Oberursel, Germany

Introductions

Introductions

Introductions

Introductions

Small group discussion

Presentation

Presentation

Presentation

Small group discussion

Small group discussion

Small group discussion

Weltladen fair trade shop

Fair trade explained

Sampling fair trade chocolate

Sampling fair trade chocolate

Sampling fair trade coffee

Fair trade plastic alternative

Learning more about fair trade

Visiting classes

Traveling by U-Bahn

Meeting up in a restaurant

The day started early at 7 AM, where I ate the traditional and delicious German breakfast prepared by my exchange mother. This breakfast is composed of multiple assortments of breads, sausages, cheeses, and fruits, giving me an abundant source of energy to start off the day. Joshua (my exchange student) and I then rode down to the Feldbergschule with the bicycle, allowing me to feel the temperature change from the previous days. The temperature dropped from the mid 30s to the high 10s (degrees Celsius), giving me a feel of how the temperature is like in Germany.

We started off shadowing the English class, where we gave the presentations about US culture that we prepared back in Cary.  Since these presentations were in English, they gave us some time to rest from our full immersion in the German language.

Later in the day, we made a short visit to the “Weltladen,” a fair trade shop in Oberursel, where we learned about sustainability and sampled some of the products.

After finishing the day with history class, Joshua and I rode the train back home. Something that has greatly surprised me is the German awareness on climate change. We had learned this in the classroom, where we studied the increase in popularity of the Green party of Germany during our politics unit. However, there is a big difference between learning about German culture in a classroom and experiencing it first hand.

As the evening approached, we ate a traditional German dinner composed of boiled potatoes, sauerkraut, and sausage. This dish defines what German food is all about: simple, yet nutritious and filling. For dessert, I had strawberries and I ate them while watching a “Krimi”, German-loved detective film, with Joshua’s older brother, Jonathan. 

To end the day, Joshua and I went to a typical German restaurant, where we met up with Ryan, Matthew, and their exchange students. To our surprise, they served us our drinks in very large portions, something that we did not see during other parts of the trip. We had a good German “Prost”, enjoyed our drinks, and took the U-Bahn back home. Living these new but exciting experiences with my classmates has created great long-lasting friendships that will continue in the future.  ~Max F.

Mainz cathedral

old town Mainz

Central Mainz

Gutenberg Museum

Helping with the print demo

Rhine riverfront in Mainz

houses along the Rhine

ice cream stop

ice cream stop

Mainz city wall marker

touring Mainz

Berlin souvenir

State Theater in Mainz

touring Mainz

Mainz cathedral

inside Mainz cathedral

View over Frankfurt

Today, we went on a class excursion to Mainz early in the morning around 8 o’clock.  First, we went to the Johannes Gutenberg museum to learn about the history of Johannes Gutenberg, a pioneer in the printing and translation of the bible. We got to see all the interestingly intricate details of how Gutenberg accomplished his prints, including the dyes that were used, the small pictures, and the marks that were made in the prints. It was mind-blowing to see all the steps one had to take to print a book, and even more so having to scribe it by hand. Later, Max even helped in a live presentation of the printing format and got to take the scroll that he printed with him. After the museum, we were given free time to eat and explore Mainz and its Altstadt for around an hour and a half. Many (if not all of us) got pretzels and pizzas from the local Ditsch, a very popular and common food chain in Germany. We enjoyed the well-priced and delicious delicacies while taking in all the vibes of the city.  Afterwards, we walked around the city and along the Rhein river while Frau Burgbacher gave us a small tour of the city. Having studied in Mainz for several years, Frau Burgbacher pointed out some mega-cool key locations in Mainz, including one of the first hospitals established in Germany and the remnants of the former city border wall of Mainz. While walking along the Rhein, the group stopped by a popular ice-cream joint called N’Eis (funny play on words) to try out the wide, delectable choice of flavors (raspberry, mango, cinnamon, and more!) as well as to cool off from the unusually hot temperature in Germany. Our stay in Mainz concluded with a look at the Mainz Cathedral, a massive church that was in the heart of the city. The inside of the church was very imposing, and reminded me of the Duke Chapel in North Carolina.

