Friendly exchangeGerman students visit ManchesterBy Marsha Johnson ChartrandStaff WriterA plane carrying 14 excited German students, an English teacher and a school principal from Berlin, touched down at Detroit Metro Airport Aug. 25. Awaiting them were 14 equally excited families and a German teacher from Manchester.Manchester teacher Susan Davis has been teaching German and helping to organize an exchange program for 30 years. This is the ninth year that the exchange has taken place with students from the Werner von Siemens Gymnasium in Berlin.The visiting students are between the ages of 15 and 17 and are in 11th grade. Since their arrival, they have made many comparisons between the two countries.They said there are more than 1000 students and 80 teachers at the Werner von Siemens Gymnasium in Berlin. The average class size is 30 students.Student Nicoletta Feldman said that students there have the opportunity to study five languages and are expected to be fluent in at least three."We have the possibility to learn Spanish, Latin, French, English and Russian," she said.Student Nicky Uriostequi said that the schedule at their high school is completely different from American high school schedules. "Here you have every day the same classes," she said."In Germany we have biology on maybe Monday and Friday, and other classes in that time on other days."Heidi Kraft, a teacher from Germany, said that the high school schedules there are more similar to those at American colleges. German students study 12 or 13 different subjects a year, Uriostequi said. But some students, like Jannice Kluck, can take an accelerated program. "We started normally in the first grade,"she said, "but then we began taking high school classes in fifth grade."We just learned everything faster." One difference that the students have noticed since their arrival is the food."Food is mostly fast in my (host)family," student Stephanie Scheufler said. "We don't eat at home very much.""It is a lot of McDonald's and Wendy's, and that is really different for me. At home we only go out to eat for special occasions, like Christmas or birthdays.""We don't have those funnv breakfasts in Germany either," Kluck said."Our German breakfasts are usually the continental style with toast and juice and coffee," Kraft said. Jan Fluschnik thought the "soft" toast was unusual."We toast our bread often," he said. "But it's more heavy, and not so mushy. It's also darker."We (also) eat more vegetables in Germany than they do here," Fluschnik said.The students agreed that the area's landscape is much different from what they are used to seeing. Not only because they are from a city and Manchester is more rural, but also in the style of homes, which the students say are much larger."The area is big," Feldmann said. "The people have large gardens with flowers or vegetables. In Germany, we may have gardens but they are smaller.""Some people have lakes in their yard," Scheufler said."You have to drive a long way, even if someone lives on the same road," Florian Glauche said.The students were impressed that drivers in Michigan can get their license at age 16."We don't get our license until we are 18," student Franziska Markgraf said."And then it is very expensive in Germany to get a license," Glauche said.A variety of different reasons brought the students to Michigan."I decided to come here because I wanted to learn to speak better English and experience life in America," student Joel El-Qalili said.He said he also wanted to see the difference in the cultures."It's a good alternative to a one-year (exchange student) stay," said student Katrin Ramseger. "Not everyone has the money to come for an entire year.""I came to have fun," Kluck said. "And shopping at the malls is fun.""This is something I've never done, and it is just a new experience," Ramseger said. "We got to go and play laser tag the other night, which is forbidden in Germany. It is considered a war game, so it is prohibited. This is something I would never have been able to do at home."Despite the airport losing their luggage, Hannes Jeltsch and Sascha Friesike are beginning to enjoy their stay in Manchester.Jeltsch is staying with Manchester student Nathan VonBroda and his family. "The family is very nice," Jeltsch said. "The first day I had nothing to wear or clean myself with. They bought me things to get me through the first couple of days and made me feel very welcome."Friesike said that his host family also has been welcoming and helpful despite his lost suitcase."Now it has arrived and I can enjoy the trip," he said.The day of their flight was Friesike's birthday, so Kraft teased Friesike that the flight crew spoiled him."He even got to go up and be shown the cockpit," Kraft said.The students also reminisced about their homes, their families and their interests and hobbies.Markus Wenzlaff said he lives in a single-family home in a Berlin suburb with his parents, a 19-year-old sister and a cat. His father is a civil engineer and his mother is a businesswornan.His hobbies are playing soccer and spending time on the computer, and he said his favorite subject is English.During their visit, the students have enjoyed trips to the factory outlet mall in Birch Run, which Kraft described as an overwhelming experience for them.They also went to Cedar Point and were looking forward to trips to Henry Ford Museum, the African American History Museum and a visit to Martin Luther King High School in Detroit.A canoe trip down the River Raisin and a scavenger hunt through downtown Manchester were some of the local attractions enjoyed by the German students.They also had an opportunity to visit several of the high school classes and do slide presentations about their lives in Germany.The Labor Day weekend was spent touring Toronto and Niagara Falls. Today, the exchange students are making an international meal with the migrant students, and sharing the traditions of the two different cultures with yet another group of students.A tour of the Chrysler Proving Grounds near Chelsea was another important aspect of their trip, Davis said."The tours are hard to come by but I have been fortunate to get them for these students," she said. "I think it is important they visit the proving grounds because Michigan is, after all, the automotive capital of the world.""At other times, when they're not on a trip, the students follow their host brother and sister around, and have an opportunity to observe typical American life," Davis said.Their last few days of the students' three-week whirlwind tour of America will be spent in Washington, D.C.