Mary Grace:
I wake up a little later than usual because my partner has first block off. We leave the house at 8:30 and walk to the bus stop. We go with Emma and that one kid to dm to get deodorant. Every person my age carries around dry spray deodorant when it's hot. So we had to walk a longer time and it is very hot out. I'm also wearing a dress because I would not want to be out in jeans in this heat. It is supposed to get to get to 90 degrees today. We sit in an open room until the bell rings. All of the Germans do their homework while we wait for class to start. We go to homeroom and talk about the talent night and how the rest of the trip will look. We learn the dances for the whole group number and we are practicing more tomorrow. Then we go to class. I go to Chemistry with Ryley, Elyssa, and Connor. We don't do much as usual. Then we don't have the last class, so a bunch of us are going to the swimming pool. We wait for some of the others and Sydney has to go home quick to get her swim suit. I stay with Meike and Ryley and get an ice cream cone. We walk to the Freizeitzentrum (literally free time center) to go to the pool. We stay there from about 1:30ish until 7:00. Early on some of us get something to eat and drink. Ryley and I see these interesting drinks that have candy brands on them. We buy a skittles shake and a twix shake. It was pretty weird, but it tasted like fruit milk and chocolate milk with a hint of caramel, respectively. All of us have a lot of fun going down the slide. We go in trains, pairs, backwards, frontwards, and pretty much any way you can think of. All of us Americans were super excited about going on the slide because there isn't a lifeguard monitoring how you go down. People race each other and some just sit out on the grass. I don't know if it has been mentioned in another blog, but when we went to Neuschwanstein, I shoved a big piece of raw salmon in my mouth and ate it for €1,14. So ever since then, we always bet each other to do things for €1,14, and I bet Grant to belly flop into the pool so I have to pay tomorrow. I am pretty sunburnt even though I put sunscreen on Eventually Hannah and I come home and we take showers. Then Hannah's parents want me to show them how to make American hamburgers. I have never made hamburgers in my life, so I have to google a video while Hannah was in the shower. I'm just gonna wing it. I just tell them how I eat my burgers at home and they think it's better than the German burgers they have. I don't know if I believe them or not, but eating them kind of made me sad because I miss home. After dinner, I finally showed them my ich buch. Frau Steiner, I know we were supposed to share them right away, but the mood wasn't right and at least I shared it. After we clean up, I go upstairs and brush my teeth and am going to bed after I finish this.
Sydney:
My partner has been sick today, so I spent the day shadowing Taylor and her partner Leah. The day at school was pretty uneventful but, all of the Americans got together during homeroom to practice are musical talents for the talent show. We also practiced our dances; we will be doing a compilation of popular American dance songs which we will perform for our German home stay families. Song such as the Harlem Shake, Cupid Shuffle, and the YMCA will be performed on our last night here. Today Taylor and I had our very first higher level English class! It was interesting; the students are preparing for a test which is over the book Coraline; they have to prepare a one and a half minute monologue about what the best trick the other mother used to convince Coraline to stay with them was. The German students are very good at talking about the subject considering how little they speak English in English class. But what am I saying? We barely speak any German in German class... After school I headed to the pool here in Blieskastel with Abbey, we spent about 6 hours there with the other GAPPies and it was a lot of fun! The pools here are different than in America, not in the way they look, but by the way they are managed. There were no life guards and people were allowed to pretty much do whatever they wanted, which was really fun for the Americans. We got to go down the slides in whatever way we wanted; backwards, sideways, and 3+ at a time! Some of the Germans got bored before us but we kept going and plan on going back tomorrow. After the pool Abbey and I went to get ice cream and we chilled for a little bit. Now I am at home, preparing to dine on some German barbecue and then go to bed.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Out of order: Wednesday June 22 Fieldtrip #3 MAINZ
n.b.: Frau S here. On Wednesday our entire group (44 people!) traveled to Mainz, which is the Hauptstadt of the neighboring German state of Rheinland-Pfalz. I have spent a fair amount of time in my travels over the years in Mainz and was excited to come "home". The city itself is approximately 2000 years old and was at one time the border of the Roman Empire. Mainz is also the hometown of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of moveable type and we were able to see four original Bibles in the vault of the museum. Some students even got to try their hand at using a replica of Gutenberg's printing press! Once in the city, we walked up to St. Stephan's church to begin a walking tour with a professional tour guide (we had mixed results...:-( ).
Connor:
Wednesday, June 22nd. This morning I go to sleep in a little longer. It was needed since we kept busy the day before. Our plan was to meet at the train station and head to Meinz. Hannah and Marygrace picked Daniel and I up since both his parents were working. We meet everyone else at the train station around 8:30. There we all chatted and talked until our train arrived. The train ride took about 2 hours. On the train I ended up sleeping. I was awake for maybe 20 minutes of the ride. At Meinz we had to hurry to our tour. We met our a church and start our tour there. While walking towards the church, we passed many restaurants and it made me even more hungry. Once we reached the church we were split up in 2 groups. Our tour guide talked, like an overview, and after what felt like a long time just standing there, we entered the church. Walking into the church, the temperature seemed to drop, getting very chilly, almost ice cold. There he told us about the stained glass windows. Not staying too long inside, we headed to a little courtyard. There he told us what so special about this buliding, the way it was built and why it's still standing. After leaving the church he took us around the city and to the Guttenberg mesuem. There he showed us how they printed paper in the old days. There he took three people to help him. I wasn't one as I was fine sitting down and relaxing. Then he showed us 4 very old books and he talked a long time about them. Then after that we had free time till 5:30. So everyone headed to a burger restaurant called hansund gluck. I had a wilde western burger that was 10/10. After that we had about 2 hours to kill, so a couple other people and I went looking for a book store. This was because I brought books with me, but during school I read so I was running out of reading material. But sadly no book store had English books in them. So then we walked around and eventually met more people around a sitting area. There pictures were taken and eventually walked to a huge 3 floor store that had anything but food. There I killed time by chatting and trying not to be bored. But I became bored anyways. After a while we walked back to the meeting place and meet everyone else from GAPP there. There we had to hurry to the train again. Another two hour ride back. But I didn't sleep on this ride. This time I sat next to Colin and talked with him. He was nice enough to share some food. Not too long into the train ride, Elyssa and Marygrace ended up sitting on the stairs next to my seat. They were also kind enough to share gummy bears with Colin and I. Then after a couple seats opened up, they went and sat in comfy seats. So Colin and I plugged our headphones and listened to music. Almost fell asleep but not quite. After the train ride, Hannah's mother took us back home. There we had dinner, spaghetti, which was 8/10. After eating we were both tired from walking all day, so we went upstairs. I plugged my music into his speaker and played a mix of different bands off my phone. We played need for speed and I ended up getting three new cars for him. All of them better then his mustang he had before, but that's not hard to beat. 2 hours later we decided we should sleep so we are not tired at school tomorrow. I went to my room, read a couple chapters out of my book, Asylum, and went to bed.
Connor:
Wednesday, June 22nd. This morning I go to sleep in a little longer. It was needed since we kept busy the day before. Our plan was to meet at the train station and head to Meinz. Hannah and Marygrace picked Daniel and I up since both his parents were working. We meet everyone else at the train station around 8:30. There we all chatted and talked until our train arrived. The train ride took about 2 hours. On the train I ended up sleeping. I was awake for maybe 20 minutes of the ride. At Meinz we had to hurry to our tour. We met our a church and start our tour there. While walking towards the church, we passed many restaurants and it made me even more hungry. Once we reached the church we were split up in 2 groups. Our tour guide talked, like an overview, and after what felt like a long time just standing there, we entered the church. Walking into the church, the temperature seemed to drop, getting very chilly, almost ice cold. There he told us about the stained glass windows. Not staying too long inside, we headed to a little courtyard. There he told us what so special about this buliding, the way it was built and why it's still standing. After leaving the church he took us around the city and to the Guttenberg mesuem. There he showed us how they printed paper in the old days. There he took three people to help him. I wasn't one as I was fine sitting down and relaxing. Then he showed us 4 very old books and he talked a long time about them. Then after that we had free time till 5:30. So everyone headed to a burger restaurant called hansund gluck. I had a wilde western burger that was 10/10. After that we had about 2 hours to kill, so a couple other people and I went looking for a book store. This was because I brought books with me, but during school I read so I was running out of reading material. But sadly no book store had English books in them. So then we walked around and eventually met more people around a sitting area. There pictures were taken and eventually walked to a huge 3 floor store that had anything but food. There I killed time by chatting and trying not to be bored. But I became bored anyways. After a while we walked back to the meeting place and meet everyone else from GAPP there. There we had to hurry to the train again. Another two hour ride back. But I didn't sleep on this ride. This time I sat next to Colin and talked with him. He was nice enough to share some food. Not too long into the train ride, Elyssa and Marygrace ended up sitting on the stairs next to my seat. They were also kind enough to share gummy bears with Colin and I. Then after a couple seats opened up, they went and sat in comfy seats. So Colin and I plugged our headphones and listened to music. Almost fell asleep but not quite. After the train ride, Hannah's mother took us back home. There we had dinner, spaghetti, which was 8/10. After eating we were both tired from walking all day, so we went upstairs. I plugged my music into his speaker and played a mix of different bands off my phone. We played need for speed and I ended up getting three new cars for him. All of them better then his mustang he had before, but that's not hard to beat. 2 hours later we decided we should sleep so we are not tired at school tomorrow. I went to my room, read a couple chapters out of my book, Asylum, and went to bed.
Friday, June 24, 2016
Technical difficulties!
Hi, everyone! I just deleted two posts because the were some how overlapping each other and were garbled up. Reposting in a few minutes after I log out of the blog...
Saturday, June 25
The long-delayed canoe trip on the Blies is supposed to be today, but I woke to rain at my house, so I am hoping it will not cause the canoe tour to be cancelled completely. Frau S.
