Day 12: Iceland and Coming Home

We left Weiden for Munich on Monday afternoon.  The bus ride was about 2.5 hours.  Once we reached Munich, we checked into our hotel and walked around the town nearby to find a Bavarian Restaurant - our last German meal before heading back to the States.  

Zach and Sierra try to decipher the handwritten menu at our Bavarian restaurant.  Thankfully, the waiter translated it into English for us.  

We woke up at 330 to start our journey home.  We landed in Iceland at 9 am and had the rest of the afternoon to take a tour of the capital city (Reykjavik) and visit the famous Blue Lagoon Spa.   The landscape of Iceland is absolutely beautiful.  Much of the land we traveled through were"lava fields", having been formed from volcano lava and ash thousands of years ago.  The weather in Iceland felt freezing with wind and rain. Once we took a swim in the Blue Lagoon, we were thankful that the weather was so cold.  Otherwise the hot water spring would've felt too warm.  

Part of the group in the Munich apartment, shortly before departure.

Iceland!!

lava fields - as viewed from our bus tour

group photo in front of Icelandic statues

approaching the Blue Lagoon Spa

Jake and Zach hurry into the building and out of the cold and rain. 

Tori and Jake in front of some of the hot springs.  

We hopped back on a plane to DC at about 430 and arrived around 7 pm  EST.  Our bus driver had no problem finding our little group and we made it back to Knoch High School at about 1 am.  Even though we all had a great time in Germany, everyone was happy to finally make it back home after our long day of traveling and touring Iceland.

The exhausted group fills out their immigration forms before going through customs. 

One last group photo in DC before we  headed onto the bus - the last leg of the journey.

Welcome Home!!   After traveling for 27 hours, the group finally arrived back at Knoch High School, where the families were waiting to meet us.  

Day 11: Our Last Day in Weiden

Today was our last day in Germany with our families and at school. 

Chemistry class

We went to class until 10, then went to our meeting room. Mrs. Dills presented us with the gift of a coffee mug and Döners for everyone to eat. The time went fast, and before we knew it, it was time to load our suitcases on the bus and say our final goodbyes. Almost everyone cried.  

Before the group left, everyone had an opportunity to buy a school sweatshirt.

Last group photo in Germany - next one will be in October when the Germans come to Saxonburg.  

The German students and American students filled out evaluation sheets for the trip. 

 Mrs. Dill presented every American student with a Weiden mug and a hug goodbye.  

  

The group thanks Jasmine, Eva, and Mrs. Dill for all the hard-work they put into this program.

A few of the students were asked to be interviewed by a German newspaper reporter.

The group's last meal together with their German partners in Germany.  Mrs. Dill treated us all with Döners ( A Turkish sandwich that is similiar to our Gyro).

goodbye notes 

  

Saying goodbye to our new friends.  Only three months until the Germans come to Saxonburg. 

Mrs. Dill leads part of the group in loading the bus. 

We are going to miss each other a lot, but we can't wait until October to see everyone again. After our bus pulled away, it took about 2 hours to get to our hotel, The Holiday Inn Express. We all decided to have one last Bavarian meal before returning to America. After leaving our families today, most of us are very anxious to get home. Tomorrow our flight leaves Munich around 7 am . Next stop: ICELAND!  (Shawna Henkel and Katie Stivason)

Day 10: A Day in Prague

Today we went on a tour of Prague in the Czech Republic. It took about 2-3 hours to get there. Almost everyone slept on the way there.  It was a nice city but had a lot of graffiti on the buildings, like the cities in America.

The bus stopped at a Czech rest stop.  Zach and a few of the others were brave enough to try buying food with their Euro money.  They received Czech money back (which of course could be used in Prague as well).  

a Czech guide gave us a bus tour and a walking tour of Prague

group photo by the Vltava (or Moldau) River

 Prague was different then the German cities we have seen on this trip, but it was pretty as well. We had a walking tour of the city and saw the astronomical clock. The clock goes off every hour so we were lucky enough to be there to watch it. 

the tour guide hands out maps to the group

Sometimes there is a small fee to use the public restrooms in Europe.  The lady who collected the money where we stopped had a small dog in her basket.

Zach uses his flip camera to capture some landscape videos of Prague.   

the famous astronomical clock 

Prisca, Katie, Lisa, Millie, Britni and I all ate lunch at the hard rock cafe. Our German students had a preview of some of food they will be eating in America. They seemed to really like it.  Prague was the last tour of our trip and it was a nice way to end our week in Germany. (Shawna Henkel)

There were so many people (mostly tourists) in the square that these girls made a train to keep track of one another.  

The Czech waiter at the Hard Rock Cafe poses with the girls.  

One Euro is worth about 24 Czech Crowns, making the bill for Hard Rock Cafe seem outrageously expensive.  

Britni rests her head on Mili's (her exchange partner's) shoulder after a long day of traveling, site-seeing, and shopping.

and of course, the group napped on the bus ride home.