Lynn - Day 6 (11.3.)

Today was a special school day. The German exchange students and the Australian students from the German class spent time together. The day started at 7 am. Mallory and I had to leave the house at 7:45am because we had to catch the Bus at 8:05 am. 

When we got to school Mallory took me to Yarah and Georgia because she is not in the German class. After that we met the other German and Australian students. There Ms. Taiwo and Mr. Eicker told us that weren`t allowed to speak English the whole day. 

The first thing we did was that all the German students had to sit in a circle and with an Australian student in front of us. Then we had the task to ask each other questions in German. I was really surprised that all of the Australian students could speak German so well.  

After the first game, we had to split up into groups. As the day progressed, we should collect points and the group with the most points at the end would win. The winners would get a lunch from Ms. Taiwo. The first assignment was a game like the board game Tabu. The German students had to explain German words in German. I think that was really hard for the Australian people. There was a lot of words they didn`t know. 

The second game of the day was Tic Tac Toe. But not on a paper or something like that. We had a field on the ground and two different types of ribbons. Than two groups played against each other. The start was 10 meters away from the field and we had to run to get the ribbons on the field. That was a funny game and I think all the students enjoyed that. 

After this game we got cake from the school and began to play another game in the groups. It was a kind of a quiz with four different categories: geography, literature, soccer and general. It was funny but it was only questions about Germany and I think the Australian students wouldn`t have been able to reply to any of the questions without our help. 

After that the Australian students had to explain to us an Australian game. It’s called Downball. Downball is a game which is played with 4 people. One person hits the ball in their square first then its lands in another square. You lose for example when the ball doesn`t land in your field or you hit the ball out. After we had played this game we had lunch. At lunch I tried a typical Australian food. It called a sausage roll and I love them!

Right after the lunch the Australian students had to go to their house performances and we watched a movie about Australia. It is called Mabo. Unfortunately we could not finish watching the film.

After school Mallory and I went with Patrice and Elena to the Melbourne Star. The Melbourne star is like the London Eye. In the Melbourne Star we had a really good view over the whole city. 

All in all it was a very cool and fun day for me. 

The Middle School students from Taylors Lakes Campus had a Sports Carnival. 

That is very much different to our Sportfest. Everything is well-organised and every students loves to participate in different events like running, long jump, high jump or shot put.

All students belong to a 'house'. The houses at Overnewton are called: Curie, Newton, Edison and Pasteur. Students participating in events collect points for their house and at the end of the school year one house wins for collecting the most points in various events like the Sports, Swimming, Athletic and Cross Country Carnival as well as for example Public Speaking and Performing Arts.

The students joined their hosts in their house and the collected points for the team.

Insa event won the shot put (Kugelstossen) in year 9! Well done, Insa!

Yasmin - Day 4 (9.3.)

Today we were in the city again. We met at 8:45 am at Canowindra, so I had to hit the road at 8 o’clock. It is a big detour, because I already live in the city. When we arrived at school (Canowindra), we walked to the train station (Watergardens).  About 40 minutes later we arrived in the city at Parliament Station, which is right in front of the Parliament House. We had to finish our Scavenger Hunts from the day before.

From there we took the City Circle. 

We saw most of the important landmarks in Melbourne and there was a running commentary about the landmarks. I could show my friends my house at Docklands. 

Half an hour later we got off at Melbourne Central Station. We had time for shopping and I bought a perfume at Sephora. 

After an hour it was time to go to the State Library of Victoria. It is an old building with very interesting architecture. There is a high room called reading room. It was very ornate. 

After that we went to the Old Melbourne Gaol. 

This is where Ned Kelly, a famous bushranger, was hanged. It is creepy but interesting. In every cell is a story about a hanged prisoner or some information about the gaol. 

There are three separate cellblocks ad two hospitals. Every cellblock had the same special system. The prisoner had to think about their faults. Downstairs were little cells for only one prisoner. No speaking was allowed - only thinking. Once a week the prisoners could go out, but with a silence mask. They could't see each other's faces and they couldn't speak. When they acknowledged their crime, then they could go upstairs. There cells were bigger and fitted up to 9 people and the prisoners were allowed to speak and to work in the prison. There was another way to help them realize what their fate could be. When they went inside the building or upstairs they faced the gallows.  It was very hard.

After the tour of the gaol we went home. For dinner we had shark, which is called flake in Australia. It was yummy.

