Bertesgarten and Salzberg (Thursday)

Will's Report: Bertesgarten and Salzberg

The crew woke up and headed to school. What they did not expect was for the Oberstufe, or graduating class, to have pranked the entire school by putting classrooms outside, making messes in the hallways, and spraying students with water as they tried to enter. After briefly meeting in the classroom, the students made their way in a van and car to the train station, where they took a series of trains to the most south-east part of Bavaria: Austria.
Will quickly donned his American gear and as the crew was walking to the salt mine, they found an Audi hubcap, which they carried for the whole day, all while making plans for its uses. They got into the salt mine around 11:27, donned their jumpsuits, and hopped aboard a small train that would take them down to the deepest reaches of the mining operation. There they learned about the mining processes, saw a perfectly reflective underwater lake, and licked the walls and drank salt water. They emerged from the tunnels, took selfies, and removed the jumpsuits quickly in order to get to the next bus.
The bus arrived in Salzburg, Austria, where Mozart was born. The crew meandered through the town, across a lock-bridge, through several shopping areas, till they stopped at the Cathedral. After spending about 15 minutes touring the crypts and sections, the students were given freedom to wander as they wished, making sure they were back on the lock-bridge by 5:20. Cindy immediately went to explore the castle at the peak of the town, and Greg, Brett, and Will went shopping for souvineers, gifts, and food. Marla, Casey, and Collin gallavanted about, later running into Brett, Greg, and Will at the McDonalds.
Greg disappeared after that, and the five remaining at McDonalds were accosted by a man speaking German wielding newspapers. His questions were mainly directed at Will, who was going to buy a paper from him. Each time a new coin of higher value, the price of the paper would go up. Eventually we told him to leave, and he did, with one of Wills Euros and the newspaper Will had bought.
Discussion at McDonalds grew stale, and on realizing that there were 30 minutes of freedom left, the McDonalds Five quickly ran about to get some final gifts and Ice Cream. Collin and Casey spotted Red Bull World, and Collin proceeded to buy a very large shirt, which was worth 29 Euros. The crew made it to the bridge in time, and Cindy quickly emerged from the crowd. Marla had bought a lock, so she attached it to the bridge and threw away the keys.
  The gang then walked to the train station, and left for home. Upon nearing their destination, the group realized that their S-Bahn train would not be stopping at the pre-arranged station. Thus, there was another train transfer, and the group arrived home 40 minutes behind schedule. Our host families were all very understanding and we successfully completed another day in Deutschland.

Cindy's first day at school!

Gapp Cindy Daily Report #1


In the morning I woke up at 6 am because we were supposed to leave at 7:40 by bike :) it was so cool!! I haven't gotten a chance to ride a bike since finishing elementary school!! But I wasn't good at it. Two times I almost fell over from the bike and I was nervous to ride my bike in the busy morning traffic having to share the right of way with the cars on the street.
First class we went to was English . The teacher was late for 30 mins I guess because he was showing our teacher the school. Right away he started to talk about oral exam that they're about to have. The teacher was a nice old man who reminds me of Mr. Elderbrock in Kennedy. He is a nice man but I don't like the way he teaches because it doesn't allow me to think outside the box. Students were paired up to have a practice exam in front of the whole class and for whatever reason, I got to practice with them too. I was so nervous. I am not a native English speaker and I don't think my English is much better than the Germans'. The teacher realized that when he asked me to do the oral exam in front of the class. I was so embarrassed because they all expected a real American not a Chinese international student. That was my perception anyways. English was also the hardest because I have to be awake and prepared for his vocabulary questions.

The next class was German with Martin and Willie. The teacher was giving me a hard time in a helpful way of learning German. Clearly, he knows how to speak English but he refused to speak it with us. He was asking me questions and all I know is to say : "I can't understands what you said " in German :) thanks to Tabbi for teaching the most important thing in German. I called him Mr. Uwel but that was his first name! So it was pretty ironic that I called him that... He asked us to take a German book from the library so we can learn. I love that idea! He is strict, but a really cool teacher.

The next few classes didn't really leave any impression on me. The schedule was very confusing and the school was confusing too. I had completely no idea where I should go if I am not following my host sister. Besides that everything is good in Germany!!

Will Visits Berlin

Will Stryker is a 16 year old sophomore. He is in German 2 and is already picking up the language very well! While in Seattle Will enjoys driving, eating copious amounts of food, shooting sports, hiking/camping in the mountains and seeing movies. Will is  looking forward to understanding the life of a Bavarian family as well as being immersed in the German language and he is especially excited for the food!!

