Alexa Donne

Alexa Donne is the Edgar Award–nominated author of Pretty Dead Queens, The Ivies, as well as young adult sci-fi romance retellings Brightly Burning and The Stars We Steal. By day, she lives in Los Angeles and works in television marketing. She is a graduate of GAPP and CBYX student exchange programs. Her newest book The Bitter End will be published this October. 

 - Why did you choose to study German in high school?

I landed on German for a funny reason. I spent years singing in an international youth choir in Atlanta, and many of our songs were in other languages, including several in German. I thought my pronunciation was least bad with German, so that’s what I picked for high school! It was a fortuitous choice as, indeed, I ended up loving German and wasn’t half-bad at it. :P Later, what kept me studying German including through college is how learning and speaking it came naturally so much of the time, since English is a Germanic language. I had a confidence in German class and it was actually fun connecting the dots between grammar and usage from English class to German.

- When did you participate in a GAPP exchange, and what motivated you to join?

I participated in a GAPP exchange between my freshman and sophomore years of high school, in 1999. I had a fantastic German teacher who was a passionate advocate for foreign exchange. She’d been a Rotary Exchange student to Finland in high school and it changed the trajectory of her life. Her enthusiasm was contagious, and it was a no brainer to participate! She was also a big inspiration for my returning to Germany for a full year as a CBYX participant in 2000-2001, or my junior year of high school. Going on my GAPP program is where I utterly became enamored with Germany and gained the confidence to apply for a full year abroad. 

- How many weeks did you attend Berufskolleg Bergisch Gladbach as part of the GAPP exchange and Albert Schweitzer Gymnasium for CBYX?

On my GAPP program, we attended school for three weeks alongside our host siblings. For CBYX, I attended Gymnasium for a full school year, from September to June!

- How was your experience as a visiting student at a German school? In what ways was it different from your school in the U.S.?

By dint of being a Berufskolleg, immediately it was a 180 from U.S. high school! I vividly recall attending shop class and doing woodwork alongside students, which might be an elective at a U.S. high school, but it was a revelation that vocations were prioritized for students in Germany. It’s such a smart education system I’ve admired ever since. The other surprise was the freedom students had with their schedule and general school experience.  I was fifteen paired with a sixteen-year-old host sibling and she was given the agency to manage her academic schedule, transport to and from school, etc. It was so cool!

This was all confirmed many times over when I attended my Gymnasium for a full year with CBYX. It was on me to manage my schedule and studies, and it was a taste of independence and responsibility that was a major part of my year abroad helping me mature and get ready for college.

- What aspects of German culture and lifestyle did you enjoy the most?

Having grown up and always lived in cities, I was fascinated and delighted by small town and village culture in Germany. I lived in a teeny tiny village on my GAPP program, but there were shops, a bakery, and such within walking distance and public transit was on point to get you into the city any time you needed, quickly and easily. All the benefits of a quiet and close-knit community and a lovely home with garden space, with the city close at hand—all without needing a car. Logistically that so rarely happens in the U.S. Fresh baked bread daily was a particular revelation! And that McDonald’s could have high quality meat!

During CBYX, I was in a smallish town (40K population vs. the millions I was used to!), and got to more fully experience aspects of German culture. Overall, I loved and still love the balance and flow of life in Germany, and so many aspects of the culture—humor, music, deep conversations, leisure, public transit and the train system, food, movies, etc. I found living with my host families and spending time with German friends that the focus was on quality time spent together, being in nature, and having thoughtful conversations. I loved being able to slow down and focus on people and experiences rather than academic over-achieving, and the rigid ideas I had about myself as an American high school student (where I fit in, getting into college, etc.). Life in Germany was efficient but relaxed, connected but not overly prying (I am an introvert, afterall!). I simply loved it.

- Are you still in touch with your former classmates, host family, or chaperones?

Yes! I’m still in touch with my CBYX host family, and a few students from my class—though I was in Germany in a time before widely available email or the invention of Facebook (oof!), so it’s limited to whomever I was able to track down years after when/if they joined social media sites. Sadly I wasn’t able to track down my host sibling from my GAPP program—she never joined Facebook!

- You are a YA writer who writes thrillers. Did any of your exchange experiences make it into your books? If so, how? If not, what kind of character would you create based on your experience?

My love of Germany has made its way specifically into my sci-fi romance retelling of Persuasion, The Stars We Steal, where my main character Leonie is a German Princess and living on the space ship Prinzessin Sofi, a deliberate play on Empress Sisi, and once or twice in the book I was able to dust off my language skills (and with no copy editors to check me, I had to trust my own German knowledge!).

More generally, my GAPP and CBYX experiences enabled me to experience a different kind of living, in family units completely different to my own, and those broadening of my horizons have absolutely helped me with writing fiction. I tapped into living in smaller towns and villages in Germany when writing my small town mystery in Pretty Dead Queens—set in California, but absolutely inspired in part by Germany! When I write characters with siblings, I think about my host siblings, and I definitely used the “fish out of water, far from home” feelings while writing my boarding school thriller, The Ivies, and my upcoming closed circle mystery The Bitter End. 

I’ve been saving a book about a high school foreign exchange student for a future project, for sure. It’s so specific and unique and apropos for YA, but I need to figure out how to add some good murder! :) (my GAPP and CBYX programs involved zero murder, promise!)

I plan on moving into adult mystery, as well, and have had a project inspired by my time living in the former East Germany on my CBYX exchange on the backburner for about fifteen years. My time living there sparked a lifelong interest in the history of the region, impacts post-reunification, and psychology of the people. I have another backburner YA fantasy inspired by King Ludwig II’s castles, which I saw during my travel week of my GAPP program, all those years ago! (That trip is also the reason I love the opera Tristan und Isolde.) Needless to say, my study abroad experiences in Germany had a major impact on my life, and continue to inspire me!

- Do you have any favorite YA- authors/books you would like to share with our community?

So many I can name, but I’ll limit myself to some juicy YA thriller recommendations, all must-reads for anyone who enjoys my books. Anything
by Kara Thomas, but my personal favorite is The Darkest Corners. Many others: People Like Us and Summer’s Edge by Dana Mele, All Eyes on Her by L.E. Flynn, They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman, The Black Queen by Jumata Emil, Friends Like These by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez, and The One Who Got Away with Murder by Trish Lundy, just to name a few!

- Why should students participate in a GAPP exchange and what advice would you give to students who are about to participate in a GAPP exchange?

A GAPP program, and/or also going on CBYX as I did, will broaden your horizons in the best way, and turn you into a global citizen. It’s a unique way to experience another culture firsthand, and be better able to contextualize yourself as an American and human being. Cultural immersion in Germany is, simply, life changing. My experiences have had lifelong impacts on my interests, academics, and career.

If you’re going on a GAPP program, my advice is to be as open minded as possible! Embrace feeling occasionally uncomfortable because something is different or surprising. That’s where you’ll push yourself the most and have some of the best experiences of your trip. Observe and reflect as much as you participate. Throw caution to the wind and just try speaking German—it is admittedly terrifying and overwhelming to do so when you’re newer to the language and know you’re not perfect. But actually speaking German and not letting people default to English was key to really immersing myself in Germany and participating in my exchanges. No one will expect you to be perfect and they won’t scold you for getting things wrong—just try and they’ll get the jist of what you’re saying :)