NEWS ROOM: SOUND BITES

One of my most fulfilling experiences during my time in Germany came from joining the theater group at my new high school. Theater has been a regular part of my life since high school, and I felt lucky to be able to continue acting in a different language. Working with the German high school theatre groups has been a wonderful way to improve my pronunciation skills and let me make new friends in different grades. For the past three months, we've been working on student-written scenes focused on communication - or, actually, miscommunication - a project that premiered in March. Of course, my time here hasn't only been spent on the stage. In September, a group of us took a week-long trip to Vienna, where I saw my first opera, tasted my first Sachertorte at a traditional café and bonded with friends.

One of the things that has made my stay in Germany enjoyable is the fun I've had with »Pfadfinder,« the German scouting troupe. Pfadfinder isn't separated by gender, but is more like a combination of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. They make everybody welcome. When I walked into my first meeting, I was instantly treated like I belonged there. The group is very active, organizing benefits, singing Christmas carols door-to-door and cleaning out birdhouses in the forest to prepare for the spring's new nest. In early fall, we organized a »Lager« weekend, where 20 of us stuffed sleeping bags, tents and food into huge backpacks and set out for a weekend of hiking. Making friends through Pfadfinder is something all exchange students should try.

Christmas in Germany is amazing. In Stuttgart they have the Weihnachtsmarkt, which is lots of fun! Considered the largest and most beautiful Weihnachtsmarkt in Europe, the month-long holiday festival held in the days leading up to Christmas has been around since the 1600s. The blacksmiths and dancing bears no longer show up, but the market is still packed with Christ- mas tree decorations, holiday merchandise and gifts galore. I skipped the market the first week, but so many people recommended it, I had to go - and I'm glad I did. I'd never experienced anything like it. Every weekend, and often during the week, I would go and check it out, and just hang out with friends in the Innenstadt. There are way too many good things to eat, such as gebrannte Mandeln, all sorts of Wurst, and, of course, Quarkbällchen! In addition, there are hundreds of small stores selling everything from hand-made German gifts to typical wooden Nutcrackers. During this season, I also became much closer to my host-family, and it was the time for me where everything just clicked, and was really what made it the best Christmas so far.

My time as an exchange student in Germany has allowed me to live the life of a typical German student, joining the local volleyball team and taking martial arts classes. I've also been included in the life of a German family. While we do everyday things like make dinner and watch television together, my host family has enabled me to discover much of the area by bike, on my own feet and on cross-country skis. One trip we took was to Munich for Oktoberfest, where German stereotypes came to life. It was interesting to see so many people actually wearing Lederhosen and Dirndln. My travels have also taken me outside the area, letting me see the mountains of Austria, the site of the Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate.

Forget folded notes stuck in sleeves and tiny handwriting on your palm - cheating has gone high-tech! Students have a new way of dealing with test-taking jams : Cheating by Short Message Service, which sends text notes to their cell phones. A week before a test, students can send a text message to 7 27 68 and give their name and age, as well as information about the class. On the day of the test, the student then can message the company with questions. The service is free, but the company, known as yoc, also sends out ads. Since it started in November 2001, more than 1,000 students have used the service. The German Teachers' Union is up in arms about the service, of course, and students may soon have to find another way to pass tests. In many schools, cell phones are strictly »verboten.«

Not sure what to do when confronted with a strange meal in a strange country? Wondering how to deal with feelings of loneliness while abroad? The Exchange Student Survival Kit might have the answers. Most of the book, which is designed for students going on exchanges anywhere in the world, offers advice on dealing with new cultures - and tells you how to identify and deal with cultural bag-gage you've brought along. Dividing the exchange experience into stages, Bettina Hansel explains what type of situations and emotions students will be faced with during different parts of the trip - meeting host parents, trying to fit in at school, celebrating holidays - and offers her advice on dealing with them.

If you want to set up an independent telephone account so you can call from any phone anywhere, try Call Company. Call Company gives you a telephone card that has the numbers and information you'll need to dial internationally from almost any phone in the country. The first three minutes are 4.6 Euro cents a minute with each following minute 9.71 Euro cents. Your bill arrives separately at your home. Call Company 1-800-283-2152. If you arrange it with your host parents, a prefix number might be the cheap-est way to go. Dialing 0190087 or 0190029 will get you a rate of 3.5 Euro cents a minute. To find out more, check out the website billiger-telefonieren.de. Once you made these calls, the charge will show up on your hosts' telephone bill.

Perhaps the cheapest way of staying in touch is to call home - and then have your parents call you back. Plus, that means they have to pay for it!

Enjoying your exchange program but want to see a bit more of Germany than your host parents' home? It might be time to hop a train. Rail travel is the easiest way to get around Germany, espescially for young people: many train passes allowing travel in Germany and around Europe are substantially cheaper for those under 26. They can even be bought before your trip through raileurope.com. In Germany, young people can buy a half-price Bahn Card, which itself provides a 50 percent discount on train tickets. For other deals, ask at the train station about TwenTickets, which have a 20 percent discount, and Sparpreis, which make it cheaper to travel in a group.