- Welcome dinner with my host family and Experiment e.V. Betreuerin in my Heikendorf home.
- Living history day at the Haithabu Viking Museum.
- Having Heinrich Heine Schule friends over for food, fun and dancing!
- Meeting up with my 5th grade exchange partner while in Berlin.
- Walking up the 768 stairs for the slightly cloudy view of the surrounding city from the Ulm Minster.
- Staying with my 8th grade exchange family, touring the Ludwigsburg Palace, walking distance from their home!
- Touring the Wilhelma Zoo in Stuttgart with my middle school German teacher and her daughter.
- Enjoying Lyon's Sunday morning market, praline brioche, beautiful cathedrals and Roman ampitheatre and aqueducts with my parents friends as the ultimate tour guides. Then traveling with them to Paris where they provided fun walking/Metro/bus tours showing us many of the Paris attractions (including the Louvre).
- Shopping at the Ritter Sport factory and touring the Jacques Chocolate factory.
- Seeing the GOP Variete "La Luna" show at the Kaiser Wilhelm Palace theatre in Bad Oeynhausen.
- Hamburg's Miniatur Wunderland, stumbling on a movie filming, an lunchtime organ concert after walking the St. Michaelis tower.
I had an AMAZING Easter break which started off with my parents arriving in Hamburg March 25. During their two week stay, besides seeing local area highlights with my host family, we toured Berlin, Ulm, Ludwigsburg, Bonn, Bad Oeynhausen, Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Lyon and Paris, France and the area around Liege, Belgium. Some of the highlights:
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School in Schleswig Holstein officially starts in the first grade where children attend Grundschule or elementary school. Each child is placed in a class with about 20-26 other students, being assigned a class teacher who will stay with them from first to fourth grade. They learn math, German, religion, sport and begin learning English in the third grade. Fieldtrips are common with some fourth grade classes participating in a five day/four night overnight trip to a northern island where they learn about the science of the island and even have a little disco party at the end. After the fourth grade, parents and their children choose whether they will move on to a Gemeinschaftsschule or Gymnasium. Gemeinschaftsschule tends to attract the kids who are less enthused with learning and is more like a mix of Standard and Honors class in America while Gymnasium is more similar to AP coursework with a few Honors classes so attracts the kids who like to learn or are fast learners. In Gemeinschaftsschule there are five different paths to choose.
Through Gymnasium, you have three paths:
Once you have an abitur, you can study at a Fachhochschule or a University(Hochschule). Fachhochschule focuses more on taking the things you learn and putting them into practice and University focuses on what exactly you are learning and the theory behind it. You can only earn a Ph.D at a University. I think it might be confusing at first, but the different options in school allow you to stay flexible. This system is quite new as they made some major changes in the last five years. For example, before you had to go though Gymnasium to get your Abitur, otherwise it was close to impossible to obtain it any other way. Now you get to choose which group of people fit you better and the speed of learning, since the material is the same level, just more spread out for the Gemainsschaft Schulen. Since I’m attending Heinrich Heine Schule, a Gymnasium, I wanted to visit a Gemeinschaftsschule to see if there were any noticeable differences. I have a friend, through the volleyball club, who attends Toni-Jensen-Gemeinschaftsschule about 10 minutes away. After receiving permission with both schools; I shadowed her for a day. We had to wake up a little earlier to make sure we caught the public bus at 7:20 a.m. to school and then chatted while trying to stay awake on the bus ride in. (As there are no school busses, many kids ride the public bus, bike or walk to school. A couple of kids drive or carpool when it’s cold outside.) Once we got there, we went to the first class of the day, art history. The school grounds were more spread out and there was an old water tower on campus that had a colorful painted mural. Similarities: The classes are the same lengths and breaks are also. They have a separation for the lower grades and upper grades. Both schools have “Profils” to assist students with the upper classes focus on certain topics (sport, physics, biology, languages, etc.) Differences: The diversity was MUCH higher. The 107 Gymnasiums tend to draw a primarily white group of kids, I would guess around 90%, while the 160 Gemainschaftsschulen draw a larger Turkish and African presence. Each person does choose where they go to school though, no matter how far away it is. If the school has a spot and you have the good grades, then you are in. Granted, I have only been to two schools in Schleswig Holstein, so each school might be different. I had a lot of fun having a day to observe, getting to see the pros and cons of each school. I am happy to be challenged at the Gymnasium and overall impressed by the German school system. For example, at my Gymnasium, they expect excellence in all subjects and you rarely have a class that is considered a joke. A couple of examples of this:
