Even if I am in TY, some teachers are just devils: They want us to write one assessment per term. We wrote an assessment in History, Maths and English. And because my History Essay about Alcock and Brown is too boring to publish here and I think you guys don’t want to see my Math test, I decided to post my Assessment in English from this term. We had to write a Personal Essay. Our teacher gave us seven topics and I chose to write an essay about “The people, the experiences and the places that formed you into the person that you are today”. I changed it a little bit but most it is the original Essay, I gave to my teacher.
Growing up b.G
I was born in 2003. In a time, I personally like to call b.G. Before Google. Well, technically, this isn’t correct. Google was founded in 1998, but the initial public offering took place in 2004. So, I grew up without having internet and without having Google. If I grew up about ten years later, I would be a completely different person. I had some as a child, some really creative ideas to spend my free time. Most of them were quite dangerous and I often fell off some tree but I had a happy childhood. Most of the time I used my imagination to create things that weren’t there. As Albert Einstein said:” Imagination is more powerful than knowledge. Because Imagination is unlimited while knowledge is limited.” As a child, this is absolutely true. You don’t know much but you are using your unlimited imagination
I spent most of my days playing football on a dirty little pitch. After the rain, it was really muddy there, but as a child, I didn’t care. I played with friends or my dad when there were no other people available. Which was very often the case. I wanted to play soccer in a club as well but my parents didn’t want me to go there. I still don’t, why. Instead of playing soccer in a club, I started Judo at the age of five.
It was one of the best decisions my parents made for me. I didn’t know much about Judo; it was an unknown sport for the five-year-old me. As I first came in there, I was really scared because I was afraid that my mother couldn’t come with me. Luckily, my trainer is one of the friendliest people, I’ve ever met. I learned one of my most important skills in Judo. To fight. My trainer used to say, that 50% of a fight isn’t won by being stronger and faster. It is won by being smarter and having the will to win.
With my family, we were traveling a lot. My aunt and my uncle were living in Dubai and we used to visit them once a year for five years. I remember the house of my aunt, with a big pool, where my cousins and I used to swim. I remember the small boat on the pool. We often just stand on the boat and bet who will fall off first. To this day my cousins and me, despite that they are living in England, have a really good relationship.
I remember another trip with my family to Turkey very well. I was five years old, my sister was about two years and my mum was a little bit sick around this time. We stayed in a hotel near a beach. Because my mum was sick and my sister was really young they went to bed really early. On some days my dad and I went to the beach in the evening to watch the sunset. We walked on a wooden path beside our hotel, the lights were shining in a light yellow, we watched the little birds in the trees and the rabbit, which sat every evening at the same spot. After the sunset, we just stood there and my dad told me stories about his childhood. Maybe this is why I love books and stories so much.
The next year, I went to primary school. I knew one girl, who was with me in Kindergarten. We walked to school on our first school day holding hands. We stayed really good friends the whole time in primary school. But she wasn’t my only friend. I found a lot of other friends there. My two best friends I found around the second class. We all loved soccer, table tennis and walking through the forest imagining all the cool stories from the books we read happening to us. When we met, it was really different from meeting people today. In today’s world, you text them a couple of times and in the end, nothing’s working out. When I met my friends, I went to their house and rang the doorbell. The alternative was to ring them before. We all knew each other phone numbers. It was really simple and uncomplicated.
In the second class, I started to play the accordion. I still don’t know why I chose the Accordion, but for some reason, I had a passion for it. Six other kids started with me. Most of them gave up after a year or two. I wasn’t very talented but I was the only one, who didn’t give up after two years. My teacher told me, shortly before he was leaving that he thought, I would be the first to give up. Even if I struggled with a piece, I kept on playing until it worked out. It is so important to keep on going even it is hard. You’ll feel much better after it.
