As we prepare to present this year's cohort with their exchange scholarships this coming Friday night, we start to take a look at what has become of some of our many hundreds of Aussie GASSies from the past 52 years. We start with Colin Truslove, who went on the second year of exchange in 1969/70. Colin lives in Germany these days, running
Drop by and see him next time you are in Cologne and have a yearning for some Aussie goods!
As well as these photos, Colin sent us a link to an episode of Deutschlandspiegel, which features both him and fellow student Elaine Tarran. Elaine herself went on to have a distinguished career as a teacher of German and French. Do yourself a favour and take a look:
https://www.filmothek.bundesarchiv.de/video/589725
Interview with Colin:
Year of exchange: 1969
From which school: Bell Park High School, Geelong
City of exchange in Germany: Würzburg
A memory from my exchange: Riding around in a rowing boat in the February 1970 Würzburg floods - right at the bottom of my street!
Studies on return from exchange: Arts/Law at Monash, three semesters of law at Würzburg and Cologne universities, the latter with a DAAD scholarship. A two year study break 1974-75 with six months back in Germany and 18 months in Paris and Nice.
Career path since then: Federal Department of Communications, Melbourne / freelance translator-interpreter at trade fairs Heidelberg-Frankfurt / Victorian Economic Development Corporation-Victorian Government Office Frankfurt / Henkell Brothers Investment Consultants Wiesbaden-Melbourne / since 1993 self-employed Australia Shopping World Munich-Wiesbaden-Cologne-Berlin-Hamburg.
What are you doing now? Australia Shopping World Cologne and Berlin: https://australiashopping.de delivering Australia and New Zealand to expats, family and mainly German-speaking fans in Europe!
How the SAGSE exchange experience influenced my life's journey: 41 unexpected unplanned years later, still here in Germany and still enjoying making Aussies and Kiwis and fans happy with as wide a range of products from home as possible! And still feel like an Aussie, even though I seem to pass as a German!
Further comments: happy to continue, no plans to retire, but a keen successor in a few years' time wouldn't be such a bad idea!