Luca Bucksch is a foreign exchange student at Blue Earth Area High School. He is spending his year in Blue Earth with the Johnson family, and will return home to Herford, Germany next June.

Luca Bucksch, age 17, has spent the past few months a considerable distance away from home. About 4,245 miles, according to the cartographic powers of Google.

Last summer, Luca traveled across half a continent and an ocean to stay with the Johnson family, of Blue Earth, and enroll as a junior at Blue Earth Area High School.

Luca’s home and family are located in Herford, a town situated in northwestern Germany.

Pictures of Herford reveal a beautiful town with a collection of historic buildings, a museum dedicated to contemporary arts, and picturesque views of the Werre River, which runs through the Detmold region of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.

“I live on the outside of town, three miles from the city center,” Luca says.

He explains that though Herford and Blue Earth are roughly the same size, they certainly do not contain the same number of residents.

“Blue Earth is much more stretched,” Luca says. “My town is not much bigger in area, but it has 60,000 people. It’s much more dense.” 

Luca counts the sprawling geography of the United States as the main difference he has observed upon leaving Germany.

“Everything is much bigger,” Luca says. “Family trips are very different. Here, you go for a weekend trip to visit grandma, and it’s 10 hours away.” 

He continues, “If you drove 10 hours away where I’m from, you’d be in Great Britain or Italy or Sweden, not in the same country.” 

Otherwise, Luca tends to avoid fixating upon similarities and differences between America and Germany. He also attempts to avoid cultivating a preference for either country.

“I wouldn’t say either is better or worse, they’re just different,” Luca reasons.

Luca remembers holding this attitude even before his arrival in Minnesota on Aug. 2.

When asked whether he had any expectations regarding what Minnesota would be like, Luca answers, “No, I’m pretty open. I was just curious.” 

Curiosity is primarily what brought Luca all the way to Blue Earth, Minnesota in the first place.

Luca first heard about the opportunity from his English teacher when he was 15 years old.

“I’m pretty confident in my English, and I thought it was a cool idea,” Luca explains.

He originally intended to travel to the United States in 2020, but COVID-19’s worldwide rampage delayed his trip until this year.

Luca sees many benefits to studying abroad.

“It always looks good on applications, to show I can speak English well,” he reasons.

However, Luca was most interested embracing the experience of living somewhere new.

“I mainly wanted the experience,” Luca says. “And, it gives me a year of time.” 

Luca is referring to time to decide upon a future career path. The conundrum seems to be universal to American and German teenagers alike.

Germany’s education system offers students the opportunity to select their general vocation a few years earlier than the American education system.

“Our elementary school goes from first to fourth grade,” Luca says. Following primary school, students attend a secondary school from fifth to 10th grade.

After 10th grade, students may choose to attend vocational school or technical college, or they may wish to continue their education through Gymnasium, an academic secondary school.

Upon concluding 10th grade, Luca was uncertain about his future. He chose to attend Gymnasium, he says, “because I still didn’t know what I wanted to do.” 

He views his time in America as an additional year for exploration and reflection, which he seems to be making the most of.

Luca participated in Blue Earth’s cross country season, which concluded a few weeks ago, and intends to join the basketball team.

He is also taking several courses at Blue Earth Area High School.

During the first quarter of the school year, Luca studied geometry, art foundations, design, and government.

Meanwhile, he shares he has recently shouldered a new course load for the school year’s second quarter.

“I am taking geometry, communications, culinary, and ecology,” Luca says.

He singles out government as his favorite course so far. “We’ve studied the process of law making and jury duty,” Luca remembers.

Luca admits one notable difference between Blue Earth Area High School and his school in Herford.

“Every day is the same here,” he notes. In Germany, Luca explains, “We choose 13 different courses spread out throughout the week.” 

Luca’s courses in Herford last year included German, English, math, Spanish, social studies, sports, religious studies, geology, and the arts. He also studied biology and history, both of which were taught in English.

Luca’s schedule reflects a significant focus upon language immersion in the German curriculum. He explains German graduation requirements expect students to study two languages for three years throughout their education.

“Typically Europe studies more languages,” Luca observes. “There are so many languages in a small space.” 

He shares he started studying English many years ago, when he was in first grade. He began his Spanish studies a bit later, during his school term last year.

Overall, it seems people have had the most profound impact upon Luca, no matter where he is or which language he is speaking.

When asked what he will miss most when he leaves Blue Earth next June, Luca answers, “Friends made here, and people I got to know.” 

Perhaps at the top of that list will be Luca’s host family, which consists of Jenna and Aaron Johnson, and their children: Spencer, Jamie, Vern, Robyn, Jacob, Cynthia, Joshua, and Majah.

However, Luca will no doubt be happy to be reunited with his family in Herford, who he says are what he misses most about home. His family includes his mother, Bianca Bucksch, his father, Gordon Bucksch, his brother, Linus, as well as a cat and a dog.

“I also miss bread,” Luca laughs. Undeniably, the homey taste of a delectable loaf of bread is hard to beat.