Blog #2 by Gaby Kupferle

We have been in Germany for less than 3 weeks and I’m already understanding what they say better, (even when they talk really fast). As a group, the Australians went to Munich and visited some churches, went to the new town house and had a tour of the city. The view from the new town house was amazing you could see the whole city, and on the wall it showed where each of the important buildings were.

Each church you went in you could pay 0.50euro to light a candle and put on the bench for you loved ones to bring them wealth and good luck, and if they are deceased to rest in peace, Zoe and I each bought 5 candles from the 2 different churches we placed them for our friends and family. In one of the churches we went to it was believed that a devil was helping them build the church and he said I will only help if you have no windows, but the people in the church said they could not build the church unless they had windows that it was stupid no to have them, so anyway the made the windows and when the devil came back he was so angry he stomped on the group and left a foot print which is still there. Next we went to the place Hitler first appeared and gathered the troops to fight off the Jews, and where so many lives started to go wrong.

 When we were walking across one of the bridges we saw this surfing place under a bridge where the water ran, and the people were all practicing their surfing, it was very interesting to watch. We have been doing our impressions project a bit and what we do for it is the differences between Germany and Australia, we have been put into groups and Chloe is in my group. On the weekend my host family and I went to Oberaudorf and went on the massive slide there.

We went to the sun gods castle built by Ludwick and we had a tour of the castle, but sadly we weren’t allowed to take any pictures of it. When we went there, there were so many statues and figurines and inside the castle the lady said that all in all they used only 5kg of gold, but most of the palace was gold plated. We went to one of the local breweries and got told all about the history and how they make the beer, and we were shown all the stages of production, and after we went to lunch.

Last weekend as a group we hiked up mount wendlestein for about 3 1-2 hours to a hut and camped the night there in little cabins, and in the morning we caught the train to the near top (which was too steep to walk up) and then walked up many steps to get to the top,  and saw the amazing view. The view from the top was just breath taking it was worth the long, steep walk. On the way down a few dramas happened but we all got home safe.

Rob's first post

I’ve spent just under a week in Germany and already have experienced so many things. The plane trip over was pretty ordinary which was expected, sleep was little and movies were put on in succession. When we arrived at our final destination (Munich-Germany) we all seemed to be pretty excited. I was pretty sleep deprived and it was a weird feeling walking off the plane and realizing you were in a different country.

Nico and Christian (Nico’s Dad) were waiting to greet me at the airport. After a quick introduction we left the Airport and headed off to Will’s exchange partner’s house (Jonas) to have a Bavarian breakfast. It was really good  and I particularly liked the Weiβwurst which is a traditional Bavarian sausage.

 The Broβ’s house is really nice and it is the only house made out of wood on the street. Nico’s Mum and dad are easy to get along with and they help me a lot with trying to understand German. Nico has 2 brothers and one sister. Yannik, Nico’s older brother is the coach of the Ebersberg handball team and they are very good. Sara, Jonas and Nico all go to different schools around the area which might sound very unusual but the public transport here is so good that they have so many options for education, work…etc.

The first day at school was very tiring. We woke up at 6 and caught the bus at about 7. The Bus ride is only about half an hour long so it is about the same as in Australia. I didn’t understand any German and found it very difficult to try and start a conversation. The school is about the same size as Bright’s but it is built up, not across and we have more and better areas to play and do sports.

In the classes it seems to me that little work is done by most students compared to Australian schools although this is just my opinion. Most of the classes at the moment are pretty boring apart from Maths because I can work in that. I think as my German progresses I will be able to interact in the classroom making it more interesting.

In the afternoon on Monday we went bowling and had lunch at Jonny’s Bowling ,a short walk from school. My bowling skills were not very good and I didn’t do too well but I still had heaps of fun.

 An average afternoon is going down to the local supermarket with Nico’s friends and chilling there. At first I found it boring and frustrating because I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. But I soon got to know them and understand bits of what they were saying. Nico’s friends are all really nice and are good at helping me learn German and explaining things if I don’t understand.

In my travels I have seen an  Igal which is German for hedgehog. It sat curled up in a ball just outside the main supermarket. It was quite small and didn’t move an inch when we came over to see what it was.

