4/16/2009 - Sisters Then and Now
By Alissa Munoz
When Hannah Barth, an American Participant, left her study abroad program in Venezuela in 1999, she knew that her journey with AFS had only just begun. The next year she insisted upon her family hosting an exchange student, informing her mom that “this was something that was going to be good for us,” That “something” turned out to be her host sister, Kerstin, an exchange student from Munich. Hannah describes Kerstin as “a person that is so easy going and so adventurous – in the time she spent with us she was ready to jump into everything.” After spending a year as constant companions, Hannah was not prepared for Kerstin to return home, as she explains, “I didn’t know that I could feel so close to somebody.”
Hannah and Kerstin fell out of touch over time, but fast forward to 2008, when Hannah was doing post-graduate work studying mime and dance, and Kerstin was working on her Master’s degree – unbeknownst to one another they were both students in Paris. Hannah explains, “She found me through Facebook; it was crazy, like nothing had even happened, no time had passed!” The girls, communicating sometimes in English, sometimes in French have reunited and are busy making plans for the future.
“I see Kerstin a lot now, and next year she’s doing a semester abroad in Boston and now we are talking about getting an apartment together.”
Hannah and Kerstin have had the fortune of rekindling an important friendship. Listening to their story, I couldn’t help but think how many AFSer reunions have been facilitated through technology or through the Returnee’s passion to continue learning and discovering throughout the world. Share your reunion stories with the world, contact us here at Find an AFSer
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