One Last Day

So I had a blog written up to go with the last post, which was an accidental one. However, prior to me being able to post it, I must have fallen asleep, and my computer did not have the opportunity to save what I had written.

My last day in Darmstadt was great, yet sad. I went to a class with my host, Christian, and then went up to Louisenplatz to do some shopping, mostly to kill a few hours. We went out for lunch afterwards, having a Döner. These things are just delicious, and I was so happy to find a place that made them, as we were looking for quite some time. After that, we met up with our hosts at the Peter Behrens Schule.

At the school, the culinary students worked together with the German hosts to prepare the final meal that we were going to enjoy together. I made some goulash, a pork and beef braised dish, I was pretty impressed with how it turned out, as I hadn't made it before. Other things on the menu included rouladen, white asparagus, potatoes, a green sauce, and some bread stuffing rolls, I would call them that anyway. There was some chocolate torte and some berries with creme fraiche (I think, I did not have enough room for this). It was a splendid time, and I was glad that we all made it there to enjoy each others company one more time.

I do not know much, I am a mere 21 years old. But I know that I will miss both the new and the old friends that I have made here in Darmstadt. They have been nothing but hospitable, gracious and kind to all of us, and I cannot ever repay that. I can not wait until September, when I will get the chance to reciprocate such hospitality. I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for everything.

I must get going, I have like one half hour to pack up. Do not panic, I am like this all the time, ask any of my teachers...

German BBQ

Hello Everyone!! Today we are at Florians aka "go with the flows" house for a BBQ. He has hosted this BBQ for the past three exchange trips. Everyone brings there own meats and side dishes to share. We enjoy talking and sharing stories with one another. I am having a wonderful time in Germany, and I hope that our trips to Italy and France will be safe and I will post more soon!

Tstuss!

Haley

Bridging Gaps

Hello again,

This title may sound cryptic and stuff, but it is not. You may all now relax.

I think that in order to get where I want to go, I need to tell you a little bit about me. I recently graduated from the culinary arts program at Moraine Park Technical College. It was in fact on Saturday, one day before I left for Germany. I wont lie to you, I was graduating, I didn't listen to my commencement speech. I think however, I did tune in for where he was saying that we should go out into our specific areas and carry with us our abilities that have been attained at MPTC. My next area, however is psychology. And so, I was thinking about how I might be able to utilize those skills that I have learned about food production. Obviously, one can see how it is useful to themselves, but beyond that?

Already, here on this very trip I have attended two barbecues. While a barbecue may not be considered a real culinary experience by some, I acted as 'chef' for both of them The first was a party at my host's girlfriend's house. It was very cool, because her father had just purchased a really nice new grill, and I got to play with it :). I cooked everything, from chicken to pork to sausages, potatoes and vegetables. It was really cool to be able to jump right into a situation involving cooking over here, 4,000 miles away, and provide some hungry people something to eat. Cooking times, temperatures, and the like, all just are in my head.

The second was also very cool. Chris plays on a community soccer league called FC Offenthal. They had won a match during the day while I was visiting Heidelberg, and were in the mood to celebrate. This was also really cool, because I used an old stone barbecue. Made entirely out of stone, and let me tell you, this thing could pump out some heat. Again, I made food for the entire team and staff. The head coach, Robert, asked me to do it, and I said I would cook for a German beer. He laughed and said that he might be able to accommodate such a request. He speaks English very well, and I think he is a businessman of a company, I hope to find out more details and will edit them in. He is a really cool person, and is terribly funny.

The coolest part of this is that at both of those places, I was the only American. Yet, I made many friends on both occasions. I think that I would have made friends either way, but by utilizing my skills, I was able to provide people a service, and feed them. Fed people are happy people, and it was really awesome to be able to provide that little bit of happiness for others.

As far as today goes, I had some Schnitzel with and onion sauce that Chris' grandmother made. Very, very yum. I will soon be leaving for another barbecue (who doesn't LOVE a barbecue?!) at Florian's home. He was involved in the exchange for I think the past three years, and is a very good friend of it.

Ciao!

Finally on the Blog

Hello All,

Well I am finally connected and able to post to the blog. Of course we still don´t know what happened to Haley...

Today we visited the castle of Heidelburg, about 60 kilometers south of Darmstadt. The castle is about 400 years old and built into the side of a mountain. Although some parts are in ruins, many parts of the building still stand. It´s pretty amazing to realize that this monsterous building was made to house two people and their family.

After visiting the castle and grounds, we toured the old part of town, including a church built in 1698. Amazing.

I ended the day with a meal of lamb and pommes frittes accompanied by a locally brewed wheat beer. I followed this with an ice cream sundae drizzled with chocolate liquor and sour cherries. After all, I´m not here to diet and Germany has the BEST ice cream ever.

