Student Exchange with Jerusalem

Jerusalem · Palestine · 2016

From July 11th to 24th, 2016, 13 students and their teacher visited families at the Elsensee Gymnasium in Quickborn. The guests from Jerusalem were warmly welcomed by the host families at the airport and in Quickborn by the mayor and the headmaster of the Elsensee Gymnasium. In almost two weeks, the students from Jerusalem were able to get to know the everyday life of their German exchange partners and get to know Quickborn and the surrounding area including Hamburg, Schwerin and even Berlin. In Berlin, member of the parliament (MP) Valerie Wilms received the guests and their German exchange partners and gave valuable insights into the work of the German Bundestag.

Unfortunately, the return visit to Jerusalem could not take place as planned due to health reasons. However, two German families decided to visit their exchange partners in Jerusalem on their own. They were welcomed with open arms and returned with unique impressions of the culture, traditions and people.

The youth encounter was organized by the Society for German-Arab Encounters e.V. (GDAB) in cooperation with the Elsensee Gymnasium in Quickborn and the Awqaf Department Directorate of Education in Jerusalem. The visit to Berlin, including a visit to the Bundestag, took place at the invitation of MP Valerie Wilms.

What participants say

I learned a lot about the culture of other people, who are even more far away than the typical exchange partners (not in Europe). I think my partner liked it too and he learned how we live in Europe, in Germany. The first day, he literally said nothing but through the days he was getting really funny and talked a lot about his home and just everything. So I got a big chance to improve my horizon a lot.

These were 2 really nice weeks. I met a lot of people and even got new friends. Thanks a lot for organizing everything!

I am so happy because this exchange was perfect and the family was with me very good and very nice.

I’ll thank you for this exchange. This is so important for us and we learn things and we feel the freedom for the first time.

It was a real beautiful experience and the most things that I loved that now I have German friends.

All of the exchange partners from Jerusalem were so nice and kind and always happy and laughing.

I like my exchange student a lot, I was scared that it would be akward, because of the different languages, but we had so much fun, we became sisters, we laughed all the time and I hope we’ll do something like this again! It was a beautiful time! I will miss them so much! Thank you!