Our first week back in Salzburg

After our arrival at Salzburg airport on saturday, we all had the rest of the weekend to spend time with our families and to catch up on some sleep. However, on monday it was time for all of us to go back to “our school” – the Akademisches Gymnasium. Getting up at 6 am was hard, especially because nearly everyone was still jetlagged. Nonetheless, as soon as someone arrived at school and had made his or her way to our classroom, you could notice the persons grumpy/ sleepy face turning into a happy face when seeing each classmate. Especially the 2 boys who stayed in Salzburg where heavily greeted by everyone. Most of our breaks between the lessons on Monday were spend just rambling about our experiences of the past 3 weeks, and telling our other friends from school and teachers about the great time we had. We all agreed, that being back in Salzburg in our normal surroundings feels weird, especially when you think about the fact that while we were gone, everything in Salzburg still took its normal course and that we left before Halloween decoration was even thought about, then were gone for three weeks – which felt like just blinking once for all of us – and got back when the whole city is slowly getting into the Christmas mood. The rest of the week was spent with trying to adapt to the time difference, catching up on school work and getting ready for the upcoming exams.

Once again I/ we (the 7a class) would like to say a massive thank you to all the teachers, parents and everyone else who made this trip possible – we truly had the best time and learned a lot about the US culture, school system, history, geography, …. ; improved our language skills and made lots of new friends.

To the host families and siblings: THANK YOU for having us, making us feel at home and welcoming us with such open hearts. Thank you for everything, we all miss you a lot, and are super excited to host you and show you our hometown Salzburg in April!

Picture: the 7a class and their hosts.

Field trip to the coast

blog entry 10/24/18

Today we all gathered at 7:30 H then go on and leave for our “sailing-trip”. The bus ride was really fun so the announced travel time of 2 hours went by quickly. We first stopped at cap “” to enjoy the view and take beautiful pictures. Some of us were a little too brave and went up to the water too close so the the inevitable happened. Hundreds of taken pictures later we got back on the bus and drove to Portsmouth and got on a traditional sailing boat. We learned how to locate yourself on the water and were thought how pollution affects the local area. 

Afterwards we were allowed to explore Portsmouth. We had great lunch and then went on to go home to Peterborough.

First day in Austria

After an unproblematic flight from New York to Salzburg, everyone was happy to be back. Everyone was very excited to see their families after 3 weeks again and tell them about our experiences. Since most of us were exhausted from the long flight, we went straight to sleep. The adaption to the Austrian time was not very easy for me, which is why i have slept for 13 hours. It was an indescribable journey that will be remembered for a very long time!

Home again

Today was the second day we all spent in Salzburg again since 3 weeks. Although we all really enjoyed our time in America, it felt good to be home again. After sleeping for 14 hours, I had a delicious Austrian breakfast and enough time for telling my family about our great adventure abroad and showing them the many pictures I made. I also found out that most things in Austria are still the same, but after our trip I learned appreciating the many small conveniences we have, like the fantastic tap water or our comfortable beds.  Fortunately, there were no bigger issues and we all came back well, I truly enjoy thinking back about our challenges, experiences and great moments we had together!

The end is near

Our last day in the USA started with mixed feelings. Although it had been a wonderful time and everybody missed their hosts, we were still looking forward to being back home again.
But first, a tight schedule still awaited us. After having packed, some of us enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Andrew‘s with pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, smoothies and much more.
At 8:30 we met in front of the Hotel Pennsylvania again to take the subway to Central Park together. Unfortunately some were late, so we had to start 20 minutes behind schedule. However, as soon as we got to Columbus Square and began exploring Central Park, all the anger was blown away by the beauty of the park that brings nature to this gigantic city. We saw squirrels, birds and lots of dogs with their owners, as well as the ‚Lake‘, Strawberry Fields - the John Lennon memorial where we listened to a guitar player - joggers and cyclists. After approximately two hours we had to leave, because the next highlight awaited us: the MoMA, Museum of Modern Art. Once in it, we had the opportunity to stroll through the museum ourselves for two hours. Some went to one of the three cafés to grab a bite, others tried to enjoy as much of the art exhibited on six floors as they possibly could in that short amount of time before they bought lots of souvenirs in the store.
At 2 p.m. we left to pick up our suitcases at the hotel from which we took a bus to Newark Airport. Thankfully, everything went according to plan at the airport, because we only had one hour to get through Check-In and Security Check before we had to get on the plane.
This time, despite heavy rain that had started in the afternoon, the plane took of according to schedule and flew us back home.