At night we sometimes play board games. One that we have played several times is really fun and is called Tac. It is a lot like trouble and even though I am not very good at it I enjoy it a lot.

On Saturday we went into Munchen with Nico’s friends. After they did a bit of shopping we went to the Oktoberfest the biggest and most well-known festival/carnival in Germany. It is really big and the amount of people is enormous. We didn’t stay there for long but just walking through it gave me the impression of what it is all about.

On Sunday we went on a Rad tour on a bike ride into the Ebersberg Forest, a neighbouring town from Grafing where we live. it was a really nice ride on an open dirt road surrounded by forest and during our ride we stopped at the Art forest which was really cool.  Objects from the city have been placed in the forest and been incorporated  into the landscape.

Rob

Doug's Blog #1

The flight to Singapore was very boring, seven hours to Singapore with a 90 minute wait for the changeover and then a 12 hour flight to Munich. I received a warm welcome from my host brother, Johannes and his parents. On the first weekend, I did a lot, I played "Bauern Golf" (farmer's golf). It consisted of hitting a small along a course with a wooden stick with weird looking head that looked like a shoe. I also went to a market with lots of stalls. Monday, 29th September was my first day at the school, it was quite an experience. It is so different to Australian schools in every way: class layout, teaching style, equipment and attitude. When a teacher is out of the classroom there is a lot of noise but as soon as he or she enters, it is silent and students become serious. The following day the classes were quite boring but sfter school it was interesting as our train from Rosenheim was terminated and had to wait to catch another until we got to Raubling. On the Wednesday, I did the first of my Powerpoint presentations to one of Frau Kreplin's Year 9 English classes. It went very well, I did half of the presentation and Josh, the other. On Thursday, we went to see the Mayor of Bad Aibling, Herr Felix Schwaller. He was a very nice man and spoke no English and Mr. Kusch translated. Many questions were asked of the Mayor and he gave interesting replies. We had a small tour of the town prior to this. Later, we went for an ice cream. On the way home we went shopping in Rosenheim, the girls looked for clothes and we just generally browsed. Friday was a public holiday, German Reunification Day ( Tag der deutschen Einheit. The plan was for Oktoberfest, a one hour train ride to Munich ( Minga). I was amazed at the massive crowds but it was ok. We met Lsura and Allison's family. We went on three rides. The first one travelled at 100km and at 6 g's of force, the best ride I have ever been on. The second was a rollercoaster and the third went through a mine, it was fun. We then had something to eat and eventually caught the train home. On Saturday the 4th of October, I went on a flying fox and on a downhill sled. The view from the flying fox was breath taking and the sled was a complete thrill. For dinner we went to a Bavarian inn that had a brass band playing. I slept well that night. On the Sunday, I went to Salzburg airport to Hangar 7, the Red Bull hangar complete with all sorts of Red Bull gear, race cars and planes, even a Cobra ( American attack helicopter). After that we went to a small café which had paraphernalia from World War 1.

Arrival

We finally got off the plane after 20 hours in the air at Munich Airport at 5:35am German time (2:30pm Australian time). It was a very long flight and I was very happy to have that part of the journey over with. We were picked up by our host families outside the doors to the arrivals where all the families were waiting for us. We didn’t waste much time here and we all left not long after arriving. We drove home which was a very strange experience as we were driving on the right hand side of the road and I kept on thinking we were going to get hit by an oncoming car. The country side is very beautiful and it is incredible the amount of corn that is grown here, almost everywhere you look there is a corn field. We arrived at my host families home in Rechtmehring (which is about 50 minutes from Munchen) where we had breakfast with the three long term families. We had a traditional breakfast with Weiss Wurst and Brezels. The food was great but very different to what we're accustomed to in Australia. After breakfast I got time to settle and unpack my bag. Later that day we visited Rosenheim where we walked around seeing the local shops. The next day we had a brunch at school with all the families involved with the exchange. It was a bit boring but was also good to see all the other people form Bright. After the breakfast we went to a Ritter Fest which is like a medieval festival where people get dressed up in medieval clothes and dresses and dance to old music. We went with Josh Raymond and his partner Flo and Josh’s host mum. There were medieval clothes for sale as well as traditional foods like Bratwurst and chicken on a stick. There were also entertainers like a man with 6 or 7 different owls or eagles and he would present them to the crowd and would let them pat them. There was also a jousting ring but we didn’t get to see anybody doing it. It was really cool to see a festival like this because we don’t have any like this Australia. School started on the Monday and I had to get up at 5:45 so I could catch the train at 6:35. We had a normal day at school with our host partners. We also had to get up in front of the whole school and speak about ourselves. This was a bit nerve racking as there were 500 people in the area. After school finished we had a trip to the bowling Alley in Bad Abling with all the German exchange program students. We had 2 games with either 4 or 5 people in each group. In my group there was Hannah, Rob Mr Kusch and I. Mr Kusch ended up winning our game but it was fun to spend an afternoon out with all the exchange people to get to know them better. My experiences so far have been great and I hope they get better, which I’m sure they will.

