Traveling and venturing to other parts of our vast world is a delicacy in some people’s minds. Learning new languages, experiencing new cultures, the feeling of new and the curiosity of adventure often gets our population up and moving. For someone who hasn’t left the United States, the thought of travel fills me with imagination and excitement. My desire was never higher than during my freshman year of high school. Some students of the U.S. are out living my dream. Those lucky few are all over the world, but one program sticks out when it comes to educational exchange. America and Germany’s collaborated exchange student program called Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) has been bringing American students and German students back and forth between the countries since 1983. Since then, 26,000 students have venture to the opposing country for a school year’s time.

So what makes this program better than the education the children would receive if they stayed in their regular program?

Really? Is that really a question I have to persuade you with?

The children who apply for this program are given cultural and language lessons prior to their travel to Germany or the United States. They are informed of rules and regulations that are essential or that may be different. Culture shock is typical, but after the program they are typically acclimated. The children get a month or so of language training so they aren’t language blocked. Upon arrival, they are placed in a volunteer foster home. The foster home is responsible for housing and feeding the child. The children are given health and medical benefits for during their trip as well.

The program is for the highly motivated students that have a desire to learn a new language and experience a new culture. They want to see a whole new world, essentially, where nothing is the same. They are placed out of their comfort zone far from home, but the gain new experiences that their peers back home won’t gain.

I had a CBYX exchange student in my school my senior year. To accredit this program, he absolutely loved his stay and told us how much different it was compared to home. A small detail that was different was how we dressed, he said. He wore track suits and Adidas shoes with no socks every day. He had different approaches to conversations, and shook every male teachers hand when he walked into class. But there was plenty of aspects that were the same he said as well. Sports were the same, though we had a much larger school. He was shocked by the size of our school and how many students could be packed into the halls between classes.

I wish I could have been part of this program in high school, and I still debate studying abroad. Seeing the world and developing a better understanding of other cultures is something I’d like to accomplish with age.