Day 1: Arrival
As we arrived at the airport in Minneapolis in the afternoon we got on a train, which took us to our ride, a big yellow school bus. After we got all our luggage on the bus, we got on it and drove to our next stop, Mora High School. After a one-and-a-half-hour drive, we finally made it to Mora High School. Half of the students got off the Bus and got to their Host families. The other half drove further to Hinkley. Later that day was the grand opening for the new High school in Mora, where the new school building was introduced. So, at the end of the day everyone was at his Host family and could relax from the long flight.
Paul Opfermann
Day 2: First day at school
After the exhausting travel from the previous day our visit to the USA could finally really start.
School in Mora started at 8:00am. Each period takes 50 minutes and you always have five
minutes to get to the next class. After four or five lessons you can have lunch at the cafeteria for
half an hour. School lunch in Minnesota is free for all students. After lunch you have to go back
to class until school ends at around 3:00pm. The Mora High School students can choose
between subjects when they are much younger than we are when we choose ours. They have
the same subjects every day for one semester. After school many students take the school bus
home. Some students ride their bikes to school but not as many as in Ludwigsburg because of
the longer distances. When school is finished you also have the possibility to work out at the
gym of the school. The school also has a football field, a baseball field and several tennis
courts.
Linus Janz
Day 3: Mille Lacs Indian Museum
On Friday we went to a museum about native Americans. The Mille Lacs Indian Museum. The Museum hat different rooms and buildings. In the first room we needed to fill a paper with all the interesting Information we learned about the Native people. We could do quid much. Listen to Audios, watching short movies, puzzle or just look at things they used in their normal day. We learned about their history, Language, games and how they became a Part of the American community. Then we were able to go to a room that was built like in the past that showed us how they lived through the years, it was called the 4 seasons. In a different room we could by some native themed stuff. We even build or tried to build our own dreamcatcher and we learned the native sign language. The lunch was homemade and delicious. Surprisingly the lunchboxes where Build like a hole bag. All in one it was interesting and fun day.
Hermine Lauer and Naomi Heumann
Day 4: Potluck
Today was a Potluck planned. I would like to talk about it, but I can´t. Unfortunately I couldn´t appear at the event, because my host family wanted to go to a football game in Minneapolis with me and that was at the same time as the Potluck. I don´t want to say the Potluck is bad, but I didn´t regret it to not going there. It was my first football experience and I was shocked. I didn´t expect a football game of “just” an university to be this big. The stadium was huge, there were a lot of food stalls and a big show from the band. It was one of the best things I experienced while being in Minnesota. After Minnesota won, we went in a restaurant, where I ate fried pickles the first time in my life. At the end I can say this day will be staying very long in my mind and I had one of the best days in my life.
Mika Wörn
Day 5: Hostfamily
At day 5 I went to Lake Superior with my host family. We had to get up early because it was quiet a long drive. When we arrived we got out of the car and walked down to the shore. It was a really nice beach with black sand, but you couldn’t see far because it was extremely foggy. We went on a hike and went trough Duluth which was great.
At the evening we had a nice diner while watching football.
Luca Scharff
Day 6: Hostfamily
On our 6th day in the U.S., when we had the day off from school, we each did different activities with our host families. The weather was quite warm and sunny, so my family decided to take their motorboat and us for a big ride on one of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. There we were also offered to try different water sports, like water skiing 🙂 In the evening, we got to help pick the pumpkins at their pumpkin field, most of which are used for Halloween decorations.
Helena Süß
On the 2nd of October, my host family and I went to Cambridge, a small town nearby. As we arrived we went shopping at the local target for a bit and then to Applebee’s, which is a really neat restaurant. Unfortunately we didn’t manage to do more that day because I got sick over the weekend. Therefore I spent the rest of my day finishing some school work and just talking with my host siblings about possibly anything. At night, I managed to take a beautiful picture of the night sky, as we were stargazing outside. The stars were bright enough for us to see them since was no light pollution. Living in the countryside has ist advantages I guess. That’s a rare thing to see over here in Germany, that’s why I was so fascinated by it.
Selin Tek
Day 7: Mora Elementary School
On our last day at school we were able to vist the elementary school which is our „Grundschule“. The elementary school is right next to the Mora Highschool and is not as new… I went into a first grade together with a friend of mine named Janne. We wanted to teach them how to call the different colors in german. When we came in the kids were sitting on the floor. They were so excited for us and they had plenty of questions. One of them asked if we had any girls in Germany. This was kind of funny but also super sweet. All of them enjoyed learning the new colors. And Janne and me definitely enjoyed teaching them. After the lesson we went back to the Highscool.
