Day 10 - (Nils)

Today was our first day in South high school. I woke up at 7:20 in the morning and got dressed. Then I had an awesome american breakfast with fried egg, potatoes and bacon. After that my host mother drove Leif and me to the school. There we met Mr. French and all our classmates that participated in the school exchange. In school Mr. French told us about the schedules in US schools and the rest of the school life here. We got introduced by a tour from the students taking german class from Mr. French. The school is a really big building and it is really complex to know where is what. Another weird thing was that there were securitys all over the school. That is because there we're school shootings, where people we're killed in the USA. The second lesson we spent meeting the principles of south high school and taking photos with them. After that we had a talk to Mr. French again about our questions abilout the school, while each one of us had a small talk to our teachers. As we finished that we went to the cafeteria to get lunch. Then we joined our hosts to their normal school subjects. First I was at the Pre-calculus (which is some difficult and high level math). There the students got some tests back they wrote a week ago. After that we did some worksheets. During lessons there is a difference to german schools too, because there are more students in the classes, so it's louder and harder to concentrate too. After Pre-calculus,  I had Goverment/Economics, where we had a simulation of the race for president. That was really interesting. After that we switched rooms again were we did the yearbook. There I met a few of the German students, whose hosts went there too. There the American students took photos for the yearbook. After that school was over and everyone went home with their host families again. That's how we spent our first day at South high.

Day 14- (Lars)

Stillwater and a football match

Today we went to Stillwater after one hour of school. The first hour was math like every day. I think a timetable with different subjects every day like in Germany is more interesting. 

To Stillwater we drove by car, and the students from south high by bus. But on the way back home we had to drive by bus, because some of the students had to be back earlier for the football match in the afternoon. 

After we arrived in Stillwater, we visited a house, next to a prison that was once owned by the prison owner. Old things who were used earlier and some rooms like an old dinner room or a play room for kids were presented in this house.

We went up a hill next to the house and our teachers took some photos of the whole group before we had lunch at a restaurant where we got some nice burgers with fries. It took a very long time, because we were very many students and everybody could add his favorite topics. So we waited more or less an half hour for our burgers. 

The end of this trip were 15 minutes of free time we spent in a candy shop near to the restaurant. You can buy very nice sweets there so if you will go to Stillwater anytime you should visit the candy shop!

In the afternoon the whole group watched the football match of the south high tigers witch was very interesting for me because I have never seen a football match before.

 

All in all it was a funny day and I saw a football game witch was one of my goals for America!

Day 18 - U of M, good bye South (Julian G.)

This morning we met at 8:30 in the lunchroom of south high for the last time. After that we started our trip by train to the university of Minnesota, where we first had to wait for a couple of minutes before we could enter the building. Finally being inside we got a presentation from an university professor and one of his assistents, who were talking about the system of American universities and the differences between the American and the European/ German system. After we got this interesting information and asked a few questions, we split into two groups and had a tour around the campus and the most important buildings, which ended at the universities minimall where we all got free food.

Next we went to the Bell museum of natural history, which is located on the universities campus. The Bell museum shows the history of Minnesotas animal population, the environment and the changing of landscapes. The museum is famous for its dioramas. A diorama is a three-dimensional model of a frozen scene. They show the interaction of animals in their natural habitat more like a window into the nature, than like an unliving exhibit. We spent about 45 minutes inside of the museum before we took the train back to south and arrived there at 3pm. 

During our last hour at south high we wrote letters for our host families to say thank you for the wonderful time we spent here in Minneapolis with you and good bye. We had a few problems finding the full addresses of everybody, but we finally managed.
So we all left the school, that hosted us for the past 9 days for the last time. There will be no school untill next monday, when we are already back in good old Germany. 

We spent the rest of the day with our host families

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.