July 4-5, 2010: We spent most of the 4th traveling from Berlin to Bavaria for our homestay. We arrived in Plattlings Train Station where we met our host families. The homestay was in the greater Degendorf area about an hour outside of Munich. My host family consisted of only of 16-year old host brother and his parents. In my home, I had my own room in the basement, which was the coolest part of the home, with my own bathroom as well. For dinner the night of our arrival, we went to a Volksfest nearby where I had my first taste of the local drink and traditional cheese and pretzels of this area of Bavaria. Jack's host family consisted of a same aged host sister, a younger sister, and an older host brother. He stayed in the younger sister's room which consisted a life-size poster of Hannah Montana. That night he enjoyed a traditional German meal of Wiener Schnitzel. July 5 began with our first day of school at the Gymnasium, or upper echelon high school, in Niederalteich. We visited a few classes with the host siblings and saw a bit of the campus which is greatly engulfed in a monastery which actually owns the school.

We visited the city hall of Degendorf where we signed the guestbook of the city and took a picture for the city paper. Jack and I represented Nashville by being in the front row of the picture. For the rest of the day, we toured around Degendorf.

My host brother, Kai, and I late in the afternoon decided to go to the local swimming pool,

which was much more than just a pool as we'd think today. It was a mix of a waterpark and a regular pool. Jack, on the other hand, went to a Volksfest with his older host brother and witnessed German culture at its finest, i.e. most stereotypical. People

wearing Lederhosen and dancing to folk music on tables with pints and pretzels.

That night, I presented my family with gifts of Nashville and they were very appreciative and instantly began eating the always delicious GooGoo Clusters, and Jack's family enjoyed the Loveless Cafe jams. One thing we noticed within these first few days was that it was hard to speak German when they all spoke Bavarian, a very different dialect of German specific to the region. But we did our best, they understood us, and we understood them a bit.