B=boys G=girls 1(+A) 11:40-12:20 B & 13:30-14:30 G 2(-A) 12:40-13:20 B & 14:35-15:30 G 3(B) 13:40-14:25 B & 16:00-17:00 G 4(C) 14:50-15:40 B & 17:30-18:40 G 5(D) 16:10-20:00 B & 19:20-22:30 G This is the lowered grading grid used for the kids who aren’t in the Sport profile classes. So you get these smart kids who are also fit and good at running and really good at sport, too. Most of my class scored in the 1-3 range with a few in the 4. Compared to when we do the mile run in high school, some kids are at the 14 minute mark at 4 laps. Another thing in sport class that has impressed me is that they have a sport they focus on for about two months before switching to another. So far we have done soccer, running, parkour/fitness and jumpstyle, all great workouts and a lot of fun at the same time. Germany has many religious holidays, with Catholic south Germany more so than the Protestant north. For example, next Wednesday May 4th is the start of Chrisit Himmelfahrt (Ascension of Christ), where we get three days off and then Monday the 16th for Pfingstmontag (Pentecost Monday). Their school breaks tend to be longer, also, as Fall break is two weeks and Easter is also two weeks, but their summer is much shorter. This year in Schleswig Holstein, summer break starts July 22nd and ends September 5th, just over a month long. While we have school sports in America, they only have school clubs (AG’s) or community clubs for sports. I joined the Women’s Volleyball Club Heikendorf and play with about 16 other girls ages 16-22. They also have a club for people just starting or learning how to play volleyball and a club for men and some of the older women. The clubs outside of school meet twice a week for the whole year, except for holidays, and play games Saturdays. We played about 20 games this season and came in third in our bracket. With the Volleyball AG, through school, we practice every Thursday, except for holidays, and played in a tournament we hosted this March, the last day before the Easter Break. The girl’s team won first and the boys second and we had a blast refereeing the games ourselves and missing a day of school. As I’ve enjoyed my school year in Heikendorf, I’ve also kept up with my peers with online college and scholarship applications. During my parents recent visit we compared my opportunities for Fall 2016 admission, deciding on North Carolina State University and the Poole College of Management’s International Business Dual Degree (IBDD) Program. The IBDD Program incorporates two years of study at NC State, two years of study at a partner institution abroad, two internships, two languages and two degrees. As a participant of the program, I will spend my first two years studying international business at NC State, and during my third and fourth years, I will be studying at the ESB Business School in Reutlingen, Germany. I am very excited for this upcoming fall semester and the adventures that await! Go Wolfpack!
January 21-23, 2016 the CIEE and Experiment e.V. staff met with 50 CBYX students at the Ahrtal-Jugendherberge.for the mid-year seminar. I traveled to Hamburg where I took the ICE and then a regional train where I met up with fellow CBYX friend TJ, allowing us to catch up on the last part of the trip. We walked to the Hostel together, enjoying chatting with everyone as they arrived from their various locations across Germany. It was great to get together having the opportunity to see everyone again. A lot has happened for all of us since our three weeks spent together at Schloss Wittgenstein August, meeting and getting to know each other. The mid-year seminar allowed us to share about the first half of our year as well as discuss what we plan to do in the second half of our CBYX year. It helped to hear everyone else’s stories, to reflect on our experiences and then talk about making the most out of the rest of our year, finishing strong. One activity had us write out ten things we want to do before we return to the US, then we had to assign a month next to each activity. I really appreciate having these simple tools to make life planning not seem overwhelming but instead seem easy. Other activities included:
We also took a group trip to Bonn, riding the train together. It was very picturesque. There we visited Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn where we received a guide book with questions and could find the answers in the exhibits. We also explored the city, especially happy to shop at the Haribo store and share dinner at a nice burger lounge. It was nice to sit down after the museum and the food was delicious! Afterward we did some sightseeing, visiting a few stores before returning to the train station to head back to the hostel. On the walk back to the hostel we had to be careful because the sidewalks were partially coated in a super thin layer of ice. It was fun to slide along, but not if you lost your balance or footing.
