Germany 2024

This is our last full day in Germany with a day full of activities. We started our morning together in our designated classroom to review and discuss our experiences thus far and talk about the expectations of our final day. Today we went to the Brothers Grimm Märchenfestspiele (Fairytale Festival) tour, explored a hotel & Spa of Bad Brückenbau which is a wellness center, and ended our day with a farewell dinner together with the instructors from Hanau. Our first…

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Days 6 & 7 students spent privately with their host families all doing various activities so there are no blogs on those weekend days. We went to Frankfurt! The day started out pretty normal, like the rest of the days. We went to school and met in the classroom. After meeting up we hopped in our cars and drove to the train station, where we waited for an hour and a half for our train. Here in Germany the trains…

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Today was a very eventful day filled with many adventures. We started off the day by driving to Rheingau, a region very famous for its wine. Once we arrived, we took a cable car over the beautiful and plentiful vineyards and were able to see the beautiful landscape. We then visited the Niederwald Monument and briefly learned about the Franco- Prussian War and how Germania remains there to protect her people and symbolize their unification. From there we did a…

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Today, we all met up at our designated classroom. Around 9:30, we went to the Chamber of Commerce (IHK). When we arrived, they gave us some coffee and candies, and they explained how their Chamber of Commerce works. It is formed by members who must pay an annual fee and these represent Germany’s commercial, industrial, and service sectors. It is much different from the chambers of commerce in the United States that focus more on tourism. In Germany, the Chamber…

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Today we presented our group Biz Squad projects to the students at KSH. The project was an  International Recruiting and Informational Fair. Our goal was to promote Gateway Technical College and its programs as well as the local region (South East Wisconsin) to a foreign target market (Germany) in a manner that facilitates educational, institutional, and regional interest. We created the presentation as a way to inform the German students of opportunities they can have by connecting with Gateway including…

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Today marks the beginning of many exciting opportunities and events that this vibrant month brings. This experience has been both challenging and rewarding, requiring teamwork and mutual motivation. It has underscored the importance of personal development and discipline, helping us grow together as a cohesive unit.  Between 6:35 AM and 7:35 AM, I had the opportunity to prepare for the day with my German English teacher, Ms. Kerstin, and my Gateway Instructor, Mrs. Wendy. We met with other American students…

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Today would prove to be a jam-packed day with all sorts of wonderful information. We would start our day learning about the company Flexa, then make our way to the Kohler Chocolate Factory for a sweet treat and some ice cream and end our day learning about the history of a small scale, but famous, brewery in the Hesse region. The tour of the company Flexa was quite informative and interesting as we learned about the making and testing of…

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We toured three companies today! Our group visited Hanau and toured Umicore, which is recognized as a leading circular materials technology company with extensive expertise in the fields of material science, chemistry, and metallurgy. Their work in sustainable materials and recycling processes seems quite impressive. We also visited the Evonik Training Program, of which one of our sister school graduates is participating in a work-study program there. Evonik offers young people a wide range of apprenticeship trades and work-study programs….

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We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany yesterday, June 2 and we were picked up at the airport by Markus, Kata, Kerstin and Garnet from our sister school in Hanau and met our host families at a local cafe. Today is our first official day of activities in Germany. I woke up around 6am this morning to get ready for our day. I left with my host sister around 7 am to head to the school, Kaufmännische Schulen Hanau. Once everyone got…

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On May 31, 2024, seven Gateway students, one instructor and the International Education Coordinator will depart for Frankfurt Germany to participate in the longest running study abroad program at Gateway. In 2003 a partnership was formed with Kaufmännische Schulen-Hanau (KSH) in Germany. For many years since then, nearly every fall KSH sends a group of students to Wisconsin and they are hosted by Gateway. In turn, they host our groups in the spring or summer. On the Hessen Germany Exchange,…

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