Friday, June 24th: Last day of school
June 24th
Samantha
Today when we got to school, we stayed with the Americans and practiced our dance for the talent show on Sunday! Our dance consists of a bunch of songs such as “the Cupid shuffle”, “cha cha slide”, “watch me”, “hit the quan”, “ymca”, etc. all mashed together. Our dancing has definitely improved, but it's still really funny to watch! (Grant’s stanky leg is on point). After practicing a few times, we all ate our lunches even though it was only 8:30 in the morning. Then, since we still had a lot of time left, a group of us walked down the hill to rewe to get candy and flowers for our host families to thank them. However, we had a bit of an issue with keeping the flowers in water until we got home. For the rest of the day, we all carried around bouquets in water bottles or in my case, a coffee cup (I spilled water everywhere I went and yes, everyone looked at us weird). Anyways, after getting our flowers, we walked back up to the school and went to 3rd period with our partners. Unfortunately, my partner had German class which I do not understand at all, so I read for most of the class. After German, I had religion with Sydney, Taylor, and Jacob. We also didn't understand that class, so we drew pictures and wrote strange stories. After school, I took the bus to Emma’s friend Lavinia’s house because she had her confirmation tonight. When we got to Lavinia's, her grandma made us this really good soup and then we ate Popsicles. Then, Lavinia had to get her hair cut, so I awkwardly sat in Lavinia's room while Emma took a shower and everyone else was gone. When Lavinia got back, Emma did her hair and Lavinia did her makeup for her confirmation. Once Lavinia was ready, she was wearing a really pretty pink dress (looked like a homecoming dress) and her makeup and hair was all done really beautifully. Then, we went to the church and I sat with Taylor for two hours not knowing what was happening or what anyone was saying. Although, Taylor and I did end up entertaining ourselves. During the confirmation, Taylor decided that she was a palm reader and began reading people's palms and telling them they have good things ahead of them and that they must've had a rough past. Also, I can't leave this out (sorry Taylor)... At the beginning of the confirmation when the bishop walked down the aisle, Taylor leaned over and said, “is that the pope?!” What a gal. After the confirmation, we walked outside and these sirens started going off and no one knew what they meant. According to Emma’s friend Benni, if these sirens were 7 seconds long, it meant there was nuclear war or something?¿ Luckily, they lasted longer than 7 seconds, no nuclear war!!!! Next, I went to a really fancy restaurant with Lavinia, Emma, and Lavinia's family. Lavinia’s godfather is from America so he was able to translate the menu for me and it was really nice to be able to speak English even more. I ended up getting this really good pasta with shrimp, sugar snap peas, some type of sweet curry sauce, etc. (I'll share a pic). We stayed at the restaurant for about 3 hours and then Emma's dad showed up and we went home. It was a fun day and I'm actually sad that we are done with school :(
Samantha
Today when we got to school, we stayed with the Americans and practiced our dance for the talent show on Sunday! Our dance consists of a bunch of songs such as “the Cupid shuffle”, “cha cha slide”, “watch me”, “hit the quan”, “ymca”, etc. all mashed together. Our dancing has definitely improved, but it's still really funny to watch! (Grant’s stanky leg is on point). After practicing a few times, we all ate our lunches even though it was only 8:30 in the morning. Then, since we still had a lot of time left, a group of us walked down the hill to rewe to get candy and flowers for our host families to thank them. However, we had a bit of an issue with keeping the flowers in water until we got home. For the rest of the day, we all carried around bouquets in water bottles or in my case, a coffee cup (I spilled water everywhere I went and yes, everyone looked at us weird). Anyways, after getting our flowers, we walked back up to the school and went to 3rd period with our partners. Unfortunately, my partner had German class which I do not understand at all, so I read for most of the class. After German, I had religion with Sydney, Taylor, and Jacob. We also didn't understand that class, so we drew pictures and wrote strange stories. After school, I took the bus to Emma’s friend Lavinia’s house because she had her confirmation tonight. When we got to Lavinia's, her grandma made us this really good soup and then we ate Popsicles. Then, Lavinia had to get her hair cut, so I awkwardly sat in Lavinia's room while Emma took a shower and everyone else was gone. When Lavinia got back, Emma did her hair and Lavinia did her makeup for her confirmation. Once Lavinia was ready, she was wearing a really pretty pink dress (looked like a homecoming dress) and her makeup and hair was all done really beautifully. Then, we went to the church and I sat with Taylor for two hours not knowing what was happening or what anyone was saying. Although, Taylor and I did end up entertaining ourselves. During the confirmation, Taylor decided that she was a palm reader and began reading people's palms and telling them they have good things ahead of them and that they must've had a rough past. Also, I can't leave this out (sorry Taylor)... At the beginning of the confirmation when the bishop walked down the aisle, Taylor leaned over and said, “is that the pope?!” What a gal. After the confirmation, we walked outside and these sirens started going off and no one knew what they meant. According to Emma’s friend Benni, if these sirens were 7 seconds long, it meant there was nuclear war or something?¿ Luckily, they lasted longer than 7 seconds, no nuclear war!!!! Next, I went to a really fancy restaurant with Lavinia, Emma, and Lavinia's family. Lavinia’s godfather is from America so he was able to translate the menu for me and it was really nice to be able to speak English even more. I ended up getting this really good pasta with shrimp, sugar snap peas, some type of sweet curry sauce, etc. (I'll share a pic). We stayed at the restaurant for about 3 hours and then Emma's dad showed up and we went home. It was a fun day and I'm actually sad that we are done with school :(
Tuesday, June 21: Field Trip #2
N.B: again our student bloggers have not turned in their reflections. Today after school we went to Festo, which is a pneumatics company and we learned about what they do at their newest plant. I will have to track down some teenagers and make them do their "homework". Frau S
Monday, June 20: Field Trip #1
N.B.Our bloggers are MIA. We went to school and had a field trip to Saarland Rundfunk. When I get the blogs from the students, I will post them. Frau S
Monday, June 20, 2016
Sunday, June 19: Father's Day in the US, but not in Germany. Colin & Erin
N.B. Today was Father's Day back home but not in Germany. Father's Day is celebrated on Christihimmelfahrt (Ascencion Day) with most men going hiking with friends and hanging out afterwards in a Biergarten....Frau S.
Colin Chalupa-
On Sunday so much has happened. "It was lit fam." So what exactly happened was first most of everyone slept 11am because we were all tired from altstadtfest. Once I woke up my partner Philipp was still asleep so I sat on the stair case so I could have Wi-Fi without awkwardly going downstairs. Finally, it was 12pm and my partner wakes up, then proceeded to eat "breakfast" which was a delicious chocolate filled croissant followed by a piece of chocolate cake. It was then only about 1 o'clock and I had no idea what was going down. Grant and David went to a water park. Another group went somewhere. Then some went swimming in the Saarland Thermen. But what would the rest of us do? We went to Michelle's. We played Mario Cart on the Wii which was always close. Kyle kept losing first right in front of the finish line at the end. Then we got some good pizza, one was salami(pepperoni), then the other was salami with pepperoni(yellow peppers). After that we had some good chocolate cake and started playing music on Florian's portable speaker. Once Michelle's parents got back from walking the dog, Leo, we all decided to go to the park down the street. Thats when the fun began for the group I was with. We not only continued to play the music very loudly but we had an American football. We played catch and decided to play a great childhood game. The game was 500 first we had to explain the game to the Germans then the fun began. We all really sucked, for the first 10 throws no one caught the football. There was pushing, swatting, and dropping the football. Eventually we did get bored so to the playground equipment we went. The swing was fun as some of us used it normally and some jumped of mid swing. But the highlight of the playground was the see-saw. I have not seen a see-saw in forever since in America they are considered dangerous and all have been removed. We stacked people on trying to balance it. Not only that but we would try to launch people in the air. Then once one side hit the bottom really hard and Florian fell off. Our group then started to fall apart as people left. So we went back to Michelle's house for drinks and snacks. Some funny jokes were told and we had a conversation about what was normal to think about and we all agreeded food was at the top of the list. Then it was 6:50 pm and was time to leave. I ate some food then me and Philipp went to his room. We played some games watched some videos. Hope everyone had/has a good father's day. Goodnight.
Sunday June 19th 2016
Hallo! Ich heiße Erin Johnson und ich schreibe die Blog heute! I started my day off eating my breakfast that I've eaten daily for the past week. I have a Brotchen (bread roll), cut in half with one side with salami and cheese and the other side with Ovomaltine which is basically Nutella with malt in it which makes it crunchy. I eat the two sides of the roll separately and they are very good (and filling). I don't think I'll ever get sick of it; it is so good! I've learned that “I am full,” is “Ich bin satt,” in German. I've used this sentence many times each day.
I had the chance to sleep in today so my day didn't officially start until about 10am, which is when I ate breakfast. After breakfast, I played a board game similar to the American board game Sorry! with my GAPP partner and her brother, Laura and Jonas. We also had a competition with ping pong paddles and balls to see who could bounce the ball the longest. We were also eating Pringles at this time and tried to throw the ping pong balls into the Pringles cans. I'm not sure if America has this, but they have Paprika flavored Pringles which is new to me. Sie schmecken sehr gut!
My family had a cookout planned and I met some of Laura’s extended family. They tried to speak normal German to me (without their Saarland dialect) but they still speak very quickly so it is difficult to understand. I've learned that Weisswurst and Spätzle are my favorite German foods, along with Ovomaltine and Mezzo Mix (Cola and orange juice or Fanta mix)
The other GAPP students did many different things today! Going to swim at a water park, relaxing at the Saarland Therme, bowling, and hanging out together outside at Michelle’s house were some of the things the other GAPP students did today. Last Monday when we didn't have school due to the preparation for the Abitur, I went to the Saarland Therme and it was very relaxing so I'm sure the students who went there today are very relaxed and stress-free right now! Also, seeing pictures taken at Michelle’s house I can see that they also enjoyed themselves. Some of the pictures were on a seesaw and a swing set.
The weather was nice today so everyone doing things outside had a perfect day! Today was the first day with no rain in a while and it's supposed to be even warmer tomorrow with no rain (fingers crossed!!!). The temperature is supposed to get gradually warmer throughout this week and I'm sure everyone is excited! Until next time, tschüss!
Saturday, June 18th: MT in Paris and other adventures
6/18/16
It seemed as if it was a typical morning at the Schmidt house. I woke up at 6:30 and got ready for the day. With my usual routine I came upstairs to the kitchen for breakfast at 7:00. This is where I was greeted by my host father, Christian. We exchanged in conversation as we started breakfast. This morning I decided to have two slices of bread. One with Nutella and one with raspberry marmalade. As I bit into the Nutella slice, Victoria came downstairs. She greeted me with a hug and then grabbed her usual cereal bowl. By the time I had finished my bread and drank my cup of coffee Korbinian still had not arrived to breakfast. I cleared my place and then went to finish my morning routine. After brushing my teeth I opened the bathroom door to see Korbinian at the breakfast table. Walking into the kitchen I greeted him by saying "Good morning Sleeping Beauty". In which he smiled as a response and ate his bread.
About an hour later the whole family was packed for the day in Paris. Tossing our bags in the back, all five of us squished into the car. Sitting in between Koby and Victoria I learned the true meaning of sibling love as we drove to the train station.
Once at the train station my nerves were through the roof! I was excited and both nervous for our trip to Paris. Sitting down we waited for our train due to its 10 minute delay. This allowed Koby to teach me small French phrases, which I attempted to speak. Soon the train came and boarded into our seats. Koby allowed me to sit by the window and he sat next to me. Once we took off Koby told me that the train was Germany's fastest train. We watched with amazement as we passed French land. I plugged my earbuds in and then decided to take a nap so I would be refreshed for the day. Opening my eyes I was greeted by a beautiful french country view. I spent almost all of the ride looking out the window and enjoying the view. Then Ute and Christian were taking pictures of us at any moment they could.
