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

Pictoral Recap

I was assigned Monday to write about, but that was basically school, presentations, shopping, and hanging out. So here is a picture-per-day journey through some of my trip experiences so far.

SUNDAY
We leave America.

MONDAY
Arrive in beautiful Germany

TUESDAY

Do a scavenger hunt of the city of Fulda, see beautiful buildings.

WEDNESDAY

Attended school with our partners. This is a math class.

THURSDAY

Salt Mine tour and Eisenach. We drank coca cola in the cave!

FRIDAY

Had fun on the school's in ground trampoline.

SATURDAY

Family time. My guest family met my parents.

SUNDAY

We took a tour of an old village in the Rhön Mountains.

MONDAY

Attended school again, and after school the fountain in the city was full of bubbles.

TUESDAY

We took a boat tour of the Rhine and of a castle.

We have been very busy and look forward to the many things this trip still has in store for us.

-Erik Pintar

MISC Pictures

Picture in the Amerikaner in Hessen exhibit in local Vonderau Museum. "If you want a Schlitz, go to Milwaukee!" in reference to foreign military in Germany during Cold War.

Karin Awve bei Schrerbergarten "Bei Karin"

Andreas and I visiting his father Martin in Kassel

The sign in front of the boys bathroom; I kid you not! So funny!

The little plastic ring on all the bottles stays on so it is reycled also. Ask anyone and they will tell you how annoying it is...

Wedding at the Wartburg Castle. Schön.

Wartburg castle

Dedra on the bus

Various people at the Singstar party hosted by Lennart and Hella Franke. (Aaron too)

Andreas and I out on the town in Kassel

I have taken over 1000 pictures these are only a few I glanced over, many more to come.
Austin Kautzer

Some pics from the beginning

Hey this is Zach Soderberg,
So Sunday was a pretty good day for me. It was the first day that i got to sleep in late which was a great start. I was badly in need of sleep so that helped. I was woken up at about 11:00 by Mr. Gebhardt, and he told me that we were going to go to Frankfurt for a little bit, and that after that we were going to visit Sebastian Gebhardt, Johannes' brother. It sounded fun so i woke up, took a shower, and then ate a breakfast that consisted of a hard roll crusted in sunflower seeds (yum) with jelly, chocolate pudding, and a cressant filled with chocolate. It was a verry good breakfast. After that i got ready to leave, and we took off for Frankfurt. I had been waiting for the drive to Frankfurt for a while, becuase it meant we got to drive on the Autobahn with Mr. Gebhardts Audi A6. We got onto the Autobahn with Jojo (Johannes) driving and on the on ramp he hit the gas and i was plastered to the back of my seat. At some point during the trip we reached 255 kph, which is about 160 mph. It was incrediblly fun. So after about an hour on the Autobahn we got to Frankfurt. We got out of our car and walked over to this childish looking street car that was painted with rainbows and unicorns and such haha. We got onto the street car, and it took us around the inner city of Frankfurt. It was a pretty fun trip. It took us past sky scrapers, and past the Main River. After our street car trip we went into "Römer", which was a place to walk around with little shops and such. We sat down at this place that served Italian ice cream and it was amazing. After that Jojo, Mr. Gebgardt and I walked around the city for a little bit. We then walked back to the car and drove to Mainz, which is where Jojo's brother lives. I slept the entire way so i couldnt tell you much about the car ride, but when we got their the city looked beautiful. We met Sebastian and his girlfriend out side, and we walked to a restaurant that served great Weinerschnitzel. We then drove to Sebastians appartment where we all sat down for coffee and had a talk. Overall it was a good day, and i hope to have more like it.

