Montag in Berlin: bikes, Stasi, and ice cream

Viele Gruesse aus Berlin!

Today we spent our second jam-packed day in Berlin (and barely had a thought left for our classmates trotting off to class back in St. Louis)!

We left the hostel at 9 and headed off to Hohenshoenhausen, a Stasi prison for political dissidents deep in the heart of the former East Berlin. First, Cliewe, our guide, showed us around the old building (called the "U-Boot"/ submarine, because all of the cells were underground). It was dank and dark, and the torture instruments and tiny cells used for solitary confinement (this gruesome atmosphere might explain why not even the most camera-happy members of our group took very few photos...) He also guided us through the slightly better lighted and less depressing newer prison, which had interregation chambers instead of torture machines (he even explained a few of the methods of psychological torture used). Cliewe, like all guides at Hohenshoenhausen, had been a prisoner of the Stasi. He told us about his failed attempt to escape from East Berlin in 1984 (at age 18), and how he had been sentenced to one year of prison because of "suspicion of an attempt to escape". After 10 months in prison, the West German government paid for his release.

I liked Cliewe. His English was amusing but understandable, and he bonded with Frau Russell about their childhood furniture (apparently communist regimes in the CCCP and the DDR issued the same models of furniture, and the linoleum in the government buildings smelled the same. weird.)

We went out for a quick (but very satisfying) lunch, and Frau Russell showed us briefly around the old Jewish quarter before we caught the street car back East. We rented bikes and took a bike tour of Berlin (the waterproof bike capes provided by the company helped us stoicly ignore the cold and the light rain). During the first half of the tour, we were lead along the place where Berlin wall used to stand. Our tour guide, Sascha, who grew up in West Berlin, taught us a lot about attempted escapes from the East, the fall of the Wall, and various features about the buildings on each side of the wall (East vs West). It was very interesting, but when we rode back up to the bike shop four hours later, we were all much relieved (Some of us were particularly happy to see that the bike company had a bathroom we could use...)

Since then, we've eaten dinner and paid a visit to Frau Russell's favorite ice cream cafe (where we were served delicious and beautifully arranged frozen treats). Supposedly, the hostel's offered activity tonight is karaoke, and Grace and Carly were going to sing...but we haven't seen anyone singing yet. I'll keep you posted.

Tschao! Sophia

Hallo, Hallo!

So here's a recap of the last few days:

FREITAG: In the morning a few of our partners took an important prelude to the Abitur. Most of us got to sleep in and come to school later, though. When I arrived, the entire outside commons was rocking out to German techno beats as the students enjoyed Grosse Pause. It felt just like the senior lounge! After the test we all took quite a long Zug ride to Tübingen. THe university town, and Sophia's birthplace was cute and quaint but the weather was quite chilly and rainy. We ate lunch, did a little shopping, and headed back to the Bahnhof to go back to Stuttgart. At night, Kim, Anna's partner, threw a goodbye party. We listened to guitar, played fussball, and swapped photos. A couple of us then met up with some more Germans and danced the rest of the night in a disco.

SAMSTAG: Partners and family met at the train station around 11:00am to say goodbye. There we lots of photos, some tears, and loving hugs from Frau Abt. THere were quite a few glitches once we got on the train. It was supposed to be very modern and fast, but it was not. Some women stole our reserved seats and wouldn't move so we relocated to a different car that was quite crowded and old...Then we got off only to get on another train where women had stolen our seats. This time they reluctantly moved, though. After we settled into our lovely hostel (located on the only street in Berlin where prostitution is legal), we decided not to go to the cabaret show, like originally planned. Instead, we ate Thai food and sushi at a restaurant and debriefed on our time in Stuttgart, which we so dearly miss.

SONNTAG: After breakfast in the hostel, we trekked to Checkpiont Charlie museum. On our way, we encountered the Berlin halfmarathon contestants warming up. A few times we were forced to sprint across the runners. I think it was illegal. The museum was über crowded but fascinating. After that we toured the Reichstag. The building is a melange of every era and architecture imaginable. In our freetime, we split up but the majority of us rode on a seven person, round bicycle tour. Then we met again and attended a Wise Guys concert. I'm not really sure it was our kind of crowd...We had a late dinner at Vapiano, mmm.

