I am glad to be back in my “own” bed here on Sunday night on
the 4th of May. The last five days have been jam packed with fun
memories and awesome experiences. There is no way I could describe them all in
detail in one blog post, but I will share what I can!
Right after school on Wednesday myself and four other
student teachers traveled to Kempten to stay with a friend of one of our host
families. We were very nervous about this meeting this man for the first time
as he picked us up at the train station. However, he ended up being one of the
most fun and interesting people we have met thus far. The next day, the plan
was for him to drive us to Fussen to check into our hotel. Instead, we ended up
touring Kempten, hiking with him through the Bavarian side of the Alps once in
Fussen, seeing historic building and towns along the way, and traveling into
Austria to Lake Plansee. It was such an unexpected and awesome day. This was
unanimously our favorite day on our trip because of the places we were able to
visit with our new friend that we would have never known to go. Later that
night we went to a small local pub and enjoyed some of the local cuisine and
actually had to share a table with another group of people; which was an
experience in itself!
Friday we toured the castle Neuschwanstein and were able to
see the main areas of the finished castle. We were able to learn about Ludwig
II and the construction of the castle on the guided tour. We also toured the
outside area on our own and another smaller castle in the area. After the
tours, we got on our train and headed to Munich. After arriving in Munich, we
checked into our hostel and went out to explore the city. We ate supper at an
extremely popular restaurant called the Hofbrauhaus Munchen. This is a huge
restaurant that is a popular tourist location due to its atmosphere and great
food. This was by far our favorite restaurant we had eaten at during the whole
trip. The authentic German music and food was a great experience for us to soak
up some of the culture of the area.
Saturday we headed to FC Bayern Munchen football (soccer)
stadium to get the guided tour. Being that we had three big sports fans in our
group, we wanted to be able to see the stadium and learn a little bit more
about it’s history. However, when we arrived the tour was all sold out. We did
however get to see the field through the fences around the stadium and get some
pictures of the inside. We then went to the fan mega shop in the stadium to get
some gifts and souvenirs. We spent the rest of the afternoon going through
smaller shops and touring “downtown” Munich. That night we went to the
Hirschgarten, one of the oldest restaurants in the area.
Sunday, it was time to head home. Before we did though, we
went to Dauchau Concentration Camp. Several of us had been to Sachsenhausen
while in Berlin, but two of our group had never been to one before. It was
definitely still not easy to see the sights and think about what all went on
there. This particular day had been one in which the Jewish Nation was remembering
the events of the Holocaust, and so a large group of Jewish people were singing
songs and having a memorial service. We actually were able to hear a man named
Max Mannheimer speak. He is a survivor of the Holocaust and one of the
spokespeople for these events. This was a very neat surprise as we did not plan
this at all. It truly made us think about the significance and the reality of
the events that took place not only in Dachau, but all the concentration camps.
We left to catch our 7 hour train back to Werne, reminiscing
on our favorite experiences of the week, playing cards, and of course napping.
It was nice to finally be home after being gone for what felt like such a long
time. I was glad to get to see my host family and have dinner with them. They loved
hearing my stories about my experiences and seeing all the pictures I took.
Now, it’s time to go to bed to start another week at AFG!
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