Myrtleford exchange student returns home

AFTER 11 months in Australia, Rotary exchange student Viktoria ‘Viki’ Risnyovszka was getting ready for her final days in the country last week, reflecting on some of her best memories in the country, and what might be a difficult transition back to life in Germany. When she spoke with the Myrtleford Times last Friday she was to attend a Deb that night at Club Savoy, and her 25-hour flight (not including stopovers) was booked for Tuesday. As part of the Rotary exchange program, Viki travelled to some of Australia most well-known sights, including Uluru, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Whitsundays and the Great Barrier Reef. In February she was part of the Rotary Youth Safari, touring across the country with other rotary exchange students to Sydney, Adelaide and Alice Springs. She was also part of two school camping trips, one an overnight stay Feathertop, and another in Smoko. However, her favourite memory was seeing American singer-songwriter Pink at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne. In the meantime she was attending Myrtleford P12 College, where she said she made friends on her first day. Viki said she’ll miss wearing a uniform and getting to school at 9am; in Germany school starts at 7:20am, and they don’t have uniforms. “You don't need to decide in the morning what I'm going to wear, you just put the school uniform on and that's it,” she said. According to host parent Kelly Barton, the Rotary Exchange program provides buddies, who have been on exchange before, and counsellors to ensure a smooth transition for exchange students. “After two or three months, I stopped being homesick,” Viki said. “Then I just enjoyed my life and had fun.” The 17-year-old first lived with Myrtleford locals Surrey and Helen Hunter for three months, before moving to Kelly and Shawn Barton’s home in Buffalo River. She hails from a town in Saxony near the German-Czech border, and when she returns she will be taking an English language test to confirm she is capable of studying at universities in English, and she will start taking driving lessons. When asked what she might struggle with when she returns to Germany, Viki said: “My annoying brothers.” “One of them missed me, actually. The other one, not really,” she said. She also said she was quite shy when she first came to Australia, and her parent may be surprised by her more outgoing personality. “I'm not a quiet person anymore,” she said. “I'm more self-confident and I can do more things by myself, and I can talk with unknown people and in front of a big group of people.”

Myrtleford exchange student returns home

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