Nick - Day 5 (10.3.)

Today was the first rainy day. We went in the bus up to Healesville Sanctuary and it took us more than one and a half hours. 
Healesville Sanctuary is a zoo and sanctuary for Australian animals only. Unfortunately there is no Saltwater Crocodile for example. However we can find all the animals there that we really wanted to see - the koala and the kangaroo. 
You can also find emus, Tasmanian devils, wombats, wallabies and many more native animals there. 

Koala

Kangaroo

Snakes

At first we went to the birds, which climbed on our arms because of the food in our hands. 


Do you know what a magic moment in the zoo means? Ok, a magic moment in the zoo is when you go in the cage very close to the animals. 

We had to choose between: Koala, Python or Echidna.

Bruce, Jannis, Timo, Nil, Kenan, Leon, Roman and I had a magic moment with a python.

That was just awesome! 


We took it on the hand and it was very heavy. As the snake fizzled, Bruce winced away because he was very scared of it.  

After getting back, Ryan had basketball training, so I did a little bit of sprint training. 

It was an interesting and funny day.

Irina - Day 3 (8.3.)

Today we were in the city but without the Australian students. It was very hot. I think up to 41 degrees. Our host dad took us to school at 7:30 am today because he had to work early. Enrico and I took the bus at 8:20 am because we had to be at the other campus at 8:45 am. Many other people from the exchange were on the bus, too.

When we were all there (Canowindra Campus), we went to the train station called Watergardens to take to the train into the city. 

On the way to Watergardens we saw a dangerous crossroad. Every morning there are lollipop people who have to take care of the people who cross the crossroad. That crossroad is one of the 50 most dangerous crossings in Victoria.

Before we went to our first destination for the day, we met on Federation Square which is just opposite the train station we got off at - Flinders Street Station.

Federation Square and Flinders Street Station are very popular meeting points. Some people make arrangements to "meet under the clocks" at the station because everyone knows where to meet then. 

The first real thing we did was going to Eureka Tower. It is a skyscraper in the city of Melbourne. It has 92 levels and when you are on level 88,  you can see Melbourne from above. That's pretty nice. 

The last 10 stories of the building are covered with gold plated metal. Can you imagine the costs?

Here is a picture from above: 

After that we got a quiz and we had to answer questions about some important places and squares in Melbourne.

The quiz has four parts (A, B, C and D). Today we were able to do part A to C but we did not have enough time and almost nobody has finished all three parts. Tomorrow we have to do part D.

This is our group! (Elena, me, Leon H, Nick and Nil)

After a very hot and long day in the city our host mother picked us up from school and we went to a swimming pool. It was very funny because Insa and Rebecca were there too with their exchange students.

It was a very long but very fun day!

Roman - Day 2 (7.3.)

My second day in Australia started very early at probably 4:30 am because I wasn't able to sleep any longer because of the jet lag. So I just started texting my friends home in Germany and listened to some music until I needed to get up at 7:00 o'clock. I went downstairs to my hostmother and just had an orange juice because we were about to leave for the welcome breakfast at school. I was really looking forward to meet all the Australian and German students and to talk to them. To be honest the breakfast was very good and even better than the one we had in Germany in our school. 

Afterwards there was an assembly in school and I was deeply impressed by the speeches they had to hold and how strong they believe in Christianity. Another thing I personally like is that they  are so up-to-date with high end technology  and doing those outstanding presentations. Afterwards we went to the "blue house area", this is what they call the area where their lockers are, to prepare for religion class. A thing I immediately recognised is, that the classrooms are completely different than those we have in Germany and even the way of teaching is not similar because they have way more opportunities for example the MacBooks which are connected to an Apple TV. So the rest of day I kept being in class with my host buddy. 
Through the entire school day I got surprised repeatedly because everyone was so nice to me and the other German students and it was a pleasure to meet all those guys. My personal highlight was the double German we had at the end of he day with Mrs. Taiwo and Mr. Eicker because it was kind of funny to help the Australian students with their exercises they had to do in German class. 
Later on when I came home from school at 3:45 I had some pancakes and I was actually very tired and exhausted from school and all this stuff but I din't go to sleep because I didn't want to make the jet lag even worse, so I wanted to try to get in the Australian sleeping rhythm this night. At round about 6 o'clock pm I went to a friends' house to spend the evening there and to have barbecue with Leon, Jaydin and his family. Furthermore I've learned plenty of new things and I have some words I want to explain to you:

1. boot = When my host father brought me to school he told me to put my bag in the "boot" and I was kind of confused but he explained to me and it's actually pretty simple to memorise.
2. cap = When I was about to leave school I was told to put the cap on my water bottle and for so far I've never heard of this word, but I could get it out of context and I put it on.
3. SAC= "School Assessed Course work" this is what the Australian call their tests at school.

