Wednesday, June 7th: Our last day at the Feldbergschule

It’s hard to believe that today was our last day with our friends at the Feldbergschule.  We would like to use this final post to extend a heartfelt thank you to our host teachers and our host families for the wonderful time we have had here in Oberursel.  We will be returning to North Carolina with very fond memories of the time we spent in the Taunus region.

All the best from Germany!   ~Frau Greene

Tuesday, June 6th: Goethe University and Firehouse Exchange Celebration

Today, we started out with another class period at the Feldbergschule before taking the train to visit the Goethe University of Frankfurt Main. There, we had a brief walk before stopping at one of the common areas for some refreshments courtesy of Frau Griesing. Next, we went on a proper tour of the campus with our tour guide, and then stopped for lunch at the cafeteria. From there, we went to an Anne Frank museum for a couple hours which had lots of different activities and stations to visit and interact with. Some of these covered more specific details about Anne Frank’s life, namely her diary and its publication, but many covered topics such as racism, sexism, and homophobia, and how we should become a more accepting society. Then, we took a train to the Bad Homburg fire station where we had a short tour of the building and saw all of the different vehicles that they have for different emergency scenarios. Lastly, we wrapped up the day with all the exchange families at the station and had a great time eating dinner and playing games like foosball, which was a fantastic way to end out the trip! ~Cade

Monday, June 5th: A Day in Heidelberg

Today we travelled to the lovely city of Heidelberg. As I told my exchange buddy’s family, Heidelberg is the epitome of how Americans imagine Germany. The city of Heidelberg is quite beautiful, sporting a castle, gentle mountains, and houses nestled between curving streets. The American fascination with Heidelberg and cities similar to it was made apparent by the amount of tourists traversing the streets of Heidelberg. Everywhere I looked I saw German flags being sold (something a native German would never buy), classic German beer being touted, or English translations of German words. It was a bit disconcerting how tourist-centric the city was, but I still enjoyed visiting the Apothecary Museum, ducking into tiny shops and gawking at things I’d never buy, and ordering some German ice cream. ~Abby

Sunday, June 4th: Second weekend with host families

Today I got to sleep in until 10:30 which was nice, so our day started a bit late. Throughout the day we went to a festival in Kronberg, went for a drive with Leonie (my exchange partner)’s friends, and had dinner with her parents. The festival was actually quite small, but there was Bratwurst so I can’t complain, and there was a show there with some acrobats that were having a dispute about…chess? I think it was chess; it was just entertaining, but there wasn’t much of a story.  (Again, not complaining, it was cool.) They were lifting each other up, pushing each other off of tables, and throwing white powder at each other. Y’know, just every day stuff. For the ride with Leonie’s friends, we went to a  castle ruin and we got to sit on a gazebo and look at the view.  Later, some of Leonie’s OTHER friends decided to shoot water guns at us.  Overall, today was awesome and I’m still dry, so moral of the story, if you want to shoot water guns at people and have it be worth it, get big ones.  ~Adora

Saturday, June 3rd: Second weekend with host families

 

After a late breakfast, we went to the Kronberg castle. This castle was built in the mid-1200s. It was used by the Lords of Kronberg and then Victoria Kaiserin Friedrich. Around the castle, there were beautiful gardens and flowers, including a tree that is over 200 years old, and the favorite sitting place of Victoria Kaiserin Friedrich. We also walked around the village of Kronberg, and stopped for lunch in the Altstadt. Then we went into Königstein, another town near Kronberg, and we saw the Königstein castle. This castle was also built in the mid 1200s. It is bigger than Kronberg. It also provides a nice view of the Feldberg.  Later, we made some chocolate chip cookies. We first made these when Sophia stayed in NC and they were very yummy, so I brought a bag of chocolate chips with the recipe on the back so we could make them again in Germany. They ended up being a bit flat but still very tasty.  In the evening, we met with one of Sophia’s friends and watched movie and made burgers.  Overall, it was a great day!  ~Jenna

Friday, June 2nd: International Justice Mission and Stolpersteine Project

 

The student originally assigned to write the June 2nd blog post did not travel with the group, so I am stepping in with a quick post in his place.

Our main activities at the Feldbergschule today  focused on the theme of human rights.  First, CA students had the opportunity to join FBS students for a presentation by two representatives of the International Justice Mission, a global organization dedicated to protecting people in poverty from human trafficking, violence against women and children, and police abuse of power.   Later, several CA students joined their exchange partners for a remembrance gathering connected to the Feldbergschule’s participation in the Stolpersteine project.  A Stolperstein (stumbling stone) is a small brass plate embedded in a sidewalk or a street that commemorates an individual victim of the Holocaust at their last known address prior to their deportation.  These stones are meant to “trip” everyday passers-by into an empathetic reflection on the life of the individual who once lived in that very street.  There are currently over 70,000 Stolpersteine in cities and towns across Germany and another 25,000 across Europe, reflecting the continental scale of the Holocaust while at the same time bringing the tragic event much closer to home.

We were moved by our experiences today and reminded of the importance of civil courage in the fight against bigotry and inhumanity in all its forms.

All the best from Oberursel!
~Frau Greene

Thursday, June 1: Excursion to Mainz

Today, the group went to Mainz, where we saw one of the widest- but shallowest- sections of the Rhein. It’s a beautiful river with nice nature on both sides, in and around the city.

