Soccer of Fußball as it's called in German, is a sport that grips Germany like no other. in America we have other popular sports such as baseball, basketball, and American football so soccer isn't as popular as it is in the rest of the World. We left America for Germany in June and we were there through July 8th, which meant that the World Cup was taking place. I didn't anticipate the excitement that consumes the country until I experienced it for myself. In Germany they have a way to watch soccer called public viewing. Public viewing is when thousands of soccer fans go to either a stadium or a field and watch the soccer game on a giant screen together.
Our first public viewing experience was in Hamburg for the match between Germany and England. This was extremely exciting because Germany has a long soccer rivalry with England, and everyone knew this was a huge match. We were standing in a massive crowd, with fans blasting vuvuzelas, and many German flags flying. What made it even better was the fact that Germany dominated England and won four to one. It was a really neat experience to get to witness first hand the excitement that soccer brings to Europeans and everyone else in the world. The sport of soccer during the World Cup or Weltmeisterschaft unites the citizens of Germany like nothing else. It was great that we got to experience the excitement and intensity of European soccer.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Of Pianos and Prostitutes - by Nate Howard
Of Pianos and Prostitutes – The Steinway-Fabrik and Downtown Hamburg
by Nate Howard
On Tuesday the 22nd of June, not long after we had become acquainted with our host families in Bargteheide, we took a day long trip into Hamburg to tour the Steinway piano factory and, afterwards, downtown Hamburg. After a comfortable ride into the city and a comparatively harrowing experience riding in the far-too-overcrowded city bus that would transport us to the Steinway factory, we arrived at our destination. Many of our host students traveled with us, thankful to have an excuse not to go to school. Upon arriving at the factory, we were allowed into the showroom and quickly dispersed as everybody ran to occupy one of the many pianos in the room. Needless to say, the entire showroom was quickly filled with the slightly discordant sounds of those who knew how to play and those who were trying their best. After five or ten symphonic minutes the group was herded out of the showroom and into the factory. The tour of the factory was interesting, filled with loud machinery, half finished pianos, and the asphyxiating scent of varnish, but after nearly two hours of touring the students were ready to head out. Back in the showroom we were presented with beverages to replenish our dwindling energy, and shortly moved on to the second part of our excursion.
What we experienced next couldn’t have been more different from our privileged, civilized tour of the Steinway factory. Traveling into central Hamburg, the students split up into groups and went off to see different parts of the city. I happened to travel with my group to the Reeperbahn, more affectionately known as Hamburg’s red light district. What at first was shock at the seediness of the area quickly turned into humor at the comical nature of it all. The Reeperbahn is a street in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district lined with various “entertainment clubs” and erotica shops, and whose sidewalks come alive with women of the night after sunset (or, sometimes, before dinner). After walking around the Reeperbahn, viewing various places where the fledgling Beatles played, commenting on the ironic location of an old church, and generally scoffing at the sexual environment, we traveled back to the train station and headed home to take a rest. It was, all in all, a very interesting, while somewhat morally lopsided, day.
Bargteheide
Meeting the mayor at the Bargteheide Rathaus.
Entrance to our partner school, Kopernikus Gymnasium Bargteheide.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
WM: Fußballweltmeisterschaft
Daytime or nighttime, indoors and out, there was always Fußball to watch and talk about.
Hamburg: Kultur in der Großstadt
Kunsthalle: Touring the city art museum with an American docent
Schauspielhaus: Hamburg's oldest theater, where we saw Brecht/Weill's "Dreigroschenoper" (Three Penny Opera).
Hamburg: Borrow a book on the bus
On the bus to Neuengamme a book rack offers free reading material for passengers.
