Document Type
Narrative Essay
Publication Date
1997
Excerpt
Nearly twenty years ago when I entered my Freshman year at Chesterton High School, I was asked to select a foreign language to study, which was a requirement. It was an easy decision for me to choose German since my grandparents, Alwine and Gustav, had immigrated here in the late 1920s from Germany. I was very excited to be able to learn more about their homeland and wanted to make them proud when I could speak their native language. While I was growing up they had always shared their memories of their life in Germany with me. They created a vivid picture in my mind as they described to me the small villages with their cobble-stone streets nestled in the foothills of the surrounding Harz Mountains. The farmers' fields surrounded the villages, and the villages surrounded the enormous churches. Nearly every little home had a red tiled roof--each connected to the one next to it. Under each of the windows hung quaint flower boxes with geraniums and petunias exploding out of them. My thoughts were often filled with beautiful images of this foreign land; as a result, it was my dream to someday see with my own eyes the homeland of two of the most important people I have ever known.
Recommended Citation
Scheetz, Julie, "Bilingual = Opportunity (1997)" (1997). The Valpo Core Reader. 167.
http://scholar.valpo.edu/core_reader/167