Timberwolf GAPP 2024

Today was definitely the hardest day of the entire trip, the day we left to go back to America. We had to be at the Gymnasium at 7 in the morning to catch our 7:15 bus that would take us to the airport. I made sure I woke up at 5:45 in the morning, just so I could be absolutely sure I had everything packed and ready to go. Unfortunately, this small time window means we didn’t have very much time to say goodbye. A few people from our group were so upset, they were crying. Dara and Hannah were very sad to have to leave. They had very close relationships with their host families and their partners. One thing that really touched them is that they were given matching yellow lunch boxes by their host families, which made them extremely emotional every time they saw them in their backpacks. Other people weren’t so sad, but still felt like they would miss their host families, like Hunter, who said leaving was bittersweet. I was extremely saddened that I had to leave Felix and his friends, but ...

We started the day by going to school and visiting classes for the first hour of school. We then met at the bus stop outside the school where some family members of some of the host families were waiting for us to take us to the hiking spot. In the car that I was in, we stopped on the side of the road to take a picture by the sign with “Killer” printed on it, because that was the name of the city. After everyone was at the hiking spot, we walked down to the spot where we would begin our tour of Nebelhöhle, a cave system that had been discovered twice by two different villages. Our tour guide took us through the freezing cold cave, showing us stalagmites and stalagmites and other cool things within it. When we got back, we took a small break before starting our hike to Schloss Lichtenstein. During the hike, it unfortunately started to rain. We walked the rest of the way to a little restaurant and sat there for a little bit before walking up to the castle.  We got to walk around and ...

 Today we started with a train to Stuttgart and then travelled to the Mercedes Benz Museum. It acts as a spiral where everyone starts at the top and walks down the levels to see all the different generations of cars and vehicles. At the bottom floor they even had a dealership. From there we went to the shopping area. I went through a few different stores and got something to eat, but many people bought lots of different things. Some just went around and explored as well. After that we went back  to the school to prepare for our farewell party. At the party we cooked food and explored the hill. I had the luxury of braiding Drake’s hair with Azi and also getting to enjoy the second to last night with all of the Germans. -Jaidyan 

We started off our day by going through one hour of school. I had the pleasure of sitting through a religion class with two buddies. After the class ended the American students all met outside to learn about the sport of handball. The German PE coach met us outside and taught us some warmups and rules of the game. We eventually began playing some points and once we got the hang of it we had a blast! It was so fun that we continued to play soccer after the given time had ended. We next walked with Frau Hiller to the Rathaus (Town hall). We got to meet with the assistant mayor and learn some more about the German culture.  We then split up with our exchange partners. Me and a couple other GAPP students met up at the public pool and went for a nice swim. We also went to eat at a German restaurant where we sat to eat and talk for hours. So much fun! -Lindee Rex

- After staying up late on Saturday, I was very thankful to be able to sleep in late on Sunday. Today was my exchange partner’s grandpa’s birthday, and we celebrated it by having lunch with the rest of his family. Once we got to the restaurant, I met all of Nils’s family and had the best Jägerschnitzel ever. Nils’s family was very nice, his oldest brother, Tom, was especially a funny guy and lots of laughs were shared at the table.  After we all finished up at the table, My host family and I began a short hike to a surrounded lookout point, which was pretty cool. Although the weather wasn’t very clear, there was still a very pretty view from the top of the tower.   - Before heading home through, we met up with the rest of my exchange partner’s family at his grandparents house to have coffee and cake. Although I forgot the exact name of the cake we had, it was still very good. One was a type of chocolate cake and the other had a type of strawberry jam on it which was pretty tas...

The morning started out warm and sunny. We slept in, because we had been out late the night before. Over lunch (breakfast), we discussed what we should do today. We decided on a little town called Sigmaringen, which had a castle (also called Hohenzollern) and a cute downtown. We intentionally sought indoor activities, because while the skies were clear, the forecast called for rain. We set out for Sigmaringen and the weather forecast quickly proved to be accurate. Luckily, we came prepared with rain jackets and umbrellas.  Arriving in the village, we first toured the castle. This castle (Hohenzollern Sigmaringen) is over 400 years old, and has housed many royal families over the centuries- even up to the current prince and princess. The castle’s rich history was evident in its architecture and design. After the castle, it was still raining outside. We decided to seek a cafe or restaurant to sit in for a bit— however, we encountered a strange phenomenon: in the middle of a Saturday ...

Today is June 21st, a Friday, and the weather has been cloudy with some rain. Everyone arrived to Gymnasium Hechingen (the partner school) at about 7:45 to begin the day. The planned day was short, having around four or five hours of being held in German classrooms as small groups, then being given the option to either go on a walk to get ice cream or to remain in the school until the school day was over.  The small group that I was moved around with consisted of Azriel and Shelby. Only one of the days classes actually contained one of our exchange partners, which I found partly odd, but it was alright as I got to meet many more new people in the classes we were put in. It is a bit difficult to remember the classes that we were put in and what happened in them.  The first hour was an art class, where they were making model shoes out of cardboard. While we didn’t do that, we talked with a group of about four students about the United States. It is extremely fun to talk with the...

On June 20th, we went on a hike in the Black Forest. The views were beautiful. The hike wasn't very long, and it was the perfect weather outside, too. The trees were very tall and it was very shaded on the walk. The houses within the Black Forest all had very steep roofs to allow snow to slide off in the winter. The Black Forest area experiences harsh winters, so those roofs are helpful. We also saw some cows and sheep in peoples' yards. On one of the lookouts from the hike, you could see all the houses below. It was beautiful.  After the hike we went to a museum that showed old houses of the Black Forest. Many of the houses within the museum were the original houses from hundreds of years ago. The house designs were different depending on where in the Black Forest the houses were from. Within the museum, there were also a lot of animals. Later in the tour, we made butter and ate it with some bread. After the museum, we went and got ice cream. Finally we went back to the school...

 Today we got to school at 7:40 and then left to see the children from the Grundschule (like an elementary school but without kindergarten and fifth grade). When we got there we were greeted in their meeting room with a spread of pretzels and sparkling juices. Then the principal spoke to us about the different aspects of the school. One topic was the refugees from Ukraine who don’t speak very good German. They have a special class to teach them. After that we split into two groups, one for the fourth grade class and one for the third grade class. I was in the fourth grade class and they were all so excited to ask us questions, but were also scared to ask. One student asked what our favorite song was and if we could sing it, but we couldn’t think of one so we sang them a bit of Oklahoma! Towards the end they started asking questions in German and were all shocked with our German. They got more comfortable and were sad to see us go. We were picked up by some of the parents and they d...