Till next time

James

This Just In:

Hello everyone, James just got a hold of me on e-mail, he has difficulties accessing the website from his host's internet. And so, as I am so very kind, I will post for him.

Hi, this is James. I am sorry that no one has heard from me yet but I am having trouble accessing our blog from my host´s home. So I have asked Ben to post this for me.

So far it has been a wonderful trip, touring the city of Darmstadt, visiting local restaurants and generally just doing a lot of sightseeing. The only low point so far was the plane ride. It was about eight hours long and I couldn´t sleep because Ben, who was sitting behind me, kept trying to start the leaf blower he had snuck on board.

Today we are planning to go tree climbing. I know that sounds odd but it is basically a chance to go through obstacle courses set through the trees at 10 - 30 feet above the ground. Here is a link to better explain it http://www.climbup.de/, although it is in German. The students think the old teacher won´t be able to keep up, but I know better than that. Iam particularly looking forward to beating Ben and Haley.

Until next time...

James

Ah, and as we have already done the Parkour I would like to announce that James did not succeed in beating Haley and I, we both accomplished the black level (hardest one there, it was insane!), however I was very pleased to see James finish several courses and I think he is still able to walk,although I have not seen him today.... (dramatic cliffhanger music)

Ciao!

Wednesday, Pfungstadter Brewery

Hello once again, fellow internet travelers.

I cannot truly express at this time how much fun I had this day.

Firstly, I attended Friedrich-List Schule, where I followed my host, an Information Technology student to his programming class. It was remarkably similar to any Moraine Park classroom. Relatively informal, except for when the teacher gives his lessons or grades. In Germany, schools are quite a bit different, overall. The I.T. session that I attended, I cannot say if it was the same or not, really, as I am not an I.T. student. However, the classrooms are equipped with the technology necessary to properly instruct the students. Smart-boards are in most of the classrooms, I was told, and I really enjoyed seeing them. Honestly, it was the first time I had seen one used in person

Mostly, the teachers gave out marks, or grades for projects on this day. I think that final tests are similar to major projects in the USA. It was a little bit slower than I think a normal school day would go, I will see about that later on today.

After school, we ate a late breakfast/lunch at McDonald's. They are quite better in Germany than in the states, in my personal opinion. They do cost a little but more but it a lot better than the American McDonald's. It just tastes better, so deal with it.

After McDonald's, my host, Chris, and I (the coolest people, in other words), met up with the rest of the group, and we visited Pfungstadter Brewhouse, in Pfungstadt, Hessen. This Brewhouse was originated in 1831 by the Hildebrant family. In past times, the brewery was supplied hops, barley, water, (which in 1516, a law was passed, saying that a true German beer can only consist of water, barley, and hops.) by the local citizens, and in return, the brewery used steam power to provide the town and surrounding area with electricity.

Today, the brewery produces about 1.3 million bottles a month. They are very ecological friendly, and try to reuse as many empty bottle as possible. Even still, they produce around 30 kilograms of waste a day. Most of this waste comes from patrons putting debris in the bottles, which are very hard to remove by a standard washing process. Each process end with 7 cameras that are angled in order to show any impurities in the glass. Every thousand bottles, there is a control bottle. If that bottle fails the tests that are performed on it, all of the bottles beforehand must be rewashed.

Bottles with cracks in them will explode, as they are filled under very high pressure, and capped immediately. They also produce non-alcoholic beer, which can be formed in two ways: firstly, by stopping the fermentation process, or secondly, by taking the alcohol out of the product after it is already fermented. Pfungstadter does the latter, and then uses the resulting alcohol for other purposes. In order to be classified as a non-alcoholic drink, there must be by law less that .5 percent alcohol per unit volume. The average non-alcoholic beer from this brewery contains less than .1.

The we got a complimentary meal from the brewhouse. We all had a great time, and learned a lot about the process of making beer. It also made for a very entertaining ride in the car after the tour, because we were given food and beverage to our liking.

I am tied now, so Gute Nacht everyone.

Takeoffs and Landings

Hello once again,

We have just commenced our second day with our German friends here in Darmstadt. It has already been a great amount of fun. The flight was long, as is expected. Detroit's new airport is quite something. Very new, modern looking, with an elevated train that can take you the whole distance of the airport, in the event your gate is far away. They also have moving sidewalks.

These things are amazing! If you walk on them, I think you literally walk at like 7-8 miles per hour.

8 hours, 4,000 miles later, We landed in Frankfurt, Germany. We then retrieved our luggage, and met up with our hosts, who had a nice breakfast waiting for us. It was very tasty, and necessary, as airplane food is "like a box of chocolates... You never know what you are gonna get."

No, Thank you, Mr. Gump

We then went to a beer garden (biergarten) and we had some of the delicious products that Germany is known for. I personally was thrilled to see an old friend from the last exchange there. After that we went home and unpacked, then returned to go to a local fair, finishing with some fireworks.

