Exchange student makes return trip to Ewing

In 1986, Christian Eggeling, of Germany, boarded a plane destined for the United States.

Final destination: Ewing, Nebraska, where he would spend the school year living with the Larry and Louise Nordby family.

Eggeling has made the trip across the pond several times. Most recently, he visited his host family in Ewing, Saturday, Aug. 17, and even after 33 years, the extended family slipped into conversation that became so familiar years ago.

Once an exchange student, always a part of the family.

Eggeling decided to spend a year abroad after viewing a movie about high schools in the U.S.

"Actually, it was a pretty popular thing to do back then," he said.

Five or six of his classmates - including his twin brother - spent a year as exchange students.

His brother landed in Pennsylvania.

"I got to Ewing, Nebraska. I had a very good year," he said. "At the end of the year, it doesn't matter where you go, it's the family that makes the difference."

That was evident as Nordby brothers Ed and Elliot, along with sister, Eva, mom, Louise and Eggeling sat around the dinner table, spinning yarns and telling truths from the past.

Some of his favorite memories include participating in sports.

He played football, and during the first game, Eggeling said he kept praying, "Please don't trade me in."

He qualified for the state track meet and said it was a memorable experience.

Upon his return to Germany, Eggeling attended university, studied physics and worked in the industry before joining Oxford University as an academic researcher.

"We worked on microscopes and so on, seeing tiny little things, how they move in our body and so on," he said.

For eight years, he worked alongside a fellow researcher who won the Nobel Prize.

Now, Eggeling works as a professor at a German university.

He's visited the Nordby clan multiple times since his initial stay, milestone events like weddings or when he flies into the States to speak at conferences.

"I just find my way to Ewing."

Eggeling said one of the first sentences uttered by Louise will always stand out.

"You are allowed to do and not to do basically the same as the other kids. For me, there was a lot of freedom."

Louise remembers some of the difficulties in assimilating at first.

Elliot was making hamburgers in the kitchen.

"He was telling jokes and I tried to laugh, but...," Eggeling said. "Elliot was telling the same joke a month later and I burst out laughing, Elliot turned and said, "I told you this joke before." I told him, 'Now I get it.'"

And, there are memories of eating burgers at Southfork and Broadway bars and hanging out with friends on the weekends.

"It's a part of it," said Eva Nordby James. "It a part of growing up and of that experience."

School was not difficult for Eggeling, but there was a bit of a learning curve.

"I think my first history test I received a 'D.'"

He was invited to speak to members of the German class.

"She started to speak German and I thought, they aren't going to learn German this way," he said.

On the day he returned to his native home, Eggeling said there were plenty of tears as he left Nebraska and his beloved host family.

Louise promised her adopted family member they would visit Germany when he got married.

It's a promise the Nordbys kept.

"The Nordby family made it a memorable experience," he said.

Some day the group will reminisce on memories from this visit, each one special, each one strengthening the bond.

"I wouldn't be coming back now, 30 years later, if I didn't have a good family," he said. "It was one year in my life. You might think it doesn't matter, but it mattered a lot because it was so special and such a good experience. They're lovely people."