Students who previously hosted German exchange students in September are both anxious and eager to head to Germany on June 16.
German teacher Herr Alex Paul is leading and planning the trip, accompanied by middle school German teacher Frau Samantha Shipeck as a chaperone, along with twelve students.
“We’re going to be traveling the first week,” Paul said. “We’re going to be going to Berlin as well as then we’re going to Nuremberg down in Bayern [Bavaria]. A lot of people know it because of the Nuremberg Trials. And then we’ll be staying outside of Munich with our host families and doing traveling around there as well.”
This trip will differ from the previous German exchange from 2023 in that students will be switching which city they visit after Berlin.
“The last time we chose Regensburg, which is kind of a university city, whereas this time we’re going to Nuremberg which has more history to it,” Paul said.
Paul will be planning each step of the trip, both saving money and providing a more authentic and less touristy trip. The German exchange he went on while a student at Haven was a major influence in how he structured it.
“It was really cool because it was the trip that made me want to be a German teacher,” Paul said.
Sophomore Lucas Bartell has been preparing for the trip by doing research on Germany.
“I’m most excited about the difference in the culture,” Bartell said.
Sophomore Vivian McAdoo is most excited to see the exchange student she hosted, with whom she has kept in contact.
“I’m preparing myself for the exchange by going out a lot without my parents,” McAdoo said. “Which is probably helpful because it’s going to help me live in another country without them.”
Still, there are concerns that the students face as they travel to a foreign country, with Bartell citing the challenge of using German and being surrounded by people speaking only German, something that Paul explained has been a difficult part for students in the past.
“I think speaking German is probably one of the hardest things,” Paul said. “That first day we get there, everyone wakes up with a headache because your brain is working really hard when all you’re hearing is a language that isn’t your first language.”
However, Paul noted the completely new environment students are thrust into as also being one of the trip’s highlights.
“I think the best part is just everyone enjoying the culture in an authentic way,” Paul said. “Being able to hang out as teenagers in Germany, experiencing things that are different to what they’re usually experiencing here.”