Tchüß for now! -Carly

Rittersport Museum

Grüße von Anna!
Yesterday, instead of the usual morning routine of school classes, we went to the Rittersport Museum (a famous chocolate company in Germany). We walked through the relatively short museum which explained each step of the chocolate making process with interactive activities. We could here and smell (and of course later taste) the delicous componantes of a Rittersport chocolate. Also a map showed where each special ingrediant is found across the world. We then went for a casual hike around the area where for perhaps ten minutes both students and teachers enjoyed the phenomina of the toad mating season. Although this hilarious and akward beginning of life was observed, to the dismay of many the path was strewn with toad corpses. We promptly returned to the museum and ate delicoius cakes and drank coffee at the museum's cafe. To end the day we each bought our bodies worth of chocolate (getting almost every flavour imaginable).

Hallo!

Today we went to school in the morning and every group gave at least one presentation (in English over America stuff). We then ate our packed lunch, but a small group also went to the bakery down the street. After a nice lunch of sandwiches and desserts, we went back to school and got on a U-Bahn filled with adorable German kids. We travled for about 30 minutes until we arrived at the Fernsehturm. After a relaxing walk through the woods we played on the playground meant only for children under 14 while we waited for Frau Abt to buy the tickets. We were then taken on a tour of the building. First we went into the basement and saw the floorplans of the building, and learned that it moves 30 cm in the wind like the arch! Luckily today it was not windy! We then went back upstairs and climbed a little bit to look at the tower from the inside. It was nice, and many people wanted to climb the entire way up, but I'm glad we did not because it is a VERY tall building, and I think most people would have been sorry. However the world record for climbing it is 4 minutes, and it would have been interesting to see how long it would have taken us. We then travled half way up (in the elevator) and climbed a little more and stood very close while we watched the two elevators speed past. We then got back on the elevator and went up to a room that controls the tower (and smells HORRIBLE). And then climbed to the lookout rooms and spent about 20 minutes enjoying the beautiful weather and taking pictures of the area. (It was also very clear today, so we could see for miles!) When we were back on the ground we played more on the playground before a grumpy old woman told us to go away because we were too old. We treated ourselves to ice cream (not Penguin as originally planed - there was too long of a line) but we walked to the city and ate at the same ice cream parlor as we did on Monday. It was nice, and when all were finished with their ice cream we happily 'Formed the Corn' in the middle of the city :)

Claire

The first part of our day was spent, once again, at school. As I have heard frequently pointed out, there's something wrong about attending a facility of learning during our spring break, but I guess it's really just all about the experience. Everybody gave their presentation today at least once, and I learned how adorable our president was as a child.

Anyway, at about 1:45, we departed for the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The building itself looked incredibally modern, and the interior was no different. The elevaters which took us to the top of the building (and the beginning of the museum) were like futuristic travel pods. Anna said they looked like something from The Day the Earth Stood Still, but I wouldn't know. The change from this space-aged setting to the earliest motor vehicles was a little surprising. It was fascinating to see examples of the earliest cars. The rest of the museum didn't dissapoint either. In addition to displaying Mercedes cars through the ages, there were also little exhibits providing some information about the times during which the cars were made. I saw exhibits which were even more descriptive than some history books. I loved how the museum also discussed the influence of certain major events on the Mercedes -Benz company. I'm not particularly interested in cars, but I still found the museum fascinating. The Merceded-Benz Museum is definitely not just a museum for German automobile lovers. It has something for every interest, and incorporates it into the history of the company. It was a truly fascinating museum, and I would recommend it to almost everybody, regardless of his or her interest in cars alone. So, that's my brief overview of our day, both at school and at the museum.

