Blog No.4

Servus All,

Wow. Simply put, Wow. This past 3 weeks have been amazing. Absolutely and incredibly amazing. I have visited two luxurious Castles (Luxurious is a serious under statement), explored the islands of the beautiful Chiemsee; had a great time at the cultural tradition that is Wine fest and hiked up Austrian Alps, visiting a glacial cave.
When you think of Germany you think of Beer, of Dirndls and Lederhosen, of jagged snow covered mountains, and of castles. And when you think of such castles or "Schlӧsser" auf Deutsch, one certainly comes to the forefront of your mind. One that "little princesses" dream of living in, the same one that Walt Disney visited all those years ago, inspiring the Disney Castle.
Arguably the most well known building in the whole of Europe and the most visited castle in Germany, Neuschwanstein Castle, nestled between the Bavarian Mountains near the village Fussen, is a sight to behold. Gaping in awe I stood, staring at the spires carving their way up into the sky through the early morning fog that was still thick in the valley. A light peppering of snow on the mountain behind could be seen, like icing sugar on a German Krapfern and Autumn leaves just beginning to colour made the scenery seem so much more alive and vibrant. It was the most beautifully awesome experience. Although many would believe it to be older, this castle was built only from 1869-1886. It was however designed to be middle age style.


Last Wednesday Alina and I got home from school, dumped our bags in our rooms and set off with Johanna my host mother to the great Chiemsee. At Prien, the town right on the edge of the lake, We bought a ticket on one of the Ferries, and off we went across water with the relatively short 5-10 minute boat ride to the Island of Herrenchiemsee (Very creative I know!) This is the biggest island in the lake, and holds the second of 3 Castles that King Ludwig the Second had built, Schloβ, or castle Herrenchiemsee (Even more creative)  the first being Schloβ Neuschwanstein. This was without a doubt in the world, the most luxurious building I have ever, and probably will ever be in.

Its hard to explain just how extravagant this palace is without actually showing you. As we walked into the entrance hall I gave an involuntary gasp. A giant white marble staircase dominated the room, coloured marble with golden inlays lined the walls and Sistene chapel (Which I go to in 2 days!!!!!)like paintings were portrayed on the ceiling. Many beautiful sculptures were strewn throughout the immense room. It was just incredible. All completed rooms in this colossal Palace were Sumptuous to say the least. There was a theme of King Louis the 15th of France throughout the castle, he had replica desks, cabinets, paintings and even entire rooms made in honour of the man. The great hall, "The hall of Mirrors" was 98 metres long, and had over 1800 candles that took 25 servants half an hour to light them all. King Ludwig had a private bath that had a capacity of 60,000 litres and took a whopping 8 hours to heat. Mind you, everything in this castle was private and reserved just for him. An entire castle. He only spent ten days there.

Fords (Not Fjords)

German people don't prefer Fords! "That's a very bold Statement", I hear you thinking, and I agree, to someone having not experienced Germany that would sound like a big generalisation. As I walk from the Bus stop in Rosenheim to the gym after School (got to work off all those sausages and Sauer Kraut somehow), I happen to by chance pass a used car dealership or "Autoverkäufer".  Now these are certainly no spiffy cars, with some up to 40 years old. In this specific car seller, they have all the Prices displayed on the windscreens, and as I speed walk by in my rush to get as much time in the gym before the next bus comes, I read all the Prices. Citroen 1,600 € Opel 2,200 €; Mercedes Benz 2,700 €; VW 1,200 €. Ford 500 €
Every single ford was half the price or lower than competitors cars, same age, same style. Again and again I observed this phenomenon. And again and again I wondered why so. A light bulb lit up in my head and it hit me. No one in Germany wants a ford.
Your move Holden.

Alcohol

You know that strange little social rule in Australia and most of the world that says its unacceptable to crack open a bottle of sparkling, or pour a frothy before high noon? Yeah... Simply put, this does not exist in Bavaria.
Many traditional Sunday breakfasts of Sausage and brezl are had with a nice cold one. So there you go, from it being baked into cakes and chocolates, to being consumed at Oktober fest and even at breakfast, alcohol is undoubtedly  a major part of the Bavarian culture.

Kangaroos

Recently this weekend, I attended a party with Alina where their were many young people. Word got around that I'm from Australia and people were crowding round asking questions like, "What do you like better, Australia or Germany?" and "What's the hottest it's been in summer where you live". Now one of the guys inside the circle decided to go out on limb and yelled over the music "Have you ever ridden a Kangaroo?" I replied in the true Aussie fashion of "Well of course I've ridden a Kangaroo, how else would I get to school mate".


