Joe McMahan in Deutschland

Joe McMahan

Joe McMahan in Deutschland

Upon Arrival in Wiesbaden

On Sunday, July 19th, we flew into the Frankfurt airport, and were greeted by our families and the leaders of the Humboldt Schule exchange program on the German side. I met my family, who were very generous and kind, the dad even asked to carry my luggage which I gratefully declined, and we drove directly to their house where they showed me around my house and to my living space. The first couple days trying to understand native German speakers all the time did not come so easy, but the family and my piers at the Humboldt Schule were patient with me and would explain something to me if I did not understand a word or phrase.

The Marktkirche in the town center of Wiesbaden

The Humboldt Schule

In the morning for the first three periods of every school day the American students would all have our own private German lessons from native speakers, which helped our German learning a lot too. In the afternoon of each school day we would either shadow our host brothers for the rest of their classes or we would go on some daily excursions that were selected for us Americans. We had several daily trips into the city for activities like climbing to the top of the Neroburg mountain overlooking Wiesbaden or meeting the mayor in the town hall.

The Russian Church on the top of Neroburg overlooking Wiesbaden

The city hall of Wiesbaden where we met the mayor 

We had several other trips with the group of Harpeth Hall girls that were also at the Humboldt Schule.  We went to several of the neighboring cities like Heidelberg and Mainz. Heidelberg was a great old town with a beautiful architecture and the unique castle the overlooked the whole town. Mainz, where Gutenberg invented the printing press, was one of the oldest cities in Germany,

Picture take from the Heidelberg Castle overlooking the town

The statue in the Heidelberg Town Square with the Heidelberg Castle in the background

Picture of the Astonishing Cathedral in Mainz

Through the school I also had the chance to meet new friends in a different language. This experience was very beneficial because I built strong friendships and still keep in contact with them, and it was great German practice conversing in German with people my age in their native language.

My German Host Family

As I said before my family was great, because they were very generous and patient any slip ups in German I may had but still helped me learn from any mistakes I might make. The family was so generous that the even took me on several trips to Frankfurt, Berlin, and Rudesheim am Rhein. I went to Frankfurt twice, once with my host brother to watch the German National soccer team in the Frankfurt soccer arena and once with my host father to give me his own personal tour of the financial capital of Germany. My host family was so generous that one weekend my family even took me on a trip to Berlin the biggest, most historical city in Germany. The trip was very educational plus a lot of fun because we saw many museums and went to a public viewing of the German national soccer team in the European cup tournament. Rudeheim am Rhein was also a beautiful town with several castles built on the Rhein river.

The Beautiful Skyline of Frankfurt and the tallest building in Germany

The Famous Brandenburger Tor in Germany

Me with my Host brother in mother in front of a monument in Rudesheim am Rhein

Our Last week in Europe - Travel Week

On the last week we, Herr Dougherty and the rest of the MBA students in Germany, went to Munich and Vienna, Austria. This last week of the trip was a ton of fun and also very educational, because we got to see all the historic monuments and Herr Dougherty also taught us about many things in the German Language and Culture. Our first stop was the capital city of Bavaria, Munich. The city was a great cultural center of southern Germany, and had many beautiful aspects.

The Beautiful Marion Platz in the center of Munich

View of the 1972 Munich Olympic park

Vienna was the capital city of the Holy Roman Empire and The Austro-Hungarian Empire, so we were able to learn extensive facts and develop new perspectives of European History. Vienna is a vibrant city with so many different beautiful buildings and with a great story behind every one. After seeing many different museums in Vienna and all the cities sights, we left from there and headed back to the States

Stefanskirche in the city center of Vienna

Karskirche on of the biggest and most ornate churches in vienna

Schloss Schönbrunn - the place of the Holy Roman Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire

Thanks

This trip was the best experience of my life thus far, because I built relationships in a different language and culture, got to experience German culture first hand, learned much more german, and had fun seeing all the sights I have read about in my German books. Thank you so very much for this opportunity to have a spectacular experience in a foreign land.