The German Exchange Partnership Program: building bridges of understanding
The biennial German American Partnership Program exchange strives to construct bridges of understanding between two vastly different cultures. Schools from all over the US and Germany establish these partnerships, many of which last decades. This year, twenty students in Enloe’s german program are able to participate. This includes hosting a student from Enloe’s partner school Hebel Gymnasium and having the opportunity to travel through Germany for three weeks over the summer. Hebel Gymnasium is situated in a small town in southern Germany called Schwetzingen.
While visiting Enloe, the Germans presented their knowledge on multiple topics regarding german culture such as stereotypes, music, food, the school system, and a trip to Heidelberg and the surrounding area of their community. This exchange facilitates dialogues that provide both Enloe’s surrounding community and the town of Schwetzingen with an opportunity to acquire an appreciation for these unknown facets of our world. The presentations emphasize and act to eradicate many of the preconceived notions that exist about german culture. To return the favor, Enloe’s visiting students will do the same this summer. At the end of June, they will embark on their three week journey starting in Munich and then spending the next two weeks with their host families fully integrated into german daily life. To say it simply, the visiting german students found this experience to be a lot of fun. Though some aspects such as the hustle and bustle of downtown Raleigh and Enloe’s immense size may have been overwhelming at first, they were able to adapt and experience the many authentic parts of Raleigh.
This exchange program, known as GAPP, has held up its reputation of providing safe educational experiences for all high school aged students. This has been seen time and time again as these kids are exposed to the complete and utter unknown, yet they keep an open-mind and gain lasting insight into a different culture.
When travelling to a different country, there are, of course, going to be the inevitable ups and downs. Many of the exchange students missed certain luxuries that could not be found in the US such as genuine german sparkling water. Sparkling water is ubiquitous in Germany. It can be found in most restaurants in the stead of regular water, but overall, small difficulties are overrode by this incomparable experience. Establishing international connections eliminates bias and instead, people begin to realize that though halfway around the globe, people are more similar than we realize.
