Years at a time go by between visits, and their lives couldn’t have taken more different turns, but Jill Intihar Nelson and Claudia Brinkmann still feel like sisters.

Jill wanted to host an exchange student when she was in high school, and her parents, Cheryll and Bill Intihar of Albert Lea, supported the idea if Jill was willing to do the research. She talked with her high school counselor, learned about the different programs, and someone from the program met the family. When they’d been accepted, they received the applications of foreign students hoping to study in the United States for a year.

&uot;When we saw Claudia’s, we knew she was the one,&uot; Jill recalled. &uot;She had many of the same interests as we did.&uot;

So the family wrote her a letter inviting her to stay with them for the 1987-88 school year.

Claudia and her twin sister Karen, meanwhile, had talked about becoming exchange students to develop their English skills and grow personally. Both applied to different programs, and both would end up in the Midwest (Karen in Missouri).

The were all nervous that first day in August as Claudia arrived at the airport. But it was the beginning of what they all call &uot;a great year.&uot;

Claudia had started learning English in fifth grade, so she came in expecting to be able to communicate well right away. &uot;I thought with six years of English I should be pretty good, but we hadn’t really practiced it,&uot; she said.

Still she picked up the language quickly. &uot;After a while it just made sense,&uot; she said.

Jill remembers having fun explaining to Claudia what &uot;cute&uot; meant. It was a word Claudia would use often after that.

Jill and Claudia had many of the same friends, and both played tennis.

Claudia was back visiting her American family last week. &uot;She hasn’t changed a bit,&uot; Cheryll said.

Claudia could say the same of many things around the Intihar home. The trees had grown and more houses had sprung up around their home, but many things about the house are the same.

&uot;The cereal was in the same cupboard,&uot; she said with a laugh.

Claudia, nicknamed &uot;Cloudy&uot; by the Intihars, is working toward becoming an internal medicine specialist in her native Germany. After her year in the U.S., she went back to Germany, finished high school and enrolled in the university. While she admits she hadn’t always wanted to become a doctor, and even discarded the idea because she didn’t particularly like chemistry and physics, decided to give it a try after speaking with a medical student in Germany. Ironically, her twin sister is also working to become a doctor.

Claudia works at the hospital in Bremen. Five years ago, she was studying surgery for four months in San Antonio, Texas, and the Intihars and Jill and her husband Kevin Nelson drove to visit her there.

Before that, it had been about 10 years since the family was all together. Claudia came back for Jill’s high school graduation, then together they flew back to Germany where Jill spent about a month with Claudia’s family.

The biggest shock to Claudia on this visit was seeing her American brother Todd Intihar, who was in eighth grade the year she visited. She hadn’t seen him since.

&uot;He had changed most of all,&uot; she said. &uot;I knew how he looked, because they’d sent pictures, but I still couldn’t believe it.&uot;

Now he’s married and living in Sparta, Wis., with his wife, Jonelle. They’re expecting their first child in October. Jill and Kevin now have two children as well, Ryan, 4 years, and Gracie, 4 months. Jill is a teacher, and Kevin works in human resources at Albert Lea Medical Center.

Todd is now a physical therapist, so he and Claudia were also able to talk professionally.

Claudia also had the chance to see some of her high school friends at a get-together Jill organized at her home. Most of those friends are married with small children.

&uot;I lost contact with many of them,&uot; Claudia said. &uot;But it was fun to see them. Everybody was talking at once.&uot;

Looking back on their time together, Claudia and the Intihars know they were lucky. Not all families who are paired up with a student for a year hit it off so well. In fact, two weeks after Claudia’s sister, Karen, arrived for her exchange program, her host mother died. She was placed in another home in the same community, and that went well for her.

Still, Bill said, &uot;We took a chance, and it worked out wonderfully.&uot;

While they all had a chance to building a lasting relationship, the Intihars also learned a lot from Claudia about her native country. &uot;It was fun,&uot; Cheryll said.

Claudia said she’d always urge someone to spend a year in an exchange program. &uot;It’s not just for the language. It’s for the whole person,&uot; she said.

There have been countless letters and photographs sent back and forth over the years, and e-mail has made that process even easier. Still, the Intihars have never gone to meet Claudia’s family.

That is something they’d like to do, but it probably won’t be until Claudia meets the right person and gets married.

&uot;I hate to fly,&uot; Cheryll said. &uot;But I’ll do it for Claudia’s wedding.&uot;

After leaving Minnesota Friday, Claudia was headed to San Francisco to meet some friends, then was planning to camp, hike and see nature on her own in Yosemite and Sequioa national forests.

(Contact Geri McShane at lifestyles@albertleatribune.com or 379-3436.)