Once we arrived into Paris, Koby was as excited as I was. It was also his first time in the beautiful city. Walking outside we decided to walk to our first spot rather then take the metro. The sky was bright and speckled with clouds but no rain poured on us. It was a great morning in Paris. First taking a picture at the train station we then started walking. With Koby by my side I got a detailed description of different buildings and French history. We walked down the path as I continued to gawk at the French architecture and food. Stopping by a little corner shop we picked up smoked sausage and some meat for our lunch later. I took a bite of the sausage and my mouth watered; it tasted wonderful! We then continued down our path and enjoyed some professional graffiti. After that we walked through an outdoor wall were plants dangled from the ceiling and light streamed through the glass. Stopping at a little shop that sold wooden colored letters, Koby moved the M next to the T and told me it was a sign for us to stay in Paris. I joked along and agreed with his statement.
We then continued our journey through the streets and I enjoyed every single step on the cobblestone. Every shop we passed smelled of fresh pastries and it made me wish I could all of it. Luckily we saw a macaroon shop and I was able to get some macaroons.
We then made our stop at the Louvre and took some pictures. Then all five of us boarded the Foxity bus which was a two layer bus. Sitting on the top of the bus we crossed Seine river and started the tour. After struggling to figure out the audio tour we gave up and enjoyed the view. Both of us gapped at the National Assembly building. Then continued to say how nice it would be to see that everyday.
After seeing several buildings we then stopped on the street leading to the Arc de Triomphe. Walking down the street Koby and I pointed out our favorite stores and cars driving down the street. He practically drooled at all the sport cars. Lamborghinis, Ferraris, and Porches lined the side of the streets. Every time we passed a sport car he begged his dad to drive him in one.
After stopping in H and M we decided to have a picnic on a bench. By eating bread, meat, fruit, and veggies our energy was replenished. Then Ute pulled out cake and I couldn't say no. Koby, Vici, and I also finished the macaroons. After cleaning up our lunch we continued on our way.
Every step closer to the Arc my excitement grew. However, we were constantly stopped by Korbinian when he saw a watch store. Once we got to the Arc I was beyond amazed. After taking some pictures we crossed the road to get a better view. Unfortunately, our bus showed up on the other side then we expected. So Vici and I ran to the other side. And from then on I realized I could never drive with Parisian drivers.
Luckily we made it on the bus before it drove away. From then we rode through the city and were on our way to the Eiffel Tower. Taking pictures of everything we could, Koby and I were in awe. As we got closer to the tower our hearts raced. Once we reached below the tower all five of us got off the bus. I stood there with my mouth open and I could not even speak a word. I was in awestruck with how beautiful the tower was and I could not believe it was before my eyes. We then walked farther back to get pictures without tourists. As we walked Koby and I counted all the brides taking pictures with the tower.
After taking our pictures with the tower it started to rain. We trudged back to the bus through the rain and the buses roof repelled on. Getting on the bus I said goodbye to the tower because it was truly a magnificent sight to see.
Slowly the rain stopped and the windows opened. In the bus we rode past the Academie de Musique. A performer was outside the building and sang to a crowd of tourists. Koby and I sang along to a song we knew as we passed in the tour bus.
We continued the tour and every stop left me in awe. The Opera house, Champs-Élysées, Concorde, and École Militaire all were amazing but my favorite stop was Notre Dame. There I sat in the church and viewed the most beautiful stain glass windows I have ever seen. Saints were formed in many of them and there were statues of several saints. Sitting with Koby in the pew we took it all in. I then lit a candle for Saint Theresa and Saint Mary. Out of all the sights this was truly my favorite.
Once we left the church all of us enjoyed a bag of Haribo and went to the Louve one last time. However, Koby was in dying need of a restroom. As we went into the the church before he noticed they didn't have one and decided to wait. But once we started on our way he REALLY needed to go pee. Every bathroom we passed was either broken or the line was too long. With our short time we eventually found an appropriate bathroom. Ute and I swear we had never seen him that happy until he had gone to the bathroom. His face was priceless and I will never forget it.
After seeing the Louve one more time we went to take the metro back to the train station. On the metro I was reminded of the stations in Munich and our daily commute. We then arrived at the train station and I was forced to say goodbye to Paris. Taking a picture with the train all of us departed.
We decided after a long day to eat dinner on the train. Not long after I fell asleep. Only waking up to realize the train ride was pretty much over. I then noticed our train had gone over 300 kilometers per hour and I was amazed.
We then went back to the car and rode home. Soon we were home and we dropped our stuff off and headed to the festival.
Meeting friends there, Koby and I shared about our day. I then had Döner for the first time and really enjoyed it!! Once we both were finished eating the group went to dance. All of us danced to the music and enjoyed the night.
Before leaving Koby and I got ice cream and walked up the hill back home. Before we knew it the day was over and we both were tired.
But I can truly say it was a day I would never forget.
Friday, June 17th//Jacob
June 17, 2016
Today was a short day for me and my partner. We woke up, had breakfast like any normal day, and got on the bus for school. What made today short was the time we got out. We got out of school today at 12:10, the earliest so far in my homestay in Blieskastel. I got to sit in on Vincent's (My GAPP Partner) math class where they were practicing probabilities. I did not understand most of what the teacher was saying but I stayed interested otherwise. After math I went to home room where we visited and helped a 5th grade German class that was learning English. We got to help them read better and helped them speak better English words. After I went to the 8th grade German class and answered questions and talked about my school and home. After home room me and Vincent went to his last class of the day. It wasn't really a class, more like a study hall because we just sat there and talked most of the time. Today was also a good day because I got to see one of my sister's GAPP partners from 2 years ago, Caro. After school she walked down to meet me at the front gate. We hugged and talked a bit before walking down to get some paninis for lunch. After we had lunch she walked me down to the bus station where we struggled for a few minutes to find the right bus. But we finally found it and Caro and I hugged before I got on to head back to my host family. Although half way through the bus ride I began to second guess if I was on the right bus. But thank god I was, so I made it home safely. After a few hours Vincent and I decided to go to the Alstadtfest where there were many vendors and bands playing in the streets of Blieskastel. We met up with almost the entire, current GAPP group or "GAPPies" there. At the festival I saw a few GAPP students, from two years ago, working and Caro was one of them. So I stopped and said "Hi" before we left to go home for the night.
Thursday:Wandertag cont...
Elyssa: another day of school. Many of the Germans didn't have school today and those who didn't went to Saarbrücken, the capital city, for shopping. But for the rest of us, we went to school while our partners took a French test. After French class my partner and I had one more class where we had a breakfast party. Everyone in the class brought something to share and I talked to the teacher for a while about his son who lives in America. It was interesting to hear. The Americans who didn't go to school were able to sleep while we were at school and then went to Saarbrücken. When my partner and I got home we ate lunch. We had a little free time so I took a nap because the rainy weather is making all of us Americans tired. I woke up and my partner and I headed to a town called St. Ingbert not far outside of Blieskastel. The center of the city is a somewhat small town with walking streets and shops such as H&M, DM, and tea shops. We did a little shopping while it rained on and off. After that we went back home, ate, and got ready for the public viewing of fußball. The game was between Deutschland and Poland. All of the Americans and Germans met up at the fire station like we had at the last public viewing and took pictures and talked before we went and sat down. Even though we haven't known each other for long the whole GAPP group is pretty close. There were many other people from the public watching the game. All of the Germans and Americans were dressed up in their gear and had the German flag on their faces. Germany and Poland tied 0-0 so nobody won. It was late when the game ended so we all went home to go to sleep before school on Friday.
Thursday 6/16: Schul "Wandertag"
n.b. (Frau S): today there we no "real" classes at school due to many of the teachers at vdL having to travel across Saarland as "Zweitprüfer" for the oral Abitur (college entrance exams)...
Taylor:Today we finally got to sleep in, compared to waking up at 6 to leave for school at 6:45, we got to school around 9 and had breakfast with the German class. Breakfast consisted of rolls, cheese, and fruit salad. Sydney and I taught the other students how to flip a water bottle and land it on the table standing (they thought this was a lot of fun). We played black magic, a game that makes people get very frustrated because they can't figure it out (it took me like an hour to first figure it out). Then we watched the film The Blueprint (it is the book that the class is reading). After school we got onto a bus that took us to a train which lead to Saarbrücken. Here we ate pasta and went shopping. We went home and went to Lea's neighbors house for a birthday party. We ate dinner and then got ready for the Public Viewing. The game was so intense, they ended up tying the game 0-0. This was a late but very fun night!
Taylor:Today we finally got to sleep in, compared to waking up at 6 to leave for school at 6:45, we got to school around 9 and had breakfast with the German class. Breakfast consisted of rolls, cheese, and fruit salad. Sydney and I taught the other students how to flip a water bottle and land it on the table standing (they thought this was a lot of fun). We played black magic, a game that makes people get very frustrated because they can't figure it out (it took me like an hour to first figure it out). Then we watched the film The Blueprint (it is the book that the class is reading). After school we got onto a bus that took us to a train which lead to Saarbrücken. Here we ate pasta and went shopping. We went home and went to Lea's neighbors house for a birthday party. We ate dinner and then got ready for the Public Viewing. The game was so intense, they ended up tying the game 0-0. This was a late but very fun night!
Wednesday, June 15: more school
Wednesday, June 15th
Samantha Biermann
Today, we had school, so once it began, I went to German class with Emma. However, I did not understand anything that was said in that class and the students had work to do, so I read the The Fault in Our Stars for a good portion of the class. After German, Emma had physics, but I had home room with Frau and the Americans (thank goodness because I hate physics). Home room is really nice because you actually get to hear English again and be with the other Americans. Also, we all got to eat our lunches even though it was only 9 in the morning! After home room, I went to music class with Emma. At the beginning of class, the students had to take a test, but afterwards, the only word to describe their music class was, “chaotic”!! The students all began yelling, fighting, and banging on instruments. After a while of hearing that mess, the 2nd period of music began, so about 20 more students ran into the class, being loud and crazy as well. Shortly after arriving, the teacher assigned instruments to multiple students (guitar, piano, etc) and the rest had to sing. I do not remember the name of the song, but it was in English. Jacob got to play the trumpet which was really cool and Sydney kept dabbing during class, which caused other German students to begin dabbing as well. I guess you could say we are better at communicating with the German students by dabbing, rather than speaking with them in auf Deutsch (in German)… Although eventually, the fun had to end and the school day was over. Emma, her brother Emil, and I took the train home and ate the potatoes and wurst that Emma’s mom made for lunch, which tasted really good! After lunch, we ate Oreo ice cream sandwiches and went up to Emma's room. Emma and I played uno and a German board game (I don't know the name), which was fun! Then, two of Emma's friends came over and we played another card game, but I honestly still even don't understand how to play it. After Emma’s friends left, we ate the leftover wurst and yogurt for dinner. Lastly, we got ready for bed and went to sleep.
