By Violeta Panayotova

Have you ever tried a German “doner” or seen a window that you have to pull instead of slide? Those are only two of the many things ten Tempe Prep students got to experience during the summer. Those brave and knowledge-seeking students took advantage of the amazing opportunity and went to Regensburg, Germany for two whole weeks with Mr. Lambros.

Those students lived with their host families, went to experience a German school and visited museums and different towns all in the short period of 14 days. When asked if they liked it, sophomores Monserrat Larios and Kenneth Russell’s immediate response was “It was a really fun experience and I loved it!”

During their stay, they visited “a lot of extremely old beautiful churches” and different kinds of museums, says Monserrat. To get to those places, they had to take either a bus or a train or they had to bike or walk. Both were fascinated with the amount of people who were in the buses. Monserrat states that “for the first two stops there was no room for another person to get on board.”

But not only was the new city fascinating, their experience at the German school was unique as well. They said that students stayed in the same classroom while teachers were moving from room to room. Also they had one longer break in the middle of the day and for lunch they went out and bought their lunches because no one brought their own homemade one.

All is fun and games until it comes to speaking a language they have taken for only one year. Kenneth said about his host family, “They were really helpful. They would always translate everything and encourage us to speak in German.” Both say that their German has definitely improved because of the trip and that it is definitely worth it. The family they stayed with was really helpful as well and they really made them feel at home.

The biggest conclusions they reached were that they should have practiced more before they went on the trip. For example, during passing period or even during lunch to speak a few sentences was going to help them improve even more. The advice those courageous students leave us with is to practice the language that you are taking and go on the Germany trip because it is worth every dollar. Going to a different country is always hard, but it is easily the most exciting thing in the world. One has the opportunity to get familiar with a new culture, learn a new language, try new food, experience new ideas, meet different people, and make unforgettable memories which Tempe Prep students have now.