Hayley

City of Stuttgart

Today after our time in the school, we got to take a tour of the city. It was great weather for a tour, about 20 C (68 F) with lots of nice, warm sun! We got off the train at Stadtmitte; the station is under the Koenig Straße. On one side of Koenig Straße is a shopping mall called Königbau (King's building?), to another could we see the main train station with it's rotating Mercedes logo on top, and opposite the Königbau was "The New Castle". "The New Castle" was from when Germany was particularized (Mr. Nicholas likes) and had many small states ruled by kings. The castle was quite big but I'm not sure the size in comparison to the one in Munich. From the street could we also see the Stuttgarter Zeitung (local newspaper), high-class restaurants and a fairly new, modern art gallery and houses on the hill. Frau Reuter, the teacher who joined us from FPGZ, told us that Stuttgart was in a bowl with hills surrounding and a river, the Neckar, flowing through. These houses on the hills are where everyone wants to be living because they are much larger and have better views.

As we continued on we saw a pond area that had been drained. We were told it normally has water but was drained because of the abnormal winter. From the pond we saw a bridge were you could bike from this park we were in to another park. Frau Reuter said that all of the parks are interconnected so, if one knew their way around Stuttgart, you could bike everywhere quite easily. Also, was the capital building for the state Stuttgart is in, Baden-Württemberg.

We walked back to the Koenig Straße and all had some ice cream. Yum, I had a scope of raspberry on a scope of strawberry. We sat in the warm sun as we ate and discussed some funny stories of the trip. Then we walked around some more to look around Stuttgart. We went by city hall and a large square. In the winter, just before Christmas, people set up small stands and sell gifts and food. Some of us went to a toy store with a lot of cool, little kid toys. The others went to a store across the way, but I don't know what it was (help!). Next we bought some post cards and Sophia bought a nice pencil case with pencils and eraser. Some of us then returned back to the school to get picked up by our partners with Frau Reuter while others stayed with Frau Russell to shop.

Guess who also made it three hours without speaking and gets a free lunch in Berlin! Yeah, I did! I love betting (and food and free i.e. having more money)...

This street is also the main shopping area for the people of Stuttgart so there was a lot of people walking around the shops (also a lot of shops). With all the people, we saw a lot of cool street performers.

PS (Unrelated Stuff) Robin had a Handball game on Sunday... The refs cause them to lose with 5 seconds left 32-31. They didn't respect the coach's request for a timeout. Handball was still really cool to watch. Also enjoyed my first trip on the Autobahn; we got to 190 km/h which is around 120 mph!

Schwimmen in das Leuze

Hi!
Yesterday we went to school, as usual, in the morning. Claire and Grace gave their presentation on a day in the life of a Burroughs student (much differnent, i must say, than that of a Ferdinand Porsche Gymnasium student) to a ninth grade english class. Then Will gave his presentation on sports in the US. We spent the rest of the class hour in the back of the classroom, giggling about the students's british vocabulary. After grosse pause (a twenty minute break in which the germans eat one of their many snacks for the day) we gathered in another ninth grade english class and presented again. This time we stuck around for questions and Grace got invited to a birthday party.
After yet another set of presentations, I went to art class with my partner Alina. We listened to american pop music; i suppose to inspire our "colors in motion" theme. After that, school ended for the weekend!
Together, we trekked to das Leuze, mineral water pool with saunas and tanning beds. Of course, a McDonalds run was factored into our commute. Swimming in bubbles was über fun. Frau Russel chillaxed poolside with her sunglasses on and a phone in her ear. So glam. Frau Abt walked around the pool snapping photos. She was wearing wintry clothes, in what Sophia called, "the most opposite of a swimsuit." After getting really crinkly, Sophia, Grace, and I went to the saunas, despite the Fraus warnings that they were naked saunas. With our towels on, we entered the naked zone and explored the many saunas available. One was lemony-scented, one was finnish style (?), and one was 100 degrees Celcius.
Upon exiting one of the hotter rooms, we stumbled across what could easily have been a hallucination from high temperatures. AN ICE MACHINE. By this time, the majority of us have begun to feel the effects of drinking only carbonated beverages, water included. One of the only things i miss from home is still water (no salt!) in a glass with ice cubes.
After a relaxing day in das Leuze, we headed home to eat dinner. I had a southern specialty, spaezle with lentils and some kind of wurst. I learned that I love German food. Then a few of us went to a discotheque and cut the rug. I went home and dreamed about ice.

Maulbronn Abbey

Grüße Keaton!!