Below: Picture 1: The ‚Lake‘, our group in the foreground, skyline in the back
            Picture 2: ‚Imagine‘ mosaic, Strawberry Fields
            Picture 3: A curious and friendly squirrel watches us at Central Park
            Picture 4: ‚A Starry Night‘, Vincent van Gogh, MoMA

Saturday, 10/11/2018: Back in Salzburg

The very last day of our trip to the US started on the plane from Newark, New Jersey to Vienna. We had boarded the aircraft at 5pm the day before and gotten through quite a turbulent start, causing a delay in our dinner, which we all enjoyed nonetheless.
When the flight finally became steadier, everyone calmed down and got ready for a night on the plane: some of us watched a movie, some tried to find a comfortable position and go to sleep - not an easy task in a small aircraft full of people! But time flew by quickly and after having tea and a muffin for breakfast, we soon landed in Vienna.
Since it felt like we'd gotten up at 1am after only a few hours of sleep, most of us were very tired and worn out by the eventful last days of our journey.
Thankfully, our connecting flight to Salzburg was on time and after a short stop at the airport in Vienna, this last part of our big trip went by without any complications.
When we finally arrived in Salzburg at around 11am, or 5am in America, everyone was greeted by happy family members who were dying to hear all about our experiences.
Whether the rest of the day was spent sleeping or trying to outwit the impending jet lag, I'm sure we all had to tell our parents about our amazing host families and the big cities, and everyone was really grateful to have us back.

I'd like to say thank you again to our teachers, who made this journey possible, tried their best to ensure that everyone was comfortable with their surroundings and kept calm and ready to cheer us up even in the few critical situations.
Also, a big thank you to our host families who did their absolute best to show us their world and make us feel welcome in their home for two weeks. We're excited to do the same for our host siblings in April and hopefully meet all the amazing people we've gotten to know again someday!

Last day in Boston

6.11.2018

 Despite of wet but well handled catastrophe last night, we decided that this should not effect our time in Boston and continued our program as planned. After a quick breakfast and boat ride to the city-centre, we took the subway and made our way to Harvard University. We toured the campus with our guide and got an insight on how it is like to study there. Our next stop was at the Harvard Art Museum, where we got the opportunity to visit the museum on our own and admire their collection and art from all around the world. Before we went to the Prudential tower, we walked around town near the University campus. Unfortunately it was not possible for us to visit the skyscraper's observatory because of a private event, so we decided to stay in Prudential mall for a bit (also due to the heavy rain). Later on we found ourselves back at Quincy Market for dinner. Our eventful day ended at the obelisk, which is located at the end of the freedom trail. We made our way back to the hotel soaked and tired, but very happy and fulfilled with a lot of new experiences. Everybody can't wait to tour the next big city tomorrow: the big apple!