I really enjoyed getting to see everyone again, talking with them about where they live with their host families and their experiences during the first half of their CBYX year. Now to make the most of the remaining 146 days in Germany! Hello all! Making this four month video recap of my CBYX experience brought back so many fun memories filled with smiles, laughter and happiness as I spliced together this almost 10 minute video clip to share with you. From the DC arrival, to Bad Laasphe Language Camp, to meeting my awesome host family and beginning school life in Heikendorf – this has been such a great life experience! So, if you receive the blog posts as an email, please click this link - http://smhswlm.weebly.com/cbyx-hallo - where you can then click on the YouTube video to watch. December in Germany is great as they are known for their Christmas Markets and I can vouch that they are all unique in their own way. I had the opportunity to visit four, from Heikendorf’s one-day market to the sprawling Hamburg Christmas Market. Heikendorf’s Market had a lot of Christmas themed items but a lot of non-seasonal items that would make good presents. Here I purchased some ornaments and little Christmas trees carved from a pine branch. Talking about branches, they seem to be a traditional Christmas decoration. You see a lot of dark brown branches peppered with red, gold and silver ornaments and bows hung up on the walls, just so. It’s quite simple but still very festive. At the Heikendorf Market I also found St.Nicholaus with a bag of goodies ready to be given to children if they recited a poem. Of course I did a quick translation of “Roses are Red” and received a chocolate Santa the size of my forearm - score! The Kiel Christmas Market operates for about a month and that’s where I ended up finding my best purchases. To keep people coming back to Christmas Markets each year, they don’t just focus on handmade objects but about half is dedicated to food and the famous mulled wine. They serve the wine in cute souvenir mugs that you can only purchase at the Market. Your drink costs about 2-2.50 euros but the mug costs 2 euros. You pay 4 euros and get a ticket so if you return the mug with a ticket then you get your two euros back. I decided this would be a great opportunity to collect these mugs since you can’t buy them anywhere else. The food here is also delicious so I had a hard time choosing what to sample. They had a LOT of candy, too. I would guess that if food is half of the Market, a fourth of that would be chocolate and candy stands. It’s amazing the variety of choices! A lot of the items at the markets have to do with lights with lots of candle holders and cool hanging lamps. They had some stations with wool and others with wood keeping you shopping as you kept discovering more variety of products. A highlight at the Kiel Market was eating inside a little tent like enclosure, constructed inside a tree where the trunk held the tarp creating a unique shelter. The Hamburg and Lubeck Christmas Markets are the biggest and best in northern Germany. I joined a group of AFS students (Mihai from Ohio, Jake from NY, Maria from Mexico, Caroline from Ohio, Carolina from NY and Tamara from Bosnia) for a day trip. We took advantage of being a group and purchased our train tickets for only 10 euros (a fourth of the regular price) providing our round trip travel. We stopped first in Lübeck. Since we have all toured Lübeck before, we focused solely on the Christmas Markets. I saw about four markets but there were about seven total. We went to one market and I didn’t really find anything specific there but the experience was great. One of the students brought his drone allowing us truly a birds-eye view as it traveled over the Lübeck market. We then hopped on a train to Hamburg. Since it gets dark by 4:30 pm, the evening sky provided a great backdrop to the Hamburg Market lights. The main street was closed off creating a festive atmosphere for the thousands of shoppers (I would guess more than 5000). We walked down the street enjoying exploring the little pocket markets while entertained by various street performers on the main street. We had a guy drumming on plastic buckets, a brass group, some people doing tricks and even a breakdancing group. Oh, another highlight of these Christmas Markets are the crepes. MY GOODNESS they are so delicious! And mesmerizing when they pour the crepe batter and swirl it into a perfect circle. A highlight of the Hamburg Market was the parade. We watched Santa, his sleigh, reindeer, dancing candy canes, snowmen, ice princesses and many versions of St. Nicholas costumed marchers. It was fun and really added to the whole experience. While most markets have one mug, Hamburg decided to have three different types. I went a little crazy with buying them all, determined to get one of each design. Getting to experience both Markets in one day, even though most say