Five years ago when Dorothee Steinbach moved to Port Macquarie with her mother Sabine she was "heartbroken".
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"I was so sad to leave Germany," she said.
"I really missed my friends, cousins, aunts and grandparents."
On top of that, Miss Steinbach was embarrassed to talk to people because of her thick German accent.
"I didn't think I could talk to people because I was so ashamed of my accent," she said.
But the 19-year-old is now thriving and considers Port Macquarie "home".
"I had a very solid group of friends in high school early on and I was really involved in activities such as soccer," she said.
Miss Steinbach was even voted school captain of Hastings Secondary College, Port Macquarie campus, in 2018.
Last year she took a gap year in Sydney working in disabilities. This year she will move to Canberra to study international business at ANU.
Miss Steinbach's journey to Port Macquarie happened through the serendipitous meeting of her mother and her now stepfather Axel Lucius.
Her mother Sabine had gone to catch the bus to buy soup because her daughter was sick. Axel - an Australian resident living in Port Macquarie - was also at the bus stop in Frankfurt but he was lost. Sabine gave him directions and they soon started chatting.
"My mum said, 'Oh I'm going in that direction and then they started talking'," she said.
While Miss Steinbach still misses her extended family she has come to love the Australian way of life.
"It is very laid-back, people are very friendly," she said.
"In Germany people don't make small talk, greeting a stranger is not really a thing.
"And of course I love living near the beach."
As for the best part about becoming an Australian citizen?
"Being able to vote," she said.
"I'm in a political party but I haven't been able to contribute too much because I'm not a citizen.
"I want to see action on climate change."
A community-minded new citizen on a mission.
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