Allison's First Blog

Allison’s GERMAN BLOG When we were off the plane and onto the Autobahn, the first thing I noticed was the cars. Every single one that passed us was either a BMW, a VW or an Audi. Laura’s mum got up to 145 km an hour and other cars just kept passing us! It was pretty crazy and scary. I also kept freaking out and thinking we were going to crash because we were on the other side of the road and I’ve nearly been run over about 4 times for looking the wrong way when crossing the road. I’ve been beeped once too. For the first couple of days I was waking up at about 6am automatically because of jetlag. The day I arrived Laura had a gymnastics competition. It was amazing and so much more advanced than the MDYC club at home. Even the kids who were 7 years old were doing things our club hasn’t even learnt yet. It was really hard to stay awake but Sandra (Laura’s mum) kept saying “you have to wait until at least 6pm before you can sleep.” When I got home, there was a basket full of German chocolates and of course, Haribo Gummibärchen!!! Breakfast in Germany is not too different to Australia, the best thing is the Pretzels!!! They are big, thick heavy bread with little chunky bits of salt. Sometimes I have them with Nutella and it’s lecker lecker! When they asked me if I wanted some cornflakes I said “YES PLEASE” and got pretty excited but then it was really “chocolaty” cereal. Nearly everything they have has chocolate or a lot of sugar in it. I’ve been craving carrots and apples so badly (I never thought I would). Their bread is brown and really thick. Sometimes it has nuts inside it too, but I got used to the Deutsche food pretty quickly. I’ve watched a few German handball matches and it looks like so much fun. It’s a sport I haven’t seen in Australia but I think we should have it. Both men and women can play and everyone gets really competitive. It was really scary the first time I watched a game because about 6 people cried and 1 girl walked off the court in anger (she threw a girl on the ground!) At school, there was a big banner waiting for us and we had to introduce ourselves in German. It was nerve racking doing it on front of 500 kids and it was amazing how they all fit into the main entrance. I like the idea of their school staring earlier and finishing at 1pm because you have much more time after school. It’s good because my host student does a lot of sport. The downside is that they have a lot more homework than in Australia and they are given a days’ notice (or sometimes no notice) for when they have a test. I went with Laura, Gaby and her host partner, Anna to the Bad Aibling Therma (pool). The mayor said it was the biggest project he has done while being the mayor and it cost 30million euros!! I had to pretend I was 15 to get in and it was so relaxing because all the people there were pretty old and everyone was quiet. It was really beautiful and my favorite pool was a whirlpool where you lie back and it just pushes you around. I can’t wait until we go back later with the exchange group. Everyone at the school speaks really good English and it’s fun to scare them about our deadly animals in Australia. They get the most frightened when you tell them about Redback spiders and that you find them in your shoes and they can live in your house. I am starting to understand a lot more of the German now but at the start it was really hard because of the different accents, some different words because they speak Bavarian German, and the speed. When Laura and her Mum talk together I probably understand it 90% of the time. I gave the family 3 double packs of Tim Tams and by the end of the 1st week they were all gone. Whenever we weren’t doing anything they would just eat them! Another thing that’s really popular is this drink called “Cola Mix.” It tastes like Cola mixed with Fanta and it’s really fizzy. It costs 2 euros and if you give back the bottle you get 1euro. It’s the same with all the plastic bottles when you give them back. It’s another good idea we need in Australia. The new Rathaus ( Town Hall) was really nice inside and waiting for us on the table were mini showbags!! We each got a T-shirt that had Bad Aibling on it. We asked the Mayor questions about the town and afterwards he brought us all a double scooped ice-cream. I regret not seeing the Tiramisu flavor. The mayor also paid for our bowling afternoon, he was really nice. He didn’t speak any English so Mr Kusch and Mrs Kreplin translated the answers to the questions for us. On the Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Reunification Day) my host family went to the Oktoberfest!!! I got to wear a dirndl and my family were all wearing traditional German clothes. I learnt that if the ribbon for the dirndl is on the left you are without