Exchange program on Berlin trip.
The views expressed in this article are those of the student authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the school or its administration.
By Bryn Macias and Isabella Bravo
for The Pacific Times
After spending nearly three weeks in rural Germany, 10 NP3 students returned to the United States having learned a great deal about German culture and way of life.
Traditional German houses.
The trip was the first foreign exchange trip in a new relationship between NP3 and Ratsgymnasium. Plans for the student exchange were first set in motion in August 2023.
After the trip was initially announced on Captain’s Log, informational meetings about the program were held over a period of several months. In February 2024, NP3 students were invited to submit their applications to the exchange program, and 10 were selected to participate. These applications, which were summaries of interests, personalities, and reasons for applying to the program, were emailed to Principal Melissa Mori. Mori also considered grades and other factors when selecting participants.
We had the chance to form friendships and get close with our exchange students from Germany when they came to stay with us for three weeks. Individually and as a whole program, we explored the greater Sacramento area by going to Lake Tahoe, American stores and restaurants, the California State Capitol, and more.
“It’s fun to just have someone at home to hang out with and just have fun experiences with them and show them around,” described junior, Aleena Iqbal, who participated in the program.
German students greet Americans at Dusseldorf airport.
On March 15, 2025, we met at the San Francisco International Airport to fly into Düsseldorf, Germany. After arriving in Germany we were driven to the small town of Rheda-Wiedenbrück, where host students live and attend school. We were accompanied by two NP3 teachers, Heather Higgins and Stacy Osborn, who were hosted by two of the Ratsgymnasium teachers.
We arrived in Rheda-Wiedenbruk in the morning, and were all encouraged to stay awake for the whole day to get adjusted to the nine-hour time difference. Host families and teachers planned a welcome dinner at the school so we could spend time together as a whole group and the Ratsgymnasium campus.
Sophomore, Ethan Tang, who participated in the program, said that being a part of a different family for a few weeks was “interesting.”
“At first it was definitely a bit awkward, but once we got used to each other and the family it was really fun,” Tang said. “We were always talking at dinners.”
The day after the welcome dinner was our first day of school.
“Their school is different because they can go home (for lunch and free periods), and it’s an open campus, not a closed campus,” Iqbal explained. “Also, when the teacher’s sick, you don’t have to go to that class, and I feel like they’re a lot more chill in certain classes there.”
The classes at Ratsgymnasium are only 45 minutes long, but students attend eight classes a day. They also have several 15 minute breaks, and an hour-long lunch when they have the ability to leave campus.
A cathedral in Munster.
When the German exchange students attended NP3, they selected their own classes, which were often different from those of their host students’. However in Germany, NP3students mostly followed their host students to their classes each day. Some teachers also taught their classes in English for us.
Since most teachers taught in German, and were preparing their students for exams, many of the NP3 students would leave the school during classes to go into town and explore, go to the grocery store, or hang out in the hallway or at our host homes. We also attended several English classes at Ratsgymnasium, and talked to German students about life in California.
Aside from school, we also got to see many different places around Germany. The American students and teachers went on two day trips to the cities of Paderborn and Münster, where we had tour guides show us the historic cities.
Both the German host and NP3 students also went on an overnight trip to Berlin, accompanied by the participating teachers from both schools. We saw the U.S. Embassy, talked to a Parliament representative of Rheda-Wiedenbrück, and visited a Holocaust memorial and museum. We also had time to explore the city in smaller groups.
American students and teachers on Munster day trip.
As a group, we did many activities together. We toured a brewery and tasted non-alcoholic beers, cooked a meal together in a rented kitchen, and ate at the cafe of a former exchange student who went to NP3 in 2011.
Many of us tried popular German foods, including Döner, Schnitzel, bread, and pastries.
“I missed a lot of processed foods and especially rice because all they had was bread,” Tang said of the food in Germany. “No rice, just bread everyday.”
Iqbal added, “I missed my fast food, my In-N-Out.”
Individually and in small groups, NP3 students also had the opportunity to travel with their host families to places like Amsterdam, Hamburg, Cologne, and Paris.
“I think the best part of the exchange was being able to tour many cities in Germany,” said Tang.
When we attended Ratsgymnasium, we got to experience their once-a-year spirit week put on by the 12th graders, when they engaged in a week-long senior prank. Each day of the week they dressed in a different theme and made a mess of the school, while the 11th graders wore bright, pink construction vests as a way to “protest” against the 12th graders.
11th graders during spirit week.
Since we were all staying with 11th grade hosts, we also wore the construction vests to school, and we saw how much more freedom 12th graders have at Ratsgymnasium for their “senior prank” than 12th graders at NP3 do. For example, the 12th graders scattered newspapers across the three flights of stairs at their school, switched the room numbers for some classrooms, put vaseline on door handles, had their own party room with lights and music, and even drove a moped around campus.
A big part of this week was the competition between 12th and 11th graders. All week older students tried to steal the 11th graders’ vests, and this is where we saw how students were dog-piled on, tied up, and stripped of their shoes in an attempt to get the vests off. This sometimes left them with bruises, scratches, and in one instance a pair of broken glasses.
Two windows were also broken during the chaos, causing some teachers to become stricter on student activities during the week. There was an additional hazing aspect of the week, where 12th graders would make people do push ups to enter school, and search their bags before going in.
We experienced more than one culture-shock while attending Ratsgymnasium. Aside from how much more freedom the German students have than us, they seem to have less exposure to different cultures.
Iqbal explained, “There’s not a lot of diversity there, at least in their town.”
Ratsgymnasium was made up of mostly caucasian students and teachers. On multiple occasions, NP3 students reported experiencing racist remarks and stereotypes from both the German students and teachers, including a teacher involved in the exchange program.
Wiedenbruck town square.
Despite this, NP3 students agreed we felt that the opportunity to experience a different culture was valuable, and we all made a lot of fun memories on the exchange trip.
“I think I would recommend (the exchange program), because it’s really fun to experience when you go there and it’s a different country, and you get to experience their daily life, their sports, and their food,” Iqbal concluded.
NP3 and Ratsgymnasium have agreed to offer the exchange program every two years, to continue the relationship between the two schools and allow students to experience a culture different from their own.
The next round of applications and interviews will be taking place in the fall of 2025 for students interested in hosting a German student and traveling to Germany in the 2026-2027 school year.
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