Friday, October 9, 2009
Singapore
We arrived at Singapore Airport an hour ago and are now waiting for the connecting flight to Auckland. See you all tonight.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Abschied
Everyone has had a great time and the students will find it difficult to say goodbye to their host families. We will meet tomorrow morning between 7 and 7:30am at Berlin Tegel Airport and we will begin our homeward journey. The students will bring back many happy memories of their stay in Germany and they will look forward to hosting the students from the EHG school in March / April 2010. At this moment it seems that the flights will be on time and we will arrive in Auckland on Saturday at 11:30pm. We look forward to seeing you all at the airport.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Thursday 3rd October
Hallo everyone =)
Thursday was a great day. It was the day that we all had been waiting for the whole trip. Oktoberfest...!!! We started out the day by travelling for a few hours into Munich, where we were to do a tour around the city first. Unfortunately we were late for our tour as there was a bomb scare just as we were driving into the city and our bus was delayed for a while. However we eventually got to where we had to be, met our guide and begun our tour through Munich =). Everything was so beautiful and very old, and we felt that the history was still very much alive. We saw lots of georgeous old buildings, visited the Frauenkirche and saw some famous beer gardens. We also saw the new town hall which had a glockenspiel that played and little statues danced around in the front of the building. It was really cool. But then the real fun started! We got on the U-bahn and travelled to the square where Oktober fest is held. It was amazing, so many people, cool rides and beer. And I have never seen so many Lederhosen (leather pants) in one place in my entire life! It was halarious, but so cool to see some Bavarian culture. Most if us went on an exciting ride of some sort, ate some food and then visited a beer hall. The beer halls were so massive and completly full! Also everyone inside of the tents seemed to be the best of friends haha, funny that... There was lots of music, talking and also quite a lot of dancing on tables! After we had laughed at the drunks and taken some funny pictures with them, we left the beer halls to go souviner shopping. A lot of the girls bought matching t-shirts which said "good girls go to hevan, bad girls go to München Oktoberfest" and the boys bought big hats that look like beer mugs, which we foung really funny. Sadly our time was soon up and we had to get back on the train and go back to Lechbrok (where we were staying), but we still had an amazing time and many of us have already promised to make a return trip sometime in the future!
Marissa
Thursday was a great day. It was the day that we all had been waiting for the whole trip. Oktoberfest...!!! We started out the day by travelling for a few hours into Munich, where we were to do a tour around the city first. Unfortunately we were late for our tour as there was a bomb scare just as we were driving into the city and our bus was delayed for a while. However we eventually got to where we had to be, met our guide and begun our tour through Munich =). Everything was so beautiful and very old, and we felt that the history was still very much alive. We saw lots of georgeous old buildings, visited the Frauenkirche and saw some famous beer gardens. We also saw the new town hall which had a glockenspiel that played and little statues danced around in the front of the building. It was really cool. But then the real fun started! We got on the U-bahn and travelled to the square where Oktober fest is held. It was amazing, so many people, cool rides and beer. And I have never seen so many Lederhosen (leather pants) in one place in my entire life! It was halarious, but so cool to see some Bavarian culture. Most if us went on an exciting ride of some sort, ate some food and then visited a beer hall. The beer halls were so massive and completly full! Also everyone inside of the tents seemed to be the best of friends haha, funny that... There was lots of music, talking and also quite a lot of dancing on tables! After we had laughed at the drunks and taken some funny pictures with them, we left the beer halls to go souviner shopping. A lot of the girls bought matching t-shirts which said "good girls go to hevan, bad girls go to München Oktoberfest" and the boys bought big hats that look like beer mugs, which we foung really funny. Sadly our time was soon up and we had to get back on the train and go back to Lechbrok (where we were staying), but we still had an amazing time and many of us have already promised to make a return trip sometime in the future!
Marissa
Monday, October 5, 2009
Monday in Berlin
Hello all!
Happy Birthday Roshani! :)
As this week is project week at EHG, the kiwi group first attended one period with a class of students who are doing their project on NZ. Got the class to sing happy birthday to Roshani before settling in to watch a dvd about the north island of NZ - this was of course in German, which gave us a great oppotunity to practice our German in a context that we are familiar with. It also tempted some of the group into exploring their own backyards when they return home - there were a couple of places mentioned that none of us had heard of before!
