Venlo

Back in the 1960s the German school year began in late April so my sister and I arrived just in time. I think my sister was in "Untersekunda" and I was in "Quarta. Time/age-wise Quarta was around the 7th grade but we were doing quadratic equations in math and studying three languages so it was a bit more advanced :-)
And by the time summer came around I was reasonably fluent in German and spoke well enough to be mistaken for Bavarian rather than American... It's amazing what a few months of "immersion" can accomplish :-)

But for some reason my aunt Vesti felt I should be in a boarding school. I think it was because she actually believed it would provide a better education, but it may have just been to get me out of the house :-) And one day at the beginning of summer vacation in 1965 Vesti and I took the train to Venlo, Holland (just across the border from Germany). There was a Catholic boys boarding school in Steyl (just south of Venlo) and they were having a week long "open house" for prospective students.

I really liked the place. Venlo is a beautiful little town - apparently it dates back to Roman times. It was just very cool and very laid back - hardly any cars - all bicycles... The school had a full color printing press and published a magazine. And it was right on the Meuse river - you could wave to people on the barges as they passed. (The barges were family homes - there were kids running around, laundry hanging out, etc)

The week went pretty well with one exception:
There was a pair of German identical twins who decided it was "pick on the Ami week". (Ami is derogatory slang for American.) They were on me like white on rice. For days they spent almost every waking moment insulting, taunting and goading me. And I just took it - in my experience if you ignore those kinds of idiots long enough they lose interest... But those two were a whole different breed of idiot.
For 4 days I patiently ignored the bullying. Then one of the twins tripped me and I went down. They thought it was funnier than hell until got up and punched the 'tripper' in the face.

Now - I really didn't hit him that hard - I was just trying to "get his attention". But the next thing I know I'm watching a reenactment of that scene from the Wizard of Oz after Dorothy slaps the cowardly lion on the snout:
Both of the twins were crying like babies... I couldn't believe it! To quote Dorothy: "My goodness! What a fuss you're making!!" And they ran off with tears streaming down their faces to tell the priest how the big bad American had brutally assaulted them for no reason whatsoever.

I told the priest my side of the story and showed him the abrasions on my knees from hitting the stone floor but it didn't matter... For the remaining few days I was "persona non grata" - everyone avoided me. And then there was the "grand finale":
At the end of the week I happened to notice the "innocent little angels" across the courtyard with their parents. They were pointing at me as if they had just spotted the perp in a police lineup. "There he is!!! That's him right there!" I couldn't believe the expression on all of their faces. (If looks could kill.)

Needless to say I was rejected by the school... And in retrospect my only regret is that I didn't put my full weight behind that punch :-)