Schoene Salzburg!!

This is Frau Tuinstra and a few others sending you news from Salzburg. Starated rainy and the sun came out in time to take some students on the Sound of Music Tour, and others to the Trick Water Castle, Hellbrunn. Lots of students got suprised by spritzing water fountains when they least expected. The sound of music tour was very cool and the students saw all the placesx were the movie was filmed. The best for me, Lauren, was the sound of music tour and walking the the Schloss Mirabel. It was really cool because we saw the fountain where part of the movie was filmed. Tonight after dinner, some went on biking around the city. It was nice to get fresh air and get a little exercise. Youth hostile life is a little interesting, and cramming 8 girls into a room isnt working out the best. But we are having a lot of fun and are anxious to be coming home! Only two days to go, and tomorrow we are going hiking and swimming in Oberamergau, a small town in the Alps.

See eyou all on thursday!
-Lauren

Hello München!

Grüss Gott-
We have arrived in Bayern (Bavaria).
Friday was spent in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which means Rothenburg above the Tauber river. Rothenburg is a beautiful medieval (sp?) city whose fortification wall is still intact.
We visited the Kriminal Museum of torture and punishment, tried Schneebälle which are a specialty there and we had time to shop, eat and explore. In the evening we toured the city with the night watchman and gained more insight into the history of the city. We learned that the children's song, Ring around the Rosy, dated back to medieval times and refers to how the plague affected it's victims. We rested well at our pension and were up bright and early on Saturday.
Saturday started at the STEIFF FABRIK with a tour and explanation of the famous stuffed animals with the button in the ear (KNOPF IM OHR). Many of us made purchases.
The day continued with our arrival in München, capitol city of Bayern. We started at the Karl's Tor and worked our way down the pedestrian shopping mall (Fussgängerzone). We viewed the Frauen Kirche, the Marienplatz, the Rathaus, the Viktualienmarkt and had shopping time.
This evening we will make our way over the the Olympia Park and have a go at swimming.
All is well, we have an AWESOME busdriver, der Peter and we are doing our best to speak DEUTSCH!
Auf Wiederschauen!
Frau Awve

Last Day :(

Austin here again,
I promised more photos, but I'm afraid that will most likely not happen for a few reasons. I accidentally erased all my pictures from my memory card and Andreas was able to recover them, but as of yesterday my camera is "total kaputt." Anyways, yesterday was the Wasserkuppe, which consisted of a Sommerrödelbahn and another tracked bobsled, whose name escapes me. Others and I went as many as 4 times down the hill and snacked on very "preiswert" food at the Wasserkuppe. I would definitely recommend a day there for anyone looking for fun. Following the Wasserkuppe, we went on a scenic hike that took about an hour and finished at a cafe in the mountains. The view(s) were absolutely fantastic and would take your breath away. We also saw some cows along the side of the path and Zach and I almost touched them. We also passed a giant radar station on our way through a field inhabited by aviation enthusiasts flying their gliders and remote control planes. Today is the last full day with our partners and we experienced the Abigag, a graduation ceremony for the 13th graders with music and games etc. Tonight is the farewell party at a nice restaurant and tomorrow we leave for our Southern Germany excursion.

Wednesday- Day Trip

Yesterday we went down to the Rhein River and we took a boat ride along it. We saw many castles and got a great view of Germany's landscape. I took many pictures. After this we went to Marksburg Castle. We had a tour of the castle and it was pretty cool. The torture chamber was actually interesting. Anyway we also ate there and many people had schnitzel. Then we finished up at the biergarten back in Fulda with our familes. once i got home i just went to sleep.
This is Aaron again by the way.

friday (on wednesday)

soooooo freitag. ja es war sehr gut.