-Emilia

Great experiences in New York

Thursday, 8th November

Today was a really exciting and overwhelming day. At 8:20 am we headed to the Highline and experienced a little spot of nature in New York City. A big advantage of the highline is, that you can relax and calm down there, if you are stressed by turbulences of traffic or work. Afterwards we took a  ferry to Staten Island and passed the famous Statue of Liberty. In addition we had a wonderful view of New Yorks Skyline. On Staten Island we had only 30 min to visit the 9/11 memorial, which was built for the inhabitants of Staten Island, who lost their lifes during the tragedy of the Twin Towers. So we had to hurry to the get the ferry back. Back in Manhattan we walked trough the popular Wallstreet and took nice pictures with the famous Wallstreet Bull. After that we went to the memorial, where the Twin Toweres were built. It was really emotional to be there and we all were sad about that, what happened there in 2001. Professor Baier explained us the memorial and how the USA handled this tragic und dramatic situation. For dinner we visited China Town, which is about 15 min away from Manhattan. Maxi and me had chicken fried rice and Manuel ordered Spring Rolls. We enjoyed it and with new energy we walked trough the streets of China Town for about 15 min. The last highlight of the day was the visit of Rockerfeller Center. It is an amazing Place in New York and it was definitely a perfect ending of this fanatstic day.
Unfortunately our journey is almost finished. It has been two overwhelming weeks in the USA and I will never forget these beautiful memories.

Aufbruch nach Boston

Gegen 7:15 trafen wir uns alle vor der Schule und verabschiedeten uns von allen Hosts.
Darauf folgten 4 anstrengende Stunden im Schulbus und in einem Art Freilichtmuseum: Plimoth Plantation. Im wesentlichen ging es dort um die Ureinwohner und die europäischen Siedler des 17 Jahrhunderts. Es war ganz interessant.
In Boston angekommen haben wir uns eingerichtet und gingen Downtown per Schiff. Die Skyline war ziemlich beeindruckend.
Als wir zurückgekommen sind wollten die meisten ins Fitnessstudio, der Feueralarm jedoch hat uns davon abgehalten. Ein Rohr ist geplatzt und hat das Stockwerk regelrecht überflutet. Manche hat es schlimmer getroffen, manche weniger.
Hauptsache wir sind alle wohlauf.

Auf nach New York!

Today was the last day in Boston and the first one in New York. First of all, the trip to the „Big Apple“ was really exciting, but also exhaustive, because of the occurences which happened the last days.
After Check-In we went to Macys, one of the biggest shopping centers of the world. Luckily, I found a windbreaker for about 20$ which was in sale so I bought it.
Later we walked to the Empire State Building, an exciting example of architecture, and had an amazing view over the whole city. The entrance was about 40$.
Following to an other great experience, we went to the Grand Central. The Grand Central is a train Station with the most rails in the world.
The next spot was the Times Square. It‘s a beautiful place full of screens with ads like Coke or the NBA. Furthermore, before exploring the whole Times Square, we saw the Big US Army recruiting station, which is one of the Most famous recruiting stations in the world. Belonging to the Times Square, we were allowed to go there exploring new things and visiting some famous shops like the M&M store.

To sum up, I really enjoyed the day and it was a nice experience seeing such interesting and famous things.

Entwarnung: Wasser ist besser als Feuer!

Nach unserer Abreise aus New Hampshire, der Besichtigung der Plimoth Plantation und der ersten Schiffsreise nach Boston gab es heute kurz nach unserer Rückkehr ins Hotel einen Feueralarm, der sich dann als Rohrbruch im Sprinklersystem herausstellte und innerhalb kürzester Zeit den Großteils des Stockes unter Wasser gesetzt hat, in dem unsere Klasse untergebracht war.
Nach dem ersten massiven Schock haben wir aber festgestellt, dass niemandem etwas fehlt und dass auch Pässe, elektronische Geräte etc. unversehrt geblieben sind.
Das Hotel hat nun alle unsere verschmutzte Wäsche zur Reinigung übernommen und wir haben auch die Übersiedlung in unsere neuen Zimmer bereits erfolgreich hinter uns gebracht.
Alles in allem ist alles noch einmal gut ausgegangen, in erster Linie deshalb, weil die ganze Klasse in perfekter Art und Weise zusammengearbeitet hat und weder in Panik noch Hysterie verfallen ist.
Ich bin sehr beeindruckt und stolz auf die "Beinahekatastrophenüberwindungskompetenz" dieser Truppe!

