace. There are many many things that I love about this culture, although I have definitely found that Middle Easterners do not have the sense of deadlines or accountability that we are used to in the US.

Other than my internship, I have been traveling and exploring quite a bit with the other Junior Fellows (that is technically my title). We went to Beirut, Lebanon for our October vacation and did quite a bit of sightseeing there. We are also busy planning a trip to Damascus, Syria and Jerusalem for our next vacation in November.

2008

Simone Henry '08

Greetings from Johannesburg!

I hope all is well with you and your family. I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to check back in with you and let you know how I am doing, but because the African Leadership Academy is a new school, the beginning has been quite hectic. I am just settling into a routine as the first term comes to a close, but I have been enjoying it more an more each day. As far as my routine is concerned... I attend British A-level classes in the morning: my traditional favorite subjects as well as African Studies, Geography and Swahili. Then, I head off to community service in the afternoon. The service site is a community center/ preschool called Emthonjeni at the center of the Zandspruit township. At Emthonjeni, all 212 children have HIV or AIDS and we provide the kids with two warm meals a day, ARVs, and relative security. The older kids come to Emthonjeni around 2pm after school and stay until 8 pm but the younger kids (2 to 5 year olds), who I work with, attend school at Emthonjeni from 6:30 am until 8:00 pm. From the time I exit the bus at Emthonjeni I go straight to the kitchen and help cook for all the kids (it is soooo hot in there!) and then help distribute ARVs in the clinic. After that I go play with the little kids until they eat, but we intend to launch the curriculum we have designed for them in January with educational play and English language lessons. Then I go to the "library," which is currently a crate of 100 books, and work with my team to generate ideas on improving the library. My job specifically is creating a reading program like "Read to Succeed" that will inspire a passion for reading in these kids which we are hoping will strengthen their very limited educational foundation. Therefore, I am in desperate need of childrens' books so if you have any old one's lying around please let me know.

Outside of South Africa I have become engaged with a program called Youth Action International, which brings relief to children across post-war west Africa and I have launched several fundraising initiatives on their behalf www.youthactioninternational.org Check it out! That being said, if you will be in the New York area on the 21st of December, please stop by my house for a party to raise funds for YAI.

I am enjoying ALA and making friends from around the world. My best friends live in Turkey, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, Lebanon, Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa and having a Senegalese roommate allows me to practice a lot of French. The British A-level grading is hard but I am adjusting and so all is well.

Nate Thomas '08

Living everyday with a Chinese family does wonders in helping integrate into Chinese culture, but one Sunday in November, I had my eyes opened a little bit wider than I expected. My host parents had previously introduced me to a Chinese kid about my age, and on this particular Sunday, he and I thought it would be fun to take the bus to a roller-skating disco. What started with him and me freely chatting about which English books he liked, unfortunately ended with my friend tripping on his skates and me accompanying him to the hospital. He fortunately suffered no serious injury, but what I saw while I waited for him in the Emergency Room I will not easily forget.

When thinking of that hospital, the first word that comes to mind is “chaos.” People are running everywhere. First they run to a desk in the lobby to check in; then they run to a different station to get some paper stamped. They then hurry to go find the doctor and actually get looked at. After that’s all finished, they scurry back to the lobby to get more papers stamped. If you need to get a shot, even more papers require some sort of stamped authorization. All the while, more people are in the halls waiting, worrying, and weeping over their sick or recently deceased loved ones. If foreigners require medical attention, they usually go to foreign-run hospitals strictly catering to English speakers. The plan to go roller skating ended up giving me the chance to see things I probably would not have otherwise seen. For a few hours, I got to live a life similar to that of a Chinese person, and although it was definitely not the most heart-warming experience, it is definitely my most vivid memory.