By Allyson Hinkle, Editor in Chief
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor partnered with the Johanniter Academy of Germany to host six German exchange students from Feb. 10 through Feb. 24. This is part of a three-year program with the Leipzig college, which is possible thanks to the German Apprenticeship Training Exchange, in which UMHB students first traveled to Germany in March of 2023.
The purpose of this exchange program is to provide students from the U.S. and Germany the opportunity to experience higher education in another country. For example, in Germany the education one may receive depends on which of the 16 German states they live in, but typically many students will earn their lower high school degree in the 10th grade and if they choose to continue through the 12th grade then they may pursue one of two routes for university.
The six students that came to UMHB had to apply with their university to come over to the states. Twenty-five-year-old education student Elias Schüller described the process as follows:
“In school we had an outcall and they said, ‘hey, you don’t have to be able to speak perfect English, but you just have to be motivated to communicate.’ Then we [would] create a video and speak about ourselves and what we expect [from] this exchange, like personally and also for our apprenticeship. They tried to take [students] from every separate profession [so] that they [can] learn here.”
When asked why he wanted to come to the states, 28-year-old physical therapy student Christian Hahn said, “Not all of us gets a chance to explore college life, and I think it’s a big deal. Also, Texas [is] a state with a lot of stereotypes from Germany, so it’s like we got [a] chance to get rid of the stereotypes so we get to know people better and learn about your daily life.”
While the six students have been in Texas, they have gotten to experience numerous cultural phenomena such as Buc-ee’s, line dancing at Melody Ranch in Waco and the classic American small talk/southern hospitality. By the time they will have left, the exchange students also will have visited the Texas Capitol and San Antonio.
Despite all of these experiences, the one that stuck out the most to 51-year-old education student Daniela Klitsch was her experience with church.
“I heard much of them in Germany,” she explained. “I never seen before such praying and to read in the Bible and to sing together. It was really great for me.”
“[It’s] like a celebration of the life of Jesus and what he gave us,” Christian added, with Elias following with, “[Seeing] your own special relationship to God and to Jesus was really nice to see.”
Overall the exchange student’s experience in the U.S. has been pleasant and eye-opening, with the students expressing a desire to come back to the country some day.
