Day 15 -Football match, Valley Scare (Emre)

We woke up and we had breakfast. After breakfast we picked Julian up and we came back to our house. Then we dressed up in warm clothes. When we were ready the uncle of my hostfather and his son came and we went to the American Football match at the TCF Bank Stadium of the University of Minnesota. I was very excited because it was my first american football match in a real stadium. When we arrived I was very impressed by the stadium and it was a great time to be there. 

The stadium was full with gold and maroon colored fans. The match was between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Northwestern University Wildcats. It was very loud and very fun! The match ended 24-17 with a Gophers victory! We had a lot of fun! 

After the match we went to Valley Scare. At first I was very excited! 

But later on I was a little bit afraid because  I saw all those Rollercoasters which were very big and tall! So after we arrived, we met our group and Mr. French bought the tickets and we went into Valley Scare. At first we went on a big Rollercoaster. It was so fun and very cool! When it became dark it was very scary! There were a lot of people in zombie costumes who jumped out and scared us. It was very scary and sometimes very funny for us! 

After we had lot of fun, we met at 10:30pm and went home and slept late. It was a very nice day!

 

Day 13 (Yandamé)

This morning I had to get up pretty early. My host sister plays in the Jazz Band of the school every day in period 0 and today I was supposed to join her, so we headed for school together at approximately 7. After one hour of already very jazzy sounding music (the Jazz Band is quite new) me and my host went to her regular first period, which is U.S. History. The students had to work on several information worksheets in order to choose a topic for a project for the so-called History Day, where everyone will have a presentation of their project. 

Later on, all of us German visitors were being awaited at the library to have a panel discussion with a few American students. Eight of us and eight of them were sitting in the front, the moderator Mr Buehring in the middle. After a short introduction through Mr French the first round was about to start. The general topic was “Differences between the German and American school system”, and the point we started with: mobile phones. Obviously we at Gymnasium Farmsen are not allowed to use our phones at all, while the students at South High basically use it all the time, even when the teacher is talking. This was kind of shocking for us. But honestly, now, after having seen the complete opposite, I tend to like the rule we have at our school. Of course, sometimes it would be easier to be able to have a quick look at your phone in class, but I can’t imagine that I really learn something when I play with it non-stop. 

Another point was the security at South High. It’s the case that they have a lot of security guards walking around the whole building, watching you and even telling you to get to class when you don’t hurry. We as Germans said we wouldn’t like being watched all the time and always being kind of “suspected” ofhaving done something bad – even the Americans agreed with us that the security represents how little trust the school administration has in the students. Nevertheless I think security guards can be helpful if it really comes to an issue.

Then we showed the Americans what a typical German schedule looks like. This caused many questions concerning different subjects, homework and school day organization. The biggest difference between both school systems is probably that American students have the same schedule every day, while we have a changing one. We didn’t really have time to talk about advantages and disadvantages of this, but after having experienced exactly the same process day after day here I am almost sure I prefer the German kind.

After a short break, in which some students left and others joined us, we started the second round. Now the topics were getting more social. The first one: activities after school. When we compared a normal day, we noticed that many Americans happen to participate in the school’s clubs and activities – the reason for that is most likely that their school offers a lot of different things like sport teams, creative clubs, organization groups. At Gymnasium Farmsen you haven’t got many opportunities to do so as soon as you turn older than 13, in addition it’s not that common. 

What was very interesting for all of us was the following discussion about alcohol, drugs and guns. In the States you aren’t allowed to drink alcohol before you reach the age of 21, which caused the question “Do you always stick to that rule?”. Because of teachers being present we agreed on answering like this: “So, I heard from a friend of a friend…”. Although it is a serious topic this quickly became the funniest part of the discussion.

