Weekend in Review - Week 2

Waking up Sunday morning was very difficult; the morning sun shining out of my room and the warmth of my sheets was begging me to stay in bed. However, it was getting late so I got up, got ready, and ate some breakfast consisting of a sandwich and cereal. After putting everything away I went into my room and unpacked from the week before. Soon it was time for lunch and we ate until our bellies were full. Unfortunately, my host had to work, but the rest of my host family made plans to go to a medieval festival in a neighboring town. So, after saying goodbye to my host, the rest of my family and I drove to the festival. By the time we walked through the doors of the festival my excitement had gone through the roof. I was excited by everything I saw which consisted of knights, mages, medieval items, and “weapons.”  After two hours of walking around and shopping we went to the main event: an arena where a live musical called “Excalibur” takes place. The show was two hours long and all in German, so I could not understand a thing, but I got to see live jousting. It was tons of fun! We did get rained on, but I got hot chocolate afterwards. Overall it was a great day and lots of fun!  -Karanjot

Saturday night we returned to Markt Schwaben to the friendly group of host families. My host family greeted me with warm smiles and told me that we had dinner reservations. It was a great little Italian restaurant and I ate pasta carbonara. That night, we went home and I began to pack for me move to my new host family. Sunday morning I wake up to a nice last breakfast with my family. Then Julian and I played some table tennis right outside his house before I had to pack. After packing, the host family drove me to my new house and we shared a very sad goodbye. Now I am with my new Hungarian family. After getting acquainted and eating some schnitzel, we headed out to one of their family friends houses which was a big barn in the middle of nowhere. There were horses, cats, donkeys, and chickens roaming freely through the grass. Next, we headed home and I slept for the night. –Chris

When I returned to Markt Schwaben on Saturday night, my host parents picked me up and welcomed me back to home. They were eager to hear all about the exciting adventures our group had on our excursion around the country. They ordered me a whole pizza for myself which I couldn’t finish. Good thing my host dad could finish it for me! I was very chit-chatty with my family on Saturday night before I took a shower and went to bed. The next morning I woke up and they told me they were taking me to Schloss Neuschwanstein, the castle that was built for King Ludwig II but was never completed. It took us about twenty minutes to climb the hill and afterwards my host parents and I were out of breath. The tour I joined was in English, although I was with a group of Russian tourists. The castle had beautiful details and everything was original which made it so exciting. There were murals and stunning paintings that just added to the amazing design in each room. After the tour of the castle, we walked back down the hill and to the car. It was a long drive home and we were all very tired. When we got home, my host mom had prepared a lovely dinner and sweets for dessert. It had been a long and thrilling day and I was ready to go to bed to rest my body for the full week of school ahead of me. –Katie

After I got back to my host family in Poing, I took a shower and shaved. I figured that it would be a good idea considering that I only took two showers that week and did not shave, making me look and smell not too nice. After that, I sent my family an email and went to bed. On Sunday, I woke up at 10:00 in the morning. My host brother’s sister visited that night when I was asleep so I met her for the first time that morning. For breakfast, we had the usual bread with butter, jam, meat, and cheese along with German pancakes. My host family’s pancakes had large radii but were very flat. To eat them, we spread jam on them, rolled them up, and ate them. After breakfast, we dropped my host sister off at her flat in Munich. We also went to the Tollwood festival for about half an hour but left as it started to rain pretty hard. On the way back home, we stopped by a café to grab some cake. After that, Philipp and I played video games until dinner. We went to an Asian restaurant for dinner. After dinner, I went to bed. –Connor

We arrived at the train station in Munich and I was met by my host sister Hanna. I went with her and her friends to a festival in Munich. I do not remember the name of the festival but there was music, and many food vendors. It was very excited to experience the German culture with my host sister. After the festival we took the train back to Markt Schwaben. I feel asleep rather early because I was pretty tired that night, the next day I was able to sleep in which was very nice because I had not done that in a long time. Later on that day my host sister told me that we were going to another festival called the Tollwood festival. We took the train with some of Hanna’s friends and Willow and Jena. There were a lot of vendors at the festival kind of similar to a public market. It was very fun but it was also raining pretty heavily. We bought bratwurst and crepes. After this we took the train back to Markt Schwaben, and I biked back to Hanna’s house with her. We had dinner with her family and it was very good. I talked to them about America, and their trip to New York, because I traveled there last summer. I feel like I have gotten to know them all better, and I am enjoying staying with them. However, I do miss my family and my dog very much and can’t wait to see them when I get back!   -Eleana

