Oh boy! what a trip!!
KOCHI: Chaitanyan Prakash, a 14-year-old school student is one excited young lad. Not every young boy gets the golden chance to meet a political figure, that too someone listed by Forbes Magazine as the planet’s most influential woman.For the youngster, who was the only school student from the state who got to meet the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, it has been a dream-come-true experience. The class VIII student of Christ Nagar Higher Secondary School in the capital is just back from the three-week-long trip to Germany. The lad had been to the country, along with a group of 31 other students from all over India.
at Dresden, Germany
Chaitanyan says, “We were able to meet the Chancellor during the last day of the trip. She spoke to us for fifteen minutes, and it was a purely informal casual chat. Then, there was a photo session. It was very nice.” In fact, it was his love for the language and the country, that landed him in Berlin. Chaitanyan, who has been learning German at the Goethe Zentrum in the capital, was selected on the basis of his performance on a competition held by the institute. The youngster chose to do a presentation on the topic ‘Internet participation among Youth today’, after which he was selected for a scholarship course. “It was a three-week-long advanced level German course at the Goethe Institute in Berlin,” said Chaitanya. The travel expenses and accomodation for the trip had been sponsored by the German cultural centre. The students were accompanied by two teachers from the Goethe Institute.
For the school student, the journey was more than just a pleasure trip. Says the boy, “This has been my first trip abroad, and it has been a truly great and totally different experience. More than an interesting trip, It was a rewarding opportunity for me.” In fact, the youth wishes to do his higher studies in Automobile Designing in Germany. The youngster is currently still waiting for his scholarship certificate. He adds, “Since it will be sent through the Delhi centre of the Goethe Institute, I am yet to receive it.”Chaitanyan has been learning German for the past six years at the ‘Kinderkurs’, which the Goethe Zentrum had started for school children. The boy has already been to many other places in India as part of various summer camps held by Goethe Zentrum.