Soon it was time to go back to Oberursel.

On our way back at the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, we separated into two groups. Some of us continued back to Oberursel, while Kenny, Philip, Max, Xavier, and I rode the train to Frankfurt to spend some time in the Altstadt. There, we shopped (mostly window-shopped) along the Zeil, the main shopping street in Frankfurt, and continued to enjoy the unvarnished city.

Later Philip had to leave and so took the train back home, but we met with Eva, Matthew, and Sara and their exchange partners and again separated into two groups.

Max, Kenny, and I went on our own way up to the top of St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral to see the city from above. The sight was pretty epic and we could see the whole city! We stared in awe at the immenseness of the city and the barges on the Rhein narrowly missing the bridges. We finally finished up a long day with a small snack at a local restaurant with some of the classic German “green sauce” and Frankfurter Schnitzels, caught the train back to Oberursel, and ended a lovely day trip in our stay here in Germany.   ~Ryan C.

Feldbergschule Oberursel

Break

Break

Lake by Feldbergschule

Lunch

Target language reading

Social time

Social time

Social time

After many days of constant travel, new experiences, and draining activities, I was looking forward to a more relaxed day of attending classes with my exchange partner Maxime and spending the afternoon at home. And, although this slow-paced, relatively-normal day happened to coincide with the singular day that I have describe in detail on a minimum-three-hundred-word blog, that might not be a bad thing. After all, part of the goal of this exchange is to experience the everyday parts of German life rather than be an American tourist in Germany.

Luckily, Maxime didn’t have any classes right at 8:00 AM, so we were able to sleep in a little longer. The first class of the day, accounting, began at 9:50. I was interested to see what topics the class covered since no similar class is taught at Cary Academy, but my lack of accounting knowledge made it hard to understand. Nevertheless, I learned more about the grading system in German schools from the teacher talking about an assessment that was given back, and I got a feel for the subject.

After a twenty-minute break came the German language class. At this point in the school year, grades are mostly finalized, so the class watched a movie about the life of the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I ate a tasty lunch generously provided by Maxime’s mother outside during the following break and then headed back into the classroom where accounting was taught for math class. Here, as in accounting, the teacher went over a math test from earlier involving exponential functions, which I luckily already knew about. And, finally, the school day came to an end, and Maxime and I drove home by bus.

Though the the temperature outside exceeded thirty degrees Celsius in the shade, I decided to bring a German National Geographic magazine out into the back yard and attempt to read an article or two. The magazine was a great source of new vocabulary, which I happily added to the new words list required for our exchange portfolio.

Maxime and I walked later that evening to meet up with a Paige and her partner Julia, but the walk back was perhaps the most valuable. As the sun began to set and the air cooled down, I appreciated the natural beauty of the farms and houses surrounding Bad Homburg. And, the unhurried walk home gave us time to talk about the differences between German and American culture: the way teenagers behave, the way schools work, the way food tastes…

Well, that’s enough for today. I now know how valuable it can be simply to have a conversation, and I don’t feel so anxious now! Things are going well here in Germany, so don’t worry about us too much.  ~Tommy F.

