Jill Reese participated in IUHPFL in 1984 when she travelled to Krefeld, Germany, one of IUHPFL’s earlier sites. Jill still remembers and values her IUHPFL experience for the confidence and worldview it provided her.
Jill attended Carmel High School and travelled to Krefeld with 29 other German-speaking Indiana students. One of the highlights of the program for her was being able to connect with and learn alongside peers from all over the state.
Jill’s host mom was an older widow who socialized with friends while Jill was staying with her. Jill remembers hearing about World War II from a new perspective from them. For her, the war was something she studied in history class, but now, living abroad and interacting with people who had lived through it as young adults, the war became much more real. Her host mom also had adult children and an infant grandson, with whom Jill enjoyed spending time.
Like other IUHPFL students who travelled to Krefeld during the Cold War, Jill visited Berlin with the group and saw the Berlin Wall for herself. She witnessed the difference between the two halves of the city, noting the negative effect communism had on the citizens of East Berlin.
The language commitment was another important aspect of the program for Jill. As her host mom did not speak English, Jill was able to truly immerse herself in the German language, something that was challenging, but rewarding. “The first couple of days were hard, just adjusting to hearing nothing but German, but it was remarkable how my then-young brain adapted!”
While abroad, Jill missed her friends, family, and the twice daily practices for the dance unit in Carmel’s marching band. Luckily, after returning to the US, she was able to pick up where she left off and catch up to her teammates. Another challenge was the differing attitudes in Germany to utilities like water: Jill’s host mom preferred she conserve the resource, so Jill had to adjust to less frequent showers.
The IUHPFL experience impacted Jill’s life in a variety of ways. Language immersion while abroad greatly improved her German. She also gained confidence and became more interested in travel. There were other, subtler changes, as well. For example, the experience helped Jill empathize with others and understand another culture while also increasing her appreciation for all that the US had to offer. She came back to central Indiana with an expanded worldview.
After her IUHPFL summer, Jill graduated from Carmel High School and went on to IU, where she majored in German Secondary Education. She studied abroad again in 1989, this time staying in Hamburg. Jill was there when the Berlin Wall fell in November of that year, ending the division she had seen so clearly during her IUHPFL summer. After college, she worked translating documents on routes to Germany for United Airlines. Later on, Jill went to law school, got married, and raised a family with her husband. She now is an attorney specializing in medical malpractice. Jill has worked as a substitute teacher in local high school German classes from time to time but has not had many chances to use her German language skills in her legal career. Nonetheless, she has always held the German language and culture dear and has more recently joined a German-speaking group.
To future IUHPFL students, Jill has this advice: “The world has changed so much, I would imagine that true immersion is more difficult to achieve. My advice is to pursue immersion to the greatest extent possible. Also, I did a reasonably good job staying in touch with my host mother for a few years (back then it was way more challenging—writing letters and calling “long-distance”). However, eventually our communication waned, and I was able to see that she passed away some years ago. My advice is to stay in contact. Some of my Krefeld program peers are still in contact with their families. I think that is amazing and must be so rewarding for everyone involved.”
