International Stories of Love: Franziska Hodde

A story about how a journey made my heart find a place called home.

I experienced the most exciting year of my life during my high school exchange year to the United States from 2010 - 2011. Fate made me end up in Helena, Montana, a city that is like a sleeping beauty in the midst of the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. This was the journey of my life. Not only because I met a wonderful host family that I couldn't describe any other way than a true second family to me, but also because I met the best friends I have ever had. What made this journey change my life entirely, though, is a small and at first glance insignificant moment at a local candy store.

It was on November 5th that my friends and I wanted to go to a little cafe that we had gone to countless times before. What made this time different was that the cafe was closed. After a discussion about alternatives, we agreed on going to the board game night at The Parrot, a local candy store that sells the best dark chocolate fudge I've had in my life!

We drove downtown, entered the candy store, and noticed there were already a few other high schoolers that one of my friends knew from band. We went ahead and joined them and I came to sit across from a young man, whose name I could honestly not remember after this first time I met him. If only I had known that this very moment was the seed that over time would grow into something beautiful!

After this day, I met him at school and learned that his name was Brady. We started having lunch together, then he started giving me rides home every day, and after some time we found each other hanging out after school and on the weekends frequently! We shared everything and talked for hours on the phone until late at night.

One day, we realized that this was more than just a friendship.

The most memorable moment we shared during my exchange year was during his senior prom. He had asked me out on this date a long, long time in advance. When the evening finally arrived, I was so excited! I wore a fancy dress that I had bought just for this opportunity and Brady looked so nice in his suit. He put a corsage on my wrist and I had a boutonniere for him with a rose of the same color. We had a wonderful dinner at a nice restaurant, danced together during the prom night, and had so much fun with our friends!

After the dance, Brady drove to our favorite spot with me, the parking lot at the foot of Mount Helena. The view over the city was stunning! It lay in front of us like scattered amber in a sea of darkness, covered by a night sky filled with stars as bright and clear as diamonds. He took my hand and looked at me for a moment that I wish could have lasted forever. Then he said the words that had stood between us like an unspoken truth all this time: "I love you."

This was the moment I realized I had found another home.

As my exchange year ended, my heart tore apart. I was so excited to see my family and my home country again but, on the other hand, I was going to leave my friends, host family, new home in Montana, and, most importantly, Brady, behind. I left physically, but my heart stayed in Montana.

Against everyone’s expectations, our love stood the test of time and even more so the strain of distance. Brady visited me in Germany multiple times and I introduced him to my culture and showed him the entire country I, before my exchange year, knew as my one and only home. In Montana I had found another home with friends, family, and my one true love. And even now, almost seven years after this most important day of our two lives, we grow closer together every day despite the physical distance between us. And every time I go on a journey to Montana, I feel like I am coming home.

Since then, I know there is not the only place someone can call home; home is where we find our loved ones and finding those is a never-ending journey.

I would like to conclude this story with a thought from Plato's "The Symposium": According to Greek Mythology, humans were originally created with two faces, four arms and four legs. But they were so complete that Zeus started fearing their power and split them in half, condemning each of the two halves to a life of a restless journey in search of each other. Through my exchange year, I was so fortunate that my journey led me to Helena, where on one fateful day, a cafe was closed and a candy store was not.

Where are they now?

The two have continued to visit each other, crossing oceans to be together until Fransizka is finished with her medical studies and Brady is able to move to Germany. In their most recent visit, Brady traveled to Germany to see Franziska for New Years. During the trip, they visited Cologne in search of the “love lock” they placed on the Hohenzollern Bridge when Brady first traveled to Germany to visit her in 2012. There is a sweet German tradition where couples go to the bridge, put a lock with their initials on it, and throw the key to the lock into the Rhine River to make their love last forever. After six years, they were pleased to find that their lock was still there. As the tradition says, they too are certain that their love will last forever.