Dec 28, 2024
Submitted photo Lilly Wentzler is a student from Germany now studying at Davis & Elkins College.
Editor’s Note: The following is a first-person account of a student from Europe coming to West Virginia as a freshman at Davis & Elkins College. Lilly Wentzler, from Munich, Bavaria, Germany, is a member of the D&E women’s tennis team.
ELKINS — When I arrived at Davis & Elkins College in the fall of 2024 as a freshman, I wanted to embrace my opportunities and challenges as an international student and a student-athlete.
I chose to come to D&E to enjoy a good education, while still playing tennis and hopefully to increase my chances of getting a good job further in life. The culture and the language are still a challenge for me, but increasingly I am adapting well to my life on the other side of the world
One of my major adjustments is the dining culture here in the U.S.: I did not think there would be such a big difference; however, back home, one meal lasts a minimum of 45 minutes to an hour, and here we eat in 15 minutes and go back.
Also, an adjustment was understanding the norms in an American classroom. Back home in Germany it was a lot stricter, and the teachers did not care that much about your own story and what you want to achieve in life; it is quite a contrast here at D&E.
What helped me a lot in adjusting to another country’s culture, especially here in West Virginia, was the fact that I was already used to not seeing my parents for a long time. In year seven (7th grade), when I was around 12 years old, I started attending boarding school. In boarding school, we also ate at a cafeteria, for example, and lived in “dorm rooms” with roommates. For students who lived at home and always had their own room, I think that part was more difficult for them.
As a student-athlete, I also faced some challenges: my first one was an injury in the first week of practice. A tennis player’s weakest parts of the body are generally their arms and wrists; I had inflammation in my left arm, which made my arm go numb all the time and made playing my sport impossible. After a two-week break, I was good to go again.
Another challenge with being an athlete is keeping up with your schoolwork while competing in tournaments. That reality was challenging in the beginning, but as a team, we all helped each other, which showed me one more time, that I made the right decision by becoming a Senator.
The feeling of representing the college, and not just playing for yourself, was intimidating at the beginning when I played my first match as a D&E Senator; after the injury, I narrowly lost. I remember that I could not hold my tears back when I left the court because I was disappointed; Eloise (a D&E senior on our team) hugged me and comforted me. That was the moment. I realized that we are all there for each other and we are an actual team.
I would say I have had an amazing experience here in the United States, West Virginia, and at D&E; this first semester went by so fast, and I cannot wait for my second semester and also to once again attend class in season.
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