Traveling 4,882 miles from Germany to the U.S. is a big change for a high school student which is something Titus Deilmann experienced firsthand when he transferred to the U.S. from Rimsting, Germany.

Deilmann is currently enrolled as a senior at West, despite having already graduated in Rimsting at the age of 16 last May. 

“First, my parents wanted me to go, and I didn’t want to go at first,” Delimann said. “That was like five years ago. And last year I was like ‘OK, yeah I want to do it’, because I was seeing so much things about it.” 

Deilmann will be in the U.S. until June, when he goes back to Germany.

“I had different countries, but I wanted to go to U.S,” Deilmann said. “And first I wanted to go on the beach side, but my organization is searching … you can choose to go, but if they don’t find a family there, then they search the whole U.S. and so they found my perfect match here.” 

Since being here, Deilman has noticed differences between his school in Rimsting and Olathe West. 

“Definitely the schools are different,” Deilmann said. “Because here is so much better. The high school, everything is so much bigger. That’s the true thing. Food is different. Mostly it’s everything. Everything is very different.”

As one can imagine, being in another country from friends and family can be an adjustment. Delimann noted that being away from them is the hardest part. 

 “My friends,” Delimann said. “That’s the only thing. The rest, I love it here. It’s perfect. People are very nice. The food is not that bad how everybody says, it’s very acceptable. It’s not that bad, it’s very good. Not very good. It’s good. I don’t miss really much, it’s just sometimes the friends.”

Deilmann also had to adjust to the time difference between Rimsting and Olathe.

“We have like seven hours time difference and they have school now,” Deilmann said. “So when I come from school it’s 10 or 12 [p.m.]. So sometimes I call them, I write with them most times.”

However, even with the hardships of transferring to a new school in a new country, Titus has found new experiences in the U.S., such as homecoming. 

“I want to play volleyball so bad, but the school doesn’t offer volleyball normally for boys so I want to play in the [homecoming] week volleyball,” Delimann said. “And I want to be the homecoming king.”

Deilmann’s previous school in Rimsting was very different, as was life for him there.

“It’s exhausting here because it’s 8 to 3,” Deilmann said. “We had school from 7:10 to 12:30 and that’s it, and here it’s after school activities also.”

The time isn’t the only thing different between the two schools Titus has been in. In his previous school, they didn’t have block days and they didn’t change classes every day.

“The people are more friendly, and more open here,” Deilmann said. “I like the class system better.”

Deilmann’s school also varies in size compared to West.

“It was pretty small,” Deilmann said. “So we had like three buildings and we have this class system where you stay with one class the whole time with one group of people and then you stay with them and go around.”

Despite the big change, Deilmann enjoys his schooling at West in his new opportunity. 

“I love school here,” Deilmann said. “The teachers are so much better than Germany and the people are so cool. And sometimes a little bit confusing because the school building is so unbelievably big, and there’s so many people. But I love school here.” 

Contributing reporters: Stella Brown and Corinne Zieg