Feldbergschule

Morning gathering at the Feldbergschule

Morning gathering at the Feldbergschule

Oberursel old town tour

Oberursel old town tour

Oberursel old town tour

Town Hall mural

Bakery stop

Bakery stop

Welcome poster

in the Cafe Vielfalt lounge

“Pfand”raising

Welcome from head of Feldbergschule

Welcome party

Welcome party

Welcome party

Exchange group 2019

Afternoon storm

After an adventurous introduction to Frankfurt in the break period leading up to today, it is finally time for the first day of school at the Feldbergschule Oberursel. We started our day off as all should, with a one and a half hour math class in which I partially partook in a class discussion about sine functions as the class extended further into the subject.  After the class ended, the group entered the Feldbergschule’s café for a debrief on student schedules.  Shortly after we were greeted with a plethora of delicious German snacks, as both the German and the American students enjoyed a buffet.   After the snacks had been quickly consumed, we soon segued into our final class of the day.  René and I headed off to a more interesting topic as we entered our economics class. The class was taught partially in English, which was helpful for me to comprehend and actively participate in the class. In fact, when going through the economic scenario readings which were entirely in English, the American exchange students saw themselves with an advantage in understanding the material. And just like that, after being released 40 minutes early,  it was 1 o’clock and the school day was over. After a somewhat tiring day of school classes, we returned home by train, where the weather was beginning to kick up as we could tell by the wind blowing ferociously in our direction on the walk to my exchange family’s house. The rain quickly passed, however, just in time for training with René’s soccer team. After several jokes about the new MLS player recruited to the team, we began our training. As it had been over a year since I had last stepped on the soccer field, I was nervous that I was a bit rusty. But it did not take long for me to discover that the small local team in Niederhochstadt was a little bit rusty as well. And after a long practice of hard work, we headed home for the day.  ~Philip W.

Birthday celebration

Munich town hall

Central Munich

New shoes

Olympic Tower

View from Olympic Tower

For this entire long weekend, Julia, her family and I have been about three and a half hours away from the rest of the exchange group near Augsburg, Germany to celebrate the 82nd birthday of Julia’s grandmother (see picture above). Yesterday we visited the main part of Augsburg city, and while it was nothing less than gorgeous, it couldn’t be compared to Munich, which is where Julia, her father, and I took a day-long excursion to today.

As seen in one of the pictures above, Munich was PACKED with people. Honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen more people in such a small area. If you’ve never been to Munich, specifically within the main parts of the city, I definitely recommend it.  My experience was definitely a 10 out of 10 (once I bought shoes that didn’t give my feet blisters, as seen in picture above).  To best describe the city, I ask that you imagine a large open concrete field, and then line that field with small shops. Beyond what in Munich was solely shops and small cafes, the city was historical, beautifully made and purely gorgeous.

When we first arrived in the city, we decided to take a double-decker-bus-city-sightseeing-tour. I wish I could say this was my favorite part of this excursion; however, the ‘20 minute tour’ turned into an hour and thirty minute tour around the city.  We sat in direct sunlight, and in backed up traffic for much longer than we paid for.   While the experience of the tour wasn’t the greatest, I did learn some of the history of the city. We learned about the outdoor opera house, the Hofbräuhaus, and all of the most monumental buildings. Before the tour fully ended, Julia, her father and I got off the bus and decided to fully embrace the impact of the city by foot.

One would think that I wouldn’t learn as much about the history of the buildings this way, but my host father is comparable to both Bill Velto (I have permission to call him Bill) and Mr. Coven, in the way that he knows everything about everything and in the best way. He knows the history of every building, every monument, and every blade of grass. Luckily he knows all the small details that makes it so interesting to learn about and to experience.

After buying small gifts to bring back to my family, new shoes for the sake of pain-free feet, the best potatoes I’ve ever had, and too many single Euro coins lost to public bathrooms, we walked to the English Garden, comparable to Central Park in New York City.   Here we saw people enjoying their day while sunbathing, small kids laughing while playing in the fountains, and countless smiles. A small (mainly calm) river traveled through these gardens, making the experience more serene. This small river moves under the main parts of the city, and where the tunnel opens to lead into the English Gardens, a rush of water is constant. Imagine a white water rafting course condensed into a few feet. Here, we watched surfers jump into the rushing water and try to surf on this wave. I don’t think I saw even one of these surfers stand on their board for more than five seconds before diving under. With that being said, it looked insanely fun. Beyond watching the surfers, we walked both sunny and shaded paths while in the gardens, and this is where I’ve been closest to the wildflowers, which are more diverse in Germany than in North Carolina, and in my opinion are much more intriguing. I genuinely believe I could spend days exploring Germany just discovering and falling in love with the wildflowers.