Lübeck is their favorite, I think Hamburg won. Celebrating Christmas was a different experience beginning with when Christmas trees are purchased – December 23. Most families wait until the week before Christmas to put up the Christmas tree and all the decorations I saw were simple, with quality over quantity. We had some pretty cut circles out of paper and some other ribbon stars my host mom had made. Since a big Christmas tree would be too big and over the top, my host family purchased a half size tree that was able to fit in the window on the wide window sill, or in a corner of their living room. In our church, however, they had a 20 foot tall Christmas tree which is donated from someone’s garden each year. Christmas officially starts at 12 p.m. on the 24th, but many people celebrate the whole day. Shops are closed beginning the afternoon of the 24th to the 26th, but since the 27th was a Sunday, the shops were closed longer this year. We did an errand run on the 24th since we couldn't go shopping for another four days. We had cookies and played games with the whole family since my host brothers were home for the holidays and my host mother's brother also joined in on the fun. We baked out a Reese's cookie mix I brought so the house smelled like freshly baked cookies. Once it was around 5 or 6 p.m. we started opening presents. Every family has different traditions, and my family used a dice to determine who would be the next gift recipient. If you rolled a six, you could go to the blanket under the Christmas tree and grab a present from underneath. We then saw who the gift was for with that person opening their gift. However, after two people ended up rolling a few 6s in a row, we changed the rules. Once all the gifts were given, we cleared the table for Raclette dinner. Raclette is a type of cheese but the meal is Swiss-German. Each person gets a little pan and fills it with meat, onions, bell pepper, corn; whatever you want then you put it in the Raclette grill and wait until it is cooked to your liking. Then you put a slice of Raclette on top and pop it back in. Once it’s all melted and delicious you slide it onto your plate and eat it with potatoes. This is a slow dinner and great for holidays since everyone is talking. The machine itself is also quite hot so we were all sitting in thin long sleeved shirts or t-shirts having a ball. Once we finished up dinner we slowly cleared the table then took a family picture. After that we had some dessert of marzipan flavored ice cream dipped in chocolate in the shape of a Christmas tree. Yum! December 25th we celebrated Christmas with my host dad’s mother in Plön. We ate at an Asian restaurant on the water that provided a splendid view and great food. We then walked around to the Plön castle, now an optometry school, and through the little town's historic main street. It was nice to see St. John’s church, built around 1685, where my host mom and dad were married. We spent the remainder of Christmas Day at Oma's home playing games. The way holidays are celebrate is an important part of any culture and having the opportunity to fully experience this in Germany, not from a tourist perspective, has been a lot of fun. The Christmas markets were so much fun and the décor so simple, but so pretty. Christmas was nice in that they really take three days off to celebrate and, when most business are not open, you find you spend more time with family or just hanging out together at the house. (Online slideshow follows.) While Germany celebrates Thanksgiving, it’s a different event altogether. Thanksgiving, “Erntedankfest”, traditionally is recognized as the celebration of the harvest on the first Sunday in November. There is no or story about natives assisting them or related food menu. So, since Thanksgiving is one of the traditional American holidays, I decided it would be a great way to bring my host family and friends a taste of America, literally. I started planning the menu a week before Thanksgiving Day with the invitation to come together to celebrate the Sunday after the American Thanksgiving Thursday. After some online reading and review (Buzzfeed was great!), I selected the menu: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, orange glazed carrots, stuffing, brussel sprouts with chorizo and toasted almonds, cranberry relish and apple pie with whipped cream. I bought all of my supplies at the local grocery store with my host family letting me shop their pantry for basics like flour, salt, potatoes and eggs. Two things surprised me with my shopping experience. One – I actually found the green bean casserole French Fried Onions. I discovered they are a Danish favorite to eat as a topping on hot dogs along with ketchup, so the onions are sold in stores. My other surprise was the cost of the dinner, $20, but that was before the turkey. I called around to see who carried turkey (Tuthan), but most stores only had the