DAY 19

Our last day in Hamburg, Germany. It was something that came as a shock. How 18 days went by so fast I do not know. It was an experience of a lifetime and one which left me with many amazing memories.
My buddy made me breakfast for the last time, and soon we were off for the airport.

Saying goodbye was the most painful thing ever because we didn't know when we would all meet again. But it had to happen nonetheless. Most of us cried but the thoughts of planning vacations with our buddies and their families kept us strong. Soon we were all checked in and had to wait for the flight. The only thing we spoke about was how much we would miss Hendrik's weird faces or Mereike's cuteness or other characteristics of all the German buddies.

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Not the forget we would also miss the different types of bread, the food, the organized transport system and last but not the least, the lush greenery of Hamburg and its natural beauty.

Boarding the flight was the last piece of our trip.

I would like to thank every person that has been involved in this program. Your efforts have made this trip a lifelong memory for all of us.

Alisha.

DAY 18

Today was the second last day of our trip in Hamburg. It was a nice sunny morning and all of us had to meet outside the City Town Hall. We started off with a walk in small groups, where we had to go to various places like the Alster Haus, Mellin Passage, in order to answer the questions given to each group. And then, we had a guided tour through the Town Hall. After that we had free time. Some of us went for shopping at the City Centre and the rest went for a boat trip in the Alster Lake. It was a fun filled and an exciting day.
                                                                                                                                                   Pankti

DAY 17

Day 16 was probably the most significant day of our trip. It was presentation-day. We had been divided into groups of six and were given topics focusing on renewable energies, such as the use of hydropower, energy providers of the city, various job opportunities available in this field and creating our very own educational program to sensitize young people of our age to global environmental challenges.
Every group had their creative juices flowing and came up with different ways to make their topic innovative and appealing for the `market- place-concept` we were to follow. Some used posters and models, others had role plays or recorded interviews. During the presentation, that was for students of grade 10 and 11, the projects seem to have kept them interested and most importantly, involved.
With our friend`s birthday and a free evening, we all meticulously planned a surprise party for her. We had a great time, for we were not only celebrating our dear friend`s special day, but also our successful project presentation !

Sashika

DAY 16

We had a free day today.. Some of us got time to bond with our host families and our buddies. Some of us went to the city of Berlin and so did our teachers and they had a great time. I went to the flöhmarkt- a flea market  and it was really nice. As I was in the market, I bought a lot things for my family. Some of us visited the Harbour which is a very beautiful place in Hamburg. All of us got a chance to experience this place in different ways.
Basma

DAY 15

This was our first free weekend, so most of us were in our beds till the afternoon. The city was covered with dark clouds and it kept raining the whole day. Few of us went  shopping at the malls or the City Centre. Some went  ice skating and few of us left for the city of Berlin.

I was looking forward to day as my brother had come to meet me from Aachen,Germany. We went  shopping at the City centre and then we went to the  Harbour as he wanted to see the best places in Hamburg.

Few of the group members also met at a common place in order to finish the project as we have to present it on Monday. It was quite chilly in the evening and was pouring so, we rushed home. Later that night, my brother, my host family and of course I sat down to watch the Football match. It was a chilled out day as we had a lot of free time to do whatever we had in our 'To-do list'.

                                                                                                                                                  Megha

DAY 14

DAY 13

Today was an interesting day. Most of us started from home around 8:30 to reach Gut Karlshöhe which is a nature and climate protection exhibition.

It took us about 40 minutes to reach there and then all of us participated in a few activities which we enjoyed. We then went around the exhiition in small groups.

The exhibition contained numerous interactive displays, models, films and games about nature, the environment, climate change and also intelligent, nature-inspired technology to assist us in protecting our climate and environment.We spent about two hours there.

 

Later, we all had lunch together and then left from there after a few instructions given for the coming day. 



 Kaavya

DAY 12

 Its the 21st of May,the weather wasnt that good!  But after an amazing and fun break , we were scheduled to do our project work and in the evening we had the inter-cultural programme along with the parents meet!

 

We all were quite nervous throughout the whole day thinking about how we would perform in front of our 

parents.  