I'm so glad to have the chance to be here and I am really enjoying myself. I hope you like my blog and you that you were able to have a deeper look in what our daily life is like here in Australia, at the other side of the world.

Enrico - Day 1 (6.3.)

It is my first day in Melbourne. We arrived last night at one thirty in the morning. About an hour later we met our exchange  families.

We then took a ride to our home for the next three and a half weeks. The first thing we did when we arrived at 'home', was eating something because we were pretty hungry and wanted something more than the food from our flight. It was terrible! 

After all of that we went to sleep because our plan for the next day was to go to the city center of Melbourne and go on the Eureka tower to see the whole skyline of Melbourne.

After we did that, we chose to go to a seven eleven and have a 'Slurpee', and it tasted pretty good. It was sooooo good because it was so hot outside.

The exchange family is very lovely; they  only want the best for me, which is sweet. I feel really comfortable. I think it’s also cool that I’m not alone here. Irina is  here as well which is pretty nice and funny. She is also an exchange student like me, but her exchange partner is the little sister of my exchange partner Rastko.

We also have got plans for the next few days. We want to go and play basketball with some of Rastko's friends, play laser tag and visit the city again to see what else there is and maybe buy some little presents for our family and friends at home. 

I’m very happy to be a part of the exchange program and also very glad to be here. 

Hello from Dubai

Los geht's!

Bald geht es los!

Heute konnten wir endlich den letzten Blogpost vor dem Trip posten. 

Nil hat dafür ganz schön lange gebraucht!

Die Aufregung wird immer größer und es erreichen mich einige Nachrichten mit Bildern von Klamotten und den Fragen: 

"Darf ich das so anziehen?" "Kann man das in der Schule so tragen?" "Wie viele Hosen brauche ich wirklich?"

Bisher konnte ich alle beruhigen, denn die ausgewählten Sachen waren toll. 

Wahrscheinlich mussten trotzdem noch einige in die Stadt, die Waterfront oder zu den Outlets, um noch passendere Kleidung zu kaufen. 

Aber wer muss schon lange nach einem Grund fürs Shoppen suchen?

Am Freitag geht es endlich los. 

Bis dahin müssen noch die Koffer gepackt werden.

Morgen haben wir unser letztes Treffen vor dem Abflug und ich hoffe, dass wir dann unsere extra angefertigten Polos, T-Shirts und Hoodies in den Händen halten können! 

Drückt die Daumen, dass es rechtzeitig klappt! 

Ein Bild gibt es dann natürlich auch :)

Last but not least - Nil

In 5 days I will be with my exchange-group on the way to Melbourne! 

My name is Nil, I´m 14 years old and at the moment I´m visiting the 9c at “Gymnasium Links der Weser”. I like to play football and meeting my friends. My sister went to Melbourne in 2012 and she was so excited, that she recommend the exchange to me. Because of that reason I wanted to take part in it and fly to Melbourne for almost one month. 

Of course I want to improve my English but also meeting new friends and cultures. I want to see a lot of the nature and not to forget is having fun. Hopefully the weather will be great, because I really need a break from German weather. Furthermore I look forward to seeing Taylan, my exchange-partner, who stayed with me last year. The program for our time in Australia is great! We will tour the “Great Ocean Road” for three days and visit many other places.  

Besides my happiness to go to Australia I´m also afraid of some things. I´m not sure if the flight to the other side of world might be interesting, because it´s the first flight without my family. Maybe it will be just boring, because it´s a very long flight, therefore I might be jetlagged. I´m a bit afraid of the dangerous animals of Australia but hopefully nothing will happen if I am careful and follow the instructions of Taylan and the others. 

Another point that I worry about is my suitcase because all my stuff is in it. What will happen if something gets lost? I could get problems with my Visa-card, but in this case Mrs. Otten will help me - hopefully...

At last I can say I´m really excited to travel Australia to make a lot of experiences and have an awesome time! 

So see you soon for my second blog post!