After the English Gardens, we got in the car very ready to get back to Julia’s grandmother’s house an hour away in Augsburg; however, we made the last minute decision to drive 10 minutes further to the Olympic Park in Munich, where the Olympic Games were played in 1972.  Here, just like in Berlin, we went to the top of the Fernsehturm, and to say I was speechless might be an understatement. From the top, we could see the Alps.  In the picture above, where it looks as if it was taken from the top of the world, you can make out the outline of the Alps on the horizon. I could have lived on the top of this building and never gotten bored of the view. So much to see, and so much to learn from the view.

Today’s excursion to Munich was incomparable.  ~Paige G.

Frankfurt old town panorama

Frankfurt skyline

downtown Frankfurt

On Sunday I woke up around 9. In Germany, the sun rises much earlier than in America, and it was initially hard to sleep in past 5:30-6:00 am. Now I am used to it, but it was confusing the first few days! My exchange partner’s mother made us a nice breakfast of croissants and fruit, and Rexy came over a bit later. We were all going to go into Frankfurt together, but Monique (my exchange partner) wasn’t feeling well, so she dropped us off at the U-Bahn station to go into Frankfurt. The ride was amazingly short, and soon we had gone from a small town to a massive city. We walked past an old square quickly on our way to the boat tour. The weather was extremely hot, and we were sweating by the time we reached the boat. It was worth it when we started moving down the river and saw the incredible skyline of Frankfurt behind us. After the boat completed its round trip back, we disembarked and walked back into the city. It was interesting how quickly the buildings went from modern stores to old traditional German buildings. We wandered around a square lined with these old buildings, then walked for just a few minutes and found ourselves on a street lined with sleek storefronts like Gucci and Burberry. There was a festival celebrating the firefighters of the city, and one square was filled with old models of fire trucks. A large shallow fountain was nearby, and to ward off the heat a bunch of small children were splashing around and playing. It was nothing like the stereotypical idea of cold, serious Germans. I can’t imagine something like that happening in the center of New York or a large city in America. Overall, the day in Frankfurt was hot but an interesting comparison to other larger American cities.  ~Sara M.

Breakfast

Bad Homburg

Spaghetti-Eis

Bike tour break

Today, we slept in, per usual. After waking at about 11 AM, Mikal and I went downstairs to an excellent breakfast of Brötchen (sections of baguette cut in half) with Turkish sausage, various fruits, and Apfelsaftschorle. Please keep in mind that the picture above regarding breakfast was after we had eaten, not before. After wasting some time at home, Mikal, his parents, and I embarked upon a biking journey of grandiose proportions. From Steinbach, we traveled through trails and visited Bad Homburg and Oberursel, among other wondrous places. Prior to this journey, I was unaware of how naturally beautiful this entire area was; I was truly amazed by what I observed. A highlight of the trip was when we stopped near a castle in Bad Homburg to enjoy some Italian ice cream. After hearing so much about it during German class, I felt compelled to try out the fabled Spaghetti-Eis.  The fact that a master of culinary practices possesses the ability to disguise ice cream as spaghetti, whilst maintaining the former’s refreshing, frozen glory, accurately displays the astounding progression of humanity. During another break for drinks at a local brewery (I drank orange juice), I had a productive discussion with my host family about the elusiveness of perfection regarding the use of German grammar. At the same place, we briefly saw two familiar looking, German-fluent American tourists. For me, it has been most helpful to speak always in German, and to ask (in German) every time I make a mistake. I then try to incorporate the newly learned word or speaking tactic into the following conversations. After about seven hours of being out, we came back home and wolfed down a tasty dinner of curried fish with rice. Mikal and I then listened to music for a while before heading to bed. Overall, today was a splendiferous experience that allowed me to witness the wonders of nature, get a solid workout in, consume delectable foods, and better my understanding and usage of the German language.  ~Xavier

