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Dear Friend,
My trip to Germany is an experience I will remember for my entire life and in order to remember it, I'm documenting it all day-by-day, complete with pictures.
June 30/July 1 We made it to the airport at 4 PM, stood through a long line during check in, and boarded the plane for the 7 PM departure. The flight was so long, and the fact that I couldn't sleep made it longer; however I wasn't alone. I played cards with Jamie and Katie, and before we knew it, we were in Frankfurt. The extra flight to Stuttgart was exciting, and we all applauded when we hit the ground. Then in the terminal, we saw the Germans waving and cheering as we entered and 10 minutes later, we were out and finally reunited with them all.
July 2 I remember waking up by myself at 6 AM and I slowly became accustomed to my loft room, which I loved. Then I went to school for a reception, tour, and information on our trip. I loved the welcome sign!
After that, we all went to downtown Stuttgart, and it's beautiful!
The shops are wonderful, and so are the people there. We returned early because there was a welcome party to go to. I met so many Germans there and got to know a good group of them. Many people were drunk, but that was great because I talked to the sober ones and we had a lot in common. I left at 1 AM, about the time Sebastian was ready to go home.
July 3 I woke up early for a Saturday and it took some time for Sebastian to come to since he was up very late. Eventually, we went to downtown by bus and train. Their transportation system is very extensive. I had to find a voltage converter, and finally I found one on this day just as my camera battery was running out. Here's a nice shopping area in Stuttgart.
Once again, another party happened and I got to know the Germans much better. This one was at the university park which is so country-like and beautiful.
July 4 We went to a deli today and were all astonished at the huge assortment of meats!
Then I got together with my group and we worked on our presentation. It included slides and producing transparancies from a book we had. Nothing else noteworthy happened this day except that I tried my first glass of wine, and it was delicious with cheese! Happy Independence Day!
July 5 It was my first day at school where I had to do my presentations. This is the PGH monument with extra decorations.
We did national parks; our group was me, Chris, Reed, and Naz. Our first presentation was in Mr. Knapp's class and he helped us so much. He's a great teacher and we were lucky to have him as our first person to present to. After that, we went shopping in downtown again, had a party in the evening, and that's pretty much it for that day.
July 6 We took a bus trip to this 1600s style museum in the middle of nowhere, and had a lot of fun seeing the animals and hanging around in the houses.
Then we went to this town right along the river, and it was ever so beautiful.
After getting home rather late, we were all tired but it was fun to be out and around on that, our first field trip of many.
July 7 Another day of presentations was upon us. This time, we had 2 classes and our timing became a perfected art. We knew how to transition slides based on what we said, and the transparancies were turned on with very smooth transitions as we showed more pictures of the parks. After that, we went to downtown with Jimmy...this is interesting. First of all, he was using German pick up lines on Dela; it was hillarious!
Then he bought this mini-keg from an electronics store (how weird, eh?) and I snuck in this picture...this one is for all you ladies out there interested in men's lingerie. There are 2 butts, can you find both?
We went home and the keg disappeared forever into the caverns of German teen culture...
July 8 Today was exciting for me because I love hiking! We went to the Black Forest for a 11 km hike in the woods along a creek. After taking a 2 hour drive down the Autobahn, we saw the woods and scenery that were so beautiful.
As we finished and arrived into the bus, it started to pour, and the timing was perfect. Coming home, we saw what appeared to be snow along the road, but it was actually hail that fell during the storm that passed earlier. It was so interesting to see and I regret that I have no pictures of it.
July 9 This was a boring day for me, and all I had was presentations. After that, it was raining a lot and the temperature didn't reach higher than 60 so I just stayed home and wrote a lot of postcards.
July 10 We slept in and went to downtown to experience the fast food of Germany: Doner Kebaps. They're pitas filled with Turkish meat, kraut, lettuce, and ranch dressing. They're delicious. Here's a doner place.
After that, we went to this huge show in a big park north of downtown. There was live music, from rock to funk to jazz. After that, we made it into the huge meadow and watched the 20 minute long fireworks show. It was equivalent to our 4th of July fireworks, and we deemed it the official substitute activity. I got to know more Germans and now I have names of better known ones: Dela, Julianne, and Natalie! We went home on the train at 11:00 and were all teasing the drunk people through the window and into the next car. We had a grand time and slept late that night.
