May 29th

           Today started very early; most of us woke up, showered, ate a little of food, then hit the road. The students all met at the Evansville airport for the first flight. Once everyone got their luggage checked in, we said our final goodbyes to family and hugged them for the last time for at least four weeks. Next was the security line; a few bags were checked by the TSA, but no people luckily...
           We waited on the other side on the other side of security for about an hour or so. Our group sat in a big blob on the floor with our carry on luggage. At one point, we were all assigned numbers for the bus rides, so when we go to places in our group.
           When we finally boarded our first plane, it was quite hot outside. The one hour flight was pretty uneventful. Once we landed at the Dallas airport, there were problems with them not letting us off the plane right away and we thought we were going to miss our next flight. Our group got our carry on bags and started running towards the monorail (?). We boarded it, waited for a short amount of time, and then continued to run to our gate; this included running down a long, broken escalator..
          Finally after getting to our gate, they told us that our flight was changed and that it was delayed for a few hours. We sat in a big group again, waited, and got some stuff to snack on. While waiting, there was a man from Germany that talked to us for awhile; he was pretty interesting.. Eventually we boarded the plane, I was shocked how large the plane was. It was the biggest plane I've ever ridden on; this one had a row of two, a walkway, a row of three, another walkway, and then another two row. We found our seats, put our bags in the overhead compartment, and then sat for the long flight.
          On this flight some of us had to sit next to others that we didn't know; I sat next to a man moving to Germany to live on the base for the army. There were many things that I think the majority of the group agreed on: airplane food was awful, it was awkward to use the restrooms, and sleeping was very uncomfortable..
                                                                                                            Miranda Buffington

May 31st

First off, let me just apologize ahead of time in case any random "z"s show up instead of "y"s... German keyboards are pretty different than ours back home! Even though the keyboard is a bit difficult, Germany is SO beautiful. Last night, a group of us got to hike up a very steep hill to explore what was once a castle. Today, our German partners did not have to go to school until 9:30, so we got to sleep in a little extra. When we all got to school, we had a German lesson with one of the teachers. We played a little game of finding similarities and differences and then learned the differences and how to use müssen(must do), dürfen(allowed to), und können(can do). We also learned some history of Staufen and where the name Faust-Gymnasium came from. There is a story/legend that is known around here about a man, Dr. Faust, who had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to get gold out of iron. After the lesson, we went on a tour of Staufen where we got to see in person the cracks the buildings now have due to a geo-thermal heating attempt. It is really sad to see these gorgeous, old buildings slowly falling apart. The town was so pretty and perfect, it was like walking through a movie set. All of the shops and cafes were small and colorful and people walked or rode their bikes everywhere. The roads are so much more narrow here than in America! It is ok, though, because people really do not ride cars that often. Sandro and I did the math and gas is about $8.00 a gallon here so I guess I wouldn't really drive a car that often either! After Staufen, we went to Pfaffenweiler. We ate ham and potatoes under a small roof on a pretty hill. It started to rain, though, so our plans of touring the entire town were kind of ruined. Instead, we visited a museum and learned a little about the history of our sister city. Now, it is 5:18 (11:18 Jasper time) and we are back at our host houses waiting for seven o'clock when we will have a barbecue and hang out with the entire group in Pfaffenweiler again. I hope the next person picks up where I left off! Germany is amazing and I'm loving every second of it! (:

Jenny Price

May 30th, 2011

Today started with the remainder of the nine hour flight. Once we landed we headed to passport checking place. After everyone was cleared we counted off we made our way to the baggage claim. While getting luggage of the line you could hear Frau White yelling, "Jack just let my bag go". In confusion her bag almost got left in the Frankfurt airport. Now came the fun of finding out bus. Being three hours late due to our lay over in Dallas, we had no idea where to find our bus. Luckily, the bus driver had just pulled the bus further away from the terminal. We made our way to the bus and the driver was kind enough to load our belongings onto the bus. Once on the bus we did a head count and then headed out. About an hour and a half later we stopped at the "rasthof" or in English, rest stop. Here we got a few things and then loaded back up. We now get the news that there has been a wreck on the autoban and we must go through France to get to Staufen. The majority of us decided a nap would be great. A fantastic five hours later we arrived in Staufen. All of us were very excited to see our partners from Faust- Gymnasium. We sat around and talked for awhile and then departed to go with our host families. This was today, May 30. The trip is going great.

Jack Fleck

Here We Go!!!

Dear Parents and Students, 

In a mere 9 hours, we will board the first plane to our journey of a lifetime. Please check back to our website daily as we begin for daily updates from each of the 16 students. 

And parents: your child and I thank you for all your support during the past two years of preparation. Without each one of you, this trip would not be a possibility. Thank you!

Frau White