Molly Tumanic

Many students’ hometowns are only a few hours away from Eau Claire.

Junior Veronica Lorca-Deutsch’s hometown of Frankfurt, Germany, on the other hand, is only a few continents away.

The Towers South RA’s hobbies are not foreign; in her free time, she exercises at the recreation center, where she will instruct an aerobics class this fall.

“I just like it as kind of a balance,” she said.

Lorca-Deutsch balances bonding with friends and her boyfriend, Greg Miller, who she met when he was stationed in the military in Germany for two years, with normal weekend routines and venturing out of the dorms.

American dorm life

Lorca-Deutsch has lived in the dorms since her arrival to the States in the summer of 2002. This is her first year as an RA. Her roommate last year was an RA and had recommended she apply.

She said she thinks her background brings a unique perspective to the all-girls floor in Towers South, where she assures residents everyone feels homesick when leaving home.

Lorca-Deutsch rooms with senior Mara Zalite, a Latvian international student.

“She is just a wonderful person,” Zalite wrote in an e-mail. “She was a very good support at the beginning, but even more important is that I felt very, very welcomed.”

International students arrive a week early and must participate in a peer-guided program, during which the registration process is explained. They are also shown sketches of roommate situations.

Although Zalite said the girls have had no problem rooming together, Lorca-Deutsch said sometimes roommate situations in general can be sketchy. She advised students to jump over their shadow.

“It’s the time of your life,” she said of living in the dorms, “and you learn to compromise.”

“The smarter one gives in,” Lorca-Deutsch said. “In the long run, if I obsess about someone … or if I’m mad about something, the only person that suffers there is me.”

She said students who skip the dorm experience have never roughed it or accumulated furniture to bring with when moving off campus, like she’ll do next year.

Lorca-Deutsch brought blankets, towels and clothes to Eau Claire, and will pack these items in preparation for her move off campus, as well as for a trip to Prague May 25 to June 11 with her Czech-born mother.

The difference between America and Europe

Lorca-Deutsch said it’s easy to move about in Europe, as it’s more concentrated than America – the countries are small and close together.

Lorca-Deutsch joked that while applying to universities in the area, she hadn’t realized how vast the American continent is.

“I said, ‘OK, how about Madison … La Crosse,’ thinking it would be close,” she said with a laugh. “It’s in the same state.”

She said UW-Eau Claire offered her a scholarship, assisting with the higher tuition international students must pay.

“I definitely came because of the (marketing) program and because I wanted to study in another country,” she said. “It really adds to your experience and resume.”

The marketing major said studying in Germany entails attending elementary school through grade four and opting to proceed on to three schools.

“It’s kind of crazy that you have to make that decision when you’re, like, 10,” she said.

Those utilizing the through- ninth-grade option typically pursue a technical job; the second school teaches through 10th grade, and from there one may opt to complete the final three years of high school.

Students accumulate a habitua, comparable to the ACT, as well as a numerus klausus, or GPA.

GPAs, however, are calculated differently. Through 10th grade, students receive number grades (an A denotes one point). During a student’s final year, an A denotes 15 points. Points are tallied, and results indicate which field a student is eligible to pursue.

Once the student has taken the test and knows his or her major, an application or a list of three choice cities may be submitted. Lorca-Deutsch began studying film and media, having accumulated a 1.6 numerus klausus (about an A- average) at Johann Wolfgang Goethe – Universit„t. Lorca-Deutsch eventually changed her course of study to economics and business.

“She is a very intelligent person,” Zalite said. “Not only in general, but what I consider more important is that she is emotionally intelligent. I appreciate the way she manages things she has to do, the way she plans.”

Lorca-Deutsch said unlike German professors, dedicated professors in Eau Claire prepare students for the real world.

“It surprised me that it was quite professional,” she said of American classes. “You’d have to dress professionally for certain presentations … and I think that’s great.”

Students in Germany typically begin working prior to graduation, which often comes later in life due to the lack of advising. Sometimes students fail to finish.

“It’s kind of like a life path you take,” she said, “and then it’s just like some people are determined to finish and some … can just take a couple credits a semester … because they’re working on the side already.”

Also, Germans don’t have to pay tuition.

“It’s a public thing,” she said.

World traveler

It’s public knowledge in Europe that many people own apartments. The Lorca-Deutsch family owns an apartment in Prague.

Lorca-Deutsch noted her liberal, open and supportive parents wanted to see and share the world with her as much as possible. While some trips were business related – her Chilean father works for a computer company – some were taken for pleasure.

She and her family have visited Amsterdam, Austria, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Portugal and Tunisia. Lorca-Deutsch proudly pointed out she and friends traveled at age 14 to Korea.

“It was my first big trip all by myself,” she said.

She and Miller flew to Frankfurt in December, and from there visited Iraq’s bordering country, Turkey.

Lorca-Deutsch admitted she bordered on nervous when going. However, said she couldn’t feel “any of that” in the country at all.

Of the Sept. 11 tragedy in general, she said it was a huge shock.

Frankfurt has many skyscrapers, making the city a target. Frankfurt is also near Hamburg, which is known to harbor al Qaeda cells.

She said she remembers when a confused, attention-craving citizen had hijacked a plane and was flying near the skyscrapers.

“I have the worst memories of it,” she said, as she had thought Miller would be deployed from Germany. She had been working at a fitness company when a friend called her cell phone and told her the attack was on television.

“Everyone was watching,” Lorca-Deutsch said, “but me and my friend on the phone were the only ones freaking out because it was more important to us … since my boyfriend is in the U.S. military. I tried calling him, and couldn’t reach him forever.”

As it turned out, Miller had bought a new cell phone and was unable to answer his old one. He was safe, but the post was placed on alarm.

“I couldn’t visit him anymore,” she said. “He had a curfew.”

She also said she remembers seeing crying German citizens decorate Frankfurt military bases and the opera house with flowers to commemorate those who were deployed.

“Everyone was shocked,” Lorca-Deutsch said. “Everyone was shattered …. ”

Another event that shocked her and made her nervous about traveling was the recent bombings in Spain.

“Of course it makes … conscious of traveling and what you’re going to do,” she said.

Lorca-Deutsch continued if something could happen in Spain, it could happen anywhere.

Her parents had called to inform her they were concerned, especially because her father’s great uncle lived in Israel.

Lorca-Deutsch said planning trips to see him is difficult, because it is rarely an ideal time to travel.

“Every time I fly home, it’s kind of eerie,” she said.

The Eau Claire experience

Lorca-Deutsch said while she has learned material in business classes and how to live on her own in a dorm, she’s definitely learned more about herself and the home she visits over spring, summer and winter break.

“I think it’s kind of what happens to you when you live in another country,” she said. “You get a little bit more patriotic then when you were in your country.”

“I never used to think of Germany ‘Oh, that’s where I’m from.’ … But if you’re away from it, people ask you about it and you get more aware of who you are and where you’re from.”