By Isabel Costian
“Mach deine Eltern und Trainer stolz. So etwas wirst du nie wider erleben.”
As German exchange student Paul Flachenecker stood on the sidelines waiting for his last Texas high school football game to begin, he thought to himself “Do your parents and coach proud. This is something you will never experience again.”
Interested in the American culture he always heard about in Germany, Flachenecker came to the United States to experience high school in America and play high school football.
“I like the school spirit and how it’s tied together with football and that you really have to trust your teammates,” Flachenecker said.
Flachenecker’s cousin, who was an exchange student, got him excited to come to America.
“You learn to be on your own more, and handle things on your own,” Flachenecker said. “You really start to be independent.”
Flachenecker’s parents sent him off with doubts about the consequences of playing football and worries about his newfound independence.
“It was very hard to say goodbye,” father Andreas Flachenecker said. “We were happy for him that his dream became true, on the one hand, and sad to stay at home without him, on the other.”
On September 13th, Flachenecker traveled from his home in western Germany to America, ready for an entirely new experience.
“The first week was pretty hard,” Flachenecker said. “I was so tired after school because of all of the translating.”
Flachenecker lives with freshman Noah Tarantello and his family. He even went to Buffalo, NY with them over Thanksgiving break to visit their extended family.
“We had never really thought about a foreign exchange student before, but we talked about it as a family and decided it would be a cool experience,” host mother Maureen Tarantello said. “We were excited to meet him.”
The school’s magnets and electives are foreign to Flachenecker. In Germany, students take the same courses and do not choose from a variety of electives.
“I think my German friends think it’s kind of cool because we don’t really have it in Germany,” Flachenecker said. “I think nearly everyone would do the same in America.”
Flachenecker is on the jv football team and received help from the more experienced players as he was learning to play.
“It’s really nice how the players were helping me out at the beginning,” Flachenecker said. “That was really good, especially when you don’t know what to do.”
Sophomore Anthony Peters immediately bonded with Flachenecker.
“Everyone was really nice to me, but he was the first one to take me into the Eagle’s Nest and introduce me to all the people,” Flachenecker said. “I think it takes time to make a real friend, but I think I could call him a good friend of mine.”
Peters, also on the jv team, hopes to visit Flachenecker at his home over summer break.
“Paul is honestly one of the most down to earth, cool people I’ve ever talked to,” Peters said. “He’s one of my closest friends. I just feel like I’m sharing a major part of my life with him.”
Along with immersing himself in American school life, Flachenecker said getting a chance to play American football was an amazing experience.
The first time he got a chance to play, he was on the kickoff coverage team. He said he got hit really hard. It wasn’t serious, but it caught him off guard.
“It was my fault,” Flachenecker said. “I learned from it and did it better the next time.”
Flachenecker said he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take part in the Homecoming festivities on Halloween.
“It was really stressful,” Flachenecker said. “You have to work to get a date and a group, but that’s the teenager life that I wanted to experience.”
Flachenecker went to dinner, the dance, and an after-party with his date from another school.
“The whole dance was awesome,” Flachenecker said. “I was just happy to have the possibility to experience this.”