(C) Video Edited & Made by Mark Lombard
I'm just back from Germany and i can definitely say that without a doubt, it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. We arrived in Munich on February 15th to be greeted by our partners with pretzels and flags, we then got the train into the centre of Munich and we did some sightseeing. Munich is an absolutely beautiful city, i was really surprised with how nice it was. We got to see the Englische Gardens, various churches and cathedrals and also got to do a bit of shopping.
Day 1:
After that we were given Lederhosen and Dirndles, yes you heard me correctly haha. We were give traditional bavarian outfits in which we had to wear around Munich City in the evening. It was hilarious. That night we went for traditional Bavarian food where we got Klosse, various meats and apfelchorle (basically german Cidona). After dinner we went back to the hostel.
The next morning we headed back into the city centre to do more sight seeing, this time we went to the Marien Platz to hear the glockenspiel ringing at 11am. After grabbing lunch we headed back onto the U-Bahn to go to our new home, Munchberg. It was a long journey of 4 hours but thankfully the trains in Germany are amazing. There's no waiting around like in Ireland!
After arriving into Munchberg we had no time to meet our families, we instead had to head straight to Gymnasium Munchberg - the local school for the 25th Anniversary Celebration. Holy crap, it was a palace. State of the art facilities, 4 floors with every amenity you can think of. The 25th Celebration was really cool. We were all wearing fancy clothes, there were lots of speeches, an orchestra and choir performed, we even had Michael Collins attending. No, not the freedom fighter im afraid, but the ambassador of Ireland in Germany. He was cool guy im not going to lie. After all the speeches we got a 4 course meal with the theme "Something Bayerish and Something Irish".
After the ceremony was over, we were introduced to our families and our new homes.
During the course of the week we went on really fun and interesting trips such as Nuremberg, Fraas Scarf Factory, Modlereuth and a Comic Factory as well as going to see a ballet and going to a dance academy. Let's not forget the parties which were had every night in each German's house.
Overall the German Exchange was an absolutely fantastic experience, I really improved my journey, made a new family and created a second home. I cant wait to go back!
