Lawrence and the Midwest made quite an impression during the past several weeks on 13 high school exchange students from Eutin, Germany.

“Everyone has been very nice to me. I’ve had a great experience in improving my English,” said Gotz Schnackenberg, 17.

The students from one of Lawrence’s sister cities arrived Sept. 3 and today they leave to go sightseeing in Chicago before traveling back to Germany. They stayed with local families and students from Lawrence and Free State high schools. The exchange was part of a Sister Cities program that saw the Lawrence students they stayed with travel to Eutin last spring. Lawrence’s other sister city is Hiratsuka, Japan.

“We got to know each other pretty well,” said Adam Phillips, an LHS senior who was teamed with Helge Jess, 16, during the two exchanges. “He got caught up in the Lawrence High-Free State rivalry.”

American football was one thing the Germans saw a lot of during their stay. They attended high school games and some Kansas University games.

“I liked football very much but I think soccer is still number one,” said Matthias Petersen, 16.

Helge, however, wasn’t that impressed with football.

“American football is interesting but no game for Germany,” he said.

Playing softball was a new experience for 17-year-old Malte Witt. The only language problem Malte encountered was in some stores where clerks talked a bit fast, he said.

Exchange students Mattias Petersen, 16, front left, and Gotz Schnackenberg, 17, second from left, share a laugh with Free State High School students Dallas Schmitendorf, 18, second from the right, and Brendan Desetti, 17, far right, during a send-off lunch for 13 exchange students from Eutin, Germany. The Saturday afternoon event at Centennial Park included refreshments and volleyball. The students from Eutin spent several weeks in Lawrence.

“Some people don’t know we’re from a foreign country and they talk very fast,” he said.

The students also were impressed with the high-tech, computer equipment available in the Lawrence schools. The overall class work, however, was much easier than the classes they attend in Germany, they said.

“It’s not very hard,” Matthias Petersen said. “We have more subjects in Germany. I didn’t have to do very much for school.”

The parents of the Lawrence students enjoyed having the students from Eutin around. There were very few problems, said Liz Phillips, Adam Phillips’ mother.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better fit,” Liz Phillips said of their guest, Helge Jess.

Her sentiments were echoed by Tom Schmitendorf, who along with his wife, Jennifer Schmitendorf and son Dallas, opened their home to Gotz Schnackenberg. In addition to seeing the sites in Lawrence, they also took Gotz to St. Louis and to a Kansas buffalo ranch.

“It’s been a real pleasure,” Tom Schmitendorf said.

Saturday afternoon the families and the exchange students met at Centennial Park for a farewell picnic and some soccer games. Also attending was Stu Strecker, German and Spanish teacher at Free State. The length of the exchange provided a good language learning experience for the Lawrence and Eutin students, he said.

“The relationships these kids have will keep going on. That’s been born out in 15 years of exchanges,” Strecker said.