Auf Wiedersehen

After 3 weeks of being with the same group, and seeing the same people, one would expect to grow a little tired of one another, right? Well, if our last official school day proved anything wrong, it would be just that.

The day started out as any day in Germany would, waking up bright and early at 6:20am (try getting me to wake up that early in Chicago), and after a quick shower and cereal breakfast, my exchange partner and I bolted to the bus stop, as usual, about 5 minutes late. Upon boarding the bus, we sat down with friends and conversed as the German countryside buzzed by outside. But as we approached closer to the school, something seemed a little bit different than other mornings. It turned out that it was senior prank day at DBG, and all of the 12th graders were standing outside the front door, loaded with water guns, spraying anyone who would attempt to pass. Well, we tried to look for different entrances, but the seniors were already prepared and surrounded the school in its entirety. So, in my mind, I let all emotions go, and with a straight face, I walked right through the front door, getting soaking wet in the process. But as I walked in, it became blatantly obvious that the pranking wouldn't stop there. A huge fog machine was brought in, and visibility inside the school was reduced to about an arms length in front of you. But let me tell you, the biggest, and oddest part of the morning was walking up a Saran-wrapped staircase, along with 50 other students. That was an experience.

The day began as normal, with many students completing their last presentations to German students learning English. While my group (Alex, Rebecca, and myself) presented to a rather dull, uninterested group, it was definitely amazing to talk to students about our homeland and the places we love so much. But it was also nice to be finished with presentations. :)

By the end of the school day, after sitting in classes, the entire school began to crowd the outside courtyard and start a water fight. While I think I probably stood there in shock about why this would occur for about 5 minutes, I soon was drenched after my exchange partner poured water on me, so I joined the fight. We teamed up, and soaked many other American students, but all in good fun!

As the school day ended, my exchange partner and I boarded our last bus home, in a somber tone. I listened to music on full blast, as the german countryside passed by, thinking about the uniqueness of the geography, and the country I have fallen in love with. As we arrived home, we found ourselves locked out of the house, so with the help of Luis' amazing grandmother, we got inside the house.

After chilling out for maybe an hour, we soon were picked up and drove to his grandmother's house, for a last Schwäbisch lunch. The food was amazing (as always), and I said my goodbyes to his grandmother, and aunt, who kindly took time to hang out with us multiple times throughout the two-week period. Then, Luis, his father and I began driving to the Stuttgart airport, where we would meet my mom, who was flying in to continue our trip to 3 more cities after the exchange would be over.

We waited at the baggage claim for about 30 minutes, eagerly awaiting her arrival, as it would be the first time I would see her in 3 weeks, and for my exchange partner, since November.

We met up, hugged, and found our way to the S-Bahn, where we began the long train ride to the Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof, where her hotel was located. By this time it was already 17:00, and our dinner began at 18:00, we needed to scrap our return train plans, and grab a taxi.

The taxi let us off at about 18:05 at the DBG, where the dinner was taking place. I met up with the other exchange students, and had a very nice dinner provided by all of the host families.

The American students all gave small speeches thanking their families, and while I love public speaking, giving a small speech in a foreign language is a bit nerve wrecking. So, I nervously walked up, gave my speech, and stepped back to a round of applause. It felt amazing that after only 3 years, I can convey a message to speakers of a different language, other than English. So that was very cool.

We took multiple group pictures, and then we began a stressful 3-transfer bus ride to a small park, where many exchange students met up.

We had an amazing time talking to everyone about our experiences, and sharing our favorite moments from this 3-week period.

While Friday was very sad, it felt amazing to give the Germans a special goodbye, and share our indescribable love for our exchange friends.

-(Pez D.) Spencer

A different school day

Although today was another school day, we switched it up and went to Jahnschule. Jahnschule is the name of a school in Harthausen that educates third and fourth graders, as well as students that did not test in to the Gymnasium, where our exchange students go to school. The few American students that live in Harthausen, including myself, were grateful for the change because the close proximity meant a few more minutes of sleep. In the first picture, you can see the entrance to the school yard. Although this school has less bikes than the Gymnasium, it still has much more than GBS. 

In Jahnschule, all twenty one of us went to two classes together. The first class was a cooking class, where we made Strawberry jam and pancakes. Afterwards, we were able to eat the food. It was a good start to a good day. 

After cooking class, we headed to the English class for sixth graders. In that class, we were interviewed by the students on things such as what pets we have and what our favorite pizza toppings are. It was very important information. After English class, a few students were allowed at a time to go see the chickens that they kept at the school. We also held a chicken. 

