Linus Cerbe – he’s the kid constantly busy playing sports. He’s the kid with endless captivating stories to share. He’s the kid with the accent that makes girls swoon. He’s this year’s North Penn exchange student from Salzgitter Germany.
Having arrived here in August and leaving his home life for an American experience abroad, Linus Cerbe revealed his motivations for coming:
“I came to America because I think it’s a great opportunity, and also because I wanted to learn English,” Linus said. “[In Germany,] we have profiles in 11th grade and I want to choose a Science profile which includes Math, Physics, and English, so this year will help with that.”
Prior to this year, Linus took part in several language courses starting at a rather young age. It is typical for Europeans to take a second or even third language at school since there are numerous languages spoken throughout Europe, alone, not to mention the world in its entirety.
“I’ve been studying English since third grade, so that makes nine years,” he stated. “I took Latin lessons in Germany, but I won’t continue them when I get back. I’m not bad at Latin, but it’s not a fun class. Plus, nobody speaks it, though you can use it to figure out other words and languages. I did actually take a French class for two weeks in sixth grade, but that’s when I switched to Latin.”
Luckily for Linus he came to America with a strong base in the English language, making it easier for him to embrace culture shock and integrate himself into North Penn, which is overwhelming alone. Now a solid four months into his exchange, he admitted:
“I’m getting more used to the language. I feel like I’m more fluent now than I was at the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the year it was definitely hard, exhausting even. At the beginning of the school day you felt totally fit and ready, and by the end you were ready for a nap.”
Having become adept at the language, he now diligently focuses on his vigorous class schedule. Enrolled in English, Mechanical Drawing, Adventure Ed, Pre-Calculus, Sports Marketing, Physics, and World Cultures, Linus professed that, “Physics is my favorite class, definitely, but mechanical drawing is pretty cool.”
“I like North Penn a lot. Usually lunch is my favorite part of the day – that and the last thirty seconds of class or the end of the school day,” he added with a grin; a true response of that of an American student.
“North Penn is very different than my school,” Linus continued “because at my school there are about 100 people in each grade. Also, at my school, you generally stay in one classroom and it’s the teachers who come to the class; it’s not the students who switch. Plus, we have longer breaks, especially for holiday vacations, but also we have a 20 minute break after each class. My school is a block system where we have two classes in a row, each exactly 1 ½ hours, and we have between 2-5 classes a day.”
Yet even though Linus is participating in and excelling at his junior classes here in America, he will unfortunately have to retake his junior year back in Germany; however, with a gap year supplementing his education, Linus is dedicated and determined in his career goals.
“I want to go to a technical university,” he conveyed. “I would love to co-op with Volkswagen and get a job with them. I want to be an engineer. I mean, I love science. It’s great – it’s just logical and easy, and usually I get along with it.”
When Linus isn’t in school, though, or doing science homework, he is heavily involved in athletics.
“I do a lot of sports,” Linus proudly stated, “but I don’t do all the same sports here that I did in Germany; at least not all of them. I have played tennis since I was 5, and I’m not really good, but I like it so I will probably do tennis here. Also, I tried ballroom dancing once, and some people don’t consider that a sport, but it is. It definitely is.”
Linus’s favorite past-time, however, is running.
“I love running so in America I was on the cross country team. It was so much fun. I started the season really late, like the second half of the season, but it was great. But since it’s over, in January, I will start rugby with Paul de Bellefon, the French exchange student, and Mike Spencer, my host brother.”
Linus is hosted by the Spencers, in whom his host brother, Mike Spencer, is a senior here at North Penn; however, unlike most exchange students, Linus already knew and had previously met his host family prior to his year abroad.
“I already knew my host family before I came over,” Linus explained, “because three years ago they had sent their daughter over to my house in Germany.”
Overall, Linus couldn’t help but to include;
“They are great, my host family. I mean I didn’t really know them that well before this year, since I had only met them for a week prior to my exchange when they came to Germany to pick up their daughter. It’s like a real exchange between families.”
His household back home is different from that of his host family’s as he listed the occupants of the house: a dog, cat, and two goats, along with his family. Linus’s family consists of his parents, an older brother who’s twenty, and a twelve year old younger sister.
Of course, with the holidays steadily approaching, it’s normal for the exchange students to ponder and think about their families back home as their family traditions are rather altered this year.
“Usually in Germany, during break, my parents try to take the whole family on vacation to places like Spain or Portugal,” Linus said. “But if we stay in Saltzgitter, we do the same thing you guys do here; hang out spending time with family and friends.”
Linus also got to partake in a holiday not celebrated in Germany: Thanksgiving.
“Thanksgiving was great!” He exclaimed. “It actually wasn’t my first Thanksgiving though because we had an exchange student at my house in Germany three years ago when my brother was here [at North Penn], so we had a Thanksgiving in Germany with her, however, it wasn’t nearly the same as this year’s. Not at all, not even close because it was huge here. We had three turkeys for 25 people. It was a lot of food.”
Linus not only got to experience Thanksgiving, but he also has already had the opportunity to travel a bit with the other exchange students making his way to visit the infamous city of New York, the nation’s capital of Washington D.C., the beaches of Ocean City, and our very own city of brotherly love – Philadelphia.
“I didn’t really have any set expectations for this year, I was just ready to wait and see what was in store for me,” Linus said and continued, “The best part of the exchange so far is getting to meet new people. All the exchange students this year are really cool, and it’s just great getting to know them and the language and everything.”