Have you ever wondered what it’s like to travel to the United States for the first time? Experiencing the hustle and bustle lifestyles and overwhelming chaos seems like a tall order for anyone. Ben Wiecker is a foreign exchange student here at Eastern— coming all the way from Germany. Wiecker is filled with many talents that transcend continent and region. He is not only a writer for the Hawk Herald, but is also extremely athletic and plays multiple different sports.
Ben sat down with the Hawk Herald, allowing readers to learn more about the elusive German. Ben is currently enrolled as a sophomore, explaining that he is taking precalculus and that, “ [he] tends to be bored in math, but [he] likes it a lot.” Wiecker plays volleyball and was a former soccer player back in Germany. He currently plays on the JV Football and plans to utilize his athletic talents on the basketball court and volleyball court at Eastern. Outside of athletics, Wiecker enjoys reading and watching movies/TV shows— mostly of the science fiction genre. Ben is a huge fan of both Marvel and Star Wars, more specifically the Rise of Skywalker and Iron Man.
Living away from home can be very difficult… especially if “away” is actually an ocean’s distance. Ben explains with a laugh how much he simply misses the water back in Germany. “In Germany, you can drink everything that comes out of the faucet and it will taste great and healthy,” Wiecker describes. He then expresses his favorite things so far about being in the US, including (but not limited to) football and fast food. Wiecker enjoys playing American football “very much” and really enjoys all of the take-away restaurants here in the US. “There are definitely not as many fast food restaurants in Germany as there are in the US,” Ben explains. “In Germany we pretty much just have McDonalds, KFC, and Burger King.”
There are many similarities between the US and Germany. Wiecker explains how the people are pretty much the same, just the way of transportation is way different. People aren’t allowed to drive alone until they are 18 in Germany, so the way of getting to school is quite different than here at Eastern, where almost everyone drives as soon as they can.
Ben is super happy to get to spend a year here in the US and explore new sights, meet new people, and of course: play football! Ben is also stoked to get to celebrate his birthday in a different country so everyone make sure to wish Ben Wiecker a very happy birthday when his day arrives on September 22!