Münzenberg

Riding competition

Riding competition

Riding competition

Currywurst

After I woke up on Saturday, I was greeted with a fresh German pretzel for breakfast. As I enjoyed my tasty treat, I thought about the bread and other pastries that I am able to get at home in the US, and started to realize how spoiled I am getting with all the amazing food here. Following this, we took a scenic drive out to Münzenberg for a horseback riding competition that my exchange student was competing in. The views from the drive were absolutely beautiful, and I was able to see the small towns and nature that Germany has to offer. After we arrived, we spent time getting the horse ready for competition and watched other riders take their turn. It was so interesting for me to be able to see the differences and similarities between horseback riding in the US and Germany. For one, we were able to drive to the competition, ride and return home all in one day. However, in the US, competitions are usually very far away, making it so that riders and horses have to stay overnight at the competition. For lunch, I decided to try my share at a German classic: Currywurst. I went all in and had it with fries with mayonnaise and it was delicious! After lunch break, it was time to show, and Mariana did an amazing job. We then had to wait for a few hours to hear her placing, but it was worth it because she scored her first placing in M level dressage! For this, she won a cool ribbon and even some carrots for her horse. We even got to cheer her on as she rode in the victory gallop!  It was so nice to get to spend the day outside in the gorgeous German weather. Finally, I got to learn lots of horse-related terminology in German that will be very useful once I return home. I can’t wait to experience the rest of this amazing trip! ~Eva H.

Hessenpark tour

Hessenpark tour

Hessenpark tour

Hessenpark tour

Hessenpark tour

Hessenpark tour

Hessenpark tour

Hessenpark tour

Hessenpark tour

Hessenpark residents

Hessenpark resident

Hessenpark residents

Don’t Feed the Animals!

Hessenpark family

Hessenpark family

Weaving workshop

Weaving workshop

Weaving workshop

Weaving workshop

Weaving workshop

Weaving workshop

Weaving workshop

Half-Timber workshop

Half-Timber workshop

Half-timber workshop

Half-timber workshop

Half-timber workshop

Half-timber workshop

Half-timber workshop

Half-timber workshop

Half-timber workshop

Half-timber workshop

Half-timber workshop

Indigo dye workshop

Indigo dye workshop

Indigo dye workshop

Indigo dye workshop

Indigo dye workshop

Indigo dye workshop

Medieval car show?

Lunch at Hessenpark

Lunch at Hessenpark

Lunch at Hessenpark

Lunch at Hessenpark

The majority of the exchange group gathered on Friday for an outing to the Hessenpark, an open-air museum featuring a collection of over 100 half-timbered houses and other historic buildings from the local region.  After a tour of the park, the students divided into smaller groups to participate in workshops on three traditional crafts:  weaving, indigo dyeing, and half-timber construction.  We then enjoyed a late buffet lunch together in one of the barn buildings before the students headed off again in various directions to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening with their exchange partners and host families.

As it turns out, the CA student assigned to write the blog post for Friday did not participate in the Hessenpark excursion, but instead traveled with her host family to  Bavaria for the long holiday weekend.  I’ll post her report separately as soon as I receive it.  In the meantime, all the best from sunny Oberursel!

~Frau Greene

View of Bad Homburg from my host family’s house

Breakfast

Schloss in Bad Homburg

Square in Bad Homburg

Kurpark

Together in Kurpark

Spaghettieis

Street in Oberursel

Today was our first full day with our host families. First, we drove from Bad Homburg to Oberursel to enjoy brunch with other exchange students. It was interesting to see what was prepared, with many cheeses, cold-cut meats, pretzels, and fruit all included, even Weißwurst. Everything was very good and I enjoyed talking with everyone about many different things. Then, we left to Bad Homburg to go geocaching; however, we missed the bus and needed to go on the train. It was a little complicated and difficult to understand in German, although we managed to get through a good part of it before we got completely stuck and ended our geocaching excursion. Despite it being difficult to understand, it was fun to do and also a good opportunity to walk through the Kurpark and see the art installations. I learned about how Bad Homburg is famous as a spa town and its connection to Kaiser Wilhelm II.  I was also surprised to found out that Bad Homburg is home to the Germany’s oldest golf club and a Russian chapel. We then went to an ice cream shop where I ordered Spaghettieis, a typical German ice cream dish where the vanilla ice cream is shaped to look like spaghetti noodles with red strawberry sauce on top so that the whole dish looks like a plate of spaghetti. Afterwards we visited a castle in Bad Homburg,and it was interesting to notice that our exchange students found it completely normal to just have a castle nearby, while we thought it was cool to see, as we simply do not have historic buildings truly like that in America. After going out for dinner, we came back and played Kniffel, a game with dice that was almost the same as Yahtzee. In all, it was a very fun day which has me looking forward to the rest of the trip.  ~Koa K.

