Back Home

We arrived back home yesterday. The flight was long and many of us didn't want to leave. My brother David and his friend Zach wore their rival soccer team jerseys, FC Bayern and 1860, in the Munich airport. Herrmann did not want to know the outcome of the world cup game. I sat next to Herrmann on the first flight. I was supposed to sit with David also but he moved up next to Zach so there was an empty seat in our row. I got the window on both the flights from Munich to Reykjavik and from Reykjavik to Colorado. On the second flight I sat with Anna and Nate and at one point Anna and Matt. I read for most of the flight but it seemed to take more than eight hours.I am glad to be home but I will miss being in Germany and my new friends. It was a fun trip and I am glad I went.

A German Elementary School trip.

On Monday we went to an Elementary school. Some first graders and some third graders sang us songs and some of their brass band played. There were three trumpet players, three trombone players and three Euphoniums. We hung out with a third grade class and played bingo, made fruit salad and had a gym class. Matt kept saying to Efrain, "how does it feel to finally win." It was kind of mean but still funny. We also learned a song and a dance. We had to be in groups of two and Nate was my partner. Nate kept messing up and was relieved when I messed up too. It was pretty neat to see.

A Salt Mine and A Bobsled Track.

      We went to the Salzbergwerk yesterday. Salzbergwerk is a salt mine close to the border between Germany and Austria. It was pretty cool. The slides were fun. On the second one Matt rode the slide with Efrain. David stuck his arm out to highfive Matt when they got to the bottom but they slammed into his arm.  It was pretty funny. After Salzbergwerk we went to a city near by. There was a beautiful lake and we could see the Alps. David and I walked around the lake and saw this building. It looked like a race track but we were not sure so we had to check. We walked towards it and found it to be a bobsled track. We then walked to the top of the track and to the start. It was pretty awesome to find. The hill was very steep to walk up but at the top we had an amazing view. We walked down the hill and back around the lake. People were feeding the ducks and there were some cute baby ducks in the lake too. In the salt mine there was a salt lake that was so reflective. It was a great trip.

A Medievil Festival and a Day in Passau.

Yesterday Kübra's mom took me to a mideval festival. It was very interesting. There were a bunch of people in costumes, and they had food from the time this festival was set in. They had games such as flag painting, archery and Mouse Roulette. For Mouse Roulette two people played at a time. Each have three stones. One person has blue stones while the other has green. There is a model structure of a colosseum from the time period. So the model is circular and has rooms with open doorways surrounding an open area. You each place three stones on top of different rooms. The people running the activity will then place a live mouse in the center of the model's open area. The mouse then has to go in a doorway and into a room. If the mouse enters a doorway with your color of stone on it you win. It was definately interesting to see. There was also a show. The show explained the different outfits for battle for the time period and then they had a competition to see who was the best sword fighter. It was a funny show. After the festival, we went to Passau, Germany, and I got to meet Kuebra's brother, John. He was very nice. We also walked around Passau. Did you know that three rivers meet in Passau? I didn't. I found that out yesterday. Those rivers are the Inn, the Danau or in English it is Known as the Danube, and the Ilz. We had dinner at the Innstadt. It was a nice day.

My first day.

   We had to meet at the airport at 2:20. Herr Herman was late but not the last one there. Efrain ended up arriving at the airport about 40 minutes late. He arrived when we were waiting to check our bags. He got in line with us and got a bunch of dirty looks from the people behind us. Chris took for ever at security and so we had to wait for him. When we were waiting for them to let us board the plane Herman wandered off. Right after he wandered off we started boarding, we thought that he might miss the plane, but he arrived in time. The plane ride was very long. It took 6 and a half hours to Iceland, and 4 hours to Germany. At the Iceland Airport we got off the plane and on the next plane on the tarmac. It was cold, and windy and it was raining. We had to stop on the stairs for the next bus to come and take us to the Iceland airport. The welcome from the German students was nice. They were all happy that we had arrived and once we got off the bus Matt shouted, "I found my German! I've been looking for you for 3 months!" When they were in America Matt kept losing his German student and would yell "I've lost my German!" and when he found his German student he would yell "I found my German!" When the German students left Matt said he lost his German, so that is why he said theat he found his German when we saw them in Germany.  At my German, Kübra's house Kübra, her mother, and I played Uno while her dad watched Italy played Uruguay. It was a nice first day.