Back at Werder

We all arrived back in Werder safely last night after another loooong bus ride. However it was made all the more pleasant along the way with the help of Frau Zimmer´s "Great German Bus Quiz" (aided by Herr Black as the official scorekeeper!).

Samstag was a very wet day - in Berlin anyway. I met Gemma and Alicia on the train into Berlin and saw Chris and Jack on the train home from Berlin - so who else was in Berlin?

My destination was the museum für naturkunde - just as well I am a Biology teacher because I found it really interesting!! The world´s largest dinosaur is on dispaly in the entrance hall - meet Jurascopes ....

After the museum visit we were trapped by the rollerblading marathon skating through the city ... it rivals round the bays!!

I trust your weekend has gone well - there will be more information about our weekend activities in the next post.

SALZBURG

Hello!


Today we were off to different country: Salzburg, Austria.
After a big "all you can eat" Breakfast we set off.
Once we arrived we had a 1 ½ hour long walking tour through Salzburg. We were shown Famous and old historic buildings and were told about there history.







We were also shown some places in which scenes from the musical "Sound of Music" were film.
After our interesting tour we got a few minutes free time to get some lunch, and then we were off to Fortress Hohensalzburg. It is a massive fortress situated on the top of a very large mountain. It was defiantly an impressive building with an amazing view from the top tower.

After the tour we had some more free time for shopping before we had to get back on the bus to go back to the Youth Hostel.


We were very lucky with the weather as it never rained but unfortunately because of the cloud we were unable to see the Bavarian Alps clearly.
Tomorrow we set back off for the long journey back to Werder.
Until later.
Bye Bye

Alicia

Todays Report 26 sep

Today !

first of all we had cerial and giant pretzels for breakfast, and after that we were ready to go - to munich!

First of all we had a guided tour through munich, we saw all the sights of munich had to offer, including a huge church, the city, visual art and the local malls. the picture you saw was of the old town hall, the ´rathaus.´

after we saw that, we enjoyed some authentic delicious german 'weißwurst' (or white saussage) at the hofbräuhaus in central munich.

after that was the best part - we saw the oktoberfest! there are many big rides - i went on a rollercoaster that completly outdid anything at rainbows end !! there was also alot of german dancing in the beer tents which was fun to watch, its an awesome event!

This is a photo of one of that hats that i got, and alot of the others also got similar hats too.

bis später - Chris.

p.s This is gordan cleaning up his mess in our room

Tuesday's activities

Our hostel is set in a beautiful valley - we have seen it from the top of the gondola ride as well as when we walked from Aschau village - about 15 minutes down the road. The houses and shops in the village are very photogenic!

In Bayern

There are a few days to catch up on as everyone did lots of different and exciting things over the weekend. The computers here have made it difficult to log on to the blog so everything is a little behind schedule … more will follow as we get up to date!
Monday’s bus trip was long and hot – but still interesting along the way and worthwhile to get to the Bavarian Alps (Bayern). We left a little late but soon made up the time along the Autobahn – we drove along the same one for nearly ten hours! The countryside was flat farm land for most of the way, although many of the pretty villages on the side of the autobahn were shielded with barriers presumably to keep out the noise – but it also prevented us seeing the houses clearly. It will be good to look around Aschau village which is where our hostel is. There were several stops for food along the way– typically at Burger King and McDonalds!! Thirty senior students from a school in Jena filled the bus after a couple hours travelling and it wasn’t until after 5.00 that we approached the alps and reached our hostel. It is right under the mountains with a village just down the road – a gondola to ride up to the peaks close by and about 70km München (Munich of the Oktoberfest fame) in the west and Salzberg (across the border in Austria) to the east. Chiemsee is the lake nearby (with castles included on its islands) which is our first trip to look forward to on Tuesday.
There must be five different school groups at the hostel so you can imagine it is rather large – we have six rooms each with their own bathroom – two for the boys, two for the girls and two for the teachers. There is buffet breakfast and dinner – we had BBQ steak and sausages tonight and will report on the breakfast menu in the next blog.
We will get some photos of the team for the next posting so you can see that we are all fit and well – the good weather and German food are helping to keep us fit and energetic!!

The Weather in München (Munich)

Berlin - the Reichstag and the shops!

Good luck with the video - it may take a while to load. Let me know if it works!

French and Babelsberg

This morning we had three periods at Ernst Haeckel. For Harrison, Jared, Alisha and I, We had double preiods of Maths, followed morning tea and then a period of French. At Maths, the class was learning about parabolas, trigonometry, around there. The first period was a bit humourous, same with the second, but it mainly quieted down during the second, of which Herr Ritter was teaching. French was...quite different as i had expected. Throughout the entire period, French class was more of an Interview between the four of us and about 30 of the students, incl. our hosts. We were asked questions in English, such as how early do we get to drive, what sports we like, do we have any siblings, around there, and we answer in German, which does get a big suprise from the French teacher, Frau Ziamar, who didn't know we could speak German. The class gets a bit of a laugh, though. After the French class that wasn't, we left school for the train station, going to Potsdam, then catching the S-Bahn to Babelsberg, then a bus to Filmspark Babelsberg, which, as the name suggests, is basically the German version of Warner Bros. Movie world. We had 2 and a half hrs 2 do whatever we want, because at 2:30 there is a stunt show. First, Harrison, Jared and I went to a 4D-Actionkino, basically a version of the Motion Riders at Rainbows End. We then walked around to Panama, which is like the Log Flume. Then we walked through numerous themed sets, such as a traditional Western set, with the Sheriffs office, Saloon and Blacksmith, Transylvania, with haunted houses and guillotines, and an Aladdin set, where we stopped to have lunch. Following Lunch, We went on the Studio Tour, which we thought would take us to the place where they store heaps of props, but it wasn't. We did get to see the set of The Pianist, though. After the Tour, Harrison, Jarred and I ran towards an artificial volcano, where the Stunt show was to take place. we just made it with a minute to spare. Ok, I haven't seen the stunt show at the Gold Coast, but until then, this stunt show was awesome!!! there was exploding towers, cars, fighting on top cranes (sort of) and falling from about 70...90 metres up...and this was done amongst a confusing free for all plot, which involved a stuntwoman doing her first show. Man, was she cool! After a huge explosion which marked the end of the show, it was time to go home. We stopped by Potsdom hauptbahnhof, where we got something to eat, and caught the train back to Werder.