WAS IST GUT

hello hello hello from germany


so ja ja i am a few days late but i am here to tell you all about WEDNESDAYYYYYYY!!!!
wooo!
all of the students went to school during the day and i stayed with Janina during the day. then.... DEDRA MATT and I had a nice little photo shoot outside during one class. matt is going to be germanys next top model. i wish i could upload some of his pictures because they are all very funny.
Then after shooting a few sexy photos, matt suddenly remembers that he forgot his swim suite! AHH so marc dedra, matt and i all run into the city real quick to buy him a suite. Marc did not have a class that hour. i think it is really cool that if you do not have a class you can just leave and go to the city or chill outside. It is so beautiful here i love it. I am having so much fun.
well after looking for a swim suite, everybody met outside of the school. we all went home to get swim gear and eat lunch. then carol and dedra picked me up and we went to the swimming pool.
the swimming pool was so much fun. there was this slide and everyone went down it all together and it was so much fun! dedra got on top of marius and i got on top of nils and then we chicken faught? maybe thats how you say it. we played chicken haha. and I won both times! it was so much fun! Nils and Marius were being so cute and funny.

well then after that everyone went back home to get ready and then we all went to the chi chí bar and had a lot of fun. i think it was nils, marius, dedra, carol, her boyfriend, ethan, eric, amy and emma. it was really fun.

ANYWAY that was basically all day wednesday. i love it here. everyone is having so much fun!

SEE YA LATER!
-Ana Maria

The Weekend-An Overview

Amy here...
So Germany is all I have wanted and more. I think most everyone here thinks so.
On Friday, after school, I went to the grocery store with my hostmother, older sister, and partner Luca. It was cool to see the differences and similarities. It was mostly the same but smaller. And there were different foods and brands.
That night, I went to the club with Luca and lots of other people. First we went to a place called Fun Park which was pretty big. Then we went to a club called S Club. It was much smaller but I actually liked it more. The DJ wanted to meet me along with other American students, and he got me a free bionade (lemonade basically). Luca and I left at 2:30 because we had to wake up at 4:30 the next morning.
We woke up at 4:30 on Saturday morning because we were leaving at 6 to go to the theme park. We went to a place called Phantasialand which is in Köln. I slept in the car along with Luca's sisters Sarah and Kim. Once we got there, we on a water ride where we got very wet, and were wet most of the day. Second, we went on a free fall called Mystery Castle. It was a lot like Tower of Terror where we first walked through the castle which was sort of haunted, and then go into a tower where you get on the ride and they shoot you all the way to the roof, and then drop you and bounce you a few times. Very very cool. Then we went on a rollercoaster (Achterbahn) called Black Mamba. It was comparable to Batman at six flags, where your feet hang off. We also went on smaller rides too but the last big thing we went on was called Talocan. It was a thing that flipped you upside down and spun you around a lot. Afterwards we went home and went to sleep pretty soon after.
On Sunday we slept until 12:30 which was really nice because it was the first time we got to sleep in. Then we went swimming at an indoor pool with Hella, Lennart, Aaron, Ana, and Annemarie. It was because it was cold and rainy outside.
Then, Luca and went out to eat in the city. First we stopped at Luca's dance studio to watch the end of a workshop with a choreographer who choreographs for such people as Justin Timberlake. It was really cool, and they were really good.
We went to dinner at a place called Havanna Bar where I had pesto penne and a nonalcoholic drink called Coconut Kiss. Luca and I sat outside and talked a lot about anything and everything. We were under a roof, which was a good thing because then it started hailing. And on the way home we stopped for ice cream. i got cookies and cream, cookie, and mint chocolate chip. Sooooo good. When we got home, I called my dad for father's day. P.S. Happy belated father's day everyone!!!!! And Luca and I watched Mamma Mia.
Today, I did my presentation twice, without Andrea which was scary....in a 12th grade class they kept asking questions. After school, we all will go hiking at wasserkuppe with our partners and all the other Americans.
Germany is amazing...I don't really ever want to leave. Everyone is so nice, and everything is so beautiful. The only reason I want to go home is to see my family and friends who I miss very much!
Until next time,
~Amy Matzen~

Thursday!!!!!!!!!!

Hello. This is Tabitha. On Thursday we went to the salt mine. It was really fun. We even got to take a chunk of salt home and it was awesome. We got to look at all the cool equipment and everything. The ceiling was really low so we had to wear helmets and jackets. I think that my helmet was the only one that fell off while we were in the big truck. I dont think it was on tight enough. We also saw Bach's house and Martin Luther's house. It was great. The houses were beautiful. :) The trip has been wonderful so far! I have loved every moment of it.

