As any normal day in Berlin, our day started off strong with each member of the group receiving a high five from Dunning H. Everything from this point forward was sure to be our best day yet, since by the night we would be reunited with our exchange students! In addition, with a late meeting time this morning at 10:00, our day was already off to a great start! Once everybody gathered around with their packed luggage in storage, we set off for our last walk and sightseeing destination in Berlin, the Hohenschönhausen Memorial. It was sad to think that this would be our last time in Berlin; however, we were all so excited to see our exchange students that our last walk in Berlin was bittersweet. With a mere seven-minute walk, our last stroll through Berlin barely got us 2,000 steps–much different from the 20,000 steps I got on Wednesday and Thursday! The Hohenschönhausen Memorial is a prison that was built at the end of World War II and first served as the main Soviet prison for Germany. In the 1950s, the Stasi (East German secret police) took over the prison and used it to detain and interrogate opponents to the communist dictatorship. As we toured the rather large building and its surrounding area, we learned about the extremely harsh conditions and the inhumane treatment of the prisoners, who were often forced to confess to crimes they hadn’t committed. As we walked around the multiple rooms of the prison, we learned that most of the furniture including the beds and even the paint on the wall is completely original and hasn’t been changed since the prison closed with the fall of the East German dictatorship in 1989. This not only made the Hohenschönhausen Memorial engaging and informative but also extremely interesting. After our tour of the Hohenschönhausen Memorial, our next destination was FRANKFURT! We hopped on a very nice Mercedes van with all our luggage and a packed lunch and took our last ride through Berlin. Once at the airport, we had to play the waiting game for a while, but nonetheless we soon boarded the plane to Frankfurt. With the plane ride being only 45 minutes, we safely landed in Frankfurt, where we met our exchange students at the gate. Everyone in our group then went their separate ways, only to be reunited later at Soylu Esspress, where we all indulged in a Döner with the whole exchange group. We couldn’t wait to see our partners’ school, so we all decided to walk to the Feldbergschule to get a glimpse of what it looked like before the long weekend. The day ended quite sweetly as we all tried German ice cream for the first time. After saying our goodbyes to our fellow classmates, we parted for our first night with our host families. It has been such a fun and exciting day, and I can’t wait to explore more of Oberursel! ~Haley H.
I am following your German adventures and am so happy to see all of your sweet smiles in the photographs. Ich wünsche euch viel, viel Spass mit euren Gastfamilien in Oberursel! Viele liebe Grüße an euch alle, an Frau Burgbacher und Frau Greene. ~ Frau Lanze
Great to hear from you, Frau Lanze. Wish you could be here with us to see how well your students are doing with their German. Viele liebe Grüße von uns allen! ~Frau Greene