Hey everyone! Before I detail our exciting day, I should let you know that the keyboards in Germany are very frustrating. The y is where the z should be and the z is where the y should be! So there may be some spelling mistakes because this keyboard is making me CRAYZ!!1!

We started off the day at the Porsche Gymnasium as we did on Tuesday. First period I had English, where we learned about the history of the European Union and why Britain is adversive to the whole system. The teacher really liked my "pure English" so he asked me to correct everyone's pronunciation. Then he asked me to stand in front of class where I was told to talk about St. Louis, American vs German culture, and my political views. I ignored the last request but I talked about the difference between private and public schools in America and how everyone in Germany takes public transportation and walks as opposed to driving everzwhere. Then, I had math with Herr Schmidt who happens to know Mr. Brinkhorst (a physics teacher at Burroughs) and we learned some new algebra. For lunch we had some delicious stuffed noodles, similar to ravioli, that had cheese and pesto in it with tomato sauce and some katafersalate.

We then took three trains and a bus to Maulbronn Abbey, a really neat monastery in a small town about an hour outside Stuttgart. Maulbronn Abbey was built in 1147!!! Our tour guide, who once taught at the Porsche-Gymnazium, led us through the building and told us some interesting facts about the architecture of the place and the life of a monk in the 12th century. I really liked how from the center yard of the abbey you can see the changes in architectural styles along the walls. The first architect had an early Gothic style; his arches were very elongated and without much detail. The second architect, whose arches form the second wall of the square, had floral motifs in his work, like later Gothic sculptures, and the third and fourth walls, made in the 14th century, were even more extravagant. The life of the monk seemed pretty strict. They were punished for every single thing they did wrong, like coming late to a service or speaking in the hallways. Also we learned about some pretty friendly robbers who came to the church as it was being constructed, demanding the money that was being used to build the church. The monks asked in their kindly way to return once the building was finished, and the criminals agreed. In one corner of the room below there is an unfinished wall, and the rumor is that the wall was never finished because the monks didn't want want to give the robbers their cash.


The abbey is also a very religious boarding school; we tried to chat up some of the students there but they weren't very talkative.

After our educational trip to the church, we made the long trip back to Stuttgart. Grace and I scoped out German babies that we wanted for our own, and Frau Russell told us not to call her Мать Россия (Mother Russia). We're having über fun in Germany I want to give a shout out to my mom and my dad and my dog Wolfgang and meine Geschwister!

Auf Wiedersehen!! :)

Hallo!
Today we spent the day in Strasbourg, France. This morning we met at school and then boarded a small bus. It took about 2 hours to get to Strasbourg, but the drive was pretty. Once we arrived in Strasbourg, all of us went to see a church. The church was very old, but gorgeous. We explored the huge church for a while then made plans for what we would do in the next 2 hours. Sophia met up with her French family and spent the day catching up with them. The rest of us split up into smaller groups. My group first went to Mcdonalds because Garion was craving a burger. After Garion got his two burgers, we went to a little cafe next door for some lunch. After lunch, I went shopping with Katja, Carly and Angelina. We walked around the city of Strasbourg and went into a few shops along the way. Then we went back to meet up with the entire group to decide what we would do next. The group walked more around Strasbourg together. Along our way to the water, we walked through the main square. In the square a group of people stood in a circle and sang the banana song (form banana, form form banana, peel banana, peel peel banana, mash banana, mash mash banana, go bananas, go go bananas). Watching them dance was hilarious, and it made my day. After walking around for a while, we split up into 2 smaller groups again. My group explored the city more and then sat on a bench in the sun. We talked about Andy Milonakis and threw sausage to the ducks in the water. The other group went to a park and watched funny french kids sing. Then all of us met up again and we went to get ice cream. Keaton and Carly both got to use their French. Keaton even helped a French man avoid getting a parking ticket. We tried to climb to the top of the church tower, but we didnt have enough time, so we headed for the bus to depart back to Stuttgart. It was a really long day and everyone was exhausted by the time we got back to Stuttgart, but it was really fun. The city of Strasbourg was adorable!
Gute Nacht!
Grace :)

Day 1 at FPGZ (our German school)

Viele Grüße aus Deutschland!

