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| DN ILLUSTRATION MICHAEL BOEHNLEIN |
On the third floor of the Studebaker Hall East, a group of foreign exchange students gathered ahead of the highly anticipated Germany vs. Brazil World Cup semifinal. Three of them are from Brazil, including Janaina Aranda.
With green and yellow hearts painted on her cheeks, Aranda wrapped herself in the Brazilian flag. As the match began, she gripped a pink rosary in one hand and a cellphone in the other to talk to her German boyfriend, Henrik Stoewenau.
As the match progressed with each German goal, Aranda’s cheers became shouts and her pacing quickened.
“We have hope,” Aranda said to assure herself more than her friends once the score reached 4-0 for Germany. Making the sign of the cross, she held her rosary to her lips. Within minutes, Germany struck again.
On the other end of the phone in Germany, Stoewenau wasn’t boasting about the score. In fact, the former Ball State exchange student consoled her.
“I feel sorry,” his instant message read. “I’m getting sad of this. I cheer for Brazil now.”
The couple met in fall 2013 at Ball State through the “Crazy Crew,” a group of about 25 study abroad students from Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Brazil and Switzerland.
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| Henrik Stoewenau of Germany and Janaina Aranda of Brazil pose for a photo. The two began dating after meeting as exchange students at Ball State. Stoewenau returned to Germany while Aranda finishes her studies at Ball State. PHOTO PROVIDED BY JANAINA ARANDA |
The distance:4,330 miles approximate distance between Ball State and Germany 6 hours time difference between Muncie and Germany |
Aranda and Stoewenau became romantically involved a few months after they met, but they only recently became an official couple. Stoewenau said most romantic relationships between exchange students carry expiration dates, so the people involved try not to become too attached.
“There are a lot of romantic relationships between exchange students,” Stoewenau said in a Facebook interview. “I think this is also due to [how] everyone is in the same situation, so a lot of new friendships happen quick and with that, also some romantic ones.”
Aranda said she originally didn’t want to start a relationship with anyone while in the U.S., but things drastically changed over the course of several months at Ball State.
Once she finishes her undergraduate experience, Aranda said she will move to Germany to live with Stoewenau, noting she is open-minded to the big change. In the meantime, the two are taking classes to learn German and Portuguese in order to talk in each other’s native tongue. At Ball State for the Summer Semester, Aranda is completing 10 weeks of German equivalent to four semesters of the language.
Once in Germany, Aranda plans on earning her master’s degree. She said the pieces fell into place for studying toward the degree once she met Stoewenau.
“You don’t have a whole lot of relationships [amongst study abroad students], but there are some examples here,” said Guohe Zheng, chairperson for the Department of Modern Languages and Classics.
Zheng said the department hosts activities on campus for international students to interact and build relationships, though the faculty doesn’t encourage or discourage romantic relationships.
“When you study abroad, often times, you also get very lonely,” he said. “Like on the Fourth of July, when most Americans join their families, study abroad students have to stay in the dorms.”
Zheng said in his time teaching Japanese at Ball State, he has seen exchange students date each other and local students. One couple, an American student and a Japanese student who met at Ball State, are now married and are joint CEOs of their company in Silicon Valley.
He said he has recently started tracking the relationships between the department’s alumni and plans on building a log.
Aranda and Stoewenau admit that maintaining a relationship from two ends of the world can be a hefty task. Still, technology helps the couple.
“When my mom moved to Portugal when I was 12, I would write letters to her or talk to her on the phone for like five minutes because it was so expensive,” Aranda said. “That was before WhatsApp and Facebook and Skype. During this game, I was talking to my boyfriend and my daddy. Technology makes it easier.”
Despite the distance between them and the results of Tuesday’s game — 7-1 for Germany — Aranda and Stoewenau continue to talk across the globe in whichever language they’ve practiced that day.
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| Henrik Stoewenau and Janaina Aranda pose for a photo with the “Crazy Crew,” a group of study abroad students from Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Brazil and Switzerland. Stoewenau, from Germany, and Aranada, from Brazil, met in the friend group fall 2013 at Ball State. PHOTO PROVIDED BY JANAINA ARANDA |
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