I also finally tasted quark. Quark ist sehr gut! Its kind of like a yogurtish dessert. And the one I had was filled with strawberries. It was delicious.
On Sunday me and my German family went to a restaurant in town. I got zwiebelschnitzel. It was soooooo good. It's schnitzel with cooked and sauteed onions on top. It came with fries on the side.

I'm having a great time in Germany and my German family is great!

Thursday 18, 2009

Hey this is Billy. Today we went to Merkers. This is a salt mine where the Germans in World War II tried to hide treasure from the Americans. The treasure consited of gold, paper money, and artwork. When we first arrived we had our guide tell us what we would be doing and what kind of protection we would have to wear down in the mine. He said that we be going down 500 meters in 90 seconds.When we went down the 500 meters most of our ears popped. We put on our hards and blue shirts to cover our clothes and us from all the dust and salt int he mine. The whole mine was about 28 kilometers. Since it would take us all day to walk that far we took a yellow truck. At its deepest point in the mine we were 800 meters under the earth. We first went to a giant room that can be used for almost anything. Some examples are concerts, soccer games, birthday parties, and etc. They were bulding a ropes coarse and a rocket so astrounats can train in the mine. This will help them get ready for life in outer space. We then went to the vault where all the treasure was stored and later found. The reasons that America found the treasure was because they were tipped off about the treasure. The Germans had to move fast with the treasure because they feared that Berlin would be taken soon and didn't want the treasure to fall into the wrong hands, but it did anyways. So once they were in the mine they saw all these boxes and crates that lead straight to the treasure room. . We could bring a kalium rock with us so we could remember it and we also got some table salt. Next we went to the city of Eisenach. This city is where Bach has his house and the same for Martin Luther. Some people went on the Bach tour others just went shopping and walking around. After this we went to Wartburg. this is a castle where Martin Luther went and lived for ten months because people were trying to kill him for things he wouldn't do. This is the place where he translated the New Testament to German. It is rumored that one night when he was writing the devil came. Martin Luther fought the devil by throwing ink at the wall. This rumor got start from Martin Luthers friends saying he fought the devil with ink. Also Saint Elizabeth lived at the castle when she was only 14. The family that she married into didn't like her because she helped the needy and poor people. Well thats it for now from Germany.

Friday Post on Monday

I was supposed to post this on Friday, but Andreas and I caught the ICE (Intercity Express) train to Kassel, a relatively nearby town, to visit his father, brother and brother's girlfriend; Martin, Joachim, and Michaela respectively. The trip to Kassel normally takes over an hour by Autobahn, but it only took 25 minutes "by ICE," as the Germans say. Andreas, Jo-Jo (Yo-Yo), Michaela, and I went out for drinks, food and "billiards" at a local Foster's bar late Friday night. On Sunday morning, us four went shopping in Kassel where I bought my second pair of pants. For lunch, we met up with Martin and went to a local schnitzel garden, where I had the best meal of my life! 3 different kinds of schnitzel, 3 different sauces, fries, and Rösti. We went back to his Dad's house and I slept a little, before we caught the ICE back to Fulda for Andreas' dance practice. We were invited to Lennart Franke's house, Aaron Klauck's partner, for some Singstar fun with fellow GAPPers. I was surprised when Andreas asked me if I was hungry at 3:00 am after Lennart's, because we were going to stop at Burger King on the way home. I'm not sure but I have never seen a ChickenNuggetBurger in American Burger Kings. We slept in on Sunday morning, and then went out to eat at a nearby Italian restaurant that the Bornscheuer family has been going to for over 20 years, where I ordered a delicious Lasagna dish. Andreas then took me to his Fitness Club, much like the YMCA only smaller. He invited some of his friends, and they could all pass for young Arnold Schwarzeneggars, they were that huge. Following a phone call home to wish my dad and grandpa a happy Father's Day and dinner, I watched an extremely interesting "Krimi," much like Law and Order, except an hour and a half without one commercials, which I liked a lot. I have heard lots of fun stories from everyone and I'm sure everyone had lots of fun this weekend. We have a very exciting week coming up with lots of day trips planned so stay around for more.

