Helena writes

My trip to Germany

My trip to Germany started on 6-th December. We departed from Kanepi at 1 am. I was tired, but I couldn’t sleep much, I think that was because I was too excited about the trip. Firstly, we arrived at Tallinn airport. We had to wait several hours to get on the airplane. It was my very first time to fly, so I was very scared at first. When the plane was taken off, at first I was terrified, because the earth and solid ground had vanished underneath my feet. But after a little while it was quite normal and I even enjoyed flying above clouds. We next touched down at Frankfurt airport and then we went to a connecting flight to Paderborn. From there on we traveled by bus. I even got some rest. When we arrived to Werther, all the hosting students were waiting at school. We all were very hungry and tired. So at first we went to schools cafeteria to get some snacks.

Then it was time to go to hosting families, but some of them still had lessons. I went with my exchange student to the PE lesson. I didn’t have my sports clothes with me, so I only watched.

After that we went to her place to meet the rest of the family. Her mom could speak a little bit English but her dad didn’t speak at all, so she had to translate all the time. Her dad tried to talk in English and it was quite funny sometimes, but at least he tried. After that we went for a little walk in Häger, where she lived. It was quite of a small area. We also talked about ourselves and got to know each other. Later we watched a movie and then it was time to go to sleep, because we both were very tired.

On the 2-nd day we were at lessons with our exchange students. First two lessons were French and it was quite weird to be there because I didn’t understand a word they were saying. After that was two English lessons. I finally could understand something. At the beginning we talked little bit about Estonia and Germany. German students asked questions about Estonia and we asked questions about Germany. And then we had History. German students translated from time to time what they were talking about. All the teachers I met, were very nice. Then we had lunch, a pizza. It was very different, because we never have pizza for lunch in our  school. After that we went for a little town tour in Werther. I really liked the streets and architecture. It was very different compared to Estonia. At “home” we decided to bake a cake. We choose a yoghurt cake. It ended up well and we didn’t burn the house down. The cake was really good too. And soon it was time to go to sleep.

On the 3-rd day we went to Münster. It was about two hours maybe a little less by bus to get there. We had a little town tour with a guide and then a little bit free time. The city was beautiful and there were so many bicycles. There was even a highway for bicycles that encircles Münster.  The city is even known as bicycle capital of Germany. In our free time we went to the Christmas markets. They were very cool and I really liked them. And then it was time to go back to Werther. In the evening we ate together with all of the family. After that we played some board games with her brother. We had a lot of fun. Time passed and then it was time to go to sleep again to rest for tomorrow.

The 4-th day I got little more sleep in the morning because it was Saturday. We planned to go to shopping. I mean, who wouldn’t like shopping? Okay, maybe there are people who don’t like it, but still. We went to Bielefeld with other Estonian students and their hosting students. We went to different shops and had a lot of fun. After shopping we were all hungry so we went to eat all together. We went to Vapiano and were there for a couple of hours. Then we went home and watched some series we had watched before.  And guess what happened next? Yeah, you guessed right, it was time to go sleep again.

The 5-th day, let me think about it for a second. We couldn’t go shopping because all the shops there are closed on Sundays in Germany. Right, we went to my host’s friends place. Other exchange students and their hosts joined us there. We baked some gingerbreads and cookies. The gingerbread was different from ours. The dough was different and they decorate them with chocolate not with glaze. But they were still delicious. We were there all day and had fun together. Eventually it was time to go “home” again. On that day I felt a bit homesick, I missed my family and friends a little, but I knew it was going to be only few days before I see them. But on the other hand I really liked it there and didn’t want to leave already.

The 6-th day, hmm.. I think we are getting closer to the end of the trip. But we still have a  few days, so on the 6-th da we went to Wolfsburg. We visited Autostadt. First we had a tour with a guide in the factory. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside, but it was very cool to see how cars are made, they make a lot of cars on one day. The factory was very big, they even used bicycles to get from one place to the other, because it’s faster than walking. Then we had a little bit of free time before the second tour there. The second tour we went to the museum and saw a lot of old cars and also the newer ones. We even watched a movie how different kinds of cars are made in different parts of the world. Then we had free time again and we went to Christmas markets. Then we rode back with the bus, it was quite tiring and uneventful couple of hours. And when we got “home” we were both very tired, so we went to sleep soon.

The 7th day. We went to the animal park near to Bielefeld. We went there with a public transport and we came with it too, so it was quite interesting. We saw different animals there and it was really interesting what the guide talked about the animals we saw. After that we walked to Bielefeld. We had some free time there. And guess what we did? Yeah, you’re right, we went shopping. It was the last day in Germany so why not, it was time to waste the money we had left. When we got back, I was a little bit tired, but in the evening there was the Werther’s schools Christmas concert in church. At first I thought it is like a typical school concert, you know boring and you just sit there and wait until it’s over. But in the end I really liked it and enjoyed it. It wasn’t boring at all. They were only singing and playing instruments, but it was really good and you could see how much they had worked for that concert. They even sang one song in Estonian. When the concert was over, it was last time to go back to my “home” and last time to go to sleep there.

Next morning we started a long trip back to Estonia. We arrived to Estonia around five o’clock in the evening and then about a three hour bus ride to Kanepi and we were home again. I really liked it in Germany and I would like to go back there next time. My host family was very nice and I’m already waiting for the time when she comes to Estonia.