Hamburg Area High School was excited to have the German exchange students visit and stay with us October 9-20, 2024. As they enjoyed their time in Hamburg, they stayed with a host family. Some of these hosts were Morgan Riegel and Emma Moylan.
One German, Neyle, says, “I LOVED them! In my opinion this was the best family we could get to. We had such a good time, and we had a lot of fun and did so much together.” Of course things are way different from Germany and Hamburg with different accents, different traditions or interests, and most importantly the schooling. Neyle also says, “Your school is way more relaxed than ours. I’m also surprised you are allowed to wear comfortable clothes and shoes because in Germany that is not normal.” She also says, “Like some things that are common in America, we don’t even have in Germany and that’s really interesting.” Although our schooling surprised Germans the most, the entertainment, and sport culture took a big surprise. For fun, Neyle and her host family went out shopping, getting matching pajamas, and crumble cookies. They went line dancing and went to Hamburg Area High School’s football game.
Most of the Germans were surprised with our sports. Tim Wille said, “The biggest surprise was the big sports culture.” Neyle said, “I knew a lot from American movies, and for me it was really like I was in a movie because the designs of all the houses were exactly like the movies. I expected you to have football, cheerleading and way more options for sports and that was true. I’m lucky I got to see a real American football game.” Although Friday night football games under stadium lights are the usual for us, that was not the case for our Germans.
Overall Tim Wille speaks for the Germans when he says, “I liked my time in Hamburg, and my host family because they were kind and welcoming.” Hamburg Area High School hopes the Germans liked their time with us and cannot wait to reunite in june when Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. McCarthy take Hamburg students to Germany.
