If you ask a certain group of about a dozen Boothbay Region High School students “Sprechen sie Deutsch,” they are likely to respond “ja.” And these students are probably members of the school’s German American Partnership Program heading to Deutschland in February. This is the 26th time Boothbay Region’s GAPP club has sent a group for an annual German visit. Eleven students and two chaperones will leave Portland Feb. 13 and spend three weeks touring Hamburg, Berlin and other German sites.

For 10 of the students, it will be their first German visit. The students will attend a German school while learning about the country’s language, culture and history. Senior Ben Rumney is the lone student who also traveled to Germany with GAPP in 2017. Rumney has studied German both in the classroom and through independent online courses. It is a “beautiful place” and its people as “wonderful and kind,” he said.

“It was amazing how caring they are. If you need something and can’t express it, they try to find someone to speak English, if they can’t help you,” he said. Rumney also wants to assist his classmates during their first German visit. He compared it to visiting Boston which he described as similarly sized. “You never really see everything. So I’m excited about seeing Germany, again. Also, I can assist the group because it’s a pretty big culture shock when you get there.”

The first stop is Hamburg, Germany’s second largest city and Europe’s eighth, with a 1.8 million population. Hamburg is also Europe’s third largest port city. GAPP adviser Ingrid Merrill reported the first week’s sightseeing includes touring the ports, taking a boat tour and visiting a chocolate factory. In the second week, the tour heads to Germany’s capital and largest city, Berlin. The group will stay in a hostel at night and tour the Reichstag, a nearby concentration camp, and “Checkpoint Charlie,” the famous East Berlin and West Berlin crossing point during the Cold War.

For sophomore Emily Echols, the German history dating back to World War II is a major reason she is going. “I’m fascinated by World War II, and I’m excited about seeing the historical sites,” she said. This is her first year studying German. Previously,  Echols studied Latin for a semester. “I just started this year and I like how (German) is so aggressive sounding,” she said. One of the tourist stops she is most excited about is the Berlin Wall. Echols wants to take a selfie at the Cold War relic.

GAPP raised $12,000 for the trip. The club held a car wash, bottle drive and German dinner in raising trip funds. The group also received a $3,000 donation from Rotary Club of Boothbay Harbor. The cost per student is about $2,000; Merrill said students are responsible for raising about $1,200. “We recommend about $400 for spending money. So the student is responsible for about $1,200. And we do provide a little extra funding for needy students because we want as many students as possible to experience this trip,” Merrill said.

Students will miss two weeks of school as one week takes place during school vacation. Merrill described the trip as a unique experience, but each year, GAPP has difficulty finding participants. One student is not a German student. She is studying French, but wanted to go. 

“Years ago, there were more restrictions on who could go. But now it’s open to students with passing grades and (who are) interested in travelling to Germany,” Merrill said. 

Senior Tim Norton is a second-year German student. He is interested in learning about the German culture. “It’s my first time to Europe and I think it will be interesting to check out the differences between living here and there,” he said.

GAPP began in 1972 as an international partnership program facilitating cultural exchanges between American and German schools. In September, German students visited the Boothbay region.