After this we walked to the train station, only find our train was an hour late - so much for Germans being punctual!! When we finally arrived in Berlin we quickly walked to 'the Story of Berlin', which is an exhibition showcasing the history of the city from the past 800 years. We spent about half an hour in there and then were taken on a guided tour of a nuclear bomb shelter, which had been installed for the cold war. As we discovered, however, it only really provided people with a false sense of security, for there were flaws in its creation, such as the cramped conditions, lack of food and quality of air, that meant the lucky 3600 people that got in were still likely to die anyway. We then moved back up to the exhibition, had a bit more of a look around and completed the worksheets we had been given. Due to the train being late we had to rush a bit, but we still got a decent glimpse into the history of Berlin, as the exhibition was very informative and comprehensive.
We then walked along the Ku'damm (a big shopping street) towards the 'Ka De We', which is the largest department store in Europe. We were then allowed to run wild for an hour both here and along the Ku'damm, and many of us found ourselves overwhelmed by both the size of and the prices at the 'Ka De We.' I think some of us could have used a some more time to look around a bit more, however we soon caught our train (on time this time!) back to Werder.
All in all, a good day had by everyone. Hope everything is well back home!
Imo xox
Happy Birthday Roshani! :)
As this week is project week at EHG, the kiwi group first attended one period with a class of students who are doing their project on NZ. Got the class to sing happy birthday to Roshani before settling in to watch a dvd about the north island of NZ - this was of course in German, which gave us a great oppotunity to practice our German in a context that we are familiar with. It also tempted some of the group into exploring their own backyards when they return home - there were a couple of places mentioned that none of us had heard of before!
After this we walked to the train station, only find our train was an hour late - so much for Germans being punctual!! When we finally arrived in Berlin we quickly walked to 'the Story of Berlin', which is an exhibition showcasing the history of the city from the past 800 years. We spent about half an hour in there and then were taken on a guided tour of a nuclear bomb shelter, which had been installed for the cold war. As we discovered, however, it only really provided people with a false sense of security, for there were flaws in its creation, such as the cramped conditions, lack of food and quality of air, that meant the lucky 3600 people that got in were still likely to die anyway. We then moved back up to the exhibition, had a bit more of a look around and completed the worksheets we had been given. Due to the train being late we had to rush a bit, but we still got a decent glimpse into the history of Berlin, as the exhibition was very informative and comprehensive.
We then walked along the Ku'damm (a big shopping street) towards the 'Ka De We', which is the largest department store in Europe. We were then allowed to run wild for an hour both here and along the Ku'damm, and many of us found ourselves overwhelmed by both the size of and the prices at the 'Ka De We.' I think some of us could have used a some more time to look around a bit more, however we soon caught our train (on time this time!) back to Werder.
All in all, a good day had by everyone. Hope everything is well back home!
Imo xox
Sunday, October 4, 2009
hey everyone Laura here!(i know my family will be happy to see i have finally written something on the blog)
today my sunday started off with my host family driving me to Dresden, yes this is the same city Katie visited last week also. Stopping off at the famous Mc Donalds to have breakfast(their breakfast menu is infact different to NZ). Then carrying on our 2 hour drive to Dresden.
Arriving there was amazing my host family pointing out buildings left, right and centre. we finally parked the car,(my host dad wanted the cheapest carpark). then we walked through the old city as they call it. my host dad paid for us to be shown the city by bicycle, saving us from walking in the cold and rain :). the poor tour guide was asked to speak english, but in the end he spoke as much as possible and susan translated the rest. the city was amazing all the old buildings and other sights to be seen. my favourite sight had to be the Frauenkirche, which is the main church of the town, they rebuilt it after the war, but it still contains old blocks from the orginal building.
After our lovely tour we went to have some nice lunch, as we were starving. once ,lucnh was done we went in the Frauenkirche and up tower to look out over Dresden, not only was the view amazing but the inside of the church took my breath away, it was soo stunning and beautiful. once we had climbed up and then back down the millions of stairs, we went to the porcellin musuem, it was very interesting.
For the rest of the afternoon, as girls do we went shopping. i had a very enjoyable time seeing another city of Germany and i am very grateful to my host family for taking me there.
Thats all for now
take care everyone
Love Laura :)
today my sunday started off with my host family driving me to Dresden, yes this is the same city Katie visited last week also. Stopping off at the famous Mc Donalds to have breakfast(their breakfast menu is infact different to NZ). Then carrying on our 2 hour drive to Dresden.
