EXCHANGE: Song in his heart

When his host mother, for example, asked him if he was interested in joining a choir at the local church, he jumped at the chance to sing songs by Bach in a cathedral constructed in the 1100s. »It?s given me a chance to give back,« he says, recounting how he's helped the choir with English-language songs like »Stand by Me.« But he?s gotten far more from the exchange experience than he's given, he says, with the trip to Germany allowing him the freedom to grow up. »I realize I?m not an idiot,« he says with a laugh. »I?m not dumb. I've realized how much potential I have.« His biggest worry now is how he?ll fit in when he goes back to America. »I have a strange feeling about finishing up,« he says. »I have different views, different beliefs now. It?s been a different year for me than the people back home.«

But the personal growth he?s experienced, he says, will serve him well when he goes home. »I?m worried about the future,« he says, »but now I?ve opened myself to opportunities, to seeing what I can do.« One of those possibilites, of course, is coming back to Germany, an idea that already has him picking up job applications here. »Will I be back? Yes,« he says. »Do I know when? No.«

Timothy J. Gibbons, 27, is an editor for Oskar?s. Despite his own learning experiences, he still doesn?t know what he wants to do when he grows up