John's First Report

August 20, 2005

Here I am in Germany and everything is great!!  I will start from the very beginning because getting here was quite a journey.  Saying goodbye to my parents was much more difficult than I had expected it would be.  I have been so excited about leaving for such a long time, that I almost forgot this meant that I wouldn't be seeing my parents for almost a year!  We all cried a little bit, and as I walked through security I realized what a great leap of independence leaving for an exchange year is.  It is a little sad and scary, but also exciting.  My five hour layover was uneventful.  I met a group of exchange students who were headed for Taiwan, and as we compared the lengths of our flights, I was glad that I wouldn't have to endure eighteen hours like them!  Little did I know what was in store for me....
    Three hours into our flight, just as we are about to cross the Atlantic, the captain announces that a back up piece of equipment is not working, and that the equipment is required by the FAA for a transatlantic flight.  So....its three hours back to Detroit!  Six hours on a plane and we haven't gotten anywhere!  They didn't let us off the plane and it took about an hour for the repairs.....7 hours and counting.  Finally we began our eight hour flight to Germany...with a total of 16 hours on the plane!  The Taiwan kids still have me beat.....but it definately was a test of endurance.
    In the Frankfurt airport all English signs guided me through customs and baggage claim to my host parents...who were waving a big sign with my name on it.  We then had a four hour drive to our home in Oberndorf.  So...where was the first place I ate in Germany?  A traditional biergarten?.....Nein!  Burger King?......Ja!  Whats really funny is that I celebrated a farewell to American junk food in the Detroit airport with a Whopper....and my first meal in Germany.....you guessed it!  Whopper! 
    The countryside surrounding Oberndorf is beautiful.  It is all rolling hills covered with fields of grain.  We passed many small towns, all of which are centered around picturesque old church spires.  We also saw five castles.  One of the castles was the famous Wartburg, where Martin Luther translated the Bible from Latin to German.  Tomorrow my host parents and I will visit the Wartburg to see a Martin Luther festival...
    Oberndorf is beautiful.  It is a small village of only 250 residents, but the larger town of Apolda is only five km away.  There are many pretty old houses and everyone has a perfectly kept Garden.  It will be cold and grey in the winter, but right now, flowers are blooming everywhere and anyone would declare that they would live here if they could.  I am so glad that I have an entire year! 
    Today I drove around with my host parents to meet their friends and relatives.  My host father's parents live right behind us in a traditional German farmhouse.  The house is made up of several buildings that surround a large courtyard.  Along one side is a long wooden balcony covered with flowers.  In addition to my "host grandparents" we visited my "host aunt & uncle" in the nearby town of Rastenburg, where they also live in a beautiful hose in an extremely well kempt garden.  Every house that I have seen is very clean, beautiful, and efficiently designed.....true to the German stereotype!
    The day ended with a visit to the "carnival club Olympics," where more German stereotypes were proven to be true!  Every year Germans celebrate Carnival....like in Brazil....each town has its own club that performs in parades, etc.  Today some of the clubs competed in relay races and other events...all of which were centered around beer!  A beer bottle toss, a relay with empty beer crates, a competition to build the tallest beer crate tower....stuff like that.  There was a large crowd of people standing around....all eating huge brats as they drank large mugs of Apoldaer, the favorite local beer.  A band played gugge musik, which is kind of like our high school marching bands.  So here I am on my first day in Germany listening to Gugge Musik as I eat Bratwurst and try to decide whether or not I like my first German beer.....but I have no basis for comparison....something that I have learned will definately change before this year is over.....