We then ate lunch and headed back to the Gymnasium via bus. Once in the Gymnasium it was back to the usual schedule of shadowing classes and, while we waited for the next class to begin, paying cards. Since we would be staying at school for a long time, many people went out to lunch and got spaetzle or fries. We could then either eat outside at the restaurant or take our food back to the Gymnasium. After lunch it was back to the normal school day. My student picked me up around 3:30 to go home, but others stayed at school until 5:15.

After school, we had quite different schedules. Some took the opportunity to sleep some more, while others went sightseeing to places such as the TV tower and the zoo. I stayed at my exchange partners house and helped her study, then we watched a movie. The Schmalz sisters played soccer with their partners' siblings, then made smores. 

As the end of the exchange draws nearer, we all feel a bittersweet taste from the memories and friends we have made and the fact that we will soon leave them behind. We are all grateful that we are still able to do so much in one day.

-Amanda T.

Liechtenstein ... not the country

This morning, I was lucky enough to be able to sleep in until 10 am because Leoni's class began at 11:15. I ate a typical German breakfast consisting of a slice of sweet bread with a smear of nutella, orange juice, and some fruit. After eating, we walked to school, which is about a 15 minute walk. I love to walk to school, because for one reason I live much too far away from my school to walk at home, and also walking to school gives me an extra opportunity to enjoy the sunny summer weather and the picturesque scenery of Filderstadt and the German countryside. Upon arriving to school, a large portion of the group was leaving to go to the "Penny Markt," (the local grocery store.) Since it is in close proximity to their school, we walked. There, everyone bought many snacks and sweets to eat throughout our day. After going to the Penny Markt, we all walked through the field back to school to quickly eat our lunches and head over to the coach bus we would be taking to the Klettergarten. The bus ride was fun, as we all talked, laughed, and sang the ever-popular and authentic German hit, "Stacy's Mom."


Once we got to the forest, we were dropped off in a parking lot with a gravel path that led to the entrance to the cave. The cave was breathtakingly
beautiful and the walls were illuminated with colorful lights, making it even more stunning. Our tour guide kindly toured us around the cave, keeping us all entertained while attempting to speak English. Overall the cave was amazing and it was a great experience to see.

Here is a photo of the main portion of the "Fog Cave" brightly lit with colorful lights.

After touring the cave, we walked for about 45 minutes through the lush green forest until we arrived at the Klettergarten (ropes course/adventure park).


When we arrived, we were given instructions on how to use the clips and harnesses and then we were sent off for three hours, where we could choose which courses we wanted to climb. The courses were labeled 1-10 ranging from lowest difficulty to extreme difficulty. I chose to go on courses 6 and 9, which proved to be very tough to complete, but a great time.

The view from the top of one of the Ziplines I rode today.

Caitlin, Emma, and I, shortly after completing our climb on course 6.


There were countless ziplines, tightropes, and nets that hung high above the pristine forest. It was so beautiful to see and was a great experience because we all looked out for one another, building a great sense of trust and community with my German friends that I will truly miss when I go home. We have become so close as a group and I loved being able to explore and have fun with all of them.

After a long day of climbing, Leoni and I were super hungry, and luckily her mom made a delicious meal of grilled chicken and steak with salad. Today was such an amazing day that I will remember forever!

-Bailey B

Mercedes Museum and Stuttgart

Today started out like any other school day. After eating Nürnberger for breakfast, we left for school. Halfway to school, Yannic realized that we forgot the Apfelkuchen(apple cake) for the homeroom. After returning home and getting the cake, we were cutting it close on time. We hit traffic and Yannic decided we should walk. We got out of the car and ran into Alex and Maxi who were doing the same thing. Lucky for us, the teacher of our first class was late. Dan and I sat in our classes today until we left for Stuttgart around 1. The Americans took the U-Bahn to the Mercedes-Benz Museum. We spent awhile in the museum looking at all sorts of classic, cool, and fast cars. 

After the museum, we hopped back on the U-Bahn and headed into the center of Stuttgart. Herr Oertle took us on a brief walking tour of the city. We saw the Schloßplatz, the old castle, the new palace, the Staatstheater, and a couple other sights.

After the tour, the majority of us met up with our exchange partners. Yannic and I, along with many others in the picture below, took the U-Bahn to Milaneo for shopping and dinner. We stopped off at the Library and headed to to roof for a good view.

We ate "American" cheeseburgers for dinner, and then went into the mall to shop. Afterwards, we took the U-Bahn to the bus station and all headed our separate ways for the night.

-Andrew Brand

Monday School Day

Today was a good day.