Daniela met me at the train station in Markt Schwaben when me and Willow, went back to her house and got ready to go to a birthday party for her mother’s friend. We walked to the party and enjoyed ourselves and shared our experiences of the past week with Daniela and ate traditional German food, along with desert. The next morning, Willow came over and we had breakfast with the family. Then, Willow and I took a nap and painted our nails. After that, we went to the Tollwood festival for only a short time because it was pouring down rain and there was thunder and lightning. We each bought delicious chocolate and banana crepes and bratwurst for lunch. We made our way back to our host families home and then me and Willow slept again-we were so tired! And then Tim picked her up at 9:30, while I continued to sleep. –Jena

When we returned on Saturday, I felt tired, but not too tired.  I went with my host to his house, and afterward we went out to a restaurant for a little while.  We then returned and went to sleep.  The next day we went to Church, followed by a traditional Bavarian restaurant.  I ate some pork and it tasted nice.  We then went to a Japanese festival at the English Garden, but it rained so we went back.  I then slept a little, woke up to eat dinner, and went back to bed.  –Aaron

My weekend consisted of sleep, rain, taking more trains, and more walking. Though I was too tired to comprehend a lot from the week before, I managed to push through. On Saturday when we arrived back in Markt Schwaben I wasn’t greeted by my host family because they were at a dinner in Munich so I went home with Jena and Daniela. Around 11pm I was picked up and went back to Tim’s house to unpack my things and fall asleep. On Sunday I woke up around 9 so I could be dropped off at Jena and Daniela’s so we could go to Munich for the day. We took multiple trains in order to get to the Tollwood festival, and when we got there it ended up pouring down rain so we left basically right away. After that Jena and I took a nap until around 9:30, which is when I got picked up by Tim to go back to his house. –Willow

After a long week of traveling and hostels, it was SO nice to finally be back at my home away from home.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t go home with my host family after our train arrived in Markt Schwaben.  While my family was at a dance competition, I went home with Carina and Renee.  I didn’t think I was too tired at first so we got back to Carina’s house and started to watch the movie ‘Super bad’.  However, the moment I laid down, I fell asleep within 20 minutes.  When I woke up Sunday morning, Carina told Renee and I that she was going to have a Weisswurst breakfast for her friend’s birthday and a few others…it was delicious!! After a few hours of fun, Bianca and her dad, Tom, picked me up and took me ‘home’.  When we got home, we took a one hour trip into the mountains to a little café.  IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! We could see little villages in the distance surrounded by hills, farms, livestock, and lakes.  Back at the house, we watched the movie ‘Body Guard’ with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner before going to bed.  It was a super fun weekend!! - Jessika

To start my weekend I cannot stress enough that it felt so good to be back home in Munich. The first night back home Jessika spent the night at my host house because her host family was away.  The first thing we did was go to our room and ge ready for a movie night.  We watch Super bad in German with English subtitles.  We did not finish it because we all got tired and fell asleep.  The next morning we woke up to Carina telling us her friends were coming over for breakfast because it was her neighbor Phillip’s birthday.  We had weisswurst and made a lot of new friends.  Then Jessika and I went on the trampoline and practiced all of our toe touches and what not….needless to say we were impressive ha ha...  Afterwards Jessika had to go home but all of Carina’s and my new friends stayed.  Slowly each one went home and after everyone was gone Carina was invited to go to a soccer tournament.  I decided to stay home due to the fact I was very tired and Philip’s birthday party was that evening.  Once she came back we got ready to go and went to Philip’s house for dinner and to hang out with friends.  I knew a few people there but met a lot new people.  After a lot of socializing…in English, German, AND Bavarian…we made our way back home since it was a school night, concluding my weekend adventure.  –Renee