a man, on the right you are married and in the middle if you are pregnant. We went by train and going out of the train station into Munich was a human traffic jam because the station led straight into the Oktoberfest. When you get out of the station it’s overwhelming. There are rides everywhere, people everywhere and so many stalls with gingerbread hearts swinging off them in big groups. The lines of the beer tents would probably be an hour and a half long and when we were there they closed off the doors because there was so many people there and no way could they fit anyone else in. We met up with Douglas and Johannes’s family and went around together. I went on a ride that was 50metres high and it went for 100km per hour. I felt pretty sick and it was so crazy we had to take off our shoes and tie back our hair. I got to see the Oktoberfest upside down and when you’re up so high you see how big it actually is. We also went in a ghost tunnel and an Olympic rings ride which means you go upside down about 6 times. We got roses from the shooting and for lunch we had Bratwurst, the best one so far. When I got home, I found out that the fastest man in the world (Usain Bolt) just went to the Oktoberfest 36minutes prior. That was the only bad part for the day. The next day, Laura, Sandra and I travelled to Oberaudorf which was a town 4km from the Austrian border. We went on the ski lifts when there wasn’t any snow up to a luge. I liked to call it Summer Tobogganing. It was like bobsledding in a tube and you couldn’t overtake anyone. Laura and I went on it 4 times each and afterwards we go ice-cream. We also went to the Lake Chiemsee where King Ludwig’s Castle Herrenchiemsee was. That was so beautiful and everything inside was covered in gold leaf. It only took 7 years to make with a minimum of 40 people working on it day and night. It never got finished because the King ran out of money, but we saw so many rooms and it felt like it was finished to me! The saddest part was that you couldn’t take any photos. Afterwards we went to another island, the Fraueninsel where Anna, Zoe and I had lunch at a cute restaurant and I had Spätzle (a traditional German meal). It tasted like soy sauce noodles. Zoe had been craving pumpkin soup and she finally got some.” Every year, the homegroups in the school get to pick somewhere to go for a da for their “Wandertag”. Other homegroups picked to go to the airport or to Sealife but our homegroup decided to go hiking. I was the only Aussie in my class so there was a lot of listening to German that day. We got ½ way up a small mountain and the group had a debate about the class. I think it went for about an hour! It was very interesting and competitive. The next day we went hiking again! We hiked up to a mountain hut, the Mitteralm on Wendelstein, the highest mountain in the area. I walked with Zoe and it felt like the hottest day we have had because of our heavy packs and most of us were wearing shorts. For dinner we had SALAD and pasta!!!! All the Australians were loving the salad and all the Germans were just picking at it. The rooms were really cute and that night was the eclipse. It was really cool seeing the red moon with the mountains and the lights of towns below. The next day we took a gondola up to the top of the mountain where the highest church in Germany is and you can see 100km in a circle around the mountain. The hike down was very interesting, we all got split up somehow and I was in a group with Michi, Georgia, Zoe and Chloe. We were the first ones down and the only ones who went the right way. The boys in front of us walked further than they needed to and came up on the other side of the road and everyone else came up about a kilometer away from the meeting point. They were coming down pretty slowly because Laura had hurt her foot and Mr Kusch was with her. The only people who weren’t there were Gaby and Hannah who Sandra had found over at another mini hill!! They had gotten lost completely and we were going to call the police! On the weekend I went with my host family to Austria!! We stayed at Sandra’s family’s house. In the house was Laura’s Grandma and Grandpa and her Great Grandpa! We went to Hallstatt which was awesome and it was a town that China made an exact copy of. They used to dry out skulls there of people who died because there was no room underground for the people to be buried. Laura’s Grandpa had cooked a BBQ for lunch because they had an Australian and it was so good, their main meal is at lunch and then they have bread rolls for dinner. Her Family is all so nice and her Grandpa and Great Grandpa gave me money to buy an ice cream or for a souvenir for my trip. So far Germany has been an amazing experience and I’m sad that we only have two weeks left. Allison Williams

