We arrived at the airport around 4pm on Wednesday and since our flight didn’t take off until 10:35, we played games to keep us busy. Two of our mentors were unable to board the flight because their passports expired in September and to fly to Germany, they couldn’t be within three months of the expiration. Thankfully, everybody else was able to board the plane with no problem. Since it was an over night flight, I slept for most of it. Though I did get a few breathtaking pictures of Chicago and Germany from above.
We’ve been here for a few days now, and it is very different from the USA I must admit. However, everybody over here has been so nice which has definitely helped the transition. On Thursday, our flight landed in Frankfurt a little before 2pm, and we arrived in Kaiserslautern at HHG (the school) after 4pm. There, we met up with our exchange partners and families. As part of our welcoming, they had various foods for us to eat and try; they also had Apfelsaftschorle which is apple juice mixed with carbonated mineral water (and it was actually pretty good).
After that, we left with our exchange partners. I can’t speak for anybody else on this, but my exchange family has been very welcoming. Upon arriving at their house, I was given a tour and shown where I would be staying for the trip. It’s a lot different from what I’m used to for sure, but it is very nice.
I was planning on posting an update that night to inform everybody that we made it safely, but after playing some games with my exchange partner and eating dinner, I was too tired and fell asleep almost immediately.
The next day, Friday, was a school day. HHG is a very big school, and they have very different schedules than what I am used to at Davenport West High School. The teachers were very welcoming and happily allowed us to sit in on the classes. And school got done at 1pm which surprised me as I figured it would until 3 at least since that is what I’m used to.
That night, I got the chance to accompany my exchange partner to Ludwigshafen to see her boyfriend’s orchestra concert. I even got to ride the train which was a cool experience. We didn’t get home until midnight, and even though I had a lot of fun, I was dead tired so I went straight to bed because I knew we had a big day ahead of us.
Yesterday—Saturday—was our trip to Trier and Luxembourg. We started off the morning by meeting at the school. Much to everybody’s delight, the two mentors were able to sort out their passports, and they made it to Germany and were able to join us for the trip. Originally, the plan was to leave at 8am; however, due to unavoidable problems, our bus was delayed and we had to wait around 30 minutes for it to arrive. The ride from Kaiserslautern to Trier was over an hour which allowed me to relax for a bit as I was very tired from lack of sleep.
In Trier, we went on a guided tour through some of the major landmarks, and after the tour, we were allowed to explore and shop in small groups for around an hour. During this time, I was able to take a lot of pictures, try some new foods, and buy some souvenirs. It was nice to experience the different culture and landscape.
After Trier, we drove to Luxembourg where we were once again given a tour. However, despite th initial delay in the morning, we arrived early and waited a bit for our tour guide. Once he arrived, we drove around part of the city as he explained the significance of what we were seeing. Then, we parked the bus and we walked through the city with the guide. It was pretty hot, and it involved a lot of walking. By the end of it, my feet hurt and my back aches from carrying my backpack around. But it was definitely worth it. After the tour ended, we explored in small groups. My group stumbled across a guy with a RTL sign advertising free hugs, and after a group hug with him, he was kind enough to give us directions to a souvenir shop.
We left Luxembourg around 5:30pm, and it took us around 2 hours to get back the HHG. During the ride back, it actually started to rain heavily and it was rather foggy in some parts. After all the walking (I walked well over 10,000 steps), I was very tired. I tried writing this post on the bus, but as mentioned early, I lost the copy shortly after finishing it. I tried to start rewriting it, but I could not keep my eyes open nor could I focus. Consequently, I decided to wait until today so I could get plenty of sleep.
Now it is Sunday, and this day is purely for spending time with our exchange families. It is still morning as I am writing this, but in a few, my exchange family and I are going to go into Kaiserslautern (they live in a small village) to do some sightseeing. I am very excited to see more of Kaiserslautern as we haven’t had the chance to do much sightseeing there yet.
On a final note, don’t worry—I will upload some more pictures that I have taken so far in a little bit once it’ll finish loading the rest of my pictures. Hopefully, I will also be able to post more in the following days as I try and learn the ins and outs of blogging.
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