Three international students from Fort Hays State University visited the international club to give a presentation about some differences between the United States and their country on Nov. 5.

Julia Daitche, Yvonne Brieger and Zuzanna Lewandowska, all students from Germany, started off talking about where they were from and why they came to America.

The students are originally from different cities in the German state North Rhine-Westphalia.

According to Lewandowska this state is heavily populated with about 17.5 million people living within the borders. The area of this state is only about 13,100 square miles.

There are many cities in the area such as Essen, Duisburg, Cologne and Düsseldorf. The cities are very close together and the transportation system is much different than it is here.

“We ride busses, trams, trains and cabs because it costs a lot more to park,” Daitche said.

With everything so close, many people also walk or ride bicycles to get around.

“The people in Germany become more independent earlier than they do here where kids are pretty much dependent on their parents until they are about sixteen,” international club sponsor Ann Adams said.

The international students all attend the University of Duisburg-Essen. In the meeting they talked about the differences between their school and FHSU. One significant difference was the schools in Germany don’t have organized sports teams.

Athletes join sports clubs that are hosted by the town or churches. According to Lewandowska, German students don’t usually wear attire with the school’s logo on it like many people attending Fort Hays do.

“Wearing a University sweatshirt would be embarrassing,” Lewandowska said.

One thing American students might envy is the only fee German students must pay for schooling is €250 or about $340 per semester. If a student is in the nursing program they are sometimes paid to go to school.

According to Lewandowska, in Germany many kids can begin legally drinking by age 16. Beer is actually sold in their University’s cafeteria.

The international students seem to like being in Hays.

According to Lewandowska, it’s easier to meet new people here than it is in her country. During her first few weeks here, she kept wondering why so many people wanted to know how she was doing.

The students all agreed that the people in America are typically friendlier than they are where they are from.

“Fort Hays is a good place to go to study abroad,” Brieger said.

16bmathias@usd489.com