Austin Kautzer

Saturday!!!

Hey, this is Bradley. Things are going great! To think how nervous i was about the family weekend. I got to sleep till 10:30! Ich habe sehr gut geschafen! I ate breakfast and then me, Konsi, and his brother Sven went to Point Alpha, das Haus auf der Grenze (house on the border). Its where the U.S. watchtower was on the border of East and West Germany. Going there we went 200 km/h on the Autobahn! I don't know how many m/h that is, but its a lot! Point Alpha was cool. Very beautiful and interesting, for a while. I learned that at a museum, germans love to read every little detail written anywhere! Anyway, I took lots of pictures. We came home, and I read my book for a while. We were watching Konsi's niece Lara for the day so i got some great pictures of her. Shes so sweet! Then Konsi's Oma came for dinner. She's also very nice. It was cool seeing 4 generations of Schucherts in one room! After dinner, we all played yahtzee, war (which i tought them), mau mau (kind of like Uno), and with Lara until about 11:20. It was great! I'm actually able to make jokes in German now. And I'm funny! I also find myself thinking in german and talking to myself in german! Well its been a great trip so far. Hope it keeps going great!
~Bradley

Saturday in Frankfurt

Hello all, Erik here posting:
Yesterday, I was lucky enough that my family had planned a trip to Frankfurt. I was also very lucky because my father had a buisness trip to Stuttgart, and so we could meet them. So saturday morning, we headed out to Frankfurt on the train= Me, my guest parents Martina and Christoph, my parter Marius, Ethan, his partner Nils, and Nils's parents. The train was fun, and it took about an hour to get to Frankfurt. We saw funny advertisements, like "Burger Gas" and "Ice Cream=a trip of sin." We got off in the big Frankfurt train station that I recognized as the station from a movie series we watched in German class-Deutsch Plus.
We walked into the downtown area, and Christoph, who is a banker, pointed out the huge skyscraper bank buildings all around us. Then we went into this huge garden, the Palmengarten, and looked at fountains, trees, and many beautiful flowers. We went in many buildings, and it was almost exactly like the Domes in Milwaukee-different plants from different parts of the world.
We ate lunch in the restaurant in the Palmengarten. Ethan and I had Frankfurts, of course! Then we headed to a big pond where you could rent boats, so Ethan and I rowed a boat around, splashing Marius and Nils a little bit too, and then rowing away.
After the garden, we saw lots more city, and went on a "fun train" for tourists and ate pretzels and wonderful apple juice.
We later saw the old town and buildings that were built before America was discovered! We ate in a restaurant called "Zum Grauen Bock"-to the gray ram. I ate Wienerschnitzel and Ethan discovered "Rippen" weren't quite the ribs from back home. Then we walked past Frankenstein street and strolled by the river. There were beautiful postcard-like sights everywhere, like much of Germany so far. Then a final walk through the main shopping district and Fachwerkhäuser (tudor houses) and we parted ways. A great saturday in the city!

