Lübeck, Germany

The First Day, Arrival

The day began quite early. We had to leave from the schooln at 4.15 in the morning so we could catch out flight. The flight left at 7.50, but we had to be there earlier, because of check-in. The flight took about two hours. Because it was my first time flying I was a bit nervous. Luckily everything went well and flying turned out to be very nice. After arriving and getting our backs, we had a bit of trouble with getting our train tickets- We didn't miss our train and we arrived right on time to Lübeck. On the train station we met the Polish. It was nice to see some of them again. I was suprised that some of them remembered my name, and I theirs, because we hadn't talked a lot.

After arriving to Lübecks train staition we had to walk for about twenty minutes in rain to the school. When we got there we still had time left before meeting the Germans, so we went to eat to a hamburger resturant near the school. After meeting the Germans we had the rest of the day free and I went to "home" with my host, Lars.

We took a bus to get there. First we waited for it for 20 minutes and after that we sat in the bus for another 20 minutes. My home for the week was in a nice village. At home I got my own room. It was a nice change, concidering that I have to share my room at home.

Rest of the day I spend resting and eating. I also met my host's mother and brother. They both were nice and later in the evening I took a short walk around the village with the mother.

I also learned that in Germany you get Mineral water with gas, opposed to Finland where you usually get it gasless.

The second day, Hansa park

I woke up early, though not as early as yesterday. We went to the Hansa park by train. the ride took us about minutes. We spent almoust the whole day there. We could go to any ride we wanted. i didn't really go to any rides, since most of them where pretty high or went upside down. It was fun watching others though.

After spending five hours at the park we returned back to the city and had the rest of the day free. We went straight to home after that. I was a bit tired even though I didn't do much. I decided to stay at home for the evening rather than go to a park to meet other students with my host. I also met my host's father. He was also nice. I also watched the first Lord of the Rings movie with yhe parents. At first I was going to watch tv, but I learned that they apperantly dub everything in Germany, which suprised me, since I was used to everything having subtitles.

The Third Day, Free day

For the free day we had no offical activities. I could've sleeped as late as I wanted, but I ened up waking up already at six. Later I had breakfast with my host family. After that I went to a local supermarket with the host father and brother. The supermarket was really diffirent compared ones back home. There were strong alchols, things weren't weighted by yourself and it was a lot cheapher. After getting back, I watched the second Lord of the Rings movie.

In the evening we went to a local Greek resturant. It was small and the whole menu was in German. I ended up getting a plate with different meat, rice, french fries and some garlic sauce. It was my first time eating Greek food and it was pretty good. The garlic sauce though reminded me of the thyme-onion-cream my mother makes with herring. The plate was too big and I couldn't eat everything. Later I went bowling with my host and few other students. it was really fun and I had a really good day.

The Fourth Day, Theory

The day began at nine, at the school. During the day we split into groups and made posters about emigration and immigration, it’s history in Germany ect. When we were done we were split into different groups and we had to present our posters to the new group. I was a bit nervous, but I believe it went well.

After that we made a video message to European politicians. in the video we offered our solutions to the migrant crisis. I don’t really like to talk in videos, but I hope it went well.

After school we went to the same burger restaurant, where we were on Thursday. The food was again good, but I think the dinner might have been a bit too long.

The Fifth Day, Monastery

In the morning we were supposed to meet early at Koberg, for the bus. But there was a rush in the morning. I was personally bit surprised, since I have never seen a real rush at home. Thankfully it didn’t matter because the bus was late as well.

At the monastery a monk talked about church refugees, how many there are, why they had to take them in and so on. We also got to meet a few refugees and hear their stories. After that the monk told us a bit about the monastery. Then some of us attended a serving. It was mostly sitting in silence.

We also had our lunch there. We got three courses, starter, main course and dessert. The food was good. We had a weird pasta soup, spaghetti and mushroom-meat stew, and ice cream. After that we went back home.