From 11 to 20 March 2026, DEHOGA Brandenburg accompanied a group of 27 vocational students and their teachers from Corregio in Emilia-Romagna on their study trip to Brandenburg and Berlin.

The aim was to introduce young people from the hospitality sector and related professions to Brandenburg’s vocational training landscape as part of the European education area, as DEHOGA Brandenburg has helped to develop over the past four years through the TourX project.

For DEHOGA Brandenburg, Potsdam was a logical choice: a city that combines history, culture, science and modern working life – with hosts from Brandenburg’s hospitality sector who are keen to showcase their businesses and their region. For the students of the „Convitto Nazionale Rinaldo Corso“, it was a first, in-depth look at Germany – beyond the clichés they had previously encountered.

The students in the study group came from different vocational streams at their school: catering, restaurant management, mechatronics and agriculture, and the study trip programme was deliberately designed to appeal to everyone – with visits to historic sites in Brandenburg’s capital, vocational training centres, research institutes and even a day at the water park.

An overview of some highlights:

• UNESCO World Heritage Site Sanssouci Palace and New Palace
• Brandenburg State Parliament in Potsdam City Palace
• Botanical Garden of the University of Potsdam
• Albert Einstein House in Caputh
• Day in Berlin featuring the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate and East Side Gallery
• Potsdam-Marquardt Shipbuilding Research Institute
• Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering in Bornim
• Potsdam Film Museum
• BLU Water Park – because fun is part of the programme too

In particular, the combination of history, culture, vocational training and hands-on experience showed the pupils a Germany that is more than just Berlin tourism.

What began as a study trip quickly developed into a genuine European project full of encounters tat will not be forgotten in a hurry. Accompanied by TourX ambassadors from DEHOGA Brandenburg, the Italian pupils cooked together with German trainees at the OSZ Johanna Just in Potsdam. What sounds complicated — two languages, different techniques, different spices — worked surprisingly well. In the OSZ kitchen, a common language was quickly found.

The group experienced something similar on the Oberlin campus. The encounters with the trainees there were warm, direct and sparked curiosity.

What do you take away from ten days in Brandenburg? A wealth of impressions, some new contacts, a bit of German — and perhaps the feeling that Europe isn’t as foreign as it seems from afar. Any trainee who has stood at the stove alongside peers from Italy, Spain, Greece or Germany thinks more European. Not because they have to — but because they have experienced it for themselves.