I found the city to be an interesting mix of modern and older buildings, which were more intermixed than in Oberursel and Bad Homburg–the bombing during WWII clearly left many open spaces that were refilled with newer architecture, and though there was a small old city section, the historical buildings were not confined to that area.

The Gutenberg Museum was quite interesting–the guide explained not only the surprisingly complicated process of the first printing presses, but also several common but false myths about Gutenberg.  I was very interested to learn that his most commonly cited claim to fame besides the printing press, the creation of the first German bible, was in fact untrue.

After the museum, we checked out the nearby Mainz cathedral, which was…interesting.

After that, we spread out for lunch.  It was rather jarring to see a regular McDonalds across the street from a historical church, but the other food places in the city were quite good! Lunch was followed by ice cream, which attracted a visit from the local, and very brave, semi-wildlife, which was much more willing to get close to humans than any I’ve seen in the US.

Besides the ride back, that was basically the entire day.  I came back to my host home and was tired enough by the long walks and hot weather to just relax for a bit and write this post, since there won’t be any time tonight for any other activities of note.  ~Zachary

Wednesday, May 31st: School Day at the Feldbergschule

Guten Morgen for our second day at the Feldbergschule! Sadly, the group was mostly split up today for different classes, so I’ll share my adventures for the day. Despite being tired, I managed to have fun in the first class, English. After our 20 minute break, I moved on to math and was shocked to find a total of 7 people showed up for their test, “the elites” their teacher joked. I enjoyed a conversation with him while the group worked hard on their test. Finishing the day with an English presentation and a cancelled last class, Parmida (my buddy) and I headed home via the ever helpful public transport system. Since we get home between lunch and dinner, most students eat lunch when they get home, only snacking on their Pausenbrot (break sandwich) during the breaks. We enjoyed some pizza before she studied and I, helpfully, napped. Now well rested, we headed to Frankfurt which is next to their small town of Eschborn. During this outing we visited the Goethe University which has a beautiful campus. We then finished the day with a delicious ice cream from their favorite shop Eis Christina. It was a fun outing, but after a long day we headed back home and got ready for another day! ~ Nova 🙂

Tuesday, May 30th: First Day at the Feldbergschule

Today I had to get up at 6:30 in order to catch the U-Bahn, that German equivalent of the subway that also goes above ground. It’s kind of incredible how much better the public transportation is in Germany than it is in the US: in Frankfurt and surrounding areas there’s a bus/”subway” station within a walkable distance of basically everywhere. As a result, the roads are way less congested than the city roads of the US. There’s also a lot of respect on the road for pedestrians and bikers, with dedicated and independent crossing lights for both. Once we got to the school, I attended Rechnungswesen with Victor (my exchange partner), a class that’s oriented specifically towards making and keeping accurate financial records. It was very practical, looking at real-world possibilities as class material. After a warm welcome from the Feldbergschule “Kaiser,” Matthew and I gave a presentation on driving in the US; the German students were astounded that we only had to pay around $20 to get our licenses as opposed to the thousands of euros they had to. After that, the whole CA exchange group went on a tour of Oberursel, during which we looked at a lot of the (pictured) landmarks of the city. What was interesting to me was the historical significance of some of the seemingly straightforward monuments: one seemingly simple fountain that we went to was actually built in memory of a bank owner killed by the RAF (an extreme leftist terrorist group that was active in Germany in the 1970s). After the tour was done, Victor and I ventured to the Nordwestzentrum, a huge mall in Frankfurt. There we ate Döner, which is a Turkish dish popularized in Germany by Turkish immigrants. After that, Victor had to study for his end-of-year math exam, so we ended up ultimately going home pretty early – the end-of-year exams can determine whether or not German students can go to the next grade, so he has good reason to prioritize it. In any case, it was a beautiful day in Oberursel!  ~Sebastian

Monday, May 29th: Holiday weekend with host families

Willkommen to the third full day with exchange families! Today we had a slow morning, which was a welcome respite from the crazy, fun-filled weekend. On Saturday, we road-tripped to Köln to see the Kölner Dom (pictured) and the Lindt chocolate museum. On Sunday, we went to an amusement park about 45 minutes away from Köln to ride Achterbahnen (rollercoasters). Despite the opportunity to sleep in a bit this morning, we still had a lovely day celebrating my host partner’s grandma’s birthday. We enjoyed schnitzel and käsespätle (pictured) at a restaurant in the countryside, then drove to the grandmother’s house to continue the festivities. In the lush green backyard, I went four-leaf-clover hunting, and was pleased to find 4 four-leaf-clovers plus an extra-lucky 5-leaf-clover (pictured). It was a relief to find my clover-hunting luck extended overseas. Then, I learned a new game called “Hus-Halbedelsteinspiel” (pictured), which I am pleased to report that I won after a long and intense battle. We enjoyed coffee and cake (pictured) on the back porch, and I learned about Benjamin the Elephant, a character from a German kids TV show, who just so happened to be starring as a decoration on one of the cakes as well. We capped off the day by playing “Mensch ärgere Dich nicht,” another classic German board game. Once again, I won thanks to a lucky roll of the dice – I think all the luck I’ve had today with board games is thanks to that 5-leaf-clover! So excited for the first day at the Feldbergschule tomorrow!  ~Leah

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