Lisa Streinz recalls a time when she told her Austrian adviser to place her anywhere.
"I wanted a smaller town because I thought it would be easier to make more friends," she said.
Little did she know she would be spending the next year of her life in Muncie. Streinz had traveled to many places but was excited to be living in the United States rather than vacationing. This would enable her to learn the culture and language more efficiently.
After a year at Ball State University, Streinz — from Linz, Austria — summed up her exchange year as, "the best year of my life."
Streinz said orientation week at Ball State was one of her favorite memories.
"It was funny because everyone was so confused," she said.
With the excitement and optimism of a new place and a new school year it was easy to make friends that became some of her closest through out the year, she said.
Streinz said watching American movies had helped her prepare for her year abroad, but she was still shocked by the number of drive-throughs, how large Wal-Mart actually is, and how friendly people are for no apparent reason.
"I still do not know how to respond to someone when they ask me how I am," she said. "Do I say ‘how I really am, or do I just say hello?'"
Streinz has become used to her life as a Ball State student and will miss many aspects of her life here.
"New friends, I will miss the language, living in a foreign country, and the interaction between students and their teachers," she said "It was really nice to be able to talk to your teacher because back home it is really impersonal."
From her first impressions of Ball State to her fondest memories, Streinz looks back on her year at Ball State with a smile thath a year full of great memories could only deliver. Her next plan is to fly to the West Coast to tour California in a 30-foot RV camper van before going home to resume her law studies.
She said the hardest goodbyes are to her friends, her friendship family, and the lifestyle.
"If there is a possibility for me to come back I'm gone," she said, "The question is whether the friends I have made will all be here if I return since most of them graduated or are graduating next year," she said.
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