Since my last post a lot has been going on, last Saturday was Erhard's birthday at the Nelius' home. With the permission of Gudrun, our assistant head of the camp, I bought my first ever alcoholic drink: a bottle of cheap Champagne, to give to Erhard. Every time I go back to their home I'm surprised to see I can understand more and more of what they say and respond just as quickly.
On Tuesday our entire group went to Quedlinburg, the "Kulturhauptstadt" (Cultural Capital) for the region, by taking the public bus route. One of the schools in Quedlinburg lended us their English class for the day for a guided tour around the old city. Unfortunately, my class didn't go up to see the grand castle on the town's hill, but from a distance I can tell you that it was grand. They say Quedlinburg has the finest ice cream and German cheesecake, but to me they all taste the same.
Wednesday was another free day because we rented more private charter buses to drive to the capital of Sachsen-Anhalt: Magdeburg. Gerd had arranged for us a tour of the Landtag, which is our equivalent of a state parliament. Here we saw all of the theoretical information about German politics become real. The offices were clustered by Fraktion and Partei on the multiple floors. We shuffled into the meeting room for the parliament and took seats in the actual parliament members chairs. The best part of our tour was that we got a personal talk with the Speaker of the House for Sachsen-Anhalt, which is a very high position in the state goverment. She told us her personal story about growing up on the eastern side of the German border, and how that drove her to a career in Western style politics. It was a great experience to learn from, and a great example of benefits of being in the program. For the rest of the day we had free time in the city to see anything or do anything. Naturally, I bought ice cream. More interestingly I managed to see a cathedral in Magdeburg, send some postcards, spend some time an apartment complex that looks like it came out of a Dr. Seuss book, and walk along the Elbe river, one of the three major rivers in Germany.
I've reached the point where I have one more week here in Hedersleben before the official exchange begins. I love being here with all of my American friends because it is a test round to see how much we know and have room for mistakes, but I know that, after September 3, I'm going to get the real experience of Germany.
On Tuesday our entire group went to Quedlinburg, the "Kulturhauptstadt" (Cultural Capital) for the region, by taking the public bus route. One of the schools in Quedlinburg lended us their English class for the day for a guided tour around the old city. Unfortunately, my class didn't go up to see the grand castle on the town's hill, but from a distance I can tell you that it was grand. They say Quedlinburg has the finest ice cream and German cheesecake, but to me they all taste the same.
Wednesday was another free day because we rented more private charter buses to drive to the capital of Sachsen-Anhalt: Magdeburg. Gerd had arranged for us a tour of the Landtag, which is our equivalent of a state parliament. Here we saw all of the theoretical information about German politics become real. The offices were clustered by Fraktion and Partei on the multiple floors. We shuffled into the meeting room for the parliament and took seats in the actual parliament members chairs. The best part of our tour was that we got a personal talk with the Speaker of the House for Sachsen-Anhalt, which is a very high position in the state goverment. She told us her personal story about growing up on the eastern side of the German border, and how that drove her to a career in Western style politics. It was a great experience to learn from, and a great example of benefits of being in the program. For the rest of the day we had free time in the city to see anything or do anything. Naturally, I bought ice cream. More interestingly I managed to see a cathedral in Magdeburg, send some postcards, spend some time an apartment complex that looks like it came out of a Dr. Seuss book, and walk along the Elbe river, one of the three major rivers in Germany.
I've reached the point where I have one more week here in Hedersleben before the official exchange begins. I love being here with all of my American friends because it is a test round to see how much we know and have room for mistakes, but I know that, after September 3, I'm going to get the real experience of Germany.
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