Travels in Deutschland

By Nadine Gilmer
Sun contributor
Glen Lake School started its German exchange program 10 years ago when Carla Gipson set up a sister school relationship with the Anne Frank Gesamtschule in Havixbeck, in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany. Since then, students from our local school district and German students have traveled back and forth every other year, opening minds and creating bonds that bridge the Atlantic Ocean.

This particular high-school trip is popular because it immerses students in the culture of the other country. The exchange students live with local families for two weeks. Instead of shuttling around on tours and staying in international chain hotels, the students are immediately dropped into the local culture to learn about the locals and their customs, all while enjoying themselves on vacation.
Twenty of our German friends come to Leelanau County last fall, and those of us who hosted them traveled across the ocean to stay with the Germans during this past spring break. As hosts, we introduced them to all the popular local activities: kayaking, climbing the dunes, visiting Mackinac Island and shopping. By the end of the two-week visit, we and the Germans had grown close and were not looking forward to leaving each other for six months before our own trip across the ocean.
On March 29, 18 of the original 20 Glen Lake hosts traveled to Germany for the reunion. Our days there were filled with excitement as we learned as much as we could about their country.
Germany wasted no time in impressing us with its eco-friendliness. We actually had to re-learn how to throw away our waste. The receptacles had different containers for paper, plastic and waste (and all were labeled in German). A short drive through the countryside revealed several windmill farms (Germany truly has harnessed alternative energy), and many half-timbered houses with solar panels on their roofs. Even inside the homes, trash was separated into recyclables and non-recyclables. On our first day at the sister school we were given a presentation on solar energy and the panels atop the roof of their older building.
We were also given a tour of Havixbeck, known for its abundance of sandstone and buildings made from that material. The town center dates back infinitely farther than any American historical site, and it even bares bullet wounds from the Second World War on the walls of the sandstone church.
The castles we visited outside of Havixbeck were also built of sandstone. The guides showed us the interiors of the buildings, and described to us the life in medieval German castles.
The main square in the nearby metropolis of Münster was completely destroyed during the war but recreated, forging history with the modern elements of city design. Münster boasts the largest number of bikes per capita in Germany. The train station even has a bike parking garage, not to mention trains that actually run on time.
We took a train to Berlin the first week of our trip. Our hostel, fittingly named “Steps,” had no elevator, but accommodated us well for a few nights as we explored the German capital. We took a two-hour bus tour, which included a visit to part of what used to be the Berlin Wall. We also visited the Reichstag—the seat of the German Parliament—and climbed to the top of the glass dome, which afforded a spectacular view of the Berlin. Near the Reichstag, on Potsdamer Platz, is the Holocaust Memorial. We took a self-guided tour beneath the uneven grey pillars of stone that were serve as a reminder to the world to remember the millions murdered in the Holocaust. On our last day in Berlin we walked a long stretch of the old wall, which had been painted and later decorated by colorful graffiti.
We also embarked on a culinary adventure to Cologne where we toured the chocolate museum and the Cologne cathedral, one of the largest churches in Europe. The Kölner Dom was so large, in fact, that American and British pilots needed it as a reference point during bombing runs, and so it survived the war intact. We ascended the 500 steps to the top of the cathedral, from which we could see the town around us, nestled along the Rhine River.
Our last night in Germany we hardly slept, sadly saying auf wiedersehen to our new friends, bowling, visiting churches after dark, and playing music until dawn. The underlying theme of the trip for us was the realization that good people are universally good, on this side of the Atlantic or that.