It started off normally with cereal for breakfast and a casual bike ride to school, then Andrew and I sat in our classes. Bio was boring German was okay. But the day really picked up when we had our presentation to give. 

We waited at the class and the teacher forgot he booked a presentation so we were a "pleasant" surprise. Then after jamming out to American music for about 30 minutes we ended our presentation and waited for our exchange partners to finish school. 

After school I biked to my partners grandma's house where we had dampfnudeln. It was very good despite the fact that I can't pronounce it.

After that some of us went to play soccer, soccer quickly turned into a full contact sport which the devolved into a mix of American football and European football, with a dash of wrestling. After the intense soccer game we were covered in sweat and turf and decided what better way to clean off than jump into the public pool at fildarado. We went swimming, "water wrestling", water sliding and all the stuff to do at that place and even then the day wasn't over yet. 

I went home to chow down on Leberkase and finally watched some soccer before heading to bed excited for tomorrow.

-Dan M.

Mountain Hoping

Today was more free time with our exchange families, and because I feel like much of the story will be missing if I only write about one day, I will write about the whole weekend, including Friday evening.

My journey with my host family started Friday evening after going with the whole exchange to Tubingen. I packed everything I might need for 2 days of living in a traditional Austrian farm house and we left.

The majority of the drive there we where on the autobahn going about 200 kilometers per hour to reach our destination of Pitztal, near the town of Imst.

Here is one of the pictures of Imst through clouds.

Saturday was mostly a relaxation day where we played cards and had some karaoke time with the radio. I also familiarized myself with house and it's surroundings.

Today we woke up around 8:30 and had a very traditional German breakfast with a large assortment of breads, meats, and jams. Immediately following this we drove to Kaunertaler glacier where the main attraction was a lake that was created through the continuous melting of glacial ice. This lake was a beautiful aqua color with many waterfalls leading to it

This was one of the couple dozen waterfalls that fed into the lake

Next we travelled to the top of the glacier where there was an abundance of snow in the middle of summer.

On top of the glacier we also went inside of a small and very dark ice cave

After this we took a gondola up to the peak on the glacier and arrived on the border of Italy and Austria where Maxi and I did several, novelty things such as having a snowball fight from Italy to Austria.

Here is one of the several views to the Italian Alps (Rome is in the direction of the photo)

From our exhaustion we craved food so we went back to the town of Imst to have lunch in a small restaurant on top of a mountain. This was an experience especially since the restaurant was in a cloud

I can finally I have touched a cloud.

Maxi and I had some traditional noodles with bacon and cheese called Kasspatzl'n.

We devoured the delicious noodles quite quickly and returned back to the farm house where Maxi and I played card games for a couple hours until dinner.

Dinner was in a special place called "Neu Amerika" (New America). This place was actually a farm which doubled as a restaurant specializing in ribs. So naturally as an American, I ordered the ribs and so did Maxi.

The ribs were fantastic.

After dinner we took a few selfies with the cute farm animals

At the end of the day we travelled back home on the autobahn once more as a relaxing way to finish this extraordinary day.

-Alex Saarinen

Schools out ... for the weekend

Today was a "family day" for our exchange group. Thus, we all had our own adventures throughout Europe:

Andrew, Yannic, Noah, Nathan, traveled to Switzerland and braved a mountain climb in the Alps.

 

Aloys had a full day traveling to Ulm and the Alps. He also climbed a waterfall there!

Amanda relaxed with her German family in the city of Stuttgart and went shopping. 

Katie Roberts and her German family traveled to France. They had a tour of the city and shopping. 

I traveled to Strasbourg, France today as well with Vera, Helen, Nina, Vanessa and Anna. We first checked out the cathedral there and while we were there, we ran into Katie Roberts! We walked around the cathedral in amazement as we stood under the towers. Inside, the detailing of the cathedral was stunningly beautiful despite the damp smell. The stained glass windows depicting Bible stories were like none ever seen in America.

 After all of this walking we were in dire need of sustenance. I mean, what teens do you know who wouldn't be starving? Finding an outdoor cafe under some umbrellas, we endured a rain storm as we appeased our hunger with some French Flammkuchen. This dish is similar to a thin crust pizza. Although, I opted for goat cheese and honey in mine so it was much sweeter. Sadly, with so much rain, we couldn't venture to the boat tours because they were closed. Instead, we took a "mini train" around the city learning about the history of some of the oldest buildings.

We ended our time in France with some shopping. Naturally stopping at a bakery to pick up a baguette -- okay, maybe two -- for the ride home. I am looking forward to school on Monday and hearing how others spent their weekend in Europe!

-Katie S.