Zoe's first impression

Driving home from the airport was an eye opener. Already I could see the major differences between Australia and Germany. The architecture and colour of the houses, shops and churches are very traditional. The green hills and fields followed by tall, bizarre mountains create a beautiful outlook. The weathering castle on the hill gave a mysterious medieval vibe. People were transported by horses, bicycles and tractors. I saw this from the car window and it made me extremely excited to explore. I’m living in Oberaudorf, a village near the Swiss border. The village is spread into sections because of the large blocks of land most families own. The houses and shops also look very traditional here. My host family owns a decent amount of land. On my first day (the same morning we drove from the airport) Anna (my host sister) and Francis (my host father) showed me their sheep. I was amazed at how friendly the sheep were and how well my family looked after them. The sheep were treated as pets and got a fair rub from Anna and Francis. Later we rode to the primary school where a fire drill was being displayed. The fire fighters had put smoke bombs in the buildings, set the fire truck sirens off, alert the church bells to ring the fire alarm, placed ladders near the windows and organised all the kids and parents to come along. They were making the practise as realistic as possible and teaching the kids at the same time. Every single child was either harnessed and taken out the window or carried out by fire fighters. The kids were taught what to do if they were alone and basic fire safety rules. I was so surprised how much effort the community dedicates towards their animals and their village. So far I’ve seen the Oktoberfest, four castles, specky mountains aDriving home from the airport was an eye opener. Already I could see the major differences between Australia and Germany. The architecture and colour of the houses, shops and churches are very traditional. The green hills and fields followed by tall bazar mountains create a beautiful outlook. The weathering castle on the hill giving of a mysteriously medieval vibe. People were getting around on horses, bicycles and tractors. I saw this from the car window and it made me extremely excited to explore. I’m living in Oberaudorf, a village near the Swedish border. The village is spread into sections because of the large blocks of land most families own. The houses and shops also look very traditional here . My host family own a decent amount of land. On my first day (the same morning we drove from the airport) Anna (my host sister) and Francis (my host father) showed me their sheep. I was amazed at how friendly the sheep were and how well my family looked after them. The sheep were treated as pets and got a fair rub from Anna and Francis. Later we rode to the primary school where a fire drill was being displayed. The fire fighters had put smoke bombs in the buildings, set the fire truck sirens off, alert the church bells to ring the fire alarm, placed ladders near the windows and organised all the kids and parents to come along. They were making the practise as realistic as possible and teaching the kids at the same time. Every single child was either harnessed and taken out the window or carried out by fire fighters. The kids were taught what to do if they were alone and basic fire safety rules. I was so surprised how much effort the community dedicates towards their animals and their village. So far I’ve seen the Oktoberfest, four castles, specky mountains and some impressive hiking ranges. The Oktoberfest was so much more populated than I imagined. There were six or seven enormous tents that we had to line up to get in because they were all completely full. Outside the beer tents are all the rides and stalls, it was extremely hard to walk around. I was very surprised to find rollercoasters at the Oktoberfest. Some of the rides were very extreme and it surprised me that they set and pack them up at the beginning and end of the Oktoberfest. The first castle I saw was in Oberaudorf through the car window, I haven’t had a chance to take a closer look yet. The second castle I saw was built by the Romans. I was able to explore the inside and the small village/shops it surrounded. The castle itself is still in good condition however the small carvings and sculptures are slowly rotting away. The third castle was on the way to the fourth. It was very yellow and looked like it was made of sand. The third and fourth castle was both designed by King Luderick. The fourth castle was based on the Disney castle and is extremely impressive. At first we were very disappointed because we couldn’t see it through the thick fog. However we were able to hike around the fog and get in the walls of the castle. The carvings on the walls and peaks of the castle look amazing. They say the castle is ‘unfinished’, even though the castle itself is finished. There were more plans for buildings outside the castle but when the King died they scrapped them. I find all of these castles amazing and very impressive. We have been hiking often. On all of the long hikes I found there was always a restaurant at the top and bottom of the mountain which I find pretty cool. I feel like a lot more older people go hiking for this reason. The mountains are so much taller than ours in Australia and they seem to be a lot rockier instead of being crowded with trees. I’ll mention the mountain goats’ because there pretty amazing when you see them climb. So far I found Germany to be very energy efficient (solar panels are everywhere), historical, kind (on the roads and in general) and impressive. I having a great time exploring . Zoe