Babelsberg Film Park

A day in Berlin

What a Beautiful Place

Hello,
Werder is such an awesome place everything is so beautiful and everyone is so friendly. Its been great riding my bike.. well everywhere and Jannys ice cream cafe makes for a great afterschool hangout. Anyway about todays biddings. First of all I joined my host Jurrek in his first lesson biology. After listening to his teacher talk about DNA (and understanding about a quarter, words like doppel helix etc, thank goodness they sound the same) it was off to Berlin. After a quick walk we arrived at Brandenburg gate. Our Tour guide (Madeline) found us outside Starbucks and we set off. Madeline was very entertaining and had a wealth of knowledge and passion for Berlin. She explained the history of berlin and the controversy surrounding it. we visited places such as the Reichtag ,halacaust memorial,the Fuhr bunker where hitler died ,the former luftwaffe (german airforce) headquarters this being one of the few reamaining nazi buildings, the altes (old) museum and many other places along the way . Madeline ended the tour fittingly with the story of how the Berlin Wall Fell a very enjoyable and interesting day.
... Thank you Germany

Potsdam Palaces

Werder Insel

Check out Jasmine's Comment about the day (by clicking on 1 Comments!)

First few days

Ok, I´m sitting here in Infomatik class with Jakob, the classes are so quiet, nothing like back home.
The first few days here have been amazing, everybody is so nice, and loads to do.

On the first day here (Samstag), it was my plan to stay awake till 8pm, so to get used to German time. It was really fun, trying to find stuff to do to ward of the waves of sleep. Clara and I walked with her friends to Carl´s house, who is the host of Chris. There we met loads more of Clara´s friends, and made a lot of noise, yet Chris still slept on and missed all the fun.

Then most of us walked back to Clara´s house for her sisters 18th birthday party, and Clara´s mother allowed me to invite some friends over, so I had Jakob (last years homestay), Sarah and Jakob extremly funny friends. We all had a great time, with a wide range of music (both german and english). Everyone was so nice. Funny to see that everyone cycles to the parties, with over 25 bikes piled outside the door, nothing like home.

With regards to speaking german, I think I am coping extremly well, understanding most things, but everybody speaks so fast I struggle to get a word in =P

Yesterday some of us met in Werder township, ate ice cream in the sun, talked, hired some paddle boats and relaxed on the water, then sat on the wharf talking and eating. Extremly fun.

Today, school. I am amazed by the difference in the structure of the school, everything seems more together and organsised.

We also "loled" about the Rugby score!!!

Mein guter Tag

Hello everybody, Jared here, today was AWESOME!!!!!!! well i went to the olimpic stadium in berlin for "Istaf" well it was an awesome athletics event where there were many people...... well to be exact 70,000 people.....yes es war sehr gut =D
My host family is awesome and very friendly and look after me =)
and yesterday they took me to an Italian resturant where we ate pizza mmmmmm =P
also i learnt that not to touch a plant called "Brennnessel"...why? well it BURNS!!!!!!!!!
hehe =P germany is awesome... i have already thought about coming back =D
But for now i shall enjoy it!!
i am gratefull that i learnt german...
danke schön Frau Zimmer!!=)
tschüss

Sunday morning

Hallo! It is early morning (5am German time) but I am wide awake. Have a look at the photo. It shows a group of very tired but also happy students and teachers at Berlin airport.

Berlin Welcome

BERLIN - our third airport in 24 hours - and what an amazing welcome ! Everyone arrived safely and so did all our luggage. All our host families were waiting with a huge banner to greet us. We have the weekend with our families to get over the jetlag - and explore Werder before we go to school on Monday. Some of us have already cycled around the area alongside the Havel River - the weather is fine but a little windy. The countryside is very beautiful with lots of trees, lovely houses and boats all along the river.

More news tomorrw .....

Kuala Lumpur Airport - half way!

It is 1.35 NZ time and we are all stretching our legs walking around KL airport. It is huge!
The first part of our journey went well - everyone ate their meals, watched videos and listened to music ... but can we survive another 12 hours or more? The next blog might show some jet lagged group members - but everyone is still really excited and doing well!

Till the next post from Germany!

anyone else excited!?!

anyone else excited.... exactly 13 hours and twenty minutes till take off SwEeT! i noticed im the only student blogging on this thing :( come on guys get into it
well i better go to sleep... dnt wanna oversleep and be late i dont think you would find that funny would ya Frau Zimmer!!

Tchuss bis morgen

Our last pretrip meeting ...after a full term of Thursday lunchtime meetings in the German room (J3) the whole group met under "our" sign to capture this farewell shot - tomorrow will be the real thing at the airport (don't be late!).

What do you think of our new black travel t-shirts?

They are really well designed with our names on the back and the Lynfield crest on the front - I am sure they will entitle to lots of special treatment in all the airports we pass through!