-Erik Pintar

Thursday through saturday

Ok so thursday the group left the school to go to the salt mines. it was amazing to say the least. our tour guide was very fun. he drove through the mines really really fast and it was fun being in the truck. we all had to wear long, blue coats with a hard helmet. the hard helmet was probably the best thing you could have had. i must have hit my head on something 20 times. about 5 just getting in and out of the elevator. but we learned about much history that went on in the mines and it looked like most people had fun. after this we drove to eisenach. on the way there we saw alot of germany's lanscape. it was beautiful. once we got there, the group set off around the city. i hung out with mostly Luke and Austin (beasts). i first went to the Bach house with Ethan and Eric and we looked at what Bach had done and with what. after this we ventured around a little with everyone (Ethan, Eric, Amy, Andrea, Luke, and Austin). then Austin, Luke, and I went on our own. we saw the Bahnhof, the Theater, and the Luther hause i think. we started to head back when we thought it would be funny to do something crazy so we bought a watermelon. i almost dropped it coming out of the store and everyone like ahhh and it was funny. then we started running through the city back to the bus with the watermelon and everyone was looking at us. some people on the bus didnt think it was all that funny, but its ok cause i know how to have some fun. anyway we set out to the Luther Castle and it was huge. we got a tour around the place, but the best view of everything was on top of the tower we went up. the view of the landscape was neyutiful once again.
Friday came and we had our presentations and it seemed that everyones went well. i know mine and Zach's presentation was monsterous and the kids loved us. after school i think i took a nap and then lennart took me to play volleyball and it was amazing. after this we got ready to go to the clubs. We first went to funpark and our group started up the dancing in a smaller room and after, we went to the bigger room and danced even more. then we headed to the s-club which was just as much fun. i mostly danced the whole night, otherwise i was being social with everyone i met. Lennart, Hella, I, and the guys we took home left at about 4 in the morning.
Lennart, Hella, and I, then had to wake up a little early the next day to go to a castle. they had a renaissance fair going on and it was very neat. i have alot of adventures with my host family and they are really nice and funny. once we got home we left right away to go see some people play guitar and one chello player. good music. then Lennart invited some of the group to hang out tonight and we sand songs on the television and surprisingly no has that bad of a singing voice. so germany's amazing right now.

Aaron Klauck

Guten Tag!
Ich bins...Frau Awve.
It's Friday and we are having our first 'go' at presentations. It seems that everyone is fine tuning as they go, and that everyone is being well received:)
The kids are gearing up for a weeekend with their families... I'm excited to hear about their adventures on Monday morning. We are still working on down-loading pictures, apparently it really isn't possible to do from school.
We had a great day yesterday at the Salt mine and at the Wartburg (Martin Luther).
That's about it...we are learning something new EVERYDAY- some more than others.
We say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Zach S.-
and AUFWIEDERSEHEN to Andrea B. who will be heading home tomorrow as planned. (a little ahead of the group:))
Our school colleagues at the Freiherr vom STein Schule have been EXCELLENT!!!!!!! Very helpful and VERY organized!
Till the next post....
Glück auf!
Frau A

So far so good-

We are now three days into our trip and things are going well for the group. Jetlag is subsiding. The weather has given us cool evenings, rainy days and warmer temps. Today is to be the warmest day they have had in a few weeks. The students are attending classes with their partners and yesterday familiarized themselves with Fulda by taking part in a Stadtrallye. Lennart, one of the German students prepared a form with pictures and questions for each Ami. They also got a map of Fulda and had to then find locations, answer questions and get themselves to the Rathaus. A good exercise in orientation to a new city, map reading, following directions etc.. After two hours, we all met at the City Hall or Rathaus, and were officially greeted by the mayor of Fulda. He was vey professional and very welcoming. Each student got a bag of books, in English, about Fulda, and German government. After a complimentary Apfelsaft, the members of our group went their separate ways, in the rain.
A trip like this involves a lot of adjustments and the students seem to be adjusting very well. I have adjusted to hard rolls, hot tea, birds singing by my bedroom window and cows mooing in the distance. I have also had to adjust to the German keyboard for typing these blogs. The y and the z are in different places along with the caps. lock so I am constantly backtracking to make changes. Ah yes, cultural differences!
As soon as we can figure out how, we will down load pictures.