female turkey, which has a different name in German, Pute. I purchased two small/medium turkeys/Pute and that’s when it got more expensive, bringing my total menu cost to $60. With many of the recipes allowing preparation a few days ahead, I started prepping on Thursday, putting the green bean casserole together, ready for the topping and to be baked in the oven Sunday. Friday I made the stuffing, the cranberry relish and the apple pie. Saturday I started first by calling my dad, asking him for his ideas and what spices our family uses with the turkey. I didn’t realize defrosting the turkey takes three days and didn’t have time to do the water defrosting method so I researched cooking the turkey frozen. While it added on two hours roasting time, removing it from the oven after the first hour to remove the giblets and butter/season the turkey, it turned out great! The oven ended up cooking the turkey in about five hours which was an hour or two shorter than normal, but the temperature was actually warmer than it was supposed to be inside. As I have never carved a turkey and didn’t want to watch a video, I called my dad and received virtual video instruction with him. Since it was hard to hold the phone with one hand and carve with the other, I positioned my phone on my forehead, tying/wrapping it in place, so Dad could see my hands and direct where to carve. It was almost like he was over my shoulder telling me what to do next. I cut all of the good meat off, taking about an hour and a half, with a lot of laughs with my host family and then I was done - success! I prepared my first turkey! All that was left was to prep ahead was the apple pie and our neighbors allowed me to use their oven to bake so I wouldn’t have to overcrowd our oven Sunday. For our Erntedankfest or Thanksgiving feast, we were joined by some girls from school, church and choir and the neighbor family friends whose oven was used to bake the pie. We gathered Sunday afternoon, beginning our celebration around 1:15 p.m. Funny, but as the afternoon went on, more guests continued arriving (about 17 total) making it a fun time sampling and sharing a bounty of food. The apple pie was probably my favorite as the recipe selected called for apple cider vinegar which really helped make it more about the apple flavor than pure sweet. I was also happy with how pretty it looked. Overall, this is one of my proudest moments – the success of planning, making and serving a Thanksgiving meal shared with my new family and many friends. (And another surprise - making the lunch was actually a lot easier than I thought it would.)
Following our Thanksgiving lunch and visiting, we left for Kiel. Being the first day of Advent (November 29), it is widely celebrated in churches and the community. We attended a local festival at the kindergarten followed by a 4 p.m. coffee and cookie service at our church. It was great to have a hosted a successful Thanksgiving lunch, smelling like turkey while relaxing during the church service. Following the service, each family was asked to bring home these adorable and easily crafted Christmas decorations. What a great way to begin the days and weeks leading up to Christmas! The history of the praktikum goes back to the 17th century with it’s current purpose being to enhance education through practical work experience. At Heinrich Heine Schule 9th and 11th grade students spend two weeks in November volunteering with a praktikum, similar to an internship. My family and Experiment e.V. advisor/Betreuerin assisted me with the process of finding a praktikum allowing me to shadow AWO (Arbeiterwohlfahrt Bundesverband) social workers assisting refugees in Kronshagen Rathaus (https://goo.gl/zMUR8G). AWO (https://goo.gl/oPFHne) is similar to the Red Cross in that "men and women come together as volunteers or in salaried positions to address social problems and challenges promoting the democratic, social state of Germany". Each town and city are given a certain percentage of the refugees with Kronshagen receiving 3% (ranging from 100-200) of the refugees assigned to Schleswig-Holstein. The Kronshagen refugees have all their documents settled and are waiting in flats or in the container village until more permanent housing opens up. Getting asylum can take from six months to three years with most Syrian refugees having the shortest wait time (since their plea for asylum is more credible - there are many others not from Syria seeking asylum). I observed that many of the refugees were not too happy being assigned temporary container living when a lot of others go straight to housing. They usually stay in the containers from four weeks to four months with families being placed in housing prior to single males (females almost never travel alone). The Red Cross provides food as, while living in the containers, they aren’t allowed to cook but there also is a coffee and tea room which is open the whole day. Each