Samantha Biermann
Today, we had school, so once it began, I went to German class with Emma. However, I did not understand anything that was said in that class and the students had work to do, so I read the The Fault in Our Stars for a good portion of the class. After German, Emma had physics, but I had home room with Frau and the Americans (thank goodness because I hate physics). Home room is really nice because you actually get to hear English again and be with the other Americans. Also, we all got to eat our lunches even though it was only 9 in the morning! After home room, I went to music class with Emma. At the beginning of class, the students had to take a test, but afterwards, the only word to describe their music class was, “chaotic”!! The students all began yelling, fighting, and banging on instruments. After a while of hearing that mess, the 2nd period of music began, so about 20 more students ran into the class, being loud and crazy as well. Shortly after arriving, the teacher assigned instruments to multiple students (guitar, piano, etc) and the rest had to sing. I do not remember the name of the song, but it was in English. Jacob got to play the trumpet which was really cool and Sydney kept dabbing during class, which caused other German students to begin dabbing as well. I guess you could say we are better at communicating with the German students by dabbing, rather than speaking with them in auf Deutsch (in German)… Although eventually, the fun had to end and the school day was over. Emma, her brother Emil, and I took the train home and ate the potatoes and wurst that Emma’s mom made for lunch, which tasted really good! After lunch, we ate Oreo ice cream sandwiches and went up to Emma's room. Emma and I played uno and a German board game (I don't know the name), which was fun! Then, two of Emma's friends came over and we played another card game, but I honestly still even don't understand how to play it. After Emma’s friends left, we ate the leftover wurst and yogurt for dinner. Lastly, we got ready for bed and went to sleep.
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Tuesday, June 14: 1st day of "real school"
Bridget: Tuesday
For our first day at German school we awoke around six am, much earlier than we had been waking for the weekend. We ate a "small" breakfast of rolls, marmalade, meat, and cheese before Sabrina's (my partner's) mother drove us to school. As they live in a separate town, the trip is fifteen to twenty minutes.
School began early with social studies, where the ninth grade class learned about child labor laws. Unfortunately, most of the German lessons in America are focused on simpler terms like food and sports, so I was unable to follow much of the class. Social studies was also the only class that did not take place in the same room as the other classes. Unlike in America, German students tend to use only one or two classrooms, and the teachers will show up to the class' room instead.
After the double period, the American students met for a tour of the school and grounds. Unlike BHS, the school consists of multiple buildings and wide open spaces that are well used. There are plants everywhere and the walkways are stone or brick. Personally, I find it much more picturesque here than back home. The tour, conducted by seventh graders, ended with them practicing their English by asking us questions, from 'What are your hobbies?' to 'Apple or Samsung?'
The rest of the day included French (even harder to follow than social studies), physics (I realized how much math and science one can forget in a semester), and German (the students planned a breakfast for their free day on Thursday and almost everything they said was clear enough for me to follow, until they began to read...). We also tried German school food even though Sabrina rarely eats it because we wanted to compare it to American school food. The food didn't taste too different, but it was served with real plates and silverware, which surprised me.
The day ended with far too much ice cream, even more rain, and a welcome speech from the mayor of Blieskastel. A completely drenched group of GAPP students met in a hall that apparently served as both orphanage and jail (quite the interesting combination) many years ago but which is now a government admin building.
Too tired to do much else, my host family settled for a game of Phase 10 (apparently played with dice instead of cards in Germany) before turning in for the night
Wednesday, June 15: where we go to school all day
Wednesday, June 15th
Samantha Biermann
Today, we had school, so once it began, I went to German class with Emma. However, I did not understand anything that was said in that class and the students had work to do, so I read the The Fault in Our Stars for a good portion of the class. After German, Emma had physics, but I had home room with Frau and the Americans (thank goodness because I hate physics). Home room is really nice because you actually get to hear English again and be with the other Americans. Also, we all got to eat our lunches even though it was only 9 in the morning! After home room, I went to music class with Emma. At the beginning of class, the students had to take a test, but afterwards, the only word to describe their music class was, “chaotic”!! The students all began yelling, fighting, and banging on instruments. After a while of hearing that mess, the 2nd period of music began, so about 20 more students ran into the class, being loud and crazy as well. Shortly after arriving, the teacher assigned instruments to multiple students (guitar, piano, etc) and the rest had to sing. I do not remember the name of the song, but it was in English. Jacob got to play the trumpet which was really cool and Sydney kept dabbing during class, which caused other German students to begin dabbing as well. I guess you could say we are better at communicating with the German students by dabbing, rather than speaking with them in auf Deutsch (in German)… Although eventually, the fun had to end and the school day was over. Emma, her brother Emil, and I took the train home and ate the potatoes and wurst that Emma’s mom made for lunch, which tasted really good! After lunch, we ate Oreo ice cream sandwiches and went up to Emma's room. Emma and I played uno and a German board game (I don't know the name), which was fun! Then, two of Emma's friends came over and we played another card game, but I honestly still even don't understand how to play it. After Emma’s friends left, we ate the leftover wurst and yogurt for dinner. Lastly, we got ready for bed and went to sleep.
Samantha Biermann
Today, we had school, so once it began, I went to German class with Emma. However, I did not understand anything that was said in that class and the students had work to do, so I read the The Fault in Our Stars for a good portion of the class. After German, Emma had physics, but I had home room with Frau and the Americans (thank goodness because I hate physics). Home room is really nice because you actually get to hear English again and be with the other Americans. Also, we all got to eat our lunches even though it was only 9 in the morning! After home room, I went to music class with Emma. At the beginning of class, the students had to take a test, but afterwards, the only word to describe their music class was, “chaotic”!! The students all began yelling, fighting, and banging on instruments. After a while of hearing that mess, the 2nd period of music began, so about 20 more students ran into the class, being loud and crazy as well. Shortly after arriving, the teacher assigned instruments to multiple students (guitar, piano, etc) and the rest had to sing. I do not remember the name of the song, but it was in English. Jacob got to play the trumpet which was really cool and Sydney kept dabbing during class, which caused other German students to begin dabbing as well. I guess you could say we are better at communicating with the German students by dabbing, rather than speaking with them in auf Deutsch (in German)… Although eventually, the fun had to end and the school day was over. Emma, her brother Emil, and I took the train home and ate the potatoes and wurst that Emma’s mom made for lunch, which tasted really good! After lunch, we ate Oreo ice cream sandwiches and went up to Emma's room. Emma and I played uno and a German board game (I don't know the name), which was fun! Then, two of Emma's friends came over and we played another card game, but I honestly still even don't understand how to play it. After Emma’s friends left, we ate the leftover wurst and yogurt for dinner. Lastly, we got ready for bed and went to sleep.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Update: Blieskastel
Hello, everyone! It's Frau Steiner. We have been in Blieskastel and the surrounding area for about 5 days now. I feel like every time I am in Germany, the days speed by more quickly than normal. Mrs. Laufenberg and I spent Monday (no school!) exploring a bit of Saarland's capitol city, Saarbrücken and I belatedly remembered everything (museums, etc) are closed on Mondays. We will try again later in the trip. The two of us have also been eating our way through Germany, with Dönerteller for lunch yesterday and a delicious Tapas meal last night in Homburg with our partner teachers. Ask your student how many times they have been to the Orient Grill so far and how many Döner they have eaten...
Yesterday (Tuesday) was our first day of school with a greeting by the principal, Herr Koch, a tour and a VIP meeting with the Bürgermeisterin with yours truly as translator. I will allow yesterday's bloggers to tell you the whole story...😉
The weather has not been very cooperative here and you never know when the clouds are going to open up and drench you but I will take it over the unseasonbly warm weather back home (sorry, Iowa). Despite the cool temperatures and what seems like never-ending drizzle, we have been in generally good spirits and it seems as if all of the partners are really forging strong friendships and the whole group (38!) gets along like they have known each other forever. That is what GAPP is all about, after all!
Today (Wednesday) we will begin preparing for our Abschiedsabend (goodbye celebration) during homeroom. Next week we have several field trips on tap and before we know it, our time in Blieskastel will be coming to an end. I know we have barely arrived, but being "the Frau" , I get to be the wet blanket (Spielverderber, auf Deutsch).
Stay tuned for more posts from our GAPPies. Guess what else we will be doing homeroom today?
Bis bald!
Frau S
Yesterday (Tuesday) was our first day of school with a greeting by the principal, Herr Koch, a tour and a VIP meeting with the Bürgermeisterin with yours truly as translator. I will allow yesterday's bloggers to tell you the whole story...😉
The weather has not been very cooperative here and you never know when the clouds are going to open up and drench you but I will take it over the unseasonbly warm weather back home (sorry, Iowa). Despite the cool temperatures and what seems like never-ending drizzle, we have been in generally good spirits and it seems as if all of the partners are really forging strong friendships and the whole group (38!) gets along like they have known each other forever. That is what GAPP is all about, after all!
Today (Wednesday) we will begin preparing for our Abschiedsabend (goodbye celebration) during homeroom. Next week we have several field trips on tap and before we know it, our time in Blieskastel will be coming to an end. I know we have barely arrived, but being "the Frau" , I get to be the wet blanket (Spielverderber, auf Deutsch).
Stay tuned for more posts from our GAPPies. Guess what else we will be doing homeroom today?
Bis bald!
Frau S
Monday, June 13: Schulfrei! Kalli & Abbey
Kalli: Today was a pretty chill day if I do say so myself. I was glad for it because after all the traveling and meeting our new families, it was much needed. For some of the afternoon I visited MT and her partner Korbinian. We hung out while Michelle was unavailable.
The best part of the night had to be our visit to a restaurant called Vapianos. We went with a bunch of other partners as well. The restaurant was unique because instead of having a waiter serve you food, you went up to a counter and ordered your food from the chefs. These chefs would swipe a card with the items you ordered and give you your food on a tray. Once you were done, you brought the card up to the front to be swiped again and paid then. It was sort of a mix between a fancy, sit-down restaurant and a fast food joint.
We had so much fun at Vapianos, the food was amazing and we all made so many jokes, tallying points per joke for some reason.
After all of the good food and laughter, Michelle and I went on a hunt around Saarbrücken to find the German equivalent of Walgreens, but got lost a couple times along the way. We eventually found it, tracked down where her dad had parked to pick us up, and headed home for some well deserved rest.
