When I first stepped onto the plane to Frankfurt, I honestly did not know what to expect. Already, I was in a foreign country (Canada) and the idea of crossing the Atlantic for the first time seemed all too surreal. Nine hours later the prospect of having to speak a language that was not native to myself began to set in as our group headed for the baggage claim at the Frankfurt airport or Flughafen. From the inside, I thought to myself that not much seemed to be different form the U.S. as far as the airport seemed to be concerned besides the fact that everything was in German. These minor thoughts soon flew away as we rounded the corner to the baggage claim where we were then greeted by our host families. My host mother, Nikki Isselstein, was right in the middle of the pack with a looming sign that was welcoming myself to the country. My month-long venture in Germany had begun.
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| German breakfast prepared by my host mother, Nikki. |
The Isselstein family was my very first taste of German hospitality, something that very nearly rivals “southern” hospitality in the United States. Upon entering their very welcoming house, I was greeted by my host father, Andreas, and their dog, Amun. I was shown to my apartment downstairs (yes, I had my very own apartment) and was left to nap off the jet lag and take in my surroundings. The Isselsteins lived right in the heart of downtown, something that would be very useful throughout the trip. This close proximity to the heart of Wiesbaden provided a mere five-minute walk to key restaurants and shops in Wiesbaden (my particular favorite was the Currywurst Manufacturer).
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| Currywurst from the Currywurst Manufacturer |
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| The view of Wiesbaden from my house on Riederbergstraße |
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| My host brother, Tim, and I at the weekly Wiesbaden market |
After about three hours at the house, Nikki and I left to go pick up Tim, my host brother, from a friend’s party in the countryside. This was my first real taste of the German countryside. Arguably some of my favorite moments came from drives through the country in the Mini Cooper with the top down and admiring the rolling, picturesque hills and the ocean of vineyards. Tim was a mere 14-year-old boy about the height of my 12-year-old brother. Although he was much younger than myself, the gap yielded no problems between us bonding with each other. Together, we enjoyed walking all over Wiesbaden, trying new German cuisine, sailing on the family boat down the Rhine, flying in his friend’s airplane, going 150 mph down the autobahn in a Porsche, and enjoying the world-famous video game, Fortnite. All of this being said, we had some great times together that made saying goodbye all the more challenging.
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| A view of the German countryside from our sight-seeing plane ride. |
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| Just before our Porsche ride on the Autobahn |
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| View of the courtyard at the Humbolt Schule |
On the school side of things, we attended the Humbolt Schule, which was a mere 20-minute drive from the Isselstein household. As I came to learn, the German school system is much different from the American system. Instead of the students rotating classes with different people in each class, the students stayed together in the same classroom with the teachers rotating between classrooms. I very much enjoyed the comradery and togetherness that the class enjoyed because of this system. The classes were also different day to day with varying length and order. This unique school system was highly enjoyable and kept the days interesting as I did not always know what to expect.
Following a great three weeks in Wiesbaden, our group was met by Herr Dougherty in the Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof for a “brief” four-hour train ride to Munich. Munich, in my opinion, was the unexpected gem of the trip. On day one, we were immediately thrown in to the heart of the city with a trip to the Hofbrauhaus followed by an exciting viewing of the German World Cup victory over Mexico. The following two days included trips to Dachau, the BMW Museum, and Allianz Arena. On top of all of these things, we enjoyed some of the best Bavarian Cuisine ranging from Schweinhaxe to Currywurst.
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| Art piece at the BMW museum |
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| View of Marienplatz in Munich |
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| Sunset along the Canal in Vienna |
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| A view of Vienna from the top of the Prater Park Ferris Wheel |
Finally, our adventure came to an end in Vienna, Austria. Vienna, or Wien, was a nice surprise for us as it still embodied a lot of German culture, but there was a nice melting pot effect with the blend of many different European cultures. In Vienna, we enjoyed many different venues from art museums to the great castles such as Schloß Schönbrunn, the summer residence of the Habsburg family. My favorite venue in Vienna was Prater Park on the outskirts of the city. Here, we enjoyed a ferris wheel that carried us to a spectacular view of the city along with many other attractions. From the famous Wiener-schnitzel to screaming my head off on various rides, Vienna provided a nice conclusion to our European adventure.
My trip to Germany and Austria was one to remember and one that advanced my German knowledge both culturally and academically. At the start of my journey, I will admit that understanding anyone was a struggle and it definitely took effort to build up confidence to speak with anyone, but by the end of the trip I had made many good friends in my host brother’s classroom as well as being able to better understand those attempting to speak with me. It was nice in the end to be able to sit around the dinner table with my host family and have a quality German conversation that most likely would not have been achievable on the first day.
I would like to finish by thanking the Wilson Family for their generosity in granting me the opportunity to travel to Germany, something that I would never have dreamed of doing in my lifetime. Thanks to them, I got to make international connections with some of the most kind-hearted people on this planet, enjoy some of the most beautiful cities in the world, and further my German knowledge. This was an unbelievable journey and a memory that will stay with me forever.
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