Here is a picture of the Mora Elementary School:
Levi Haiber
Day 8: Osprey Wilds
We were picked up by a bus and drove 10 minutes to Osprey Wilds. Osprey Wilds is in the middle of the forest with a big blue lake. The houses have great decorated rooms. We waited there for our other exchange students. Afterwards we were divided into our rooms. Before dinner we had a short tour. A guide showed us all things like the climbing hall, the animals, the archery place, the dinning hall,… at Osprey Wilds. Before the tour started, we played a name game. Then we went to dinner. We had potatoes with sour cream. It tasted good. After dinner we went to the campfireplace in front of our houses. We lit the fire up and grilled marshmellos. Then we went to bed. It was a great and eventful day.
Niklas Mader
Day 9: Osprey Wilds
Today was our first Full Day in Osprey Wilds. We all had 3 Workshops . We started with achery were we all had a lot of fun. After that we had lunch and started our second Workshop wich was climbing inside were some people raced each other .The last one was a Game of Tag were we had to track down a Group by the help of the Technology used by Wolfes and it was very interesting how these things worked . We all had Dinner together and then played a Game of Hide and seek in the Night. After that hard day we made a little Camp Fire and finished the day.
Nils Leibbrand
Day 10: Osprey Wilds
At our final day in Osprey Wilds, we started the day with a special breakfast because it was Norah´s birthday. Since every stomach was filled with birthday cake, we were divided into two groups doing fun activities. Our group played a fun game in the middle of the woods, chasing each other around and trying not to get caught. Even tho it was cloudy and rainy, we had a lot of fun! After a last lunch, we left osprey wilds and went Bowling in Hinkley. All in all it was a great experience !
Back at home, we had another round of birthday cake with our host-family and calebrated Norahs 17th birthday! We went to a football-game and ended the day with unwrapping gifts and family calls. Tired but happy after this wholesome day!
Leni Spari und Norah Bolach
Day 11: Hostfamily
On one of our days off, which we spent with our host families, I went to the apple festival in the neighboring state of Wisconsin. There were many dishes with apples, such as a caramel apple, apple pie, jams or apple juice from different apple varieties. There were also small rides, a parade and there was a nice atmosphere. We stayed at the festival until the afternoon. In the evening, we had dinner with the family in an uncle’s house. It was a huge family gathering, with siblings already out of the house and their partners, uncles and aunts, as well as three dogs and a very cute puppy. Everyone brought something delicious to eat and I felt very comfortable with the extended American family. We spent the night at my host brother’s grandparents’ house. The weekend was great!
Erik Ley
Day 12: Hostfamily
The 12th day of our trip to Minnesota was Sunday, the 8th of October. Since it was the weekend,
we had that day to hang out with our host family. My host family had already made plans to go to
Valleyfair with a couple of friends and family. Valleyfair is a big outdoor amusement park in
Minneapolis. In the morning we drove to the parking lot in front of the church in Hinckley, where
my host family has a big van parked that fits up to 15 people in it. Our friends came to the
parking lot and we all got into the van and drove to Valleyfair. We went on so many rides,
including Rollercoasters, a free-fall tower, bumpercars and many more. We had a lot of fun and
fortunately there weren’t too many people there that day, so we didn’t have to wait in line for
long. We stayed there until it got dark and then drove back to Hinckley where we said bye to the
friends and family and headed back home. It was a great experience and I loved it!
Thea Riedinger
Day 13: Jay Cooke State Park
On Monday, we had another trip planned on which a couple of American students accompanied us. Since Minnesota is known for its beautiful landscapes, we visited one of the many state parks there: Jay Cooke State Park. After exploring the area around the Saint Louis River and taking some photos, we went for about a two-hour hike (where some of us were more motivated than others 😉 ) and had a picnic together. At some point, however, we had to leave the beautiful park and get on our cool yellow school bus again. On our way back to Hinckley and Mora, we made one more stop at a candy store, which was surprisingly big for being what felt like in the middle of nowhere and where everyone had fun buying typical American candies.
The day was once again very nice and the whole group enjoyed it!
Sophie Mutschler, Lisa Pflugfelder
Day 14: Presentationday
Last summer we prepared various presentations on German topics such as German politics, the history of Ludwigsburg or popular sports in Germany. We then gave these presentations to the classes on one day at the high school. All in all, it was a good experience to prepare and give a presentation in English.
David, Joshua
Day 15: Back Home
On our last day we had to say our goodbyes to the host families, which was cut short because the american students had to start school. After we picked up everyone from Mora and Hinckley our trip brought us back to Minneapolis. There we dismounted our yellow school bus at the Mall of America, it was shopping time! After strolling, having lunch and of course shopping in the biggest mall of the US, we had to head to the airport. Following passport control and some too heavy bags it was time to board the aircraft. What we didn’t know at that time was that we would be sitting there for 1.5 hours, because the flight before us was cancelled and they were having problems getting a seat for everyone. After the long wait we took off and landed safely in Amsterdam later. There we had some minor delay as well but reached our destination at the end of the day anyways. With only one suitcase missing we had our final debriefing from our teachers Mrs Trenker and Mr Hecker, who made this amazing trip possible!
Franka Dipper