Again, there is so much that I could write about. About Wine fest, the glacier inside a cave, and my Rambo-like skills in Laser tag, but I'm afraid I can't, as I've already almost doubled my "word guidelines". If you would like to know more, message me. I'm having an amazingly incredibly astonishingly awesome time here in Deutschland and I can definitely see my German dialect skills improving. I can almost understand what's happening in class now (good or bad? #homework) Thanks for reading, hope I didn't bore you and as Ron Burgundy says, "Stay Classy Australia"


Yours Sincerely

Clyde


PS. This weekend is Rome! I am so pumped

Many Wonderful Experiences

Servus!

Where to start, this trip so far has been a real eye opener for me and I can‘t wait for what‘s going to happen next. As soon as I got out of the plane I can not describe how strange it felt having everyone around me speaking a different language. There have been many highlights to my trip so far, like going to the bustling Oktoberfest and going to a few of Bavaria’s stunning lakes. I have met some really nice people and I have fitted into their school life really well. I am finding that the language barrier is beginning to become smaller and smaller and I am learning more and more about the diverse German culture.

This week has been very busy and I have seen and done many new things. On Saturday we went to a place they call a Rodelbahn, (tobaggon train). It was a huge metal slide that was made for a toboggan. The slide took over 3 minutes to get down and the first time I did it (not realising how fast I could go) I had Rebecca’s mum stuck behind me in her toboggan because I had my brakes on most of the way down. The second time I went down on a double toboggan with Rebecca’s sister, Victoria and I don’t think she put the brakes on the whole way down!

After I had survived that we got tickets to go on a zipline that was 700 hundred metres long! We took the chairlift up to the top and that’s were we got an unbelievable view of the town we were in called Flintsbach. We got our harnesses on and I watched the people who went before us disappear into the distance. When it was my turn, I was clipped in and off I went. It was the best feeling flying down the side of the mountain at 80km per hour!!

After I did the zipline, I went on the Rodelbahn four more times and then we left to go to the Flintbach Castle which had just been opened to the public for the first time. There was only one tower left of the castle which was from the middle ages, but they had renovated it into a home and I met a lady who was born in the tower. I walked inside and it was very dark as it only had a few lights. We climbed to the top of the tower and we got another amazing view of Flintsbach and you could see the remaining stone walls down below. Once we left the castle we went back to Rebecca’s grandparents house for the night.

On Sunday we had planned to go up to the top of a mountain but it was too cloudy, so the family decided to show me a couple more castles. First we went to a huge castle that was on a hill in the middle of the Austrian city, Kufstein. That castle was also from the middle ages and the only thing different about it was that every part of it was still standing. We took an angled elevator up to the courtyard of the castle that had been turned it into a museum. We learnt about the torture techniques of the middle ages and we found a well that was 60 metres deep! The second castle we went to was a ruin with only one mossy wall left standing. I saw a drawing of what it used to be and it looked like it was as big as the one in Kufstein. As we were walking back down from the ruin we ran into a couple of lamas and also say a donkey.

My weekend was definitely the busiest part of my week but I also started soccer training on Monday and Wednesday and I went and watched Rebecca’s brother play. School has been the hardest thing to get used to so far, but I feel my new friends have made it easier for me to fit in. This weekend I go to Berlin for Rebecca’s birthday and I cannot wait to go and learn more about the German culture. 

Callan

Culture - Zoe Kent

Apologies for the late post. I have been having some issues with the set-up. In this write up I tried to explain the cherished culture I have observed during my two weeks in Germany. Enjoy. 





One feature I really admire about Deutschland/Germany is the fact that they 
have treasured their culture and offered it for others to appreciate. 
October is an amazing time to see the culture in Deutschland as many 
festivals begin, the most popular being the Oktoberfest. After two weeks 
in October I have had so much exposure to new experiences and I have found it 
incredibly interesting.

The majority of the homes in Germany are not redeveloped and still have 
their original structure. There is a specific architectural 
structure to each of these houses and it is easy to tell they are 
from the same tradition, however each of them has some sort of carving 
or frame creating uniqueness. Coming from Australia, where most of the 
houses are suburbia looking or weatherboard styled, it was fascinating 
to see such a pronounced difference.

