Carmel High School’s annual student exchange program with a German high school has gone smoothly.

“We’ve haven’t had any tears yet,” said Carmel High School German teacher Angelika Becker.

Becker, who moved to the United States from Germany in 1992, has both fill her students and the exchange students fill out forms and she looks at common interests to find host families.

“Most of the time it works,” she said. “You sometimes get one or two that don’t work, but, this time around, we have not had any trouble yet. They are all getting along well.”

Fifteen of the 18 students from a school in Hohen Neudendorf are girls. There are two teachers from the German school on the three-week visit, which ends Oct. 29. It is part of the German American Partnership Program, a high school exchange program that began after World War II.

The exchange between Carmel and Hohen Neudendorf began 10 years ago. A group of German language class students from Carmel will got to Germany in June.

Exchange student Annett Bauer, 16, said she doesn’t think CHS students are that different.

“We listen to the same music and have the same free time activities,” Bauer said.

The students are going with host families on vacation, with fall break being today and Friday.

Bauer is going to South Carolina with her host family. Fellow exchange student Nina Laule will be going to Chicago with her host family.

“I’ve learned a lot of new words and about the culture of America,” Laule said. “Most of the people are really nice.”

The town that Carmel exchanges with is on the outskirts of Berlin and was formerly part of East Germany before Germany was reunified in 1990.