we all started the day with presentations. it was all of our first time presenting in front of an actual class of people so we were all alittle nervous, some more than others. of course, matt, one of our group members (made up of ana minter, matt marti, and dedra devereaux...myself), forgot his presentation stuff at home. it was alright though because he was able to use the fabulous mediacenter and find all the information he needed right at his fingertips. we were presenting on te topic of american music. everyday i have heard at least one american song on the radio so obviously these students knew what american music sounded like and what it was all about, therefore, we had to make it interesting. so we decided to do the soulja boy dance with music, matt would beat box alittle, and I would sing. i think our presentation was the best, and so did the kids. after our presentations, we were kinda pooped out. carolin and i went to her grandmas house for a meal that they always share on fridays. it was sooo good. she served goulash and noodles, an excellent lettuce salad, and ice cream for dessert. mmmm. but after that, we were even more tired than before. we went straight home and plopped ourselves into bed for a late afternoon nap. i ended up sleeping for 3 and a half hours and she did the same. that wasnt our plan because she actually had to go to practice but it all worked out fine. by the time we work up, however, we both had to shower and then go to an artfair she was presenting a piece in. so we got ready and headed over to the school. there were so many people there, even americans too! we all talked about plans for that night and decided that we would all basically go to s-club, a famous club in fulda. caro and i went home after the fair and then proceeded to go to peter's house, her boyfriend. i met one of his friends there and we all just kinda hung out because no one was allowed in the club till about 11pm. that seemed so weird to me but i was glad i took a nap. so when it was 11 at peter's house, we decided it was time to head out. we got to s-club at around 11:30 pm and i guess that was perfect timing. i had so much fun seeing a good portion of all of the american mingling with the germans. it looked really cool in there too. i ended up meeting the DJ and becoming pretty good friends with him. he even played a couple songs at my request. it was such a great night. carolin and i ended our night with a late night(early morning) snack back at her house at 3:45am. then went straight to bed.

WHAT A GREAT DAY.

mo mo mo mo mo monday

monday monday monday. from the eyes and ears of ANA MARIA MINTER

monday was very very fun. everyone was supose to go to the wasserkuppe but it was rainy, cold and gray. like a grape. so no wasserkuppe. insted after school, and after doing a million presentations (actually only 7), Marc, Matts partner, asked us all to go to the go karting place. so johannas, max, marc, carol, dedra, billy, zack, matt and i all got geared up to go. this place was sick, the go karts go way faster than the ones in america, the guy even made our karts slower than the germans because he knew we would crash. haha. we had to wear ski masks and these giant helmets, for like a motorcycle. it was so much fun, we were all drifing around the corners and i crashed into the wall a couple of times. dedra did not want to go at frist but we made her go at the end and she had so much fun! After go karting we all were very hungery so we went out to eat at a really good pizza place. One thing i miss about america is pizza and taco bell, matt and i want to start a taco bell and place them right by the clubs, we would be rich in two seconds. Anyways... i shared a hawaiian pizza with zack, it had ham and pineapple on it, and it was very good. After that we all went to johannas house to watch a movie. we watched awake, it is about a gguy who is awake during an opperation, a heart transplant. it was very good, yet kind of scarey. after that we were watching soccer and johannas was playing piano to the game and making it all coinside with the game. it was so funny, dedra and i could not stop laughing.

I love germany i really do. i wish i could stay here forever, i am happy that in sept i will be staying in austria for 6 months because it is so much fun here. and i assume the austria and germany will have a lot of the same things that i love. (rolling hills :] ) monday overall was a blast

see you soon!

-ana

The First Day of the Week, Monday

Hey families, this is Ethan. We were asigned to do the "Wasserkuppe" on Monday, but, since it was rainy, it got cancelled. Instead, we went to school, and had presentations. Ours was definitely the best. Just kidding =). Presentations went pretty well for everyone, and the Child Songs/Games was a big hit. They had everyone sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" in a round. Pretty impressive! Since the trip was cancelled, everybody went home, or to the Innenstadt (Downtown Fulda), or some people went Go-Karting. Some others had family time, but I went to the Innenstadt. I bought gifts and then went home. Then, Nils, Emma, Erik, Marius, Madi, and I went to Luke and Sebastian's house. We played cards, and hung out in the backyard. We played soccer and video games, and we all had a great time. We went home, and I fell asleep like a baby.

Alles Gut, Ethan