The Parlamentarisches Patenschafts-Programm makes very special German-American exchanges possible.
Mount Prospect, Illinois: although Claudia Fest didn't have particularly great expectations of this small town in the Midwest, the 23-year-old from Brandenburg ended up spending an exciting year there: she went to an American college, lived with a host family and did work experience at a US company, the Robert Bosch Tool Corporation. "It was an incredible and exciting time", she says, "and I'm proud of myself for having coped so well with everything."
Claudia has the Parlamentarisches Patenschafts-Programm (PPP) to thank for her experiences - it is the only official exchange programme between America and Germany that is open to young people who are not university graduates, such as tradespeople, technicians and industrial clerks. Every year, 75 Germans are given the chance to experience for themselves what everyday life is really like in the "land of boundless opportunity". An equal number of young Americans also come to Germany with the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals (CBYX) - they spend a year living with host families, attending school and doing work experience placements in companies.
Seven applicants for each place
The exchange has already been running for 30 years, and has lost none of its appeal: there are roughly seven applications for each place, despite the fact that the exchange participants have to invest several thousand euros out of their own pockets. "The young people assure us that there is no substitute for the first-hand experience the exchange offers them", says Ute Gabriel, project manager at the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) which organises the programme in Germany; its American partner is the organisation Cultural Vistas.
One of the first to take part in the PPP was Jürgen Fiedler, a qualified bank clerk who did a work experience placement at the Washington Mutual Savings Bank in Spokane (Washington) in 1987/88. His supervisors had considerable faith in his abilities - he was present at loan and insurance negotiations with farmers, and after just four weeks was allowed to do teller work unsupervised. "There are no limits, just doors that can be opened": this is something he learned during his stay in the United States, he explains. "This helped me in all my subsequent stays abroad, such as in Switzerland and India." Today, Fiedler holds a top job - he's the managing director of Deutsche Bank in New York.
For other people too, the exchange marked the beginning of an international career: Thomas Döring, a former mechanic who spent 1984/85 in Oregon, now works in the purchasing department of the global Procter & Gamble group, while foreign language correspondence clerk Katharina Michalczyk took up a position at Germany's Federal Foreign Office after spending a PPP year in New Jersey in 2003/2004. Industrial clerk Claudia Fest also plans in future to seize every opportunity to work internationally.
Ambassadors between two worlds
While German applicants are expected
to have completed an apprenticeship, the requirements for American applicants are less formal - after all, no dual education system exists in the USA. What counts is that they show an interest in Germany in general and can offer "relevant experience", as for example Jesse Shiroma from Honolulu (Hawaii) was able to. A 23-year-old student and amateur accordion player, he had long dreamed of doing work experience at the Swabian musical instrument manufacturer Hohner. He then heard about the exchange programme - "and I knew that was my chance". Things finally worked out in 2012: Jesse studied in Heidelberg for a semester, and then went to Trossingen to work for Hohner. "It was the best year of my life", he enthuses.
Participants are almost always highly enthusiastic despite the fact that very few get to live in the city of their dreams - which for many Germans is New York or Los Angeles. Instead, they are sent to rural Oregon or to Alaska. But that has its good side too: "In a small town they are something special and not swallowed up so much as in a big city", says Ute Gabriel. What is more, the costs of living and of attending college are comparatively low.
As part of their efforts to promote international relations, both governments provide financial support to the exchange, politicians act as mentors and selected participants are given the chance to do placements for a number of weeks in the offices of MPs. "You almost automatically become an ambassador between the two worlds", is Claudia Fest's experience. Jesse Shiroma learnt for himself how prejudices evaporate: "I always thought Germans were so reserved and tight-lipped - and was completely overwhelmed by the hospitality and warmth I then encountered."