Blog #1 by Gaby Kupferle

Germany so far has been an amazing experience. In the first few days we were in Germany I was embraced by the German culture and language. On the first day I went straight from the airport quickly home to drop my things off and then went to Anna’s horse riding competition for Icelandic horses. As it went to 10pm I was so jetlagged I went home at 4pm and slept till the next day. I have been to the thermal pools twice now; they are so amazing because at night the whole place lights up. There are many little pools and saunas inside one massive building; I was really amazed by it all. The school we go to, the Wirtschaftsschule Alpenland is really big and has about 550 students just in the high school. In the school they have different classes to us. Because it is a business school they also teach accounting and business, they also have classes afterschool. Normally school would finish at 1pm. We had to introduce ourselves to the students and staff on the first day we were there and as you looked at them they were so cramped in the building you thought they wouldn’t all fit! We were given a tour by Mr. Kusch and Frau Kreplin of Bad Aibling and just from that you could see a lot of differences in Bad Aibling compared to bright, for instance the bike riders have a lot more respect, the buildings are different and they have maypoles here which symbolize the fruit harvest, the boys and men make these and paint them depending on where they live so were we live they painted it blue and white, the colours of the Bavarian flag. We went to the mayor’s town house and had a talk with him and he told us the history of Bad Aibling and we all asked him a few questions and when he replied Mr. Kusch had to translate as the mayor doesn’t speak English, and after we had an ice cream. An interesting point was when he was asked why there weren’t traffic lights, he mentioned the townsfolk believed they didn’t need them as there were no accidents and the drivers were sensible. He also said that if the lights were there, people would then speed up to beat them. On the long week end my host family (the Potocnik’s) and I went to Bodensee, which is about 4 hours from Bad Aibling. The first day we were there we traveled across the border to Switzerland to Mount Santis, which at the peak is 2500meters high. When we got there we drove up to about 1300meters high then we caught a gondola to the top. At the top it was so beautiful I think I can say we were all speechless. Mount Santis overlooks 6 countries which are: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy and Liechtenstein. And at the top my host dad said you can still see the snow from last year, because it’s so cold and the sun didn’t overlook that part it was still there. In the evening we went home and watched the sunset over the Bodensee. The next day we went to a place called Zeit Reise, its where the boat people lived over 1000years ago we saw all the houses and got a brief information tour by a lady, from what I understood (as the lady spoke in German), in the bronze and wood age they would drill holes in the stones using wood that they would rub together, there would be about 500 people living in about 10 houses. The reason they lived on the houses in the water was because it was easier for trade that way. They would sleep on these beds made out of sticks and animal skins. And 1 tree would make a long boat they would use to fish in. Later that day we caught a ferry across to a little island and went to a festival called Schlossfest. There we saw lots of flowers and trees. On the island there were many sculptures made from flowers that looked amazing. One of the trees that we saw on the island was called a Metasequoia which only grows on that island. In the castle there were people that dressed up like they did in the olden days, they looked really cool. The island overlooked Bodensee. For lunch we had a fish sandwich made from fish local to Bodensee. The next day we left Bodensee and went to Munich where we went to the last day of the Oktoberfest for this year. We had traditional food for this region for lunch and then I went on some of the rides and then back home because of school the next day. This is what I have done so far In Germany , My first impressions of Germany so far have been amazing, everyone is so nice and have made me feel very welcome.