This summer, June 23 through July 7, the German Club will travel to Lake Constance, Germany, to meet the pen pals they have been communicating with and bonding through social media for almost a year.  The German Club students currently spend their meetings researching more about the traditions and norms of the country to get ready for their voyage. Gaining insight into the culture may help students decide if they want to study in Germany, like 2023 graduate and former German Club president, Jake Sachs.

After being inspired by his older brother to join the class, Sachs joined German not realizing how much he would love the language. After four years of studying German in high school, Sachs applied for and was awarded Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange scholarship, allowing him to spend the 2023-2024 school year studying abroad in Hamburg, Germany.

“My experience here has been both the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life but also probably the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done,” Sachs said. “The amount of growth, development, and growing up I’ve done as an individual, beyond just the language but who I am, I would have never imagined.”

This trip to Germany is something that German teacher and club advisor Susi Sipos has been anticipating for months. She looks forward to having her students understand more about German culture as well as being able to connect with their pen pals in person. 

“The students get their pen pals a long time before they ever meet in person, so the teacher at the partner school and I work together closely and we select the students that will participate and then we match them up,” Sipos said. 

 Although German Club members have not yet met their pal partners in person, students have been bonding with each

other over the phone, which according to German Club president, Paige LeFevre, has made the trip more exciting. 

“I’m most looking forward to meeting my partner, we have been texting for a while but never met in person before, so to get to know her and her family will be exciting,” LeFevre said. 

Aside from the enjoyable learning experience, German Club offers the opportunity of being able to go on the trip to Germany so students can bring even more knowledge to the table from adapting to German culture for two weeks. For the many that have yet to explore outside of our country, this can be a live changing experience for many of the students. 

“The reason that we teach foreign languages is so that students can actually have access to a part of the world that otherwise they wouldn’t have access to,” Sipos said. “[Students] can actually take what they’re learning in class and apply it by making friendships, lifelong relationships with people in Germany, so this really is a life changing experience for them to go for two weeks and just be completely immersed in German culture.”

Meeting new people might be difficult, but LeFevre is not afraid to take on the challenge. She is happy to take advantage of the trip by using it to build her self confidence from meeting many new people. 

“I’m just trying to build my self confidence so I can be excited and have fun without being scared,” LeFevre said. “I think by meeting tons of different people and also having to speak a different language, will help me find out a lot for myself.”

Immersing yourself in a new culture is something that Sachs has learned to appreciate. Although it wasn’t easy at first, Sachs advises students going on the trip that you should always put yourself out there. 

“You have to be able to be embarrassed, and just say anything and be ok with it,” Sachs said. “You have to open your mouth and make the mistakes, because with language that’s how you learn. You just have to embarrass yourself and start the conversation, you need to embarrass yourself by messing up at the train station. You just can’t be afraid to be embarrassed.”