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  Exchange Program on Education, Culture and Teaching Objectives (EPECTO). The sun was in full glory and the airport was a scorched landscape when Aglaia Brütting’s domestic flight arrived at a little past noontime of 20 October 2008. She was to be the first Friedrich-Alexander-Gymnasium student to expand the parameters of EPECTO’s student-sojourns, by becoming the first to register as a non-credit enrollee for an entire semester under the aegis of the program. In a season known for its flirt with typhoons, Aglaia brought the sunshine—and even enthused it to stay.
Turning eighteen only in July of that same year, Aglaia displayed courage beyond her years, by traveling halfway across the globe by herself and acclimating to a radically different environmental, cultural and socio-economic altitude. She was to meet all challenges with a sweet smile and an untroubled heart.
 In her six-month stay, she welcomed every experience with neighborliness, even though many aspects of the Filipino world might be unusual in the Central European’s eyes. She voluntarily donned a school uniform and wore leather shoes in solidarity with the coeds. It was a first for a Central European to do so in AdNU, as it might have also been a first for the AdNU community to see a blonde female student like one of their own.
 Aglaia was one with the students in almost every corner of student life, from queuing during enrollment to guarding student ballots; from joining immersion activities to riding jeepneys and tricycles; and from dawn-till-dusk classes to dusk-till-dawn school activities. Throughout her stay, she lodged with the hospitable members of the Madrigal Dorm community, and took part in four full-time course offerings. She also participated in the semestral German Language and Culture Course as a full-time teaching assistant.
Her return to Germany on 9 April 2009 inspired more Friedrich-Alexander-Gymnasium students to enter into the spirit of the exchange, as she was followed by her Year 11 classmates Julia Ernst and Juliane Wiesinger, who visited AdNU in August 2009. Aglaia’s footsteps shall likewise be followed by Josephine Henry and Lea Dippon, who are scheduled to enroll as non-credit students in the second semester of 2009-2010.
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