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QUINCY, ILL. -- Quincy Notre Dame students are getting a little taste of Germany this week.

The high school is participating in a two-week exchange program and recently welcomed 20 German students.

But what's there to do for the temporary Quincy residents?

"We'll visit Chicago and St. Louis and Hannibal and Springfield and they are great towns and we haven't got something like this in Germany," said Fabian Wippermann.

Wippermann is just one of the 10th grade German exchange students at QND. While they'll stay busy sight seeing the students are also required to go to class.

"They will not only take part in classes but they will do a little teaching while there here," said Fred Bloss, Quincy Notre Dame German teacher.

The students will also be staying with local host families.

"We've found common interests and we just talk about sports and classes and everything that we both have to go through and endure," said Steven Musholt, a junior QND student hosting Wippermann.

The same goes for the teachers.

"We learn from one another as well," said Bloss. "We learn by seeing and we learn by doing. In education nothing is new; it's all stolen from someone else," he said. "So I'm stealing from them and I hope they steal a little from me."

This is QND's second student exchange. It's part of the German American Partnership Program and sponsored by the "Sister Cities" organizations.

"It's interesting that GAPP allowed us to chose our schools because normally they assign them so that was a really big deal for us," said Bloss.

And a really big deal for the students.

"I think it's so nice in the United States," said Wippermann. "We really love it here and I can say that everyone should do this trip again."