Frau Tuinstra

The Trip so far

Hey peoples, it's Aaron. So yeah, Germany has been great so far. The first day we took a plane ride down and it took about 8 hours to get all the way to Fulda. The plane ride was awesome being my first time on the plane and we got to see the sun set and rise. We only got about 2 hours of actual night time. Most of the time i was visiting with others. I sat with Zach and some other dude who was explaining stuff to me on the plane. As we got off the plane the security guard who stamped my passport spoke in german right off the bat. The bus was a little late and it was a coach bus, it looked like a bowling alley. When we got to the school the Germans were all standing there with us still on the bus, so it was a little ackward until we got off. Hella, Lennart, and Mrs. Franke were there waiting for me and we pretty much left right away. Lennart wanted to show off so we went on the Autobahn and we got up to about 180 km\h. So pretty fast. When i got to the house i met his dad and we sat down for breakfast and i found out that his family is pretty much exatly like mine. Thery crack jokes all the time and his dad is funny and his mom is very sweet and makes someone feel welcome. After breakfast we went to do some stuff, but I forgot what and after that i took a 2 hour nap. We went to dinner then at the school and hung out. Chicken was served with other dishes. The next day i had jelly toast for breakast and went to the school for lessons. The first one I had was physics with hella. We also had 4 other germans with their americans in the class. For the beginning of class the teacher made us go to the front of the class and introduce ourselfs in german, which we did. and the class then started to ask us questions in english. After that we had a tour around the school and the picture outside the boys bathroom was halarious. after the tour we went into the gym and the band played us good songs such as pirates of the caribbean, rocky, and eye of the tiger. after this i went to lennart's political science class and played on the computer. then we had lunch and i had noodles with some type of sauce and meatballs. there was also this cold soup which didnt taste good to me at all. after this we went into the town and got ice cream and began a scavenger hunt around the town. we saw some very old buildings and a beautiful chruch and a castle. Some kids will have pictures. then we met the mayor in the castle and he welcomed us and we took many pictures of that meeting. after this we went home had some supper (i had lasagna) and we went bowling with the group. bowling is pretty much exactly what we have in america. so is the burger king which we went to after bowling and now i am typing about the trip at 24 in the morning. The streets are very small and germans like to drive fast and the signs are very confusing along with the streets. and the stop signs still say stop and have the same shape. the bathrooms a very different in which there are buttons to push and theres a urinal and the shower is a holding sprayer type deal and its pretty cool. so cant what till things to come. tomorrow im going swimming and friday to the club. YAY!!!!

Aaron Klauck

Tuesday, June 16th

Today after we were for the most part well rested from the trip and settled in, we started out at school. We went to the first class with our partners. It was very neat to see school at a different country and compare and contrast it to our schools. All of the German students were so excited to see us and they were all very nice. Then we got to meet up with all of the American GAPPers and we went on a tour of the school. It is a very nice school. We got to see the library, their sports field, many different classrooms and their new cafeteria. The band surprised us by playing a mini concert for us. They were very good and have won many prizes. We also met up with the principal of the school. We all went ot a couple more classes and then we all met up again in downtown Fulda. There we found out that we were going on a Scavenger hunt. It was a lot of fun and a great way to learn about the City of Fulda. We went to see all of the major sites of the city such as Michaels "Kirche" or church, we learned that it is one of the oldest churches in Germany. Then we got to meet the mayor of Fulda. He welcomed us and answered a couple of questions as well as told us more about Fulda. Today it was rainy on and off, but for the majority of the scavenger hunt it was warm and sunny. We had a lot of fun and it was a very nice day.

-Andrea Bretl

After a long flight, we are finally in Germany!! Once we arrived all of the families were at school waiting for us. It was nice to see the familiar faces. Then we all went back with our family to their house and got settled in. Some of us took naps and other went to the city but we all got settled in just fine. Monday evening was the Welcome Dinner and it was a lot of fun. We had chicken and it was very good end to our long day. Everything went well and we are having a lot of fun!!

-Lauren Brown

Hello all,
we started off talking a bus to o'hare, and then we went through all off security, passports, and everything else and finally took off with lufthasa airlines. With a seven and a half hour flight which was much fun... We arrived in Frankfurt and meet our families. I myself was very tired and I think everybody else was aswell considering at that point we would have been awake for 18 hours+ overall a great trip so far. We also went on the autobahn on the way to Fulda, which was fun.
-Luke Handeland

...and they're OFF!

On a beautifully sunny Sunday morning, the orange Riteway "school" bus was loaded full of the belongings of the East and West students, as the parents stood waving their last goodbyes. Smiles and tears on the faces of those present, and well wishes for the embarking German American Exchange Partners filled the air. A quick check of everyone's passport was conducted on board and the bus left the parking lot at 11:00 AM CST.



Good luck Gappers and Aufvedersehen! Thanks to Frau Awve and Frau Tuinstra for their leadership.