The whole panel discussion took about two hours, and we had to leave soon to get the bus to the MIA, the Minneapolis Art Institute. So we stopped at the cafeteria for a quick lunch (which wasn’t the best, as expected) and then walked over to the next bus stop. Having arrived at the MIA, we dropped our bags and jackets and went for a tour through the Institute with Larry and Victoria, two South High students who work there. We saw a lot of modern art, antique sculptures and a real painting of Van Gogh, which we could relate and compare to another Van Gogh painting we had seen at the MoMA in New York City. Two hours later, when everyone got a coffee from the MIA’s coffee shop and felt strong enough to return to the bus stop, we grabbed our bags and started our way back to school. As we were able to manage some calling difficulties, my host father came to pick me up there soon. In the evening the grandparents of my host sisters arrived and we had dinner all together. I fell asleep early after this interesting, but exhausting day.

Day 11 - Tizitas birthday (Tizita)

This Wednesday was very exciting for me because it was my birthday!

As I woke up Tania was waiting for me and congratulated me. Then I got ready  and went downstairs where I got a selfmade birthday card from my host sister Kendra which I was really happy about.
After having some waffles for breafast my host mother Fiona drove us: Tania,Kendra and me to school.
When Tania and me arrived at school I got many birthday wishes from the group. At school we only had to attend one class which was biology and after that we made our way to go to the big Mall of America.
We had to take the train to get to the mall (it took us about 45 minutes) and a little walk when we finally arrived. The mall is huge. It not only has hundreds of stores but also a couple of amusement parks and places (nickeloden universe, sea life, lego world etc.). 
So firstly Selima,Tania, Vero and me went to a coffeshop where I could call my family and text my friends who also wished me a happy birthday. Then we spend a couple of hours in many stores and got a lot of stuff. At around 3pm the whole 'german' group sang the birthay song for me and I got a little surprise, too.
We stayed in the mall until about 5:30pm and then headed back home.

Back home my host family again sang for me, gave me a birthday card and we together enjoyed the last hours of my birthday.

Day 8 - Off to Minneapolis (Saskia)

The day we have all waited for. Let’s go to Minneapolis!

We woke up at 9 o’clock with the attitude to see our host families. We all were ready to go at 12 o’clock with some big and some small suitcases.

The atmosphere was some kind of happiness and excitement, because there were still people, who hadn’t gotten a message from there hosts yet.

So our trip to the airport was kind of funny, excitement and chaotic at the same time. We had to divide our group, because the airport bus was not big enough for everybody. We as students started to get worried about missing the airplane, we started to run and hurried up to be on time to the airport, however we managed it. Our first group were already at the gate, when the second group had to go through the Security Check. We all love the Security Check; it has become a normal thing for us. Afterwards we drove on the airport train to our gate, feeling the relaxation, when we arrived on time, when we arrived in Minneapolis we all had different feelings like happiness, excitement, nervousness and pleasure.

Besides we had a lot of discussions about how we should greet our host families, how to present ourself and how to show our personality from the best side, so that we represent Germany in a good way, because we as students represent Hamburg/Germany as a whole country.

After some last talks to our friends we saw a lot of people, who held name signs and Balloons!

So probably at home everybody did pretty much the same things like had a big dinner, gave the Hamburg Presents and talked about him or herself and their family. This day showed all of us a lot of feelings and experience that every family was so open and friendly, so that they give us the feeling of being at home.

Day 9 - First day in our host family (Nastia)

It's the first whole day with our host families and first day without our group! The whole week I didn't get enough sleep, so I stayed in bed for quite a long time, since it was the first time I could sleep well. I woke up in the late morning and had a great breakfast. 

After breakfast we talked about the plans we had for the day and since it was colder than expected in Minneapolis and I didn't have a coat we were getting ready for the Mall of America, the biggest mall I have ever seen. It was so impressive! They had an amusement park in the middle of all these stores. I was speechless because you would never think that you could find a roller coaster in a mall. So after trying to process this we went to many stores and I was scared I couldn't find myself a jacket and I have to freeze but finally after over 2,5 hours I found one and we could leave satisfied.  

After we arrived home we made some brownies, had dinner and played a board game which was really fun. I was texting with some other "Germans" and they told me that their day was good as well. After only one day I got my host family to know me better and I got to know them better. It was an exiting but also exhausting day. 

Day 7 - Arlington Cemetery (Leon)

After breakfast we went to the metro and took a train to Arlington Cemetery. It is one of the biggest cemeteries in the US and is used for high ranking military personnel or important servants of the nation, like presidents.