36 hours for me without sleep, I sat in the car on the way home from the fair/carnival, and my host began to talk to me. Apparently I answered about halfway and then he heard 'ZZZZZzzzzZZZZ' coming from my passenger seat. I literally fell asleep mid-sentence.

Then today, we took a tour of Corinna's school. She is a teacher there, and she had us meet her class, and we got a tour of their new and old kitchen areas. The school is being rebuilt, pretty much totally renovated for the past five years.

We then had a great presentation by the mayor of Darmstadt. We learned some pretty cool facts about the city. It has around 140,000 inhabitants. During the second world war, it was pretty much leveled to the ground with nearly 300,000 bombs. Coincidentally, this air bombing took place on September 11. It left 13,000 dead, and approximately 70,000 people homeless.

Because of this raid, there are no inhabitable buildings in Darmstadt that are more than 70 years old. Help came on March 25th, 1945, when American soldiers arrived. They shared provisions with the people. As a matter of fact, they adopted Peter Schmitz as their home away from home baseball team. Baseball, it turned out also was a great help to the German refugees. Inside a baseball is about 941 feet of yarn. When baseballs came in, the refugees would take the covers off of the baseballs, and make clothing for themselves by knitting it together. They also built up the buildings in the post-war era, often times using the same bricks that were smashed apart during the war.

(photo of Peter Schmitz, who got it from one of the American soldiers that made him their mascot.)

Some more interesting things about Darmstadt in 1952, the first 'American House' opened up. These were basically places to show off Hollywood films and other American things, as the public were not satisfied with the films and media that was being produced in Europe. One such movie is 12 UHR, which literally means 12th Hour, and you may know it as High Noon, starring Grace Kelly and Gary Cooper. Also, in the late 50's Bufallo Bill was in the city of Darmstadt, on a world tour, demonstrating Western games and culture. It was apparently very successful, especially in Darmstadt.

After the meeting with the mayor, we then took a tour of all the buildings. I took first place, and received a nice book about Darmstadt, written in both English and German. Hopefully, this could help me in my upcoming semesters of school, where I hope to study the German language. We then went out for dinner, and then I returned to my host house. My bed is calling me over, and I am losing the ability to resist.

Until next time,

Benjamin

One more day!

I can't believe in less than 24 hours I will be on a flight to Frankfurt, Germany! This trip has really snuck up on me. Looking forward to reuniting with all my German friends and making new ones! Germany, Italy, France and the Netherlands here we come!!
-Haley Gammon

Pre-Trip

Hello All!

It is great to have any and all of you with James, Haley and myself, as we are about to embark on a trip to Europe.

To say that I can NOT wait for Sunday would be an understatement. It is so close, yet so far, for me, as I have a very, very busy weekend separating me from the flight out of Appleton. Particularly Saturday, as I will be graduating, working, and trying to get home at a decent time in order to make sure I have everything along.

This is my second visit to Germany, especially Darmstadt, where quite a few of my friends are living. It will be so good to see everyone once again; I am super excited about that.

As far as the rest of the trip goes, I hope that the new countries I will be visiting will be both educational and fun. Working with the Italian chef is particularly thrilling to think about. It, in a way, confirms my idea; that getting both a degree and some years of work experience in the Culinary field enables me to work anywhere. Literally. That is pretty cool to think about.

I look forward to this blog experience. To those of you who cannot physically be there with us, I hope that through our posts that you can find some entertainment, and hopefully we can inspire more students to take part in some international travels!

I may post again before we leave, perhaps before takeoff, while I am waiting in line. Hopefully there will not be too many issues. I did find out that I will just have to leave my leaf blower at home. It is not apparently an approved carry-on. I feel that this fact alone will put a severe damper on my overall trip experience (as I would hopefully be sitting behind James over the mid-Atlantic), but I will have to just become more inventive, I guess.

Until next time,

Benjamin Christian

Germany Exchange

Welcome to the International Education...Travel with us via the web blog.  Moraine Park Technical college students will be leaving for Germany this weekend.  Travel with us via the web to learn about their experience. 

The Germany exchange has continued for a few years now. While a group from Moraine Park travels to Germany in the spring (usually May), the exchange is reciprocated in the fall when the German group travels to Wisconsin. The Culinary Arts program has supported this exchange for the last several years, with James Simmers and Tom Endejan alternately leading the group. James is serving as the travel guide this year for 10 culinary students, and the group plans to spend a week in Darmstadt, where they are paired with host families for their stay. After that, their travels lead them to widely renowned culinary destinations: Nice, France, and Genoa, Italy. Departing Sunday, they will return June 6. This exchange allows the culinary students to experience international cuisine and gain first-hand knowledge of a variety of European flavors, spices and influences. While the students have this exposure to international cuisine, the true value comes in the relationships sustained between these two programs.

Guten Tag,

Caron Daugherty