The best part of the night had to be our visit to a restaurant called Vapianos. We went with a bunch of other partners as well. The restaurant was unique because instead of having a waiter serve you food, you went up to a counter and ordered your food from the chefs. These chefs would swipe a card with the items you ordered and give you your food on a tray. Once you were done, you brought the card up to the front to be swiped again and paid then. It was sort of a mix between a fancy, sit-down restaurant and a fast food joint.
We had so much fun at Vapianos, the food was amazing and we all made so many jokes, tallying points per joke for some reason.
After all of the good food and laughter, Michelle and I went on a hunt around Saarbrücken to find the German equivalent of Walgreens, but got lost a couple times along the way. We eventually found it, tracked down where her dad had parked to pick us up, and headed home for some well deserved rest.
Saturday, June 11 Welcome Picnic// Bridget
Bridget:For the first full day with the host family, we slept in until ten and had a large breakfast with bread, meat, and cheese. Most of the foods I didn't know were easy to figure out, but we struggled with 'johannisbeere', which turned out to be currant. After breakfast, we visited the local store and bought ingredients for American biscuits that we had hoped to bake for the GAPP picnic, although we ended up running out of time. We also got mini pizza baguettes for lunch, which we ate after a short break to study, read, or write. When lunch was over and we realized there wasn't much time until the picnic, we decided to play a game of Yahtzee, or 'Kniffel' in Germany.
The GAPP picnic was located at a picturesque location, high on a hill or mountain with a good view of the surrounding area. The food was delicious and there was quite a variety to choose from. Eventually it began to rain, so everyone moved inside. All the students were packed into one room, around two tables, so while everyone enjoyed themselves, it was rather loud. As night drew close, we all began to leave, passing a field filled with sheep on the way out. We stayed up to talk for a bit, about politics and differences in culture, before we all retired for the night.
Sunday, June 12 Elyssa & Connor
Elyssa: today my family let me sleep in which was amazing. Sundays are usually my sleeping days. I woke up and got ready and then it was party time. It was my host father's 50th birthday last Thursday and today was time to celebrate with family. We went to a well known restaurant and hotel in Blieskastel. I met a couple people from my host family's family. We didn't eat anything before because we knew we would have lots to eat at the party. It began at 11:00 and we started out with cold food to eat. I had chicken, grapes, a roll, cantaloupe, shrimp, and pasta. After we ate our cold food we then had a serving of warm food. I ate more pasta, rice, and potatoes. Finally it was time for dessert. I had chocolate pudding, cake, more fruit, and vanilla pudding with cinnamon. We were there for a total of 4 hours and talked in between our meals. We left the restaurant and my partner's good friend came over. We played some cards and some other games that us Americans have been playing throughout the trip. I was exhausted and decided to take a nap. After I woke up it was time to get ready for the "public viewing" of soccer. Soccer is a big deal in Germany and today Germany played against Ukraine. All of the Germans and Americans met at the fire station for the public viewing and we watched the game together. Everyone had the German flag painted on their cheeks and was wearing black, red, and yellow. It was so much fun and Germany had won 2-0!! After the game everyone went home and it was time for bed.
Connor: Hello, I am Connor and this is what happened today in my trip to Germany. Today, June 12th was a good day. Today we went to Bitche, France. We visited a citadel. It was used during a war for the French. It was turned into a museum. The German family I am staying with was nice enough to get me a headset with an English speaker. If I got one with German, I would have understood little and not have been such a good experience. But as we walked through the museum, the headset told me about different parts of the place. As we walked into one room, there were comfy chairs and a screen. They made a movie for the museum. The first room was only part of it. As you walked through the slaughter room, bakery, and etc, different parts of the movie would play. The movie was enertaining, but also filled with information. After the movie we entered the top of the citadel. You could look over the whole town and see the woods go for miles. There were a lot of good places to take pictures. After that we headed back towards Kirkel, my homestays town. But on the way there we went on to the autobahn. Daniel's dad has a BMW and he went up to 220 km/h(which is about 137 mph). That was very fun considering we cannot go that fast, legally, in the United States. Then we stopped off and grabbed a bite to eat. The restaurant was an old monastery and I ended up ordering something that I didn't know because I've been trying a bunch of different food. It ended up being a salad with a bowl full of sausage and about three pieces of tiny lettuce. There was some sauce on it and I had a cola to drink. But overall, I would give a 6/10. Then I was offered pie, so I got apple pie. I was curious how different it would taste, and I will say that I was impressed. This apple pie tasted so good, but nothing tastes like good old fashioned USA American pie. I would still give an 8/10 for that. After that we ended up making it back to Kirkel, when we entered the house. Daniel and I turned on music and relaxed until the soccer game, where a bunch of the GAPP members went to. But Daniel's mother made a suprise 2nd dinner. It was a huge pizza. One for me and one for Daniel. After we finished eating, we went to the public viewing. They had a projector and was playing the soccer game. It was free, but you just had to buy your own drinks. Pretty much everyone from GAPP was there and we all sat together and watched the game. Germany won against Ukraine, 2-0. Everyone was so happy that Germany won. It was an intense game. That's
Connor: Hello, I am Connor and this is what happened today in my trip to Germany. Today, June 12th was a good day. Today we went to Bitche, France. We visited a citadel. It was used during a war for the French. It was turned into a museum. The German family I am staying with was nice enough to get me a headset with an English speaker. If I got one with German, I would have understood little and not have been such a good experience. But as we walked through the museum, the headset told me about different parts of the place. As we walked into one room, there were comfy chairs and a screen. They made a movie for the museum. The first room was only part of it. As you walked through the slaughter room, bakery, and etc, different parts of the movie would play. The movie was enertaining, but also filled with information. After the movie we entered the top of the citadel. You could look over the whole town and see the woods go for miles. There were a lot of good places to take pictures. After that we headed back towards Kirkel, my homestays town. But on the way there we went on to the autobahn. Daniel's dad has a BMW and he went up to 220 km/h(which is about 137 mph). That was very fun considering we cannot go that fast, legally, in the United States. Then we stopped off and grabbed a bite to eat. The restaurant was an old monastery and I ended up ordering something that I didn't know because I've been trying a bunch of different food. It ended up being a salad with a bowl full of sausage and about three pieces of tiny lettuce. There was some sauce on it and I had a cola to drink. But overall, I would give a 6/10. Then I was offered pie, so I got apple pie. I was curious how different it would taste, and I will say that I was impressed. This apple pie tasted so good, but nothing tastes like good old fashioned USA American pie. I would still give an 8/10 for that. After that we ended up making it back to Kirkel, when we entered the house. Daniel and I turned on music and relaxed until the soccer game, where a bunch of the GAPP members went to. But Daniel's mother made a suprise 2nd dinner. It was a huge pizza. One for me and one for Daniel. After we finished eating, we went to the public viewing. They had a projector and was playing the soccer game. It was free, but you just had to buy your own drinks. Pretty much everyone from GAPP was there and we all sat together and watched the game. Germany won against Ukraine, 2-0. Everyone was so happy that Germany won. It was an intense game. That's
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Friday:Meeting my homestay//Ryley
Friday, June 10th
We started our day off with an early morning. We ate breakfast at 7:00 and had to have all of our bags packed to leave the hostel before that. After breakfast we all made sure we had everything from our rooms and we headed down to the train stop. We were kind of nervous about all getting on the train during rush hour with all of our luggage but we made it. We rode to the Hauptbahnhof Train Station where we then got on our first train to Homburg. The first train ride was about 3-4 hours long and the scenery we saw while we were on it was beautiful. There was a lady on the train sitting in the seat across from Erin and I in the aisle who fell asleep and started snoring. So that was a fun time. After that first train ride we had to quickly get off and make it to our next train which involved going down and then up a flight of stairs with our heavy luggage. We made it in time but didn't end up getting on that train. So we waited for a while for the next one and we all managed to get on again with our luggage. There was a lady with a really cute dog on the train that we kept trying to pet. The train ride was about 2 hours long and at the end when we were almost to Homburg something went wrong with the tracks or the platform of the train so we had to sit there stopped for about a half an hour. At this point we all had to go pee and the toilet on the train was broken so we couldn't go. We were all getting a little nervous about meeting our partners and speaking to them in German. We were all practicing what we were going to say and trying to memorize phrases. Eventually we got the station and we all got off and found our partners. After a moment of excitement and awkwardness we all went our separate ways to our host family's house. The car ride there was a little awkward because nobody really talked much or knew what to say. Once we got home I got a tour of my house and got to put my things in my room. I gave my family the gifts that I brought them and then we talked most of the evening just to get to know each other better. My host mom Conny made spaghetti for dinner which is my favorite and we talked more over dinner. After dinner we watched a movie and then went to bed because we were all tired from the day. That pretty much concludes my first day with my partner Meike!
-Ryley Tidrick
We started our day off with an early morning. We ate breakfast at 7:00 and had to have all of our bags packed to leave the hostel before that. After breakfast we all made sure we had everything from our rooms and we headed down to the train stop. We were kind of nervous about all getting on the train during rush hour with all of our luggage but we made it. We rode to the Hauptbahnhof Train Station where we then got on our first train to Homburg. The first train ride was about 3-4 hours long and the scenery we saw while we were on it was beautiful. There was a lady on the train sitting in the seat across from Erin and I in the aisle who fell asleep and started snoring. So that was a fun time. After that first train ride we had to quickly get off and make it to our next train which involved going down and then up a flight of stairs with our heavy luggage. We made it in time but didn't end up getting on that train. So we waited for a while for the next one and we all managed to get on again with our luggage. There was a lady with a really cute dog on the train that we kept trying to pet. The train ride was about 2 hours long and at the end when we were almost to Homburg something went wrong with the tracks or the platform of the train so we had to sit there stopped for about a half an hour. At this point we all had to go pee and the toilet on the train was broken so we couldn't go. We were all getting a little nervous about meeting our partners and speaking to them in German. We were all practicing what we were going to say and trying to memorize phrases. Eventually we got the station and we all got off and found our partners. After a moment of excitement and awkwardness we all went our separate ways to our host family's house. The car ride there was a little awkward because nobody really talked much or knew what to say. Once we got home I got a tour of my house and got to put my things in my room. I gave my family the gifts that I brought them and then we talked most of the evening just to get to know each other better. My host mom Conny made spaghetti for dinner which is my favorite and we talked more over dinner. After dinner we watched a movie and then went to bed because we were all tired from the day. That pretty much concludes my first day with my partner Meike!