a traditional German breakfast

Oberursel train station

geocaching directions

geocaching device

hot chocolate

Kurpark in Bad Homburg

Bad Homburg town center

Leo, the neighbor’s cat

Netflix with Leo

playing pool in Bad Homburg

After getting a long night’s sleep (about 10 hours!), I woke up on Thursday around 9. I was happy to discover that the shower worked the same as it had in the hotel, and that saved me a bit of time and strife. Then it was off to breakfast at around 10. We ate a traditional (and also very large) German breakfast at Kyle’s exchange student’s house – I was very surprised to see that they eat Nutella even at breakfast. Then, we went geocaching in Bad Homburg with Kyle, Koa, Will, and their exchange partners. The city was adorable and very walkable, and it was nice to get there so easily with short bus and train rides. After seeing a few monuments in Bad Homburg and walking through the gorgeous Kurpark, we were unable to find one of the geocaching spots, so we decided to go back into the middle of the city and get some ice cream. While the others ate German Spaghettieis, I settled for a hot chocolate because I am still getting used to the colder weather here. Then, Olivia and I went back to the house with our exchange partner because she had a horseback riding lesson. Olivia and I stayed home, where we watched some Netflix and spent a very long time petting the neighbor’s cat, Leo. We also tried a little bit of German candy – I really liked the Katjes Grün-Ohr Hase. When my exchange student was finished with her riding lesson, we ate some dinner and went out together with her mother and brother to play pool. Olivia and I played against my exchange student and her mother, and, although we spent a solid hour and a half playing, I somehow did not get any better. When we were finished – around 10:30 – it hadn’t been dark outside for long. That was very surprising, even if I’m used to it staying light outside in summer. When we got home, I was very tired and went quickly to bed, ready for another night of good rest before our visit to the Hessenpark.  ~Claire F.

MONDAY
Monday got off to an earlyish start at 9:30, after breakfast at the hotel.  We had our first ride in the U-Bahn to Bernauerstraße and the Berlin Wall Memorial.  The Memorial site had metal poles showing where the wall was, and rectangular plates showing where the tunnels were.  It was very impactful to see where everything actually was, instead of just pictures or descriptions, and even though I didn’t use it, I appreciate how the audio recordings were in English as well as German.  We walked to a lookout point over the Berlin Wall Memorial, where we could see for miles around us.  The museum that accompanies the Memorial was unfortunately closed, so we got to walk around Berlin.  Thankfully, it had warmed up a little by then.  We got to split off from the group to eat lunch wherever we wanted, but we ended up all eating at the same restaurant.  The food was good, but it took some time to get through the process of ordering and paying, and we actually ended up being a little late for the tour of the escape tunnels, but it all worked out in the end.  The tunnel tour was incredible; we got to see some of the surviving tunnels people used to escape to West Berlin and hear some of their stories.  The tour guide was very nice, and I could understand most of what she said!  We then made our way to the Fernsehturm, which is a restaurant/museum/lookout that’s kind of like the Seattle Needle.  We had coffee and cake in their rotating restaurant, where Sara tried to take a panorama that failed miserably.  After some time in the Fernsehturm, we walked through Berlin to dinner.  There were some beautiful historic buildings and many more flowers than I expected for a city.  We moseyed over to dinner in two groups and successfully ordered and paid for food yet again.  Zillemarkt, the restaurant I went to, had a very pretty patio with lots of flowers and plants. I split some veggie burgers with Sara, and we made our way back to the hotel to get some much-needed sleep.   ~Rexie B.

