After the EU Eastern expansion, the old EU states reached out to the new member states and set up apprentice exchange programs on the basis of the established German-French model. In early April 2005, twelve apprentices from the hairdressers’ trade association in Chemnitz had the opportunity to spend two weeks in Pécs, Hungary, while eight Hungarian hairdresser apprentices received further training in Chemnitz. As the German-French partnerships had already shown, student and youth exchange programs that facilitate personal contacts are an effective way to overcome and prevent mutual prejudices.