-Ryley Tidrick
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Friday, June 10 continued. Kalli & Trevor
Trevor:
10.6.16
Today is Friday, 10th June, 2016. In Germany today we left Munich and headed for Homburg in the Saarland. It was a long train ride and was tiring as well. We had to switch trains at Mannheim. We had to be very quick grabbing everyone's luggage and getting off of the train so that we could make it to the next train. Naturally the tickets Frau Steiner previously purchased, months before, got lost in the mail. Cause someone at the Deutsche Bahn had to misspell the address to the youth hostel. So Frau Steiner had a "wonderful" time having a "nice" conversation with the attendant at the DB counter. Nevertheless, we got on a train and we made it to Homburg. We were all so very excited to meet our partners and host families. We had been waiting so long, so it was great to finally meet them. When I got to my partners house we all sat outside, talked and exchanged gifts. It was very nice getting to know each other. We then had dinner and that was about it.
Friday: June 10 :Auf nach Homburg/Homestays// Kalli & Trevor
Kalli:
Today, our group set off on a VERY long journey to Blieskastel. It started off with an early breakfast and lots of scrambling around to pack up everything and clean our rooms. We somehow fit everyone on the train headed to the main train station and began our 3 hour ride. I personally slept for about half of the ride but for the other half, I admired the beautiful, hilly landscapes, unlike the flat corn fields we have in Iowa.
After the 3 hour ride came another 2 hour trip. This one was delayed both by our missing the first train and also by a police hold-up on a platform near the end of the line. Again, I slept for a good portion of the ride.
Once we reached the station in Homburg, we were greeted with smiling faces, cameras, and a big welcome sign held by our german partners. Finally seeing the people I had only talked to over texts was both exciting and a bit terrifying. Everyone was talking and laughing and hugging with all the excitement. I finally got to meet Michelle and I can't wait for the days to come!
Once we left the station on the way home, I realized just how fast everyone talked. It was much different than the proper, slow german we heard in class. I could understand most of what my family was saying, but luckily Michelle was able to translate some of it to make it easier.
My family's home is very different from houses back in America. It is about the same size, but one difference I noticed was that they don't use faucet water or dispensers on their fridge. They instead buy large bottles of water and tea and use those at the dinner table. Also they use cartons of milk instead of jugs.
My host family lives in a small town not too far from Blieskastel called Niedergailbach. On the drive from the station I saw so many horses in the hills and was told I would be able to ride horses with Michelle! We are doing that on Saturday.
I absolutely love my host family and their house. They have a dog named Leo and Michelle says he already loves me! I can't wait for the rest of what this trip has in store!
Today, our group set off on a VERY long journey to Blieskastel. It started off with an early breakfast and lots of scrambling around to pack up everything and clean our rooms. We somehow fit everyone on the train headed to the main train station and began our 3 hour ride. I personally slept for about half of the ride but for the other half, I admired the beautiful, hilly landscapes, unlike the flat corn fields we have in Iowa.
After the 3 hour ride came another 2 hour trip. This one was delayed both by our missing the first train and also by a police hold-up on a platform near the end of the line. Again, I slept for a good portion of the ride.
Once we reached the station in Homburg, we were greeted with smiling faces, cameras, and a big welcome sign held by our german partners. Finally seeing the people I had only talked to over texts was both exciting and a bit terrifying. Everyone was talking and laughing and hugging with all the excitement. I finally got to meet Michelle and I can't wait for the days to come!
Once we left the station on the way home, I realized just how fast everyone talked. It was much different than the proper, slow german we heard in class. I could understand most of what my family was saying, but luckily Michelle was able to translate some of it to make it easier.
My family's home is very different from houses back in America. It is about the same size, but one difference I noticed was that they don't use faucet water or dispensers on their fridge. They instead buy large bottles of water and tea and use those at the dinner table. Also they use cartons of milk instead of jugs.
My host family lives in a small town not too far from Blieskastel called Niedergailbach. On the drive from the station I saw so many horses in the hills and was told I would be able to ride horses with Michelle! We are doing that on Saturday.
I absolutely love my host family and their house. They have a dog named Leo and Michelle says he already loves me! I can't wait for the rest of what this trip has in store!
Thursday: June 9th Museums and more...Grant & MT
June 9th
Hello! It's Grant again! Our trip has been running what some would call "smoothly", but I think Frau Steiner might disagree. In her defense weather has not favored our endeavors and trains have had lots of difficulties working the past few days. However, I think everyone in the group is enjoying the trip so far here in München. Today was a rainy day as most of the week has been, and because of that I must thank my mom. She is the one who made me pack a pancho as well as an umbrella, and without those two things all my clothes would drenched right now. For example, today we split into three groups to go visit different places of interest throughout München. Now I said three groups in that prior sentence, but I am not sure that that statement is entirely accurate. My group, the group going to the BMW museum, had around fifteen people while the other two groups had a total of seven people. Two of the seven went to a soccer museum while the other five explored an art museum. So in conclusion, one of our three groups was more of a pair than a "group", but that would just be me being nit picky. Oh! Also I must mention MT (Mary Therese) because she was not counted into any of these numbers due to her being sick for the first half of the day. She is my female writer for today so be sure to give her a round of applause for getting better as well as writing a blog over her misadventures.
Anyways, I went to the BMW museum, for my dad had instilled a curiosity about cars within me. I will admit I do not know much about cars, but I enjoy seeing the different models and the history of it all. Now if you are looking for people who know their stuff go and talk to Connor or Kyle because I thought those two were gonna cry when they saw all of the vehicles in the museum. Connor is quite the bike enthusiast while Kyle is all about cars. A sort of ying and yang I guess. Focusing on the BMW museum, The museum had a lot to see (all of it being related to the BMW company and their different vehicles). The museum even had a separate building where you could touch the vehicles and even test drive if you could afford to rent it. Unfortunately, our group could not stay at the BMW museum for too long, we had made plans to meet back up with the rest of the group around noon at the Marienplatz.
When we arrived at the Marienplatz we were allowed to go get our own lunch while we waited for the other group and couple to arrive. I led a a small band of our group, Kyle, Jacob, Connor, Colin, Sydney, Sam, Taylor, Kalli, and Abbey, to go to a Döner place I had found our first day exploring München for lunch. Again, I cannot stress enough how great döner tastes! Moving on, we all got ourselves some döner kebabs, but we had forgotten to get our receipts for Frau Steiner (she uses receipts to help with banking and all of that money mumbo jumbo). Getting receipts for our food was troublesome because we had forgotten what the word for receipt was in German. This is close to how this encounter played out:
Me: Kann ich habe das Papier für mein Essen?
(Kann I have the paper for my food?)
Cashier: (hands me a napkin)
Me: Nein Entschuldigung, Das Papier mit geld für das Essen.
(No sorry, the paper with the money for the food)
Cashier: (looks at me confused)
Me: (points at his cash register and repeats previous line while trying to reinterpret the line in a vain attempt to make more sense)
(Random German enters the store)
Random German: Oh Ich weiss!
(Oh I know!)
Random German: (Hands me a napkin)
Me: (internally screams)
Abbey had a receipt from a previous purchase that she let me use to show the cashier what I was talking about. Abbey, you came in real clutch and I thank you for it. And with that incident behind us we all left feeling satisfaction within our bellies.
I feel like I've been droning on so I'll attempt to go through the rest of the day a bit more quickly. We then proceeded to regroup with the rest of the group and from there we started a scavenger hunt. My group, Colin, Bridget, and I, killed it. We found and explored all of the churches, fountains, palaces, and stores. We even bought Frau Steiner some sausage (which she threw away after it began to stink up her room).
After the scavenger hunt, the group was given free time to do whatever like until dinner back at the hostel. I mostly just went around eating various ice cream and pretzel. I was with a group, Kyle, Jacob, Riley, Erin, and I, and we made back on time because we know how to manage time. Had a nice pasta dinner with the entire group.
Once dinner was over we had the rest of the afternoon we were told to get our bags packed since we were gonna leave for our Homestay the next day. I got everything squared away rather quickly and met up with the Pizza Crew. The Pizza Crew, if it has not been mentioned yet in another blog, is a group consisting of me, Connor, Mary, Elyssa, and Kalli. We eat this pizza that comes from a pizza2go machine (cooks it in 3minutes!) and we just chat and have a fun time. This night was crazy because Connor and I joined these random people at the hostel in a round of Just Dance. We did it on a dare and received 10€ (which was totally worth it). Inevitably, the night had to end and we all went to our rooms to sleep. We are all anxious and excited to get to the Homestay. Well until my next blog, goodbye
Day 6: Castles,more bikes and more rain//Colin & Abbey
Colin Chalupa
Wednesday, I woke up early yet again so we can catch the trains. The train was not broke nor was it too full so we were all able to get on. The adventure for Wednesday was a trip to Neuschwanstein one of the most famous castles. It is such a big attraction that you must get tickets soon enough or else the amount of tickets will run out. We however, had booked ahead of time with Mike's Bikes. This would assure us tickets and transportation to the castle which is about 2 hours away. The bus took us to Schwangau where we stopped to get on some bikes. We took a nice bike tour all over Bavarian country in the rain. Despite the the bike tour was not bad at all. It had great views of the castle and the surrounding Alps. Once the bike tour was finished we had a nice lunch at Schloss Brauhaus. I had the Schnitzel which was delicious. We then took the bus back to the heart of Schwangau to get to a place were the castle was accesed. A little less than half took a smaller bus to the top of the mountain. The rest of the group and I went on a nice 20 minute hike up the mountain. We then reached the castle and it was breathtaking. The views were amazing and I could not wait to see the inside. I had my camera all ready to take multiple photos then was sadly told no photos could be taken of the interior. We also found out that we had to wear our backpacks on the front of our stomach. After our amazing tour of some of the castle that only lasted for about 27 minutes, we then hiked back down the mountain to the bus. After the 2 hour bus ride back we ate wherever we want quickly. I ate at Scoom, there I had a Cibata Club. Then we met up an proceeded back to the hostel. There I played pool, chess, talked a bit, then went to bed.
Abbey Whitaker:
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Day 5: where nothing goes right but turns out in the end! Samantha & Mary Grace
Mary Grace
Tuesday June 7, 2016
Tuesday June 7, 2016
We had to get up really early because we thought we were catching a bus to Neuschwanstein, but the subway was and the trains had electrical problems. Jacob got left behind at the beginning, then half of us got kicked off a stop before. I was with the group that made it all the way. At least we had Lizzie with us. We finally contacted Melissa and 10 of us went down to the station to look for everyone while MT and her sister went to reschedule our bus. We waited for them for at least 30 minutes. Abby and I tried a white chocolate twix. Then we decided to go to Dachau. It was really hard for me and I think I cried the most in my life. Then we went to Nymphemberg, a castle in Munich. It was really beautiful, but Abby, Sydney, and I were so tired and couldn't stop laughing. We then went back to Marienplatz and had dinner. I had a mixed sausage platter with 3 different kinds of sausage. I didn't like the sauerkraut very much. While we were eating a bunch of us played these games like black magic and green glass door. After we got back to the youth hostel we had free time. I went with Kalli and watched her and Kyle play chess for a while. Then more people showed up and Kalli won. Connor and Kyle played next and decided whoever loses buys pizza. But the pizza that we wanted to try was from a pizza to go vending machine. It was the most awful pizza I've ever had. The machine advertises Italy's finest and that it only takes 180 seconds. Then Kalli, Grant, Elyssa, Connor, and I couldn't stop laughing. It would be useless to explain what we were laughing at because it wouldn't be funny. We hung out for around 3 hours until 11:00. Even though it was a bit of a traumatic start to the day, it was probably the best so far.
