ADVENTURE: Students in the RUSD district travel to Germany for a taste of culture.
By Martin Perina, Staff Writer
Over the summer students from Riverside visited Germany through an exchange program. This is an annual exchange between Riverside and its sister city: Erlangen. Every year, a group of students from different schools in the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) joins this program. Students will live in Germany for a month with a German family and return the favor by hosting a member of that family back in America. The program is based in Riverside, and it is funded by the families of those students attending.
Each student from Riverside is paired with a German student through a questionnaire, used to find a good match for each student. The students then stay a full month with the family of their partner. Over that month, they follow the program’s set itinerary.. The Americans have trips planned throughout Germany, traveling to major cities such as Nuremberg, Munich and Vienna, Austria. At each site, they go on tours, visit museums, shop and sightsee. Other trips were made around Erlangen, mainly tours and visits to museums.
The German families hosting the Americans made additional trips, outside of the program. These trips were to places the program did not include. Some families went to new cities or revisited some of the same sites to go shopping or learn about the history of the area.
The students and their German partners often become very good friends. The trip allowed students to witness a different culture and experience what life is like somewhere else. “I love it there, I can definitely see myself going back,” Hannah Davidson, a student from Martin Luther King High School, commented. Alexander Plank, a German student, said the overall trip (Americans in Germany and vice versa) “was the best time ever.” The trip was a major success and definitely expanded the students’ knowledge of the world. The program remains an annual event and is open to all who are interested.