Here is the family i was staying with. I had the fortune of hosted Jan Hackmann, the man in the middle, this past fall. I was fortunate to already have some friends in Germany making the process so much easier. Almost immediately i fall asleep and woke just in time to be late for school. It was quite an experience to walk to school every morning, something that surprised me. School was rather fun the first day. We spent a time making new friends and in my case catching up with some old ones. The daily school routine rarely differed; classes, breaks, lunch and done. However whats more interesting was what happened on Wednesdays. On Wednesdays school lasted till 1, rather than the normal 4. It was this first Wednesday that Charlie, jay, and I got to know Weisbaden. Every week we had a class trip on Friday, and this first Friday we went to Frankfurt to tour an art museum. We then took a tour of the museum in German. The ride and the tour were all as expected, but what really surprised me was what happened next. The teacher allowed us high school students to run around in Frankfurt for two hours. The weekends were my main chance to get to know Germany, yet this first weekend was rather boring. Saturday Jan took me back to Frankfurt to walk around a little more and that Sunday he had to study for a test so i just went into town.
Next week i met Fabian, pictured bellow.
Fabian was my old exchange student from last year. I spent that Tuesday going to his classes. It happened often that I would go to different classes, because Jan would take classes like Spanish for which i had no interest. This picture above is from dinner I had with them.
The second weekend was hands down the best weekend of the trip, Jans family took me to Berlin.
Above some Trabants can be seen. Trabants are old east German cars, and have become tourist attractions. I always enjoy seeing one but never riding in one, there is no room. We spent the first day walking around. We walked from our Hotel to the KaDeWe. A giant mall for some of the worlds most expensive items, like a 10 euro bottle of iced tea. The next day we took city tours, on boat, on bus, and even in a Trabant. On the way back we stopped by in Meissen. Meissen is home to Europes first porcelain factory.
Here is an example from the Hackmanns second home.
The third week was made up of class trips. Everyday we took a trip with either the class or the other exchange students, who arrived this week. One of the most memorable was Heidelberg.
Here are two pictures of the giant castle in Heidelberg. The castle was set up on a high hill and walking up was a giant pain. It was worth it. The view of the Heidelberg was something else. Luckily we took the train down.
Another memorable trip was to Mainz. Mainz is Weisbadens sister city and at the same time a rival city.
Here there beautiful cathedral. The last week the four of us took a road trip. We stopped for a day in Rottenburg.
From this birds eye, the city walls are barely visible. The wall go all the way around the city and can be traversed.
sometimes.....The city was old and spectacular, having never been destroyed. We finished that day in Munich. Tired but hungry we set out to find a doner, however my suggestion soon turned into a two hour hike, the rest were not pleased.
The next day we went to the BMW museum. The museum looked like my dads Car and Driver collection, but nonetheless very enjoyable. When we were there they had a mini exhibit.
This was our favorite.We then proceed outside to the Olympic park.
Like every memorable picture in Germany, this came with a long hike. After this picture we went to a festival on the other side of the hill. There was music and booths with an assortment of foods, clothes, and other souvenirs. Later that day we went to the main square.
This is the facade of the capitol building of Munich. While we were there they had a gay pride festival in the middle of the square in front of this building. The entire square was filled with booths and stands holding all sorts of food, drinks, and candy(the germans love candy). We had to go to bed early that day because the next day we were going to tour the castle. Schloss Neuschwanstein was a crazy castle built by a crazy king.
This a picture of the castle from a normal perspective. The castle was a long hike up and then this view another equally long walk. The hike was well worth it and the castle was a beautiful as advertised.
The next day we left for Dachau. Dachau was a Nazi work camp mainly for political prisoners. While it was a mass death camp the day was rather bleak, but it is important to remember so that we may never repeat the mistakes of the past.
From there we went on to Nurnburg. Nurnburg was historically a very important city in Germany. It was the home of the Kaisers castle and was were the golden bull was written. We arrived the first day and like every day took some time to look around. The next day we went on to the Nazi rallying grounds.
This picture was taking from were Hitler would have given his speeches. The green hill marks the boarders. The grounds could hold up to 200,000 people, but now is home to a racetrack. We also saw the skeletons for the German senate. The scale of the building was something else, rivaling a football stadium in size. The final day we stopped by in Wurzburg.
Behind us is the famous keep in Wurzburg. Again another long hike for an amazing view. We also took some time to walk around and see the bishops home. The house is giant and built in the same style as Versailles.
As a lost remark I would like to thank the Wilson family for this amazing trip. Not only did my German improve to the point that my host father began to wonder why i even needed this trip but also I was able to understand so much about the German mindset. Having hosted for two years I thought I had an idea of what I was getting into, but life has its ways of surprising us. So therefore I would like to thank the Wilsona for these pleasant surprises and my new and improved German vocabulary.
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