Yesterday evening, after a two hour train ride from snowy, cloudy Munich, we arrived in Stuttgart (where it was at least sunny, and maybe even warmer?). All the host families were waiting for us, and as soon as we had loaded all of our stuff out of the train, each family whisked us off and took us home (in itsy-bitsy German cars through itsy-bitsy German streets).

Today was our first day of school. After our first period (I had English, where they were learning about slavery and music), the principal introduced all of us American students to the teachers. We spent the rest of the morning in class with our partners (this meant I spent some time in a Latin class for the first time in my life. wow. What an impossible language. crazy. Germans know every language.)

We got out of class earlier than our partners, though, so we could eat lunch (Bratwurst and potatos) and debrief together. After our partners had also shown up and eaten, we took the bus to the Porsche museum. First, there was this guy from Porsche who welcomed us, and showed us around the Museum workshop--which apparently isn't open to the public. I have to admit that it was really hard for me not to crack up everytime he pronounced the word 'visitor' like 'wisitor'. In the museum itself, there were a lot of cars (go figure), and everyone got an audiotour (auf Englisch), so that we could learn details about each model (or at least, you had the option to...).

After one and a half car-filled hours, everyone split up again. I don't know about everyone else, but Carly, Grace, Hayley, and I went into the city with our partners. We actually met up in a train! (The partners had arranged in advance which train, and everyone just got in as it passed the station closest to their house. It was so cool!) We went shopping , (although I don't think anyone bought anything), and then we went to this really modern, delicious Italian restaurant . I don't know how to describe it, except that it was sort of cafeteria style, except cool and chic.

Anyway, everyone is tired now, and we're all really excited, because tomorrow we are taking a field trip to Strasbourg, France! Attention, les francais--les americains arrivent!

Tschüß! Sophia

more pics from the second day in München

Second day in Munich

Grüße von Anna! Today we visited Dachau and the Deutsches Museum. Our tour guide at Dachau had actually interned in kirkwood (in saint louis). Dachau was a new experience for us to see a camp from the perspective of the prisoners. There were two barracks left which had been originally intended for fifty and in the last years had housed four hundred. We also saw the crematorium and gas house, although it was never used (for unknown reasons). Dachau was the first concentration camp and became the model for the many camps to follow. It was also considered a moderate camp. There was also very moving artwork that had been made buy one of the surviving prisoners in 1968. It was a large sculpture that from far off appeared to be barbed wire, but was barbed wire strewn with skeletal figures. With the image was written the two powerful and hopeful words for the future, (in five languages) "Never Again".

Grüße von Carly! After Dachau, we went to a Turkish restaurant for a quick bite to eat. A lot of us had Döner Kebab. They were like gyros and utterly scrumptious. With full bellies, we took the S-Bahn to the Deutsches Museum. It was so big and so full of engineering information. We saw a cross section of a Lufthansa commercial plane, a schooner made in the seventeenth century, and walked into an extremely large cell. Then we walked into the gift shop and bought many souvenirs!

Und nun die Sophia: Yeah--the Deutsches Museum was amazing and I learned the German word for the big bang (der Urknall), but the best part was when Carly and I got into an elevator with two young German boys (like 10 years old). When they got out, then they told us "Auf Wiedersehen" with an exaggerated American accent, and Carly and I died laughing. It was hilarious, but you probably had to be there... Anyway, then we took the S-Bahn to the "Alter Peter", a really old church (well, every church here is really old...) but it had an ENORMOUS tower, and we climbed the 291 (??more??) steps to the top, and then looked out over the entire city. It was gorgeous! We walked around the city with Frau Russell's local friends, Yaminah and Sebastian, who were awesome and they showed us more intricately decorated churches and the university were Sophie Scholl (a student who passed out anti-Nazi pamphlets, and was murdered because of it) studied. Yaminah and Sebastian told us everything about everything that we saw. Then we ate in the Cafe München, and came home to the dear old hostel (which is quite nice) and went to bed.
Also-a shout out to Will Bramlett's mother-- he has yet to zip his coat, and yesterday, he wore sandals. (and there is snow on the ground)

Saturday, March 13: München: HB Haus

Saturday, March 13: München

Tschüss St Louis, Servus München!