While most seniors’ adventures will begin after graduation, Abigale Williams’ started January 6. The December graduate departed for Germany, where she will live with friends of her family for the next four months.

“I have all my credits done, I have straight As, I just want to go out and really push myself past my comfort zone… like way, way past,” she said.

Inspired in part by the adventures of other 2016 graduates, Abigale knew she was ready to experience life outside of Lawrence. Abigale won’t be a foreign exchange student. Rather, she will sit in on classrooms to act as an aide for teachers, while having the freedom to do her own thing.

“Everyone else [seems to] have left and studied abroad, but I didn’t want to necessarily commit to the studying part,” Abigale said. “I just want to be free.”

A native English speaker, Abigale will be a helpful resource to the students attempting to learn English as a second language. The students will in turn be helping her achieve one of her ultimate goals for the trip.

“I’m just hoping to learn the language and really understand the culture,” Abigale said.

Her host family’s 8-year-old son will be learning English while Abigale learns German, so she’s confident they will be able to help one another.

“I don’t know German very well, but I can understand it, so it’ll be fun that we’ll be able to be the reciprocal of each other,” Abigale said.

Her father, Billy Williams, is her inspiration for her travels. Born in Germany, Billy has always held strong ties to his birthplace and his family there.

“He was really close with his mom, so he keeps close ties with Germany,” Abigale said. “He really wanted me and my brother to understand and know our heritage and where we come from.”

Billy’s ties to Germany extend beyond educating his children about German heritage. He serves as the Secretary for the Sister Cities Advisory Board for Lawrence, in which one of the three sister cities is Eutin, Germany. Eutin is where Abigale will be staying for the next five months.

The Williams family travels to Germany as often as possible, typically every two to three years. This offers some comfort for Abigale’s parents, since she will be travelling 4,657 miles away on her own.

“We have many hopes and wishes for Abby on this trip,” Billy said. “Of course we want her to learn more of the language and experience the culture, but more importantly we want her to experience life from a new perspective.”

Abigale will return May 9, in time to walk with the 2016 graduating class and attend the University of Kansas soon after. Her future travelling endeavours are to be determined.

“We’ll see if this is something I fall even more in love with,” Abigale said. “I know there’s a piece of me that will always be there and that will always call me back, so I don’t know how strong that will get after staying there four months, but I am really, really excited.”