FRANKLIN PIERCE UNIVERSITY       

1.11.2018

Unsere Tage in New Hampshire neigen sich nun dem Ende zu. Von dem Flug bis zu einem abschließenden Thanksgiving-Fest war es einerseits eine recht aufregende und gleichzeitig eine recht entspannende Zeit. Keine Plichten hielten einem davon ab, Amerika voll zu erleben-sowohl die guten, wie auch die wenigen(!) nicht so guten Seiten des amerikanischen Lebensstils. Die Gastfamilien haben uns wärmstens empfangen (Gastfreundschaft ist auf jeden Fall ein positives Stichwort :), sie haben für uns gesorgt und Tagesausflüge für uns geplant. Heute möchte ich euch in einen dieser geplanten Tage einweihen, genauer gesagt in den Ausflug zur Franklin Pierce University.

Flug + Thanksgiving Dessert-Buffet

Wir fuhren wie gewohnt vom Schulparkplaz los, wo das Wetter noch zu hoffen ließ.

Das änderte sich jedoch leider bei unserer Ankunft: Wolken und leichter Regen erwarteten uns. Trotzdem konnte uns der weite Campus und die Landschaft(sichtbar: der See, weniger sichtbar: Ausblick auf Mount Monadnock) beeindrucken.

Am Campus erwarteten uns eine Menge an schöner grauer Gebäude im amerikanischen Stil, (mal mit Turm, mal ohne), die alle nach ihrem Ausehen zu urteilen recht gut umsorgt wurden, und auch immer noch werden.

Im Inneren dieses Gebäudes wurden wir einem Studenten vorgestellt, der nicht nur Deutsch spricht, sondern auch aus Deutschland kommt. Somit hatten wir unseren Tourführer gefunden, der uns nun aus erster Hand aus dem Leben eines interationalen Studenten erzählen konnte. Dies gestaltete die Tour ein wenig lebensnaher, da man sich nun wirklich vorstellen konnte für einen längeren Zeitraum in Amerika zu leben und zu lernen. 

Normale Kosten für diese Universität betragen rund um die 50 000$. Es wird in Amerika jedoch eine Menge an scholarships und anderer finanzieller Hilfe angeboten und somit kann der Studen fast alles abdecken.

Allem in allem haben wir die Universität als eine kleine Gemeinschaft kennengelernt. Unser deutscher Student schien die meisten Personen die uns begegneten zu kennen, denn es wurde meist herzlich und mit Erwähnung des Namens gegrüßt.

An amerikanischen Universitäten werden viele Freizeitaktivitäten angeboten, wie zum Beispiel das Fußballteam, in dem auch der deutsche Student spielt.

Wir wurden auf dieser Tour hervorragend informiert und mit mehrern kleinen "Geschenken" belohnt. Zum einen mit individuellen Unterlagen(je nach unseren Interessen), zum anderen mit wirklich stylischen Becher, Stiften und gratis Lunch am "all you can eat buffet". Dort konnte es sich keiner verkneifen 2x zu gehen. Man konnte die Auswahl zwischen zwei Tagesgerichten, Pizza , Wraps und vielem mehr treffen und auchbei den Getränken fiel die Auswahl schwer;)

Wednesday 10/31/2018: Halloween (and my Birthday)

Today was a great day in which especially the children in the USA are looking forward every year: Halloween. So, I (Benedikt) have been excited about this day, too. My birthday is on this date and because of this I have never celebrated Halloween before, so it was the first time I went Trick or Treating!

I had to get up early for school again, but I did not mind. However, I got away in the second block for “pumpkin carving”. Some US families took us with their cars to Hancock. Luckily my host-family showed already how to carve a pumpkin so I was a bit better now. All my classmates did pretty well, too.

