Every year since 1994, the Arlington Sister City Association has run a high school student exchange to Aachen, Germany. In July, the American students embark on a life-changing journey that sees the formation of lifelong friendships for all participants. They stay with a German high school student, explore Aachen and other cities and experience the German lifestyle. In October, it is the German student’s turn to travel, and they stay in Arlington for roughly two weeks. German student Jan Frings offered his insight on his experience in America so far.
“It is very beautiful here. It is very nice to be here,” Frings said.
Frings’s favorite experience in the United States so far has been exploring Washington, D.C., with The White House and the Capitol noted as personal highlights.
“It was very fascinating,” Frings said.
The biggest difference between American and German lifestyles that Frings noticed was how much cleaner Arlington and Washington, DC are than downtown Aachen, and how different the school buses in America are from their German counterparts.
“I am very, very excited to see (Yorktown)… I think the rules are different… In my opinion, the school buses here are better than ours,” said Frings. Frings certainly had his own views on ways that Germany is superior to America, and vice versa, including both countries’ policies on owning a gun.
“The negative aspect is the rules on weapons. Anyone can carry a weapon… (But) Everything here is not so expensive like in Germany,” Frings said, with a laugh.
Frings noticed some differences in how Americans view Germans versus how Germans see Americans, such as questions that one culture has about the other and whether certain stereotypes are true to some degree.
“We Germans say that everything in America is much cheaper… Then there’s some people who say, it’s not true in my opinion, that Americans eat too much,” Frings said.
Frings then said he had heard that Americans think Germany is very clean and efficient, but he laughed off those suggestions saying that the urban areas of Aachen are very dirty.
Compared to his other experiences in America, Frings said that it is his first time staying with a family that speaks only English, and that Arlington is different from Houston, Texas, another American city that Frings has visited. Frings noticed the cultural differences between Americans and Germans in their food choices, and said that he couldn’t get the famous Kinder brand of chocolate in most American shops.
“I think the bacon in America is much better than in Aachen… the pancakes too… We don’t eat bacon at breakfast, but it’s cool,” Fings said.
Frings debunked the myth that American portion sizes in restaurants are abnormally large compared to European nations.
“Too much food? No… it isn’t a negative aspect…. It isn’t a problem” Frings said.
Any student looking to enrich their international knowledge or fill hot, humid Arlington summers with something other than Netflix should consider applying to the Arlington Sister City Association in hopes of being accepted into the exchange program. Not only is it an experience that participants will remember for their entire lives, it is also a strong point on any college application or résumé.