But in the end it was a successful show that we all put up and everybody was soo happy. We all had put on our dancing shoes and danced to the desi tunes! 

Overall the day was a mixture of fun and serious work and we all enjoyed the day! :)

                                              Akanksha

DAY 11

Today was a holiday for all of us here because it was whit monday and almost all the shops here were closed since it‘s an official free day for everyone. The holiday was quite appropriate for all of us because we had just come back from the island of sylt the previous day and some of us were still tired.

This day was special because we all could spend some quality time with our buddies and their family. While some of us spent time bonding with our buddies relatives others visited Berlin, went for a boat trip or went to miniature wonderland. 
Miniature wonderland is an very interesting place, it‘s the world‘s largest model railway exhibition. 

DAY 10

DAY 9

After spending two wonderful days in the island of Syltz, we were all set to return to Hamburg on the 19th. We finished breakfast by 9 and went out for a final walk at the beach and around Syltz, where the wetaher was now extremely cold with breezy winds and a slight drizzle. Some of us who were feeling very cold were allowed to stay back but most of us walked down the beach, ocassionally stopping to take pictures. 

 

 

11 o clock was our check out time from the hotel, and that´s when we left the island. 

The train journey was about 3 hours. 

We reached Hamburg at around 4, after which we were free to be with our buddies, friends and host families.

Some of us went out shopping with other friends and their buddies, while a few gathered at someone´s home and spent time together. 

Overall, it was a tiring yet fun day as we got the opportunity to mingle with the other students. 

DAY 8

DAY 7

Our day began with a bright and comforting reflection of the sun ! we all met at the main station of Altoona from where we took the train to the Island of Sylt and we reached the Island by half past 11 and we were accommodated at the Youth hostel where we had our lunch ! After lunch we packed the stuff required for the beach and we had a brisk walk to the beach and reached there soon! We spent our time at the beach playing games , splashing water, swimming and lot more and altogether we had loads of fun!! then we returned to the Youth hostel where we had a barbeque party for dinner . Then we were given free time to spend the evening and all of us chose different activities of our choice to while our time. This was our first day at the Island and we all loved it and cherished every single minute and second of our day!!

- Lasya Chowdary

DAY 6

On the fifth day we arrived at Heilwig Gymnasium at 9am and started off with familiarizing ourselves with the island of Sylt as we would be visiting it for the weekend. We were shown videos that gave us information about the tides and the mudflats in the North Sea.

After that we were given roles to play like the Ministers of environment,  the tourism managers, nature conservationist, coastal protectionist and the agriculturist in an international conference between Germany, Denmark and Netherlands where we discussed important issues on coastal protection measures. After the discussion some decisions were taken by the Ministers of environment of each country and they are as follows:

(Questions asked)

(Roles)

(decisions taken)

After lunch we were free to do anything so we chose to go to the Central park and celebrate Tamara's birthday. We played around in the park for awhile and then dispersed as we had to pack for our trip to the island of Sylt where we were going the next day.

          

                                                                                - Isha

DAY 5

Today was the fourth day of our Indo German Exchange Program and most of it was spent at  Heilwig Gymnasium.

Our day began with a lot of enthusiasm with the Head Mistress of Heilwig Gynasium Mrs.Krause addressesing us about how happy she was to see all of us and  she hopes that the Germans are treating us with the same hospitality  like the German students were treated with when they were in India.

We were then briefed about what we were going to do today by the Chemistry teacher at Heilwig Gymnasium Mr.Bergfeld

We were told that we would be divided into groups randomly and the groups would again be subdivided into more groups with two indians and one german in each group. Then group A was asked to go  the Chemistry lab and work on their project there,

while group B were given some questions who's answers they had to find on the internet, like for instance what is a fuel cell or where they are used etc.

While Group B did this Group A did experiments - They built a car out of Hydrogen and fuel cell and after that they held a race in the corridor to see which car would win and the group which one was given a chocolate. Later on after they completed this t Group A and Group B exchanged their work and now Group A did all the research work while Group B built their car and held the race in which our team (Fenja , ayesha and i) won.

