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After having been involved in amateur radio for a few years, I had become fascinated with learning about and experiencing other cultures by simply talking to hams from every corner of the world.

By late middle school, I had decided that traveling would be a goal of mine, and I was immensely excited to start pursuing it. I didn’t have to wait long before starting to make progress toward this goal, thanks to the never-ending support of my parents, who began to travel with me to the various amateur radio conventions around the U.S. and, eventually, in Germany!

I discovered how much I enjoyed traveling for amateur radio, learning about other cultures (even if they were only slightly different from my own in another part of the U.S. or in Canada), and forming friendships with other young hams from around the world. This led me to decide that I wanted to study abroad at some point.

After a bit of research, I found a fairly competitive program that operates reciprocally between the German Bundestag and the U.S. Congress. If selected, I would receive a full scholarship. After attending the Friedrichschafen Ham Fair in the summer of 2024, I decided to apply for the program and see how it turned out.

A few months after submitting my application, I was selected to advance to the interview round of the selection process. I made the trip to Atlanta for their interview event and was pleasantly surprised when one of my interviewers was familiar with amateur radio through her father. We discussed where my inspiration to study abroad had come from, and it quickly became apparent—to my interviewers and me—that amateur radio was the primary factor. I started to realize then how much the hobby has impacted my life.

A few months later, I learned that the interview had successfully landed me a spot in the program. I was incredibly excited and got to work on the secondary application that is used to match students with their host families. A few months passed after I had submitted the secondary application. By late July I still didn’t have a host family, so the organization that facilitates the host family assignments reached out and asked if my family or I had any contacts in Germany who would be open to hosting me for the year. We did not at that point but reached out to a few of the German hams we knew to see if they knew anyone who would be interested.

Nobody had any specific contacts willing to jump in and become a host family right away. My departure date was quickly approaching, so Sandy, DL1QQ, sent an email to the Bavarian Contest Club email reflector, asking if anyone would be willing to host an exchange student for a year. To our surprise, numerous families responded within hours, and I got in touch with those who offered.

After a few families and I had worked out that it would be possible and a good fit, I forwarded their contact information to the organization that facilitates the exchange program so they could vet the families as we patiently waited for my host family placement. I ended up with a non-ham family placement at first, but I was not able to stay with this original placement after I found out that I was allergic to their pets, so when I needed to move, I reached out to the families that had offered after the email and found a new placement with one of them.

A few weeks later, I moved in with my new (and permanent) host family. While moving in with a family that you’ve never met before is never easy, I felt at home right away with them. Amateur radio became a bonding mechanism for my host family and me—my host dad and I did plenty of contests together as the contesting season started to ramp up in the fall, and there was a SOTA activation while on fall vacation.

Amateur radio became an outlet to practice and improve my German. Upon arriving in Germany at the beginning of my exchange year, I spoke very little German, so I used local contests and club meetings to improve my speaking skills. This allowed me to mark my progress learning a new language.

Staying involved with the hobby as much as I had been at home has been one of my favorite parts of my exchange year, which is now coming to a close. Without the influence of amateur radio, I would never have considered going on an exchange year, so I’m glad that I did have that influence and inspiration to pursue it. As a result of my involvement with amateur radio, I’ve gotten a great start on learning a second language, and, more importantly, now have a second family and second home in Germany. I will always be grateful for the connections that amateur radio has brought me, as it has broadened my world more than I thought possible.

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