MAY 5, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
KeizerCommunity
Exchange students come to McNary
KEIZERTIMES.COM
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
When a group of German
high school students spent
three weeks at McNary, they
didn’t just observe classes, try
new food and get a chance to
work on their English.
They also got a taste of
what it’s like to be an Ameri-
can teenager.
“I noticed especially for
girls the parents seem to be a
lot more protective in terms of
dating,” said Elisa Hermann,
one of the exchange students.
“My host student for example
wants to date a guy but her
parents say that’s not okay and
I don’t think that would be
a normal thing in Germany.
We’re a lot more independent
in Germany.”
The 55 students, juniors all
from the same bilingual high
school in Stuttgart, Germany,
each stayed with host families,
31 with McNary students and
24 in West Salem.
This summer, a group of
West Salem students will trav-
el to Germany for their part
of the exchange. McNary stu-
dents will then go to Stuttgart
the following summer.
Since the German students
go to a bilingual school, they
take biology, history and ge-
ography in English, a language
they begin learning in the fi rst
grade with lessons really pick-
ing up in middle school.
“I think our English got a
little bit better,” David Lippert
said of the trip to America.
The students got to pick
which classes to observe at
McNary, which was refresh-
ing.
“We don’t get electives and
we don’t get our own individ-
ual schedules,” Hermann said.
“It’s pretty cool to have the
freedom to actually choose
from all of the subjects that we
don’t have.”
“Just the variety of different
subjects here is crazy cool,”
Lippert said. “You could go
cooking and then to animal
behavior.”
Philiip Class was most im-
pressed by the weight room.
“In Germany, we don’t
have a weight room at school
and I really like that,” he said.
The exchange students did
acknowledge visiting a Ger-
man class was a little awkward.
“When we were supposed
to work with the Americans
some just wouldn’t talk to us
because they were ashamed
and I get it but it was a little
bit sad,” Hermann said.
The German students also
noticed a different dress code
at McNary.
“Here you have some peo-
ple walking around in PJs and
some people are all dressed
up,” Hermann said. “In Ger-
many, there isn’t a rule that
would prohibit that (PJs) but
people would just judge you.
We probably wouldn’t wear
sweat pants to school.”
Both Hermann and Carlot-
ta Keppler’s eyes got big when
they were asked about shop-
ping at the Woodburn outlets.
“There was this one deal
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high school students from Stuttgart, Germany spent three weeks of April at McNary observing classes and taking in American
culture.
in the Converse shop, (buy)
one pair and (get) the second
pair for half the price and we
did it together,” Keppler said.
“In Germany it wouldn’t be
possible for two girls to get
this deal because probably it
would be for one person.”
“I feel like the stores would
be a lot stricter in Germany,”
Hermann said. “I think the
general prices are pretty com-
parable to the German ones
but they have deals that we
just wouldn’t get.”
The students also said they
don’t have streets like River
Road with restaurant after
restaurant next to each other.
There also isn’t any Mexican
food or leftovers.
“Here a family cooks din-
ner and they eat it for two or
even more days,” Class said.
“In Germany, we usually cook
what we can eat for one meal.”
Lippert has been fi ne eating
leftovers.
“I like my food a lot be-
cause my exchange father he
cooks very good,” Lippert said.
Another big difference
is schools having their own
sports teams.
“It’s not like that in Ger-
many at all,” Class said. “Sports
in Germany are always sepa-
rate from the school. You can
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participate in a sport if you
join a private club.”
Lippert noticed how much
more time Americans spend
in cars.
“Cities in Germany are
much more compact,” he said.
“There’s much more space
here in America.”
The German students spent
the weekends exploring the
rest of the state. Hermann
went to Silver Falls State Park
and Sisters.
“What’s interesting here is
you can drive to the Cascades
and get a completely different
climate and that doesn’t hap-
pen in Germany,” Hermann
said. “Everything is quite sim-
ilar climate-wise in Germany
and here it’s a big change just
like that.”
Exchange programs are
more common in Germany.
Class, Hermann and Keppler
had already been in similar
programs before they came to
Oregon.
Class spent a year in Min-
nesota. Herman was in Can-
ada for six months and Kep-
pler went to France for three
months.
The students left Keizer
on Friday, April 21 and then
spent a week sightseeing in
San Francisco before going
back to Germany.