Samantha:
Tuesday, June 7th-
There is so much to do in Germany! This morning, there was something wrong with the train, so Frau and half of the students got kicked off while the rest of us stayed on the train unaware of Frau Steiner’s disappearance. Luckily, we were able to get ahold of Frau Steiner and met up with the group pretty quickly except for Jacob who was pushed off of the train (I think) 4 times!!! Due to this incident, we changed our plans and went to Dachau. Going to the concentration camp today was such an amazing yet depressing experience. There are no words to even describe Dachau or how awful the things that happened in that camp were. After we finished the depressing part of our day, we went to Schloss Nymphenburg. The castle was beautiful! I swear the king had a room for anything and everything. Also, he had some pretty odd sleighs! Lastly, we ate dinner which was really good! Overall, it was an awesome day!
Day 4: Biking through München/ Jacob & Bridget
Jacob:
June 6th 2016
Today the GAPP group indulged in a beautiful bike tour by the Mike's Bike Tour München company, we saw national monuments and palaces that were built a long time ago. Although most of these buildings were destroyed in WWII, they were reconstructed in all their former glory. The rest of the day we were allowed to run-amuck in Marienplatz, for shopping and lots of food.
Bridget:
Monday morning did not feel particularly rushed as we got ready to explore, both on foot and on bike, the city of München. When we reached Marienplatz, the sun had most decidedly returned. We took an hour to look around and shop now that more stores were open, unlike the previous day.
Bridget:
Monday morning did not feel particularly rushed as we got ready to explore, both on foot and on bike, the city of München. When we reached Marienplatz, the sun had most decidedly returned. We took an hour to look around and shop now that more stores were open, unlike the previous day.
We met at the end of the hour to begin the bike tour. The tour lasted a number of hours as we biked for a few minutes at a time before stopping to learn about a popular or historical area. The bike tour included sites of German history from the Old Regime to the first unification to the Second World War, as well as more locations, such as a part of the river used to practice surfing. The longest stop was at a beer garden that offered a variety of foods. The beer garden was not only popular among humans but also among corvids, who seemed to possess no fear of people as they swooped down to prey upon crumbs and leftovers.
As we moved into the afternoon, we were given more time to shop. The area of Marienplatz and nearby includes a large toy store which includes puzzles/games/etc. and an even larger music, film, and electronics store. Many clothes and souvenir shops also lined the streets, which were by this time crowded, mostly with tourists and street performers, including two living statues.
The day closed out when we were led around town following dinner, having no idea where we were headed. Eventually we reached the top of the Olympic tower, which came with quite the view. Although we accomplished much, everyone seemed overjoyed to finally return to the hostel to sleep.
fresh student posts coming soon!
Our band of travellers has had a few exciting days and our calendar is totally shot, but we are making the best of it and new student posts covering Monday and Tuesday are coming up, as soon as my bloggers share them with me (it is kind of like trying to collect homework, but on summer vacation 😉).
Suffice it to say that we have been in München since Saturday and haven't managed to anything on the day it was originally planned, survived the breakdown of the subway system today with some major tap-dancing and on the fly decision making by yours truly and a lot of ice cream has been consumed so far. The mountains are calling tomorrow but the weather forecast is 90% chance of rain with a high of 65 degrees while in München, rain is also on tap. Wish us luck!
I will let the GAPPies tell you the rest!
Bis bald!
Frau S
Suffice it to say that we have been in München since Saturday and haven't managed to anything on the day it was originally planned, survived the breakdown of the subway system today with some major tap-dancing and on the fly decision making by yours truly and a lot of ice cream has been consumed so far. The mountains are calling tomorrow but the weather forecast is 90% chance of rain with a high of 65 degrees while in München, rain is also on tap. Wish us luck!
I will let the GAPPies tell you the rest!
Bis bald!
Frau S
Monday, June 6, 2016
Day 3 continued...Ryley
Ryley: June 5th
Today we ate breakfast at 8:00 and then headed to the Deutsches Museum. It rained the whole time that we were walking there and most of the time when we were in the museum. We were there for about 3 hours and then looked through the gift shop. The museum was very interesting and it was different to see and read everything in German. They had a cute cafe and observatory on the top floors. After the museum we walked to Marienplatz which was very beautiful and had cool architecture and buildings. By the time we got there it had stopped raining and the weather was nice.We all ate lunch once we got there and we split up into groups of 5. I was in a group with Erin, Kyle, Grant, and Jacob. We ate at this Döner/Pizza place that had pretty good food. I got pizza and pommes frites and all the others got döners. After that we walked around and looked at some of the buildings and fountains. We looked in some of the shop windows but couldn't go into anything because it's Sunday and almost everything is closed. Then we all met back up as a group and got some gelato. After we got our ice cream we got back on the U-bahn and headed back to the hostel. When we got back we had a group meeting, some free time, and we ate dinner. After dinner we had free time for the rest of the night. Overall, it was a pretty productive and fun day! Even though it rained for part of it!
Day 3: Deutsches Museum Grant & Ryley
Grant:
Hallo! This is Grant Mougin, a soon to be senior, and I'll be your male blogger for our third day here in Germany. To start, the breakfast here is 4/4 stars, just the most superb bread rolls, toast, and apple juice that I've ever had. Being honest however, today was not what our group had planned to do at all, but as Kyle Anderson and I are always telling our entire GAPP group, "You have to risk it for the biscuit". In our original schedule we had planned to take a bike tour for the day, but rain decided that it wanted to fall down rather aggressively. Regrettably, Frau Steiner refused to ride in the rain to our dismay (or maybe just my dismay, I like to ride bikes).
Instead our group visited the Deutches Museum and I'd like to think we learned a lot. To put things in perspective, the Deutches Museum is like Germany's reply to the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian, for those who don't know, is a very big and cool museum in America (check it out it has a lot of interesting exhibits). Anyways I digress, we went to a super nice museum, and I think we might have learned a lot if any of the captions and written tidbits that museums show next to an object were in English. Obviously, we are in Germany so tough look finding anything written in English. To be fair, every couple of objects did have some English (which was quite surprising because I didn't expect to see any at all), but overall it was mostly a German focused text. On top of the German text there was also the issue of traversal within the museum. You see the museum has six floors and they are all tall rooms which means you have to take very long stairs. You may think, "oh we'll take the elevators, then you won't get tired out!" and I'm sure in normal circumstances that might have worked back in the good ol' U.S.A, but in this museum they had elevators that could only hold up to five people and could only go up to the third floor. That's a major double whammy right there, lines for elevators were long and in the end you could only go so high, so in the end our group had to do a lot of walking. For example, my group that had split off from the rest, Jacob Laufenberg, Kyle Anderson,and I were on the bottom floor waiting for an elevator to take us up to the third floor so we could walk to the sixth floor. When our elevator finally arrived it was full of people, but instead of any of them getting off they looked at us, shook their heads in a sideways direction, and shut the door. A little frustrating seeing as we had been waiting for about ten minutes, and now we were force to take stairs all the way up to the upper levels. It probably sounds like a rough time from the way I'm describing the experience, but it was a great time! My favorite exhibit was their mining exhibit. You had to go to the museum's basement level and the walls and scenery resembled that of a real mines that Germans use or have used. It was a very immersive experience and a fun way to get people more invested in learning about history.
After our escapades at the museum, we had some free time to go explore the city a little and find ourselves some lunch. We were divided into groups of five (mine being Kyle, Jacob, Riley, Erin, and I) and were given a 50€ to split equally among us. Searching for about half an hour my group stumbled upon a dürner stand, and let me assure you if you haven't tried a dürner then do it. If you've ever had a gyro then that's probably the closest thing to describe a dürner as. All in all, lunch was fantastic and we spent the next couple of hours exploring Münich, Frau Steiner even bought everyone ice cream, and free things (most especially ice cream) are great. This led to us taking a subway train back to our hostel (which could be a story all on its own but I realize how long my blog post is getting). Basically, there was laughing, there was crying, and half of our group missed the train to get back to the hostel. Now I don't mean to alarm any parents who may or may not be reading this post because we all made it back in the end safe and sound. Wrapping things up, we had a lovely dinner and everyone is today their own random things. For example, Me and a group of guys are playing pool, girls are doing something (idk what girls do, maybe something such as the following: pillow fights, social media, crap talking about other people on the trip, doing eachother's hair, makeup, etc.), and I heard rumors of a small band of GAPP kids going to a nearby zoo (I would have attended but this blog was not going to write itself). In summary, we have had a fun start to our first day of exploring Germany despite setback by the weather. And with that I shall leave you with a jubilant "auf wiedersehen
Instead our group visited the Deutches Museum and I'd like to think we learned a lot. To put things in perspective, the Deutches Museum is like Germany's reply to the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian, for those who don't know, is a very big and cool museum in America (check it out it has a lot of interesting exhibits). Anyways I digress, we went to a super nice museum, and I think we might have learned a lot if any of the captions and written tidbits that museums show next to an object were in English. Obviously, we are in Germany so tough look finding anything written in English. To be fair, every couple of objects did have some English (which was quite surprising because I didn't expect to see any at all), but overall it was mostly a German focused text. On top of the German text there was also the issue of traversal within the museum. You see the museum has six floors and they are all tall rooms which means you have to take very long stairs. You may think, "oh we'll take the elevators, then you won't get tired out!" and I'm sure in normal circumstances that might have worked back in the good ol' U.S.A, but in this museum they had elevators that could only hold up to five people and could only go up to the third floor. That's a major double whammy right there, lines for elevators were long and in the end you could only go so high, so in the end our group had to do a lot of walking. For example, my group that had split off from the rest, Jacob Laufenberg, Kyle Anderson,and I were on the bottom floor waiting for an elevator to take us up to the third floor so we could walk to the sixth floor. When our elevator finally arrived it was full of people, but instead of any of them getting off they looked at us, shook their heads in a sideways direction, and shut the door. A little frustrating seeing as we had been waiting for about ten minutes, and now we were force to take stairs all the way up to the upper levels. It probably sounds like a rough time from the way I'm describing the experience, but it was a great time! My favorite exhibit was their mining exhibit. You had to go to the museum's basement level and the walls and scenery resembled that of a real mines that Germans use or have used. It was a very immersive experience and a fun way to get people more invested in learning about history.