Lübeck: Heiligen-Geist-Hospital
Starting in 1257, Lübeck established a old peoples' home and hospital for the city's poor
Principal Menell welcomes BHS to Kopernikus Gymniasium
At welcome breakfast on the first day of school.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Nazi work camp Neuengamme by Frank Fecteau
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
by Frank Fecteau
The American students and some of the German students traveled to a Nazi concentration camp in Neuengamme that had been turned into a museum. The tour guide that accompanied us was very friendly and informed us of every single detail about the camp. She talked very quickly, so it was a little difficult to understand what she was saying. It was a very moving and emotional environment. The tour guide brought us into a large building that had actually once been one of the building used for barracks. The huge building was about 600 square meters. They were designed to hold only about a thousand people, but actually ended up holding about 2000 prisoners. Between this building and the front gate were large fenced areas that held rubble. These piles of rubble were once buildings, back in 1944 and 1945, when this camp was functioning. The building we were in had 2 floors and several different sections. On the first floor was a map of all the surrounding concentration camp in Germany, Austria, and Poland. There was a piece of the electric fence that used to run around the outside of the camp. There was also a small scale replica of the entire camp. The second floor had accounts of some of the prisoners held at the prison. There was another building that housed the names of all the victims from the camp. There was also a giant monument and what looked like to be a sculpture of a concentration camp victim. Overall it was a great experience that I will surely remember. Here are some pictures I took while there:
by Frank Fecteau
The American students and some of the German students traveled to a Nazi concentration camp in Neuengamme that had been turned into a museum. The tour guide that accompanied us was very friendly and informed us of every single detail about the camp. She talked very quickly, so it was a little difficult to understand what she was saying. It was a very moving and emotional environment. The tour guide brought us into a large building that had actually once been one of the building used for barracks. The huge building was about 600 square meters. They were designed to hold only about a thousand people, but actually ended up holding about 2000 prisoners. Between this building and the front gate were large fenced areas that held rubble. These piles of rubble were once buildings, back in 1944 and 1945, when this camp was functioning. The building we were in had 2 floors and several different sections. On the first floor was a map of all the surrounding concentration camp in Germany, Austria, and Poland. There was a piece of the electric fence that used to run around the outside of the camp. There was also a small scale replica of the entire camp. The second floor had accounts of some of the prisoners held at the prison. There was another building that housed the names of all the victims from the camp. There was also a giant monument and what looked like to be a sculpture of a concentration camp victim. Overall it was a great experience that I will surely remember. Here are some pictures I took while there:
Thursday, July 15, 2010
A Night at the Opera...The Hamburger Kunsthalle and Die Dreigroschenoper - by Jack Hadley
On Thursday July 1st, the American students, accompanied by a few of the German students, headed into Hamburg Hamburg
We headed into Hamburg via train in the afternoon and headed over to the Kunsthalle, which was very close to the Central Station. We were given a tour of some of the museum, by a guide that personally reminded me of the crazy scientist from Independence Day. We were shown religious works (some by the painter Lucas Cranach, who was a friend of Martin Luther, whose house we visited during our time in Berlin), very realistic works by Dutch painters, works by Vincent van Gogh and Caspar David Friedrich, and finally, modern art, which portrayed many works created after 1945.
After dinner, we headed off to the opera house to see Die Dreigroschenoper. The premise of the opera was hard to understand, but it was about a criminal named Mackie Messer and his gang in London, who is in danger of being hanged. The opera was styled much differently from regular operas: there was actual dialogue in it instead of just singing, giving it the feeling of a musical instead of an opera. Another strange thing was that the band that played music for the opera was sitting on stage, walking around and interacting with the performers. The interactions included performers carry the bassist's bass to him to the saxophonist tickling a performer with his saxophone. The opera was very enjoyable and intriguing. After the opera, we all took the train back to Bargteheide to get a good night's rest.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Bicycle Tour 7/6 - by Kyle Shropshire
Bicycle Tour 7/6
For our second to last day in Bargteheide we went on a bicycle tour with a teacher at the KGB, Herr Nagel. We met at the school around 8 with our bikes and departed soon after. We headed down Jersbek Strasse towards the small town of Jersbek, and traveled mostly along sidewalk. Soon after entering Jersbek we took a left down a dirt road and began the scenic portion of the bike ride. We rode on an old horse path for a few kilometers and eventually had to travel single file due to the cramped space. We eventually left Jersbek and entered Wohldorf-Ohlstedt, an even smaller town. We made our way towards the rest area up a long slightly inclined hill. After reaching our destination we parked our bikes and had a snack under a light rain.
After about 30 minutes we started our return journey, traveling in a circle towards the main road that would take us back to Bargteheide. Once more we entered Jersbek and traveled the four kilometers back into town. Upon reaching Bargteheide we enjoyed ice-cream that was bought for us by the Bargteheide school teachers. Our journey was long and tiresome, but interesting and fun. We had a few crashes, but we all came back in one piece.
-Kyle Shropshire
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