By FULLER ROYAL
Staff Writer

Maria Hofmann loves being in Whiteville. A one-year exchange student from Germany, the 17-year-old has started her second semester of her junior year at Whiteville High School.

“I came to America in 2002 for a vacation with my parents,” she said. “I just fell in love with America. My parents and I thought it would be good to come here as an exchange student. It’s the best experience.”

Hofmann, who arrived in August prior to the start of school, is staying with hosts Michael and Bobbie Clemmons.

Even though she is classified as a junior, she still has two more years of public schooling.

Hofmann said school begins for German students at age 6 and runs 13 years.

There are three levels of education. Hofmann’s level, Gymnasium, is for the students who are college-bound.

A German Gymnasium, spelled with a capital G and pronounced “gimnahsium,” has nothing to do with sports. It derives from the Greek word for “school.” In Germany and other central European countries it was and still is roughly equivalent to an American academic prep school.

Hofmann is from Hamburg, in northern Germany. Her mother works with diagnostic imaging in a hospital. Her father owns a magazine distribution company.

What does she like best about Whiteville High School?

“I really enjoy being on stage,” she said. Hofmann took theater performance and dance last semester. This semester, she will perform in “High School Musical.”

“We don’t have that in our schools,” she said. ‘German schools are hard. The relationship between teachers and stu-dents is different. They are not friends. The teachers there are very high and the students are very low. They never talk or spend time with each other.”

Hofmann said that here, students can talk freely with their teachers.

“German teachers are very strict and very strong,” she said. “You are not allowed to talk and you must always sit up straight.”

Bad behavior results in a quick dismissal from school.

In Germany, there’s no time for a social life during the week with the amount of study and homework required. The weekends are for getting together with friends. She likes to play street basketball and ice or roller skate.

“I swim a lot,” she said.

She also enjoys movies and DVDs – American movies and DVDs.

“We have the exact same films in our theaters that you have here except they are in German,” she said. “When I watch DVDs, I like to switch over to English.”

“We have been learning English since the fifth grade,” she said. “In the seventh grade, we had to decide between Latin and French. I chose Latin. And then in 10th grade, I had to learn what I didn’t choose – French.”

There is also the option to learn a fourth language – Spanish.

Her favorite subjects in Germany have been German, English, history and religion. The Hofmanns are Christians.

Her favorite subjects at WHS are U.S history, math, English and play production.

“I want to go to college either here or in Germany,” she said. I want to do something with people. I could never spend my whole day in front of a computer. And I want to travel. After that, I will decide where I want to stay the rest of my life.

“It will be hard to leave,” she said, when school ends in June.

She said she will miss her friends and the fact that she can drive at age 16. In Germany, she must wait until she’s 18 and the cost of that first license is $1,700.

“Here, the people are so friendly,” she said. “In the north of Germany, the people are much nicer than in the south. People in Germany are very jealous of each other. They can’t be glad for the success of someone else.

“I have really enjoyed being here.”

She has enjoyed spending time with her new friends and traveling to Tennessee during the Thanksgiving holidays.