My name is Sarah Hill and  I was a delegate in 2001 to Lower Hutt. I was originally selected to go to Skopje, but due to the war in Kosovo we were not sent. My sister Rachel Hill was a delegate to Skopje seven years later. I am currently living in Regensburg and I’d love to share with you the story of how I came to live here.

Alex Fuchs and I met because he was a delegate to Tempe from Regensburg in 2001. We stayed friends and I visited him in Regensburg when I was studying in Alicante, Spain in the Spring of 2005. We began dating when he was doing an internship in the US last year, and we have now been together for one and a half years. I have been living in Regensburg since last fall, and I love it here! Currently, I am working toward my PhD in genetics at the University of Regensburg and Alex just finished his masters in Mechanical Engineering last week. I have been acclimating to “German life” quite well with the support of Alex and his wonderful family. I don’t think I need to tell you how much sister cities has touched me. If it weren’t for my participation, I would have never have met the love of my life. My delegation to Lower Hutt with Sister Cities helped to instill a love of travel and a level of comfort with being so far away from home. The interview process helped to provide me with the confidence during graduate school and job interviews (I always think no matter how daunting the interview, nothing can be quite as intimidating as facing a room full of adults at age 16…) I can honestly say that participating in Sister Cities was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and one of the most important factors in shaping my life. Alex and I will be coming to Tempe in a few weeks to visit my family. We will hopefully meet with his former host brother (John Krause) and his family as well. I have been looking to get involved int the exchange between Tempe and Regensburg, and was very happy to receive your email. I’d be happy to meet with the German delegates to help them prepare for what to expect in Tempe, or be an additional support for the American students in Regensburg. Please let me know if you can think of a way that I might be of use, and feel free to forward this on to anyone who you think I should discuss this with.

Take care, Sarah