In primary school, my family and I traveled to Bornholm for the first time, a small island near Denmark. We stayed in a small house and did a lot of hiking, cycling and for me and my sister climbing on trees and rocks. Bornholm and a lot of walking with my parents in Italy and Austria made me an outdoor person. I still love walking in the mountains and climbing. Once, when I was in fifth grade my mum and I made a tour for two days in Austria. It is one of my favorite memories with my mum. At the end of the first day, shortly before we arrived at the cottage, I was so exhausted, I didn’t want to go on. But my mum stayed with me and motivated me to move on.
All these happy experiences during my primary school time had the negative side effect that I was very naive. Secondary school was a reality shock for me.
When I came to secondary school, I really had a problem that all my friends went to a different school than me or a different class in my school. All the people I didn’t like came with me to a class. I lost my two best friends from primary school and had a pretty tough time in the first two years in secondary school. Then in sixth grade, my accordion teacher told me that he had to change his job and couldn’t teach me anymore. This was one of the moments, my world crashed. I really admired him. He had unlimited patience with me even if I wasn’t talented. He was the best accordion teacher I’ve ever had and I learned a lot from him.
In seventh grade, I found friends and slowly started to have more confidence again. My family and I often went to a lake or some small rivers with a canoe. I was pretty confident about most outside activities and often thought I knew everything. A lesson a few later taught me that I didn’t know everything.
It was in May 2018, when I went with the scouts for two weeks to Sweden. We went there without any technology and some of us asked ourselves if we would survive. To be fair, we all came back alive. We spent most of the two weeks on a small island on a lake. On the third day, we went for a six-day tour with canoes. Most of the lakes in Sweden are connected and you can paddle a few weeks on them without seeing anybody. The first day was really nice. The sun was shining, everybody was in a good mood and we did about 25km. I felt pretty confident because I did far better than most of the others. That wasn’t a big surprise because I paddled a couple of times before. However, I became a little bit arrogant. A big mistake. I had to find out the next evening. But before the story, you need a little bit of background information: We had aluminum canoes, which weigh about 40kg and are quite difficult to drive on your own. The second thing is that we always needed clean water for the dishes and we used 20l canisters. Every evening someone had to go out on the lake and get some clear water. And this specific evening it was my turn to go. A friend offered to come with me, but because I felt so confident, I said that I’ll be fine on my own. So, I went out and this beautiful evening. It was warm, a beautiful sunset and I was alone in my canoe on this lake. It was absolutely amazing. We had a great day, where we did about 20km and the weather was absolutely brilliant. What could possibly go wrong? Well, one of possibilities is, that the wind could turn and become stronger. Of course, it happened. It happened slowly and I didn’t notice it because I was too busy to looking at the sunset.
After a couple of minutes, I wanted to go back to the island we were staying on. Normally, this is no big deal, especially for me, who thought, is experienced in paddling. This was my thought at the moment. But as I wanted to turn my canoe, I noticed, I couldn’t. Slowly, I realized that the wind had turned and become stronger. I really tried my best to turn the boat, while the other scouts on the island were wondering what idiot is on the lake despite the strong wind. Luckily, three lads came to save me. This incident taught me a lesson. You can be really good at something, you can be pretty confident about that but never ever underestimate the power of nature.
In August 2019, I went to Ireland for seven months. It is an adventure. I met many new people and made new friends. But it wasn’t easy at the beginning, because I am an introvert. All my confidence was gone in the first few weeks. I barely spoke to people. But then I thought:” If you stay in this stage, the exchange year is a waste. You are here to meet new people, to make new experiences. Use your chance.” I started to talk more, I tried to be more open. And with time, I started to make friends. I learned, that sometimes the best thing you can do is just be part of the group and be opened.
The exchange year was and still is a rollercoaster. I have only three weeks left before I have to go back to Germany. So, to my friends and my family in Germany: Enjoy the rest of your time without me. I’ll be back soon.
In my opinion, the most important things in life are an open heart and a circle of people, who like you as you are.
Marco Krüger 