container is approximately 10’x15’x6’ dimension, allowing living space for two people. If you have a family of four, they will be assigned two containers; if five, three containers. The containers are furnished with two beds, a storage cabinet for clothes and such, a table and two chairs. They also receive their own cleaning caddy. During my two week praktikum I daily traveled by bus to Kiel, taking a connecting bus to Kronshagen Rathaus, a 45 minute trip one way (https://goo.gl/HtQTlv). I shadowed Gina, meeting her at her town hall office. Daily she assisted the refugees with job searches, obtaining medical appointments, school enrollment for the children, etc. Gina, her coworkers and volunteers daily were assisted by full time translators as many of the refugees do not speak German or English. A typical day could include:
While my praktikum was two weeks long, I only spent one week specifically with the Kronshagen Refugees. It was amazing to see them so happy and full of life, even through all the hardships they have endured to get where they are today. I learned a lot more about the situation in Syria and a lot of my ignorance was brought to light. For one, I did not know Syria had a high model of education and that many of the refugees from Syria are middle class. While volunteering in the container village I was surrounded by teachers, business men, electrical engineers, IT workers and other degreed workers. Another was learning that the war is made up of more than three parties - Isis, Assad loyalist, the Citizens, the Kurds and other groups, as well as hearing more about the increasing problem of European youth joining ranks with Isis. My praktikum, daily exposing me to a variety of emotions, provided a tangible learning experience as I heard first hand the refugees stories about how they came to Kronshagen, their hopes and dreams for the future.
Saturday as we left Gilleleje to travel back home as our two week fall break was ending, my host parents detoured on the way to the ferry to visit the Island Møn. Møn is known for their chalk cliffs and fossils (http://goo.gl/CrWhmX). We started walking up, first following the path that skirted the edge of the cliffs, and it was crazy how high up we were! The drop was almost vertical in some places while other areas looked like a ski ramp. There were a lot of leaves and I had fun running through them, kicking them up in the air. We turned back and ate lunch on a fallen tree looking out at the ocean and cliffs, quite relaxing really. My host dad told me a couple of years back some people were walking down on the beach, which is about 10 feet wide, and some of the cliff broke off and fell on a person. He told me this before we went down to the beach so I would keep my eyes peeled for anything dangerous. The path down was like a boardwalk, twisting through the trees and down the steep slope, allowing for accessibility but not disturbing the natural setting. The trees on the sides were so cool, the branches were all bendy and wave shaped, not like normal straight limbed trees. The lighting was great, too, as we descended the 500 some stairs. They had little rest benches where people were snacking or catching their breath from walking up and each stopping point had a great view of the ocean and cliffs. We walked down and at one point there was a little stream beside us, probably from a fresh spring somewhere halfway down, which added to the aesthetic. We reached the beach where it was half sand and half rocks with groups of people looking through the small stones looking for fossils. I decided to look too as I walked down the beach and found one semi fossil when we were about to start the walk to the top. I put it in my bag along with some chalk pieces I gathered. As we walked back up we would take a break every 100th stair; they had the numbers written in chalk on some of the stairs so we didn't have to count. We made it to the top and I was feeling a little sweaty but I didn't realize just how sweaty I was until we stopped in the main shop to pay for the parking ticket. When I took off my jacket, it looked like I spilt water on it. We then departed for the ferry and once aboard I exchanged some euro coins to Danish Krone. Some of the Krone have holes in them and I wanted to make a bracelet out of them. (Yes, I realize it's money, but one euro is 7 Krones so the bracelet would be less than 5 Euros which I was willing to pay.) I ended up with a bunch which was great so I can make the bracelet soon. I enjoyed standing out on the ferry deck as the sun would soon set and I thought I could get a few good photos. The wind was great and while my hair was everywhere, the air was clear and the view relaxing. I stayed outside for a good 15 minutes until I could see the lights from Germany's shore. After rejoining the family inside the ferry, my face was a little tingly, but the good sort where your face warms up in five minutes.
