It was early morning, 6am in the third week of September when a group of students from Kilkeel High School were dropped off by their parents at Newry Bus station. Their destination was the north of Germany, a small town on the periphery of Hannover. They were not travelling into the unknown, but to visit their German exchange partners and their families. A group of German students from Gymnasium Mellendorf had already travelled to Kilkeel earlier on in the year, and now it was the KHS contingent’s turn for the return visit. Flying from Dublin to Hamburg and boarding a train to their final destination, the group was delighted to be met by their German exchange partners upon arrival on the platform. Ahead lay a tightly packed week, with communication workshops in school, classroom visits throughout several days, a number of excursions and a family weekend in between. Whilst in school the mixed group was given the opportunity to explore their cultural backgrounds and discover similarities and differences throughout a series of communication workshops. Accompanying their exchange partners to a number of scheduled classes further gave the NI students a valuable insight into German school life, as did the overnight stays in the host families. Beyond the skill-building workshops the exchange group undertook visits to Wolfsburg ‘Autostadt’ and its Volkswagen production line, the broadcasting house of the NDR with its TV and radio studios, and the local ice rink. The exchange was partly funded by grant from UK-German Connections and allowed for a memorable encounter between young people from different cultural backgrounds.
What makes this visit to Germany very different from other school trips is the accommodation arrangement. Pupils were matched with an exchange partner prior to the first leg of the exchange, and when the group from Gymnasium Mellendorf visited earlier in June, the German pupils were hosted by the families of their KHS exchange partner. In return our KHS pupils were accommodated in the families of their exchange partners during the visit to Germany allowing for full cultural immersion in German life. Whilst the days’ activities were spent with the group, the KHS pupils returned to stay with their host families in the evenings. During the weekend the families had planned their own excursions, barbeques and evening events with their KHS guests. The group quickly became close and by the end of the trip there were many who wished the visit could have lasted longer. The KHS pupils had an unforgettable week, and the co-ordinators are already making plans for the next exchange in the current academic year, which will be open to pupils in Year 10 and 11.