July 11 I remember this Sunday being rather slow, but I did go and play soccer with the folks out at the park in the afternoon, and I had my first experience of Cordon Bleu. It's so good and better than what Arby's has to offer here in the states. Then we all went to a party together in the evening at the park and so many people were there.
July 12 We went to Heidelburg today, and it was such a cold day. That was great because we had several hundred steps to climb to get up to the castle there, where we enjoyed a short tour. The view was great so we all took a group picture.
Here's the same location with people added.
We went down to the city and I ate with Chris, Reed, and Nicole at the Hard Rock Café. It's amazing that there's so many international places there. Also, there's a McDonalds.
Not all the McDonald's are that pretty, but there are many that are "Europeanized". We went home later on and had a small get together at a billiards club 2 towns over. It was fun and I discovered that I had a pretty good shot for a first timer.
July 13 It was a day filled with presentations. Our group had a couple and the rest of the time was spent in the OAR (our home room). The kids became a bit crazy and we ended up playing cards, sleeping, or having tickling contests and making weird faces.
We hung out once again in the evening and I got to know Claudia and Puneh by name. In addition to that, I was invited to an opera later on!
July 14 There was no school for us, and instead we went to Munich. After 2 hours on the Autobahn we arrived in Dachau Concentration Camp and looked at all the information. Then we went to the Olympic stadium for the 1972 games and I spent a nice time with Claudia, Dela and Annie, as well as Nancy and Marissa. Then we went to downtown and the sights were amazing.
We also had a group picture at the fountain.
Then we went home and were all too tired to hang out. It was about 10:30 PM and I just went to bed.
July 15 Today was a fun day. After presentations at the school, we went out as a group to see Spiderman 2. I love that movie and the best part was that it was in english. Bless english movie theatres there! Then we all went as the same group to this high scale chiniese food place at the airport. After not having chinese food for so long, it was ever so delicious and we enjoyed each other's food since it was served on a platter and you just need to scoop it on your own plate. Natalie and Claudia were there, and so were their friends who I met earlier on the trip. That was the day that the RICOLA song was born, and every day after that included me doing it at least once.
July 16 We had more presentations today, 3 to be exact, and the 5th and 6th graders loved us. After that, I had an opera to go to with Puneh and Natalie. It was awesome, but I left early because I didn't understand it (Italian with German subtitles).
July 17 Nothing special happened during the day, but the evening was so fun. We went to the same park, but this time we were introduced to the Zipline, this toy where you sit on a round button and slide down along this rope.
Then after it got dark, the people got crazy on it. Look at this!
We celebrated into midnight for Jimmy's birthday, so I hung out with the few sober people of the night which was fun because we were laughing a lot at the behavior of some of them.
July 18I went to Stasbourg with my family and Horst's too. I had some bad allergies so I didn't enjoy it as much as I could have, but I still had a good time. The cathedral there was beautiful!
Then I went home and slept the allergies off. Afterwords, we had a small get together and barbecue.
July 19Nothing noteworthy happened today, just the school, presentations, nap, dinner, and relaxing time.
July 20We had sport day today, and we were divided into teams. Here's my team.
We won 3 events, lost 3. I played track and field, soccer, and basketball. This was over at about 12:30 and I went swimming at the public pool with the rest of the group. Their public pools are so nice! They have no waterparks, however.
July 21This was our last day of presentations at school, and I brought my saxophone. The kids came in and listened to me play it; it was fun, and I let them try. Also, I got Jimmy on saxophone and it was hillarious.
Otherwise, I had to get ready for the much anticipated trip to Berlin.
July 22We left for Berlin on the bus, and it took such a long time to get there...about 10 hours to be exact. We stopped at Nurnberg, the city where the Nazi trials were after the war. After that, we resumed our trip to Berlin and made it there around 7 PM. The meals there weren't really good, and it was only a youth hostel, but it was still fun to be there.
July 23