At Arlington we had a great view over all gravestones. We walked trough the Cemetery and saw gravestones of the Kennedy family. After that we went on the top of the hill to the tomb of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the designer of the layout of Washington D.C. From his tomb we had a great view over the city.

Further along we walked down the hill to the Tomb of the unknown soldier. We where there just in time for the "Changing of the Guard," a ceremony to honor all unknown soldiers who have died in wars past. Right after the this, there was another ceremony that honored the unknown soldiers who died in Somalia.

All in all I had a good impression of the cemetery. I like how it honors the dead. But I don't fullyunderstand why they are making such a big effort over the ceremony involving the tomb of the unknown soldier. In my eyes it was a bit exaggerated.

After we had some time to eat something, we went to the National Air and Space Museum. It was a very modern museum and it was very big as well. It was very informative and you had fun to go around. From Apollo capsules that landed on the moon, to the original Wright flzer, that was used by the Wright brothers to persorm the first flight in the history of mankind, zou could see many important artefacts here.

I had the impression that this museum is very important for Washington D.C. The thing that I really liked were the facts about  World War II, because the airplanes played a really big role at that time.
All in all it was a good day and I learned a lot about Washington D.C.

Day 6 - From Capitol Hill to the White House (Caro)

The second day in Washington DC started als always with bagels, toast and peanutbutter. After a ''delicious" breakfast we got ready to go to the Capitol, the seat of the US parliament. Walking there was actually kind of fun because our Ms.Krehl and Mr.Buehring were always two blocks in front of the group. But finally we all made it and got through the 3000th security check. But then we realized that we were in the wrong building and had to go to another house, and of course, again through security! When we arrived at the room of Keith Ellison's assistants we were all absolutely thirsty. So after we all got something to drink the assistant told us about different tasks in the Capitol and what her an Ellison's job are. After a few difficult questions from Nastia and interesting talk about Mr Ellison's standpoint on, for example, gun laws and gay marriage, we left to see the real house of the Capitol. A really nice tour guide lead us through the most important rooms in the capitol. The highlight was, that in a room that used to be the assembly room for the House of Representatives, they made a mistake when they built the ceiling. Because of these special accoustics, you could hear exactly what some people were saying at the other end of the room. After that, we had a few hours free time. I went to a typical American burger restaurant with some friends, and the burger was one of the best I've ever eaten! The next stop this day was the White House. So we all had to find it and go there by ourselves. When we finally found it, we were on the wrong side of it so we had to walk around the whole house. And we weren't very smart and walked the long way around.
At the white house there were many pictures taken and we heard a very short presentation about the White House. Before we left there I had to do a little interview with two experts of the White House... :D (video will be uploaded).
Then we left to go back to the hostel. A few of us took part in a tour through Georgetown, a small, rich part of Washington DC. We saw many beautiful houses and learned about who lived here. So we also saw the house where the Kennedy Family lived in and we visited the university of Georgetown, which is really good and expensive. At the end of the tour we left the other people and went to a burger restaurant. Everyone was happy about finally having something to eat. Even though some of us accidently bought burger with only meat in it...

We got back to the hostel by bus and then the day was pretty much over and everyone went to bed after a long, but interesting day.

Link to Caro's interview of "two experts"... 

Day 5 - Off to Washington, D.C. (Maike)

It would be our last day in New York City.
At 9am we had breakfast and after  cleaning our rooms and packing our bags we walked to a station and took the train to the next bus stop. The bus brought us to Washington D.C. After a 4 1/2 hours long trip by bus we arrived at 5:15pm in "D.C". We had a few problems to find our hostel but at 7pm we finally checked in. Two hours later we walked along the National Mall. The National Mall is a collection of parks, buildings and monuments for example the Capitol and the statue of Abraham Lincoln. We started taking a lot of photos in front of the Washington monument. We had a beautiful view there and we could see the big difference between New York City and Washington D.C., because New York was full of people and buildings. We were very tired, so we went back at 12am. The day was hard but very nice as well. All of us were falling asleep quickly. That was our 5th day.