This weekend the Schmitz sons and Will went to Germany's capitol, Berlin. There they traveled by subway to different historical and governmental areas, ate lots of food, and joined the crowd near Brandenburger Tor for the Germany-Ghana football match. They also met up with Tabea and Cindy.

Casey's Italian Hiking Tour

Casey Stensaas will be going into his Junior year at JFK. He has taken two years of German and is excited to improve his German skills during his time in Bavaria. Casey is also looking forward to the food here as well as observing the differences how people live in Bavaria.

Casey's Italian Hiking Tour
Janniks family and I went to Italy to go hiking. We stayed at the familienhotel Feuersten. On Friday we went on a small hike to see some amazing waterfalls, we also walked around a small town there. On Saturday we went on a 3 hour hike ending at the Alms restraunt and then headed home. On Sunday we just relaxed and Janniks grandma, grandpa, and uncle came over and we had a nice Bavarian meal. After they left we went to the Olympiaturm Höchste Zeit. We walked around and saw some places where the Olympics where like the swimming pool and the soccer game. When we came home we just relaxed and Janniks got ready for school.

Greg's First Weekend in Germany

I have had an adventurous time in Germany so far. On Thursday we went over to St. Bartholomä by a boat. as we marveled upon the majestic mountains, the tour guide demonstrated how the valley had an echo by playing a small tune on the trumpet. I was truly amazed when we were told that the water in the lake was good enough to drink. I thought with the boats motors it would be bad, but I tasted it anyways and so far so good I assume. On Friday, I experience Germany's public transportation system. It was slightly different from Seattle's system, an example is that you have to press a button to open the doors. That really interested me. But as we journeyed through München (Munich) I was intrigued by the cobblestone paths, how the stones show a wave like design. It was truly awe inspiring. As we journeyed, we stopped by the Milka shop and there I meet the Milka cow and all of her cow babies (calves for you people who prefer the correct word to describe a cows offspring). Then on Saturday, I journeyed over to Regensburg to gaze at, the truly awe inspiring, St. Peter's cathedral. (or St. Peter's Dom as they say in Germany.) I was put into a different dimension when I gazed upon the stain glass, the pipe organ, and not to mention the statue in the front. It was truly spectacular. After being in awe of the cathedral, we then took our descent into the bishops sepulchure to see the bones of one the first bishops (or so I believe it was, I could be wrong) and all of the bishops up to I believe 1961. I knew there was a 9 and 6 in there somewhere. And to end Saturday we went to a public viewing to see the fußball game of Germany against Ghana which came out to be a draw. To finish off the weekend, on Sunday, we took a relax day at home. My host needed tome to do his homework before we go to school tomorrow. So we played basketball and fußball till noon and then came home to lunch and the formula 1 race. As I sit here writing this blog post I can truly say that I am glad to be here with this host family. However, I can also say that I miss home. I mean using euros and the metric system are nice and all. But to me, a dollar is $1.00 (not €1,00) and a mile is 5,280 feet long (not 1.609 kilometers). But other than that custom, I can say I miss my family, friends, special friends, neighbors, teachers, and other-people-who-I-may-not-remember-at-this-time-but-really-want-to-because-I'm-nice. Also, I am a little excited for school tomorrow because its new, German, and they probably won't understand a word I say :) . I can't wait to see what lies ahead in my European adventure, hopefully I don't get hurt anymore haha.

Berlin Meets Cindy

Come to the Germany as a exchange student is one of the best experience I would ever expected. The past 6 days with my host Tabbi had been awesome and sweet. The schedule was crazy but everything turns out to be so fun and so worth it.
On Thursday , we started our trip to Berlin , the largest city in Germany. We visit the "Brandenburger Tor" the gate of Berlin , and we went on a building to look at the overall Berlin. Tried many of the Berlin famous food like currywurst ( special sausage with special ketchup!) and Buletten and Döner ( without the help of Tabbi I won't be able to spell and find out those fantastic stuff !!
Saturday is a big day for Germany ! Especially Berliner ~ the soccer game ! Or I should say football game :) result wasn't the way people would expected, 2-2 against Ghana. But I totally experienced how mean those Germans were, we were at the square , watching the football with most of the Berliner, they all refuse to let people pass through them because they don't want to lose their perfect spot of view for the game. I guess this will never happen in Seattle.

Now is 12:05 am in the morning , we finished the game and we are headed back home, pretty cool .

While I was in Germany , I learn a lot of daily sentence. My expectation is easy but some how hard to achieve , I wish I can handle the daily conversation fluently , and understand the country more from the history aspect. I want to know the foreign policy and the reason for Germany to adopt this kind of foreign policy. I am also curious how people think of Hitler, and how Hitler had influenced the country .