Arriving there was amazing my host family pointing out buildings left, right and centre. we finally parked the car,(my host dad wanted the cheapest carpark). then we walked through the old city as they call it. my host dad paid for us to be shown the city by bicycle, saving us from walking in the cold and rain :). the poor tour guide was asked to speak english, but in the end he spoke as much as possible and susan translated the rest. the city was amazing all the old buildings and other sights to be seen. my favourite sight had to be the Frauenkirche, which is the main church of the town, they rebuilt it after the war, but it still contains old blocks from the orginal building.
After our lovely tour we went to have some nice lunch, as we were starving. once ,lucnh was done we went in the Frauenkirche and up tower to look out over Dresden, not only was the view amazing but the inside of the church took my breath away, it was soo stunning and beautiful. once we had climbed up and then back down the millions of stairs, we went to the porcellin musuem, it was very interesting.
For the rest of the afternoon, as girls do we went shopping. i had a very enjoyable time seeing another city of Germany and i am very grateful to my host family for taking me there.
Thats all for now
take care everyone
Love Laura :)
Saturday
As you already know we are back in Werder, and I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say that we all slept well that night. Our last weekend is spent with our families and today I awoke to a typical German breakfast of warm rolls, cheese, salami, ham and quark spread. It is much colder in Werder than it was last week. It was only 10 degrees.Ritchi (my host) had a match of football in Werder, unfortunately he lost 2-0 however German football is much more serious and is almost professional. No real plans for tonight, tomorrow I am going to a football match in Berlin against Hamburg. Hamburg will win as Berlin is in a 8 match losing streak, however Ritchi is a Berlin fan so I will shut my mouth.
All for now.
Benny
All for now.
Benny
Friday, October 2, 2009
Wednesday in Bavaria
Happy birthday Jessica!!
After a delicious breakfast at our accommodation, we climbed on the bus and headed for the cheese factory. Our tour guide only spoke German, which was interesting, but the significance of the shelves of hundreds of massive cheeses, the rooms full of equipment for making cheese, and most importantly the lingering smell of slightly off milk were not lost on us. In short, we learnt that it takes a lot of time (up to 9 months) and effort to make cheese. There was also a short tasting after the tour, which went down with varying degrees of success with different people. (And that was only mild cheese!)
Then it was back to the bus for a long(ish) drive to our lunch stop in a village called Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which hosted the Winter Olympics a while ago (anyone know how long?) The trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen took us through Austria briefly, much to everyone's excitement. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that Austria is very much the same as Germany, so our excitement was rather unfounded. Garmisch-Partenkirchen was very pretty, though, and made very good pretzels, as some of us discovered!
After lunch we headed for the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany. We took a 4km gondola to the top, where we got completely spectacular views of Germany and Austria- mostly alps- for about 140km around. We left the mountain via a cog railway through the hillside, which was a lot less exciting than the gondola, but a lot nicer for those not comfortable with heights.
After that we went stright back to the holiday camp, where we relaxed and had dinner- including a birthday cake for Jessica.
An unforgetable day was had by all, and the weather was very kind to us. I won't forget those wonderful views in a hurry!
After a delicious breakfast at our accommodation, we climbed on the bus and headed for the cheese factory. Our tour guide only spoke German, which was interesting, but the significance of the shelves of hundreds of massive cheeses, the rooms full of equipment for making cheese, and most importantly the lingering smell of slightly off milk were not lost on us. In short, we learnt that it takes a lot of time (up to 9 months) and effort to make cheese. There was also a short tasting after the tour, which went down with varying degrees of success with different people. (And that was only mild cheese!)
Then it was back to the bus for a long(ish) drive to our lunch stop in a village called Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which hosted the Winter Olympics a while ago (anyone know how long?) The trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen took us through Austria briefly, much to everyone's excitement. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that Austria is very much the same as Germany, so our excitement was rather unfounded. Garmisch-Partenkirchen was very pretty, though, and made very good pretzels, as some of us discovered!
After lunch we headed for the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany. We took a 4km gondola to the top, where we got completely spectacular views of Germany and Austria- mostly alps- for about 140km around. We left the mountain via a cog railway through the hillside, which was a lot less exciting than the gondola, but a lot nicer for those not comfortable with heights.
After that we went stright back to the holiday camp, where we relaxed and had dinner- including a birthday cake for Jessica.
An unforgetable day was had by all, and the weather was very kind to us. I won't forget those wonderful views in a hurry!
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