Concord grad Clara Symmes takes in Germany – and most of Europe

By Tim Goodwin - Aug 18, 2015 | 0 comments

Lost scene from Dirty Dancing 2? Nope, that’s just Concord’s Clara Symmes and her host sister, Luise, on top of the parliamentary building (Reichstagsgebäude) in Berlin.

Symmes and Saskia, the exchange student her family hosted during her senior year in high school, in front of the famous “I amsterdam” sculpture in Amsterdam.

Clara Symmes with her host family skiing in the Austrian Alps.

Symmes with her host sister, Luise, in traditional South-German and Austrian dresses called dirndls.

We’d say Concord’s Clara Symmes looks right at home in front of the Brandenburg Gate last September, wouldn’t you? She spent her first year after high school in Germany and many other parts of Europe.

Sit down with Clara Symmes and ask about the last year of her life.

Although before posing the open-ended question, you might want to make sure your schedule is clear for the next few hours, because it might just be one of the most exciting years a recent high school graduate could have. Luckily for us, she agreed to do our interview in English.

While the summer after your senior year in high school is usually spent working to save money for college, getting started in a career or enjoying the care free moments before heading off on your own, Symmes decided that heading to Germany for a year was the best thing for her.

Through the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, Symmes, a 2014 Concord High School graduate, received a full scholarship to spend the year away from her family and friends, living and working in a foreign land and, as it turns out, having the time of her life.

She had spent a month in Germany on an exchange program the summer before her junior year and hosted a German exchange student in Concord for her entire senior year. But this was different – way different.

“Before I went on this exchange program, the only time I’d been out of the country was my other exchange program in Germany,” she said.

Her brother, Tommy, also spent a month and year abroad in Germany through a different program, and her family also hosted other students for a month during the summer on two different occasions.

“My family has this ongoing love affair with Germany,” Symmes said.

It all started with an application in January 2014. Symmes didn’t really think she’d be chosen but figured why not give it a shot. There was no prerequisite to speak German, but having taken the language since eighth grade, Symmes knew a thing or two about how to speak and understand it. She interviewed that March and the day before her 18th birthday, Symmes received the news she’d be spending the year in Germany.

“Best birthday present ever,” she said.

In May, she learned she’d be living on the outskirts of Berlin in Rahnsdorf. The Moeckel family, consisting of father Gregor, mom Dorothee, and two children – a high school age boy, Moritz, and an 11-year-old girl named Luise. As it turned out, her host brother would be in Spain during her year in Germany, so she was essentially filling the older sibling role.

Symmes left for Germany last July and spent her first six weeks in Bonn at a language school.

“It was like a normal school day, but all you did was German,” Symmes said.

At the end of August, she traveled to Berlin to begin her stay with what would turn out to be the best host family ever. For seven weeks, she attended a vocational program at a local high school. It was really meant as a way to meet people her own age, so she didn’t feel isolated. Four others from the program were also located in and around Berlin, which made for an easier adjustment.

Symmes wanted to be involved in the arts, which is probably why she got placed near the German capital, because she didn’t request a location. She was just stoked to be going to Germany.

By November, all of her school requirements were over and she could finally start working, albeit for free since it was an internship.

“I got paid in experiences,” she said.

She worked at a small dance school where Luise danced until February before getting the opportunity of a lifetime. Someone involved in the CBYX program knew the artistic director at the Staatliche Ballettschule Berlin and got Symmes in the door.

“It’s one of the biggest ballet schools in the country,” Symmes said.

She worked in the PR department, making promo videos and whatever else they needed from February to May.

But even though she was working full time, Symmes found plenty of time to explore – a lot of times thanks to her host family.

“My host family really loved to travel and liked to take me with them,” she said. “They really value their vacation time and I kind of just got brought along.”

Symmes went all over Germany and well beyond. There was a trip to Spain to see Moritz, a two-week vacation in the Canary Islands and a skiing excursion in the Alps. She traveled to France, Amsterdam, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland.

“I got so lucky,” Symmes said. “My year could not have been any better. They were the most wonderful family.”

She went sailing with Gregor and experienced the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Where the wall once stood was lined with balloon stands and she got to pull one of the levers to release the balloons. She also visited Saskia, the German student who stayed with her for her senior year, four times.

But part of being away from home for a year in a foreign country was for Symmes to learn about living like an adult. Sure, her host family did a lot for her, but Symmes also wanted to explore and be on her own at times.

“It was an experience that really taught me to be independent,” Symmes said. “In Germany, when you’re 18, you’re an adult, expected to act like an adult and make decisions like an adult.”

As part of the program, she got a train ticket each month which she used to get to and from work, but also to just go to a different part of Berlin and explore. Before coming back state side in June, Symmes took a 10-day trip to Italy with a friend.

“It was just really fun for me to get my train ticket, go into the city and see where I’d end up that day,” she said. “You could live there for 20 years and not see everything.”

Symmes is a self-proclaimed foodie and found no shortage of that along her excursions.

Living in Germany for a year does have its adjustments from life in America. She spoke almost exclusively German unless she was with another program participant, heard an American accent during her travels or English Monday, where she would engage with her host family in her native tongue once a month.

Traditions were much different and her first real sense of homesick came around Thanksgiving, when New Hampshire was blanketed with snow on her favorite holiday. But she attended a Thanksgiving party at a local restaurant and Dorothee gave her a snow globe to feel closer to home.

But Symmes never came back to Concord during her year, and she’s now a little Germany sick. She’s always loved her hometown, but it’s a little different than it was before she left. Although she won’t be here too much longer, as she heads off to Goucher College, a liberal arts school in Baltimore, in the fall.

She deferred acceptance to do the year abroad, and one nice thing about Goucher is that each student must study abroad during their four years in order to graduate. Something tells us Symmes won’t have any problem with that.