The Dirndl (female) and Lederhosen (male) is the traditional dress worn 
in Southern Germany. My host partner, Daniela, wears her Dirndl to 
festivals, celebrations and church. I noticed some elders (mostly women) 
using the traditional clothes on an everyday basis. These were other 
characteristics that showed me how sincerely Germany treasures its 
culture, especially the Bavarians.

Unlike Australia, Germany is an old country with history dating back many centuries, and features many old recipes that I have been lucky enough to enjoy. The flavours of the traditional dishes and foods I  tried in the past two weeks were very exotic to my taste buds and they also had exotic names such as Schweinebraten, Knödel, Brotzeit, Weißwursch,Brezeln, Käsespätzle, and Dampfnudeln. I have only ever experienced one Australian dish that was passed down from generation to generation. It’s incredible to see so many features of a culture passed on.

There are many traditional Bavarian dances and I often see people 
performing at festivals. Daniela was six years old when she began 
learning the dances from her culture and she dances once a week in a one 
hundred year old restaurant. The Bavarian dances look especially unique. 
Often the females speciality is her twirl and the males is the sound and movement he makes with his hands and feet. It’s impressive to see 
how Germany has held onto to so much of its culture.

Coming from a young country I haven’t had much exposure to culture. 
These past two weeks has broadened my mind and I have much 
respect for the culture I have been introduced to. I hope to continue 
broadening my mind.





Zoe Kent





Below are some pictures of my time in Germany.

Week 1: 27/09/15 to 04/10/15

Hobederi all

This sure has been one hectic week, as my fellow exchange students would surely agree. Stepping onto the plane at Tullamarine airport was like no other feeling, the start of an adventure, saying goodbye to Australia knowing that when we come back we will be changed people (with hopefully a lot more knowledge of the German dialect and culture!). From our quick visit to the hot and humid Singapore airport, to finally making our way to our host families homes in the beautiful Bavarian countryside. Those first 48 hours were a whirlwind for me, as it was only my third time on a commercial jet, let alone travelling overseas to a non English speaking country. The language barrier has been a bit of a shock for me, as my over confident "I'm pretty much fluent" attitude about my "mastery of the German dialect" got shattered when I arrived at Munich airport to discover everyone was speaking a different language. That's right, you read it correctly; a different language! for the past week I have mostly had to get Alina to translate for me, but I can feel myself improving. Many times I've gone to ask a question in English and thought to myself "... Hold on, I know how to ask this in German"

We arrived at Munich International Airport at 5:25 am and were immediately thrown into action. Breakfast was a traditional Bavarian sausage called a Weisswurst along with an array of meats, breads and spreads. My host family and I then met up with Zoe's family and off we went, walking up one of the local mountains to a restaurant about halfway up. There we were served afternoon tea, and for the adults, beer. The scenery was amazing, every car trip on that first day, and days to follow, I was glued to the windows in awe.

On Wednesday we were to go to Oktober Fest. Zoe, Callan and I were all anticipating this with excitement. After school (which finishes at 12:55) we put on our traditional wear, for men, Lederhosen, chequered shirt and white socks, and for girls a dirndl with black shoes. We caught the train all the way from Rosenheim to Munich, along with perhaps hundreds of others doing exactly the same thing. As we arrived at the gates of this massive event, I looked out and all I could see was people. People everywhere. Pushing our way through the crowd (some of which had had a bit too much to drink) I began to realise the scale of how big this thing was. Beer tent upon beer tent upon beer tent, all filled to the brim with people. These were no camping tents either, each one fitting 10,000 people. And all this that I speak of was just in the drinking section, let alone all the rides and games filled with flashing lights and loud music, basically 800 ways to spend your hard earned cash. The atmosphere in the beer tents was like nothing I could ever put into words. The feeling of 10 thousand people, all singing and dancing as one, the energy in the room. People bustling, jumping on tables or making out in the corner. The whole experience was just amazing and I will never forget it.

Along with that, I have taken a gondola up to one of the mountains, and visited a ski resort that doubled as a flying fox and luge/summer tobogganing centre during the non winter months. My host family is so nice and I couldn't wish for better people to help me experience this amazing country.

There is so much to write about, and I could go on and on and on. The teachers have told me to try to keep it fairly short though so I better sign off. This first week has been one of the best times of my life. I have learnt so much and I just cant wait for all the new experiences to come. I will leave you with some of the many photos of my time here so far.

All the best, and yours sincerely

Clyde