If you’ve read any of my stories published on The Crimson J, you would know that I’ve written a lot about the German-American Partnership Program (GAPP). At the beginning of the school year, I wrote about last summer’s trip that JHS students took to Germany. As a response to that, I became inspired to host a GAPP student. That fall I hosted my new friend Stephanie and during this time, I wrote my second article about the GAPP from a HEG (Herzog-Ernst-Gymnasium) student’s point of view. After the HEG students left, I convinced my parents to let me participate in the GAPP one last time and go to Germany myself.
Now it is less than two weeks until I leave the country, and it would be quite the understatement to say I was merely looking forward to the trip. But while talking with my friends and family, I found that a lot of people still don’t know what is done on a student exchange and who can go on such a trip.
A common misconception surrounding the GAPP is that you have to be in German foreign language classes to participate. This is simply not true. Any JHS student can host a German student and any JHS student who can pay the fees can journey to Germany in the summer. Language barriers aren’t a big problem in the exchange because most sudents in Germany start learning English in grade school. This opens a lot of doors for students here who, like me, only know a few phrases in German.
With excitement, I consented to months of meetings, signing a pile of papers, and picking up my passport and plane ticket. Now it’s time for the small group of JHS students and chaperones to take our long journey to the other side of the world. Once our group arrives, we will rest for a day then go on a tour of HEG and Uelzen. The following weeks are spent taking lots of day trips to neighboring towns such as Lüneburg, Hamburg, Lübeck, and Bergen-Belsen. Within Uelzen, we will also attend classes at HEG, pay a special visit to town hall, and see the Esterholz Lock. In addition to these trips, the last weekend in Germany we will spend in Berlin visiting may historical sites, museums, government buildings, restaurants, and stores.
I am thrilled with the opportunity I have taken. I can’t wait to visit a places I’ve only read about in books and to be completely immersed in another culture. More than that I am very excited to see my German friends again!