My week in Denmark was even more beautiful and interesting than I expected it to be. I got to see Copenhagen but many other small villages, castles, museums, gardens, parks and the Møn chalk cliffs, seeing and learning more about the history and daily life of the Danes. During Fall break I traveled with my host family to Denmark, driving to the northern tip of Schleswig-Holstein where we drove our car onto the very large Puttgarden ferry. During the ride over we exchanged our euros to Danish krones, walked the decks enjoying the crisp day and ocean scenery, eating a snack outside before docking and beginning the drive to our vacation home Gilleleje. I will always remember this first night in Denmark as the sunset at the beach (only a five minute walk from the house) was gorgeous! I took a lot of pictures but couldn’t seem to capture how just how amazing the sunset looked. We traveled into Copenhagen two separate days as there was so much to see. It was interesting to see so many bikes at the train station with almost every rack full so people ended up locking their bikes to lamp posts and railings. The bike lanes were also pretty awesome, a raised portion of the street about six feet wide, heavily used by young and old alike. Some of the highlights:
It was fun to explore the smaller towns as well. While at the Gilleleje waterfront we could see the Switzerland shore which was super cool! We walked the town center, buying some Berliners in a bakery with the cinnamon roll smell inside reminding me of grandma’s delicious cinnamon rolls. Helsingør had a castle where we walked around the grounds taking pictures and such before walking back out to the docks. This castle is situated on the closest part between Sweden and Denmark and used to control all ships sailing between them. They had cannons that could reach to the other side and required all ships to pay them before allowing them to cross, a great way to make money. A lot of countries got together and gathered a large sum of money to pay Denmark to lift their "toll". We walked to the docks and there was a statue similar to the Meerjungfrau in Copenhagen but it was a normal man, and it was all shiny. We took a picture with the statue since it reflected a lot of the pretty colors surrounding us. They had this really cool geometric library and a cool trash sculpture of a fish. It was made up of sand shovels, umbrellas, shoes and whoever was washed up on shore and it was vibrant and huge. There is a ferry that crosses between Sweden and Denmark every 15 minutes or so and one was the "H H Ferry" in German H is pronounced "Ha", so it was the Ha Ha Ferry;). I got a laugh out of that one. We then walked to the Main Street, which was much bigger then Gilleleje's. We mostly window shopped and looked around, I chose to people watch. It was interesting hearing Danish and seeing what the people looked like. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (http://en.louisiana.dk/visit-louisiana) was a favorite as last year in Frau Wilson’s class I had researched artist Yayoi Kusama whose pop art installations have their own rooms at the Louisiana. We went to the exhibit "In Infinity" and it was beautiful and amazing. There were a lot of bright colors and patterns that kept the museum visitors intrigued, even the kids. We spent about 1.5 to 2 hours on that exhibit, especially enjoying the obliteration room, infinity room and red room. I did get a little dizzy from the red room but that was the last room so I quickly recovered. We then walked outside to look at some of the sculptures and the ocean, since the museum is right on the water, sitting on a slight cliff.
