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Show West German exchange student likes Park City's sporting life U 1 ' " by Nan Chalat Foreign exchange student Jan Hochtritt has been in Park City only two months, but a few things already have impressed him the fall colors and the fact that Parkites seem to have all the right equipment for every sport imaginable. And that's fine with Jan (pronounced (pro-nounced Yon) who says he likes every sport "except running." In fact, one of the reasons he wanted to spend a year in the United States was to improve his basketball skills, he said. Hochtritt also is an avid volleyball player and enjoys canoeing and sailing. Hochtritt was one of 50 high school students who applied to the American Field Service student exchange program in his hometown of Osnabruck, West Germany last September. Only eight were accepted. accept-ed. And it was not until 14 days before he was due to leave home that - he learned he was coming to Utah. "To be honest, I had heard some weird things about Utah that it was very conservative," he said. But he quickly realized Park City didn't fit the stereotype. "I really can't compare Park City to anything. It's neat," he said. On Aug. 7 Hochtritt said goodbye to his friends and family in Osnabruck and traveled to C.W. Post, New York for a few days of orientation by American Field Service staff before boarding a plane to Salt Lake City. In Salt Lake he was met by his Park City hosts, the I Daniel Tripp family. And on Sept. 2, he enrolled in the senior class at Park 2 City High School. i Hochtritt, who is the son of two J schoolteachers, fit right in at the a high school. In fact, except for the Jan Hochtritt fact that all of the classes are taught in English, school here is easier than in Germany, he said. His father, Joachim Hochtritt, teaches at a school for the deaf in Osnabruck and his mother Witta teaches at a middle school. Hochtritt also has two sisters, one nine and one 21 years old. According to Hochtritt's preliminary prelim-inary observations, German children seem more independent than American Amer-ican children. ' ' I spent my first night alone when 4 was four. Here children need to have babysitters until they are nine , or ten." ' ' ' ' .Another difference is that in V Osnabruck, an industrial town of 170,000 citizens, he doesn't need a car. "Here you need a car to go everywhere and that makes you more dependent." Unfortunately, shortly after Hochtritt Hoch-tritt got settled, his host family had to move to Arizona. But the American Field Service required Hochtritt to stay in Utah, so until a more permanent host family is found in Park City or Salt Lake City he is staying with the Wilkinson family in Prospector Square. . "They're great and 1 think .it's" been a good experience. I know how t my family works at home and now I've seen two others. That's why I'm here, because I enjoy meeting people and learning about your culture." Hochtritt is one of four foreign exchange students at Park City High School this year. All of them will participate in an AFS International Festival at the Kimball Art Center on Sunday, Oct. 28 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The festival will offer interested students and community members a taste of the many varied cultures iriv61ve'd"in 'the' American Field Service foreign exchange programs, . |