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Christoph Eichhorn, head of the Embassy's political department, with Maura Pally, deputy assistant secretary of state for professional and cultural exchanges, US Department of State, and Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-MO) at the Embassy's front entrance.

(© German Embassy, Washington)

The German Embassy recently celebrated over 25 years of the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange program with a group of some 75 Germans between the ages of 18 and 24 who spent a year living with host families across the United States.

"It gives me great pride to welcome you here today," said Christoph Eichhorn, head of the political department at the Embassy, in introducing a lively program of presentations and discussions on July 27 in Washington.

"I was once in a similar position - as an exchange diplomat to the US Department of State," he recounted. "I took off my German hat and put on my American hat and worked hard to become fully integrated as a German. In America, I sensed what an experience it would be if I looked at my own country from abroad."

Popular role model

The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program (CBYX), known in German as the Parlamentarisches Patenschafts-Programm (PPP), offers American and German young professionals the opportunity to study, intern, and experience everyday life in each other's countries for one year. It was founded in 1983 by the US Congress and the German Bundestag to celebrate the German-American friendship and to commemorate 300 years of the first sizable German settlement in America, which was established at Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1683.

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CDS International Executive Director Rob Fenstermacher

(© German Embassy, Washington)

The only bilateral exchange program of its kind funded by both the US government and a foreign government, it has proven so popular - with over 18,500 participants from both countries so far - that a new program modeled on it between the US and Poland is currently being developed, said Maura Pally, deputy assistant secretary of state for professional and cultural exchanges at the US Department of State.

"The program is truly unique in that it exposes them to all facets of American life," Rob Fenstermacher, executive director of CDS International, which administers the CBYX program, said of the young Germans who spend a year in the US.

Missouri Congressman applauds program

Congressman Russ Carnahan (D - MO), a keynote speaker at the event, also emphasized the importance of international exchange programs.

"It will make a difference in your life no matter what you do," he said. "Many times when we (members of Congress) have met with foreign leaders who have been in programs in the US it helps them to better understand the US and how we operate."

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Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-MO)

(© German Embassy, Washington)

Carnahan, who has German ancestors named Schupp and Zimmerman, fondly recalled meeting a German counterpart, Bundestag member Hans-Ulrich Klose, last March in Berlin: "He spent a year in the US as a young man and traveled around a lot. Now he is an important participant in the transatlantic dialogue."

At the same time, Carnahan met with a group of young Americans who had just concluded their CBYX/PPP year in Germany at a special 25th anniversary celebration honoring the program that was held in the Bundestag.

"They were a really remarkable group - a mirror image of this group here - just incredibly bright and enthusiastic," he said. "And all of them just had a very glowing description of their experience. The individual stories just seem so compelling!"

Great expectations

Some 20 young Americans about to embark on similar yearlong adventures in Germany were also in attendance at the Embassy event.

"We have great expectations for you - as individuals and in promoting our common interests," said Carnahan.

Solving today's most pressing problems, such as climate change and the global financial crisis, through a targeted exchange of best practices is now more important than ever before, he underscored.

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"You are all diplomats now" one of the panelists at the event told the assembled group of young CBYX/PPP exchange program participants.

(© CBYX)

"We're behind here (in the US) because frankly you're way ahead of us when it comes to renewable energies, energy efficient houses and buildings, and clean transport - these are things we are also striving to achieve in the United States," said Carnahan.

Both countries are also working hard on international peacekeeping in hotspots across the globe. "There is a great relationship between Germany and the United States," said Carnahan, adding that strong economic links and cultural relations are a big part of this too.

He also said he would recommend to his colleagues in Congress that they post information on the CBYX/PPP program on their own websites.

A cornucopia of cultural connections

Carnahan went on to cite a cornucopia of cultural connections in his own heavily German-American Missouri constituency, including beer gardens, breweries, restaurants, a very active German cultural society, major festivals, wineries started by Germans, and both German Lutheran and Catholic churches.

"There are very many similarities and so many ties that have existed for so long," he said.

German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth, for instance, was a much appreciated special guest during a regional Missouri Oktoberfest in 2008. "He was like a rock star at the Oktoberfest!" exclaimed Carnahan.

When asked by a young German if he prefered an American Budweiser to "a good German beer", Carnahan quickly replied: "I like to drink the local beer wherever I am - how's that for a politician's answer?"

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Christoph Eichhorn

(© CBYX)

Chris or Chuck?

Also on a lighter note, Eichhorn recalled how his name was quickly adapted during his own initial stint as a young diplomat in America.

"When I was on loan at the State Department, they discovered that this 'Herr Eichhorn' thing was way too complex, so they called me Christoph. That lasted about a week and then they called me Chris, which also lasted about a week," he said.

"And then I got my first email and it said 'Dear Chuck'. I felt great pride so I thought how much more integrated could I be if I was being called Chuck, and I wondered if I should add Jr. or the 3rd at the end of my name? We finally settled on Chris."

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Panelists (l. to r.): Rob Fenstermacher; Betsy Davis, chief, Youth Programs Divsion, US Department of State; Christoph Eichhorn; and Chris Hodges, deputy director for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, US Department of State.

(© CBYX)

Meet me at Taco Bell

And after Fenstermacher asked the group if they felt proud to be Germans following their year in the US, one young man elicited guffaws for a particularly candid response.

"In Germany I did not think of myself as German - I was just me, nothing else," he said. "But in America everyone liked it and girls were always flirting with me at Taco Bell and to be German was immediately a good thing! Everyone was interested in me and my background, especially where I was, in Minneapolis, where 60 percent of the people I talked to had German roots."

Raising awareness

Finally, during a concluding panel discussion that touched upon cultural differences, Betsy Davis, chief of the Youth Programs Division at the US Department of State, gave everyone some great advice: "The most important thing you can do is learn that people see things in a different way. You may not know what that way is and you may not understand it, but you won't be surprised if you do come across it."