The Heinrich Heine Schule Choir, Orchestra and Band, middle to high school students, met up early Wednesday morning to travel by tour bus about 40 minutes away to Schloss Noer (http://www.freizeit-am-meer.de/schloss-noer.html ) for the annual music retreat. Noer history dates back to the 1200s with the name itself meaning a slope/rock/cliff. Located by the Baltic Sea, the Castle houses rooms with about 40 beds and the Riding Stall about 36 beds, and both have been renovated and set up in a hostel/dorm style for different groups. After arriving we left our bags in our assigned bedrooms (I shared a room with three other girls) before joining in for the scheduled practices. During our choir practices we sang a couple of Christmas songs but also some spirituals like, "Let My Light Shine Bright," which was very upbeat. We walked around while singing and it was fun to see people clapping, dancing and getting into it. We practiced a Christmas song "Juel" which is Swedish and beautiful, the harmonies and the images it creates are inspiring. Another fun song was “Fruit Salad” which we practiced in preparation for a musical “thank you” to the kitchen staff Friday after lunch before returning to Heikendorf. It was a canon and easily translated into English. I hope I can teach it this summer when a counselor at Girl Scout Camp Pisgah. The orchestra and horns practiced in the Riding Stall’s big room where we all fit. We worked on "James Bond,” "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Lion King." Most of the kids had never seen the notes before so we didn't sound good but we didn't totally wreck either and made it through the whole song. As I played the alto saxophone I figured out I need to work on my counting because I was listening too much to the tenors since we played a lot at the same time, but they also played a measure before or after us sometimes and I blindly followed. We took turns setting the tables for our meals together. On our retreat packing list it told us to bring a pair of house slippers - I don’t think I have ever packed slippers on a retreat before. The Schloss owners want to keep the floors as clean and smooth as they can and since shoes track in dirt, you wear house slippers basically the whole day. I had on my house slippers when I set the tables and I had a blast with that. The floors were mostly wood, allowing kind of a cross country skiing movement that made me laugh while gracelessly turning corners to get the plates to set the tables. Before our meals we would sing and then enjoy breads with multiple spreads for breakfast and dinner or another favorite dish of mine, potato pieces, green beans with a cream sauce and frikadellen for a warm lunch. During the day we would have tea time with basic black tea and lemon cake with a white chocolate glaze on top. It was funny to see some kids with their rectangular sponge looking piece of cake acting like they were cleaning the table with their cake. It really did look like a sponge, but it tasted great! I had volunteered to help Lisa and Vivi with planning of the Thursday evening Buntes Abend where we play a lot of games and celebrate our last day. Most of the games were ones that they play every year and they all sounded like a lot of fun! That evening Lisa, Vivi and I were the three MC's of the night, starting off by welcoming everyone and then the talent show performances and games began. Some of the highlights:
After that we all gathered and the choir director told everyone to get their warm jackets on and meet outside the front of the castle in 10 minutes. I got my stuff and waited with some of the older kids just chatting and waiting. I realized that by being a MC with Lisa and Vivi, I put myself in a place that people could see me, and now people knew who I was. There were so many kids on the trip it was easy to blend in, but I unknowingly surfaced and the friendliness I received after was nice.
Once everyone had gathered, the choir director started off saying that this was a year of many firsts, since we were in two buildings (the Schloss and the Riding Stall) instead of one, we had a lot more people than normal and that we wouldn't be going to the beach this year. They have been going to Noer since 1988, I think, and they go to the beach every year on the last night - it's a tradition. It was raining and they didn't want people getting sick or hurt, but the seniors were so disappointed that they found an alternate safe route through a neighborhood so we started off to the beach. The walk took about 15 minutes and, while it was slightly raining before we left, the rain stopped by the time we got to the beach. We sang "Evening Rise" and then had some silent time to look over the water and just be. Then some of the seniors started some songs with the rest of us joining in - it was really spontaneous and pretty. We walked farther down the beach before walking up a back road to the castle. This was a perfect end to such a fun trip. In these two days I really got to know the people and the music and can’t wait to see them at our next practice as we prepare to sing together in our Christmas concert. |
aboutElizabeth began German immersion at Waddell Language Academy and continued at South Meck World Language Magnet. She is spending her senior year in Heikendorf, Germany as a CBYX scholar. Archives
June 2016
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