After all the afternoon madness which was enjoyed throughly by us all, we then met at the library to discuss about all the reaserch work that was done by both the groups and then we headed off for lunch.

Feeling very brave because of the pleasant weather all of us shed our jackets and  headed off to River Alster for canoeing. After a long walk we finally reached the beautiful River Alster and  we again divided ourselves into groups with two Germans and two Indians in each group and then were given our life jackets to wear before entering the lake.

We went canoeing for probably two hours straight through the beautiful and breath taking scenery of river Alster which would have probably been better if we didnt have Anton and his evil group splashing really COLD water on us (sorry couldn't upload pictures of us in the river Alster because we were to busy enjoying its beauty).

But like the saying goes "Good things always come to an end" so did our boating trip and so did the pleasent weather ( Yes it started raining) and all of us went our own ways eager for tomorrow.

---Sanjana

DAY 4

Today was our second day in hamburg, though it dint feel like one. We already feel very attached to this place in just within a day. We went to the Heilwig Gymnasium today and some of us went a little more early than the others because our buddies had to write their exams on a timing very different from their friends. The rest of the group joined us by 9 AM and after some time we went into the library and were given a briefing of the day ahead. we were then taken for a walk around the school by the Heilwig students and we were acquainted with it pretty soon.We saw something called  THE MAC ROOM and we were surprised to know that that it was full of APPLE MACS some thing very unlike what we have ever seen :p .Today was the first day that we started our projects and we were given sheets on which our topics for the presentations were mentioned. We were divided into the same groups as were in india and each group had to choose a topic and work on it. We worked on the projects and and some wonderfull charts. We had a break in the middle in which we had our lunch and after fifteen minutes or so we all presented our projects one by one and as complemented by the teachers they had come out pretty well.We were left free by around 3.30 in the afternoon and so we all decided to go for a little shopping though not much shopping was done. We went tpo the center of the city where we roamed around the streets looking for something to shop and when finally we were quite tired of it we went to THE STAR BUCKS CAFE. We "chilled" there for some time and ate or drank something to fill our stomachs a little bit as they were a little empty due to A LOT of walking!!! Finally we all dispersed and retired to our homes after a long and tiring day.
                                                                                                                            -Ayesha

DAY 3

The first official day of the Indo-German Exchange Program started with all of us rushing out of our buddies homes, eager to get to school. Most us us had never travelled by public buses or trains before, and we were pleasantly surprised to see how efficiently they worked.

After braving the public transport and freezing weather, we all assembled in music hall at Lise MEITNE000R Gymnasium. We were treated to the melodies of the school band who played beautifuly.

Then was a short speech by Mrs Oldenberg, the headmistress, followed by a few words by two of the girls who participated in the program last year. We were then divided into groups and taken around the school. Breakfast followed, and then bundled up in as many jackets as we could find, we set off to the first destination of the daz, Lake Alster

After a long walk, we finally reached lake where we had to wait for a few minutes, before getting onto a boat for a quick ride.
After the boat ride, we went to the Michel church. Formally known as the St. Michalelis Church, it is the largest and most famous church in Hamburg. It has a spire, which offers an excellent view over the city and the harbour.

We had to climb up 453 steps to get to the top, and we were exhausted by the time we did, but the view from the top was worth it. We could see most of the city spreading out all around us, and it looked absolutely breathtaking!

 After getting back down (most of us took the shortcut and took the elevator) we entered the chapel, which was gorgeous. We all settled down in the pews and listened to the beautiful music, and then it was time for us to leave.

We all were given instructions for the next day, and then we left, extremely eager for it!

Aashima

DAY 2

  A long, long, long journey finally got us to Hamburg at around 7:45 p.m (Hamburg time).  The whole day spent travelling, we couldn't wait to get the immigration processes done with so we could get to our homes for the month.  After everybody had collected their baggage, we rushed out the gates to see all our buddies standing outside with a single, pretty flower in each one's hand.  Unable to hold it in, there were squeals of excitement all over as we greeted every one of the German friends we had made not so long ago.  Immediately after though, we rushed home to the rest of the families, knowing we'd make the most of this trip, hoping to leave with memories of unforgettable moments, places and people.

Tamara