ARLINGTON – German teacher Ben Mendro prepared his 17 Arlington High School students pretty well for their recent trip to Germany and the Czech Republic.

But one thing that surprised senior Devin Nutter was how open and honest Germans were about the Holocaust. “They accepted that a terrible thing happened in Germany,” he said. “Their mood changed.”

During the trip, the students went to a former concentration camp. When he told his host family, they became solemn and quiet. “It will be eye opening,” they told him.

Mendro and Nutter went to Stuttgart as part of the German-American Partnership Program. Mendro has been part of the exchange with AHS’ partner institution, the Evangelische Mörike Gymnasium, for 15 years. Mendro is hoping someone else will continue it as this was his last trip.

The German students have been coming here each fall, when “typical Germans are blown away by football, Homecoming, cheerleaders and sports,” Mendro said.

Host families would take them to Eastern Washington for camping, horseback riding, the Cascade mountains, the Oregon Coast, the Columbia River Gorge, Portland, Multnomah Falls, Deception Pass, Canada and even Seahawks games.

“It’s cultural interaction to see how big the world is,” Mendro said. “Just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s bad. Many don’t want to go home. Tears flow.”

Nutter said he enjoyed learning the history and seeing different buildings.

“It’s a different way of life,” he said. “I definitely recommend it to expand your horizons.”

Nutter said he enjoyed Prague. He said the old buildings were intact, not destroyed by World War II, and that he liked the youth hostel they stayed at.

But he also enjoyed his host family. He went with some other young folks to a festival at a giant park that was filled with music and a tower spectacle that included a light show and fireworks. “It was one of the craziest, coolest nights,” he said.

He also enjoyed a trip to the mountains in the small nearby country of Liechtenstein. That included an obstacle course with ziplines.

Nutter said he found it funny that people swear all the time in Germany – sometimes in English. But it’s not OK to burp or pass gas in public.

“It’s hilarious,” he said. “It’s flipflop from here.”

Another AHS senior, Marina Vu, stayed with Cleo Binbereif, whom she hosted last fall. Vu said when Cleo was here they went to football games, a pumpkin patch, paintball, bowling and Oak Harbor. She said Cleo was here for such a short time, and everything is so far away, that it was “harder to squeeze things in.” Cleo told her she didn’t mind. She liked getting to know Vu’s family.

“I’m the same way,” Vu said. “I’m a people person. I don’t care what I do.”

Vu said her host family and their friends were open, unlike many Europeans. “We got to truly hang out as friends,” she said.

But that doesn’t mean she didn’t sightsee.

“I was tired, but I wanted to take everything in. I wanted to make the most out of my four weeks,” she said. She went to a festival almost every weekend, enjoying dancing and different food.

“I got to step into their culture and feel what it would be like to live there,” she said.

Vu said she felt safe in Stuttgart. She didn’t see many police, but she also didn’t see many homeless or threatening-looking people. She said many young people hang out until midnight and because more people are around she felt “safer walking home alone at night.”

She went to school with Cleo and liked their open campus. But she didn’t like that sometimes Cleo was in school as late at 5:30 p.m. “That’s crazy.”

Sports and the arts are done mostly out of school so there is “no school spirit,” she added.

Vu said she hopes to return after graduation and travel all over Europe.

“It’s so much easier to get around,” she said, adding trains are so efficient she could see a number of famous cities and countries in the same amount of time it takes to get to Idaho.

Along with Stuttgart and Berlin with its “incredible history,” Mendro said the students get to pick another city to go to. This year it was Prague, but in the past it’s been Paris, Rome, Venice, Barcelona and Lisbon.

Mendro said he liked Prague and Lisbon more than the more-famous spots. They were both small enough the visitors could get around on foot. Rome was big and hot, and Paris big and dirty. “It was hard to get around and crazy,” he said.

One of the good things about the trip was U.S. currency was so much more valuable than the Euro that the local families received hundreds of dollars back.

Some other trips Mendro said the kids enjoyed were: Mercedes history of the automobile museum, pole boat rides and a 15th century town with a historic university.

One scary thing happened this year. There was a shooting in Munich on one of the kids’ free weekends.

“Fortunately nobody went” to Munich that weekend, but Mendro didn’t know that because the kids were with their host families.

“We didn’t know for sure,” he said, adding the families are very independent.