After our escapades at the museum, we had some free time to go explore the city a little and find ourselves some lunch. We were divided into groups of five (mine being Kyle, Jacob, Riley, Erin, and I) and were given a 50€ to split equally among us. Searching for about half an hour my group stumbled upon a dürner stand, and let me assure you if you haven't tried a dürner then do it. If you've ever had a gyro then that's probably the closest thing to describe a dürner as. All in all, lunch was fantastic and we spent the next couple of hours exploring Münich, Frau Steiner even bought everyone ice cream, and free things (most especially ice cream) are great. This led to us taking a subway train back to our hostel (which could be a story all on its own but I realize how long my blog post is getting). Basically, there was laughing, there was crying, and half of our group missed the train to get back to the hostel. Now I don't mean to alarm any parents who may or may not be reading this post because we all made it back in the end safe and sound. Wrapping things up, we had a lovely dinner and everyone is today their own random things. For example, Me and a group of guys are playing pool, girls are doing something (idk what girls do, maybe something such as the following: pillow fights, social media, crap talking about other people on the trip, doing eachother's hair, makeup, etc.), and I heard rumors of a small band of GAPP kids going to a nearby zoo (I would have attended but this blog was not going to write itself). In summary, we have had a fun start to our first day of exploring Germany despite setback by the weather. And with that I shall leave you with a jubilant "auf wiedersehen
Day 2: Hallo, Deutschland! MaryGrace & Erin
June 4th
The plane ride was really uncomfortable and I couldn't fall asleep. Some woman had an accident and the rotes kruez (Red Cross) showed up. The first thing we noticed about Germany is that it looks like Iowa. The subway is easy to use, but lugging around a suitcase is annoying and gets in people's way. We go to the hostel and eat, then head to Olympiapark. The swimming pool is really cool, but it started raining so we couldn't go up into the tower. When we get back to the hostel, we have to make the beds which is very complicated. You put a non fitted sheet over the bed for sanitary reasons then you put a bare comforter in a sheet and use that for the covers. Very hard to do when everyone is tired from a long day.
Erin:
Sunday June 4th (DAY 2)
Erin Johnson
Our day one and day two seem to blend together for me because of our changing time zones and little sleep. A woman on the plane had a medical problem which caused a lot of noise; the noise is what most on the plane woke up to. I myself did not sleep very much because I was nervous because I was in the plane and excited because the trip was finally happening! After we got off the plane, we went into the airport and then onto a train. This was the first experience of a big building without air conditioning which was a shocker to everyone. We got money out of the ATM for the next couple days and then got onto the train. With our huge luggages and little amount of sleep, it was difficult to say the least. When we finally got to our youth hostel, we got our luggages and rooms situated, changed, and headed out into the city. Sadly, it began to rain as soon as we got to the park, which was a couple train stops away from the hostel. We went up to Olympia Park where the Olympics were held in the 1970s and were able to see the inside of the swimming pool area and the exterior of the other buildings. Even though most of us were running on little sleep and it was raining, we all enjoyed ourselves on our first full day in München, Germany.
The plane ride was really uncomfortable and I couldn't fall asleep. Some woman had an accident and the rotes kruez (Red Cross) showed up. The first thing we noticed about Germany is that it looks like Iowa. The subway is easy to use, but lugging around a suitcase is annoying and gets in people's way. We go to the hostel and eat, then head to Olympiapark. The swimming pool is really cool, but it started raining so we couldn't go up into the tower. When we get back to the hostel, we have to make the beds which is very complicated. You put a non fitted sheet over the bed for sanitary reasons then you put a bare comforter in a sheet and use that for the covers. Very hard to do when everyone is tired from a long day.
Erin:
Sunday June 4th (DAY 2)
Erin Johnson
Our day one and day two seem to blend together for me because of our changing time zones and little sleep. A woman on the plane had a medical problem which caused a lot of noise; the noise is what most on the plane woke up to. I myself did not sleep very much because I was nervous because I was in the plane and excited because the trip was finally happening! After we got off the plane, we went into the airport and then onto a train. This was the first experience of a big building without air conditioning which was a shocker to everyone. We got money out of the ATM for the next couple days and then got onto the train. With our huge luggages and little amount of sleep, it was difficult to say the least. When we finally got to our youth hostel, we got our luggages and rooms situated, changed, and headed out into the city. Sadly, it began to rain as soon as we got to the park, which was a couple train stops away from the hostel. We went up to Olympia Park where the Olympics were held in the 1970s and were able to see the inside of the swimming pool area and the exterior of the other buildings. Even though most of us were running on little sleep and it was raining, we all enjoyed ourselves on our first full day in München, Germany.
Day 1: Auf Wiedersehen, Bettendorf! Abbey & Sydney
day 1: Saying our last goodbyes as we depart from the high school, today is the last time we will see all of our friends and family for an entire month. This is the start to an adventure of a lifetime for us all. The bus ride was quick and painless, but I think all of the GAPP group can agree that we arrived at Chicago O'Hare International Airport just a tad bit early... (Well more than a little bit) Alright so we had a 6 hour layaway, and it was a long day for most everyone. We all made the most of it though! We played games, talked and got to know people we didn't know too well, and a group of us also walked for 20 minutes through the airport just so we could find the Dunkin Donuts to celebrate National Donut Day. (Let me tell you, it was well worth it, we got free donuts!!) After we all found ways to pass the time, it was finally time to start boarding our plan around 9:20pm. It took about an hour for everything to be situated but there were no problems and lift off was smooth. The airline we are flying, Lufthansa, is very nice even though we are flying economy class. We all arrived to our seats with fresh pillows and blankets, those in which definitely came in handy because the plane was a little chilly throughout our flight. There were a large variety of movies aboard this flight to watch which was a good way to pass the time for most of us. Eventually a flight attendant came around with hot towelettes for every passenger before dinner began. At dinner there were two options: pasta with vegetable sauce or chicken. It seemed that most of the group chose the chicken dish. It consisted of warm seasoned chicken with spätzle and cooked vegetables, a side salad with dressing, a piece of bread, and chocolate mousse for dessert. It wasn't too bad for plane food. Shortly after dinner, the group finished up their movies and most went to sleep for the the remaining of most of the flight. On a quick note, throughout the flight the flight attendants were all very friendly. The restrooms also felt slightly more spacious than most airlines' restrooms are. It was a pretty good experience as we fly into the next day. Lassen die abenteuer beginnen!! -Abbey Whitaker
June 3-4th am - Sydney Damewood
3:51 pm / We got through security extremely fast (20 minutes from entrance to the gate) we are now sitting in terminal 1. We were all pretty surprised by how quick we got through and this left us with three extra hours in the airport.
4:30 pm / Abbey, Mary Grace, and I got Jamba Juice. I had one with strawberry, apple, and banana in it... Little did I know the banana would give me a massive stomach ache about two hours later.
5:43 pm / There was a bird in the airport, I had decided to name him Ron.
5:56 pm / Beyond meat comes up on the tv, I'm not sure what it meant but I was very entertained by it.
6:42 pm / Mary Grace and I got bagels to hopefully settle my stomach... Abbey went to get her nails done at a spa in the airport.
7:25 pm / The group is playing "never have I ever" which is very entertaining for about 25 minutes.
8:02 pm / The sun is beginning to set and I sweating quite an odd amount for being in the airport.
9:01 pm / Everyone is just talking, we're waiting for the plane, which is scheduled to arrive at 9:20.
9:28 pm / We are preparing to board; we have spotted a man that looks like Ashton Kutcher. I am very impatient and begin to dance around, accidentally hitting a woman in the process. A woman boarding the same plane as me gasps and I feel very bad.
9:30 pm / The phrase "hallo bei logo" is a trend among friends, a result of the boredom that has taken over me.
10:07 pm / We're all on the plane now, waiting to take off.
10:12 pm / Kalli and I have discovered pretzels in Kalli's basket.
10:40 pm / We are taking off, late.
11:33 pm / Pretzels, pop, and hot towels are handed out to the passengers, I was expecting the pretzels and pop, but not the hot towels. As it turns out the hot towels are a substitute for washing your hands.
11:45 pm / Dinner is served, (rolls, noodles with red sauce, a small salad, and a brown desert (it's chocolate?).
11:46 pm / I continue watching my movie and after about 5 minutes after dinner plates are collected the lights on the plane go out.
1:06 am / I am attempting sleep.
4-ish? / I am awoken by a woman passing out in the aisle next to me, I cannot sleep until we land in Germany.
It was indeed an interesting flight, but I am happy to finally be in Germany and able to sleep in a bed.
June 3-4th am - Sydney Damewood
3:51 pm / We got through security extremely fast (20 minutes from entrance to the gate) we are now sitting in terminal 1. We were all pretty surprised by how quick we got through and this left us with three extra hours in the airport.
4:30 pm / Abbey, Mary Grace, and I got Jamba Juice. I had one with strawberry, apple, and banana in it... Little did I know the banana would give me a massive stomach ache about two hours later.
5:43 pm / There was a bird in the airport, I had decided to name him Ron.
5:56 pm / Beyond meat comes up on the tv, I'm not sure what it meant but I was very entertained by it.
6:42 pm / Mary Grace and I got bagels to hopefully settle my stomach... Abbey went to get her nails done at a spa in the airport.
7:25 pm / The group is playing "never have I ever" which is very entertaining for about 25 minutes.
8:02 pm / The sun is beginning to set and I sweating quite an odd amount for being in the airport.
9:01 pm / Everyone is just talking, we're waiting for the plane, which is scheduled to arrive at 9:20.
9:28 pm / We are preparing to board; we have spotted a man that looks like Ashton Kutcher. I am very impatient and begin to dance around, accidentally hitting a woman in the process. A woman boarding the same plane as me gasps and I feel very bad.
9:30 pm / The phrase "hallo bei logo" is a trend among friends, a result of the boredom that has taken over me.
10:07 pm / We're all on the plane now, waiting to take off.
10:12 pm / Kalli and I have discovered pretzels in Kalli's basket.
10:40 pm / We are taking off, late.
11:33 pm / Pretzels, pop, and hot towels are handed out to the passengers, I was expecting the pretzels and pop, but not the hot towels. As it turns out the hot towels are a substitute for washing your hands.
11:45 pm / Dinner is served, (rolls, noodles with red sauce, a small salad, and a brown desert (it's chocolate?).
11:46 pm / I continue watching my movie and after about 5 minutes after dinner plates are collected the lights on the plane go out.
1:06 am / I am attempting sleep.
4-ish? / I am awoken by a woman passing out in the aisle next to me, I cannot sleep until we land in Germany.
It was indeed an interesting flight, but I am happy to finally be in Germany and able to sleep in a bed.
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