• The Bulldog Press
• by Jake Brugger '11 staff writer
• September 2010

Cultural literacy is one of the most crucial aspects of our modern age. Over the summer of 2010, there were many opportunities to further it, one of which being the German American Partnership Program’s exchange trip.

Six Judge students and our German teacher Mr. Arthur Holder participated in the month long exchange trip, which began with a two and a half week stay in Chemnitz, with the families who sent children last March.

The American students -- seniors Tyler Perry, Natalie Warner, Jake Brugger, and Richard Vunder, along with junior Jeannie Palmer and sophomore Julia Pynes -- all lived with their respective families during this time, going to school and living life as an integrated German.

Dresden, ‘The Florence of the Dresden,’ was visited as well, where all involved gained an appreciation for the grand Baroque style as well as Saxony’s history. After this sojourn in Chemnitz, the students began a tour of Germany, traveling first to Weimar, which presented two aspects of German history: one enlightened and one depraved.

Weimar is the historical center of German intellectulaism, yet the students were presented with a glimpse into Germany’s dark past with a visit to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp, two miles north of the city. From Weimar, the students traveled across the country to Aachen, on the Belgian border. It was here the students gained perhaps their best look into medieval history with a visit to the Aachener Dom, Charlemagne’s Cathedral and final resting place.

From Aachen it was into Belgium for a day and a half in the medieval towns of Mechelen and Antwerp, which lent yet anther cultural facet to this beneficial experience. The remaining time was spent on the Baltic Sea, Köln, and in the port city of Hamburg.

The trip offered the participants not only a chance to better their German, an in-depth, first-hand look at what is one of the most fascinating and beautiful cultures the world has ever known. Living in the United States, we seldom have the chance to experience a wholly different culture.

In Europe, owing both to the distinctness of the cultures and the proximity of the nations to one another, one has the chance to broaden not only their intercultural understanding but their language skills as well. This trip offered participants both, as well as the opportunity to experience Germany as a German as opposed to a typical tourist experience. The trip was also greatly improved by the extensive knowledge, not only of German, but of history, politics, and art, of Mr. Arthur Holder. His expertise made what would have otherwise been an outstanding trip and enlightening one, a trip not soon to be forgotten.

International trips, and exchange trips in particular, provide students with an invaluable chance to live a foreign culture, while improving their language skills, which are proving to be crucial in today’s international climate.