Missing something, or someone?
That’s an emotion every Exeter Summer student probably already experienced in the past few
weeks. With the end of the Summer program, the students start missing things from Exeter but when
they came here they missed their family, friends and their home.
During the last four weeks everyone started getting used to the environment in Exeter but now with
the end of the programm coming closer probably every student has something that he or she wants
to do immediately once they arrive home. So what’s the first thing you want to do when you get back?
With the diversity that we keep talking about in Exeter there are also a lot of different cultures
visiting the campus currently. People from all over the world came here to take part in the summer
program. Additional to all the different cultures and
languages that students represent, they all saw different places or are used to a different environment than home.
That means once they come home their wishes for the first thing that they want to do also
varies. Someone from America might want to do something different than someone from Japan or
from Europe. But still there are similarities in the things that all the students here are missing.
Things that they connect with home, their family or their friends. This feeling of missing something
makes the journey back home even more exciting but maybe some students are going to notice that
their are going to miss something from Exeter as well.
One particular thing that is probably different in all the places where Exeter Summer students come
from is the food. That is one of the first things that comes to the minds of a group of students that is
from Germany. They said the first thing that they are going to do is eat German food or bread in
particular.
Raphaela Alt-Epping said that the first thing she is going to do is eat a slice of
“Graubot“ which is a specific kind of bread, with Gouda and good ham. Afterwards she wants to lie
on her bed and enjoy her time without homework, in private. The other Germans said that they want
to have traditional German food, like Schnitzel as soon as possible.
Fiona Anstey lived in America but is currently living in Japan. She said the first thing that she is
going to do is wash her hands because she is going to come home after a long journey.
Afterwards she is going to jump on her bed and and look at her room since she was gone for such a
long time.
Lauren Kearl, a girl from California, said that she wants to run home and immediately jump into the
ocean.
One thing that may annoy some people at Exeter is the bath situation. Since we all need to share a
bathroom with the other girls or boys on our floor the excitement about coming home and having
privacy again is growing. Carly Kimball said that the first thing she wants to do is take a bath in
her very own bathtub at home.
The main things that students are missing have a lot to do with the things that they want to do first
when they come home. It depends on where they come from and the difference between America or Exeter in particular and their own home or not. The fact that everyone gets to see
their family again also plays a large role for the students because for some of them it might even be
the first time that they left home without their parents.
At the end of the summer program the feelings will be a mix of relief, because the school ends, as
well as sadness because the individual experience of every single student will end. But once they
come home they will do the whatever the first thing is that comes to their mind that they missed the
whole time at Exeter.