exiting the subway at Benauer Straße

Berlin Wall path markers

Leftover Wall segments

Escaping soldier

Fernsehturm

TUESDAY
Tuesday was our second full day in Berlin. After eating breakfast, we traveled by U-Bahn and by foot to the Brandenburg Gate and the Holocaust Memorial. Both sites were interesting to visit because they are both well-known throughout the world, and they are both important historical monuments. In addition, both are set up in a manner with no gates or barriers that allows people to go up right to them, and in the case of the Holocaust Memorial, in them. After a brief stop at these places, we made our way to the Bundestag, the main event of the afternoon. After going through security to get into the building, we listened to a speech in the room where Bundestag meetings are held, which was very exciting. Later, we got to have a question and answer session with Markus Koob, a member of the Bundestag. This opportunity allowed our class to receive in-depth information from an important politician, including his opinions and stances on various issues. After the session ended, we received books about the German political system and then when to lunch in a cafeteria building in the Bundestag. Later, we went on a river cruise on the Spree, which allowed us to see Berlin from a different perspective. At dinner, we were given the option of where to eat, and the group that I was in decided to go to food stands for a Döner and a soft pretzel. This meal was a great way to experience German culture, as these are two staple products in Berlin food. Our final activity of the day was going to the theater to see a play. This experience was unique for many students, as most do not see plays very often, and even those who do don’t see them in German very often. The play, titled Welttretten für Anfänger, featured a wide array of music, political humor, and action, allowing audience members with different interests to enjoy the play very much. It this point, it was very late at night, so all of the students went to bed quickly after returning to the hotel. Overall, a lot was accomplished today and a lot was learned.   ~Matthew C.

Brandenburg Gate

Holocaust Memorial

Reichstag building with glass dome

Plenary hall of Bundestag

Bundestag eagle

Bundestag observation gallery

Q&A with Mr. Koob

Bundestag glass dome

Inside glass dome of Bundestag

Inside glass dome of Bundestag

Ampelmann shop

Ampelmann shop

Spree river cruise

Spree river cruise

Spree river cruise

Spree river cruise

Spree river cruise

Outside the Distel Theater

Scene from “Weltretten für Anfänger”

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday was our last day in Berlin, and we woke up earlier than usual to go on a tour to the Olympic Stadium. All but two of us gathered in the lobby at 8:15, desperate to get going on our exciting excursion.  After sending what seemed like a whole army to retrieve Xavier and Max from their room, we finally headed to the U-Bahn at 8:45.  We had a nice stadium tour were we got to see the VIP seats (I got to sit in Angela Merkel’s seat), the locker rooms, and the press room.  The entire Olympic Stadium complex was unlike anything we have in the US, complete with many different facilities–the stadium itself, an outdoor swimming and diving center, a track and field center, and many soccer training fields.  After that we went straight to the KaDeWe for lunch and some shopping. We got an expensive but tasty meal on the top floor of the department store.  After that, we went through the many floors of clothes and accessories, and even got to walk down the street to go to the Adidas and Nike stores. Amidst heading back to the hotel to pick up our bags and leave, we made one final stop in Berlin at a public balcony where we could look at the monkeys in the zoo.  Then, it was time to travel to Frankfurt. We had a nice flight and arrived with our host families greeting us and taking us home!  It was nice to meet the family and get my room set up for the next few days.  After getting settled, I walked to a nearby restaurant with my exchange partner to go watch the Europa League Final. When we got back, it had already been dark for a few hours, and I was not hesitant to get some much- needed sleep.  Overall, it was an action-packed day in both Berlin and Frankfurt, filled with sightseeing and the joy of meeting our host families!   ~Kenny E.

Olympic Stadium

Olympic Stadium tour

Inside the Olympic Stadium

1936 Olympic Pool

Hmmmm….

Somewhere on the Ku’damm