At two o’clock they brought us back to school from where I went with my Host (Max) back home. When we arrived there, my host-parents have already prepared the pizza party for my birthday. Soon all of my classmates arrived, some with their hosts. The first game we did was turning someone into a mummy. For Jackson, Liam and me Max had to perform this honor. After that we did a “pumpkin smash”, a tradition on Halloween, where we throwed pumpkins on a rock. And then some classmates and I had to hit a pinata. At the end I got some presents from my host-family!

In the evening Max and I went Trick or Treating in Francestown, which was a very nice place to go. Max was a wolf and I was Harry Potter. We also got lots of sweets!
So after this I can say that this was a birthday I will never forget!

Our carved pumpkins

Form l. to r.: My host Max, Jackson, me (Benedikt), Maxi

Last day at school

This friday was our last day at school... and most of us weren't even in school.
While some of us visited the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont, others cooked Austrian and American meals.
We started cooking early in the morning, so the first thing we made was waffles and bacon.
After we finished eating, we started baking some cookies.
Our main dish was of course one of Austria's most popular meals, Schnitzel. Surprisingly, we found all the ingredients to make Schnitzel and even homemade cranberry jam. As a side, we had some homemade french fries and pumpkin.
Our meal tasted great and we were all proud of what we cooked.
In the evening, everyone was invited to a halloween party at one of the host's house.

3.11.2018:The Saturday of Champions

Today almost the entire Austrian group and many of their hosts went to the final soccer match of the State Championship of New Hampshire at highschool level. The became intense when the enemy team scored the first goal. However, Convals players managed to beat them 3:2 in the end. Everyone who was there was busy giving great support. The last time Conval won the State Championship was 28 years ago. So congratulations to the team for this great victory.

Blogeintrag: Manuel Adlgasser

A relaxed saturday

Yesterday we went to a football match of the ConVal team . Although they lost we had a pretty good time watching the marching band and the interesting game .
Today I slept until midday and got a nice little breakfast by my host father . After that me and my host brother went to a store called " Ocean State Joblots ". There we just had a really cool time going through the different corridors . In them we found just about everything (e.g hygenic articles , food , sport outfits ,sport equipment , games etc.).
At about 6 we went to a little Get Together with the different participants of the exchange student program . At about 10 we decided to head back home and catch some sleep .
All in all it was a pretty relaxed saturday .

Montag, 29/10/2018  (und Dienstag Nachmittag)

Blog Eintrag von Cécile Ritter

Montag, eigentlich nicht ein Tag auf den man sich freut. Aber da wir in Amerika sind, sieht alles anders aus. Eigentlich wären wir auf den Mount Monadnock, nach dem Fuji der meistbestiegene Berg weltweit, gegangen. Doch das Wetter hat uns leider ein Strich durch die Rechnung gemacht. 

Ich füge trotzdem ein Foto von der Bergspitze des Mount Monadnock hinzu, damit wir uns alle ein Bild davon machen können, was wir gesehen hätten.

Der Tag war, dadurch dass das Wandern abgesagt wurde, sehr entspannend und erholend. Ich habe den Unterricht meiner Host-Zwillingsschwestern besucht und es war, wie in der Woche davor, sehr interessant, unterhaltsam und extrem lehrreich. Es ist faszinierend wie unterschiedlich das Schulsystem ist und wie viele Freizeitaktivitäten in der Schule angeboten werden (z.b. Field Hockey, Cross Country oder Football und noch vieles mehr.)

Am Abend haben zwei Aktivitäten statt gefunden. Zum Einen die Geburtstags Party von Constanze, und zum anderen ein Scary-Movie Abend. 

Beim Scary-Movie Abend haben wir uns zwei Filme angesehen. Truth or Dare und A Quiet Place. Die Filme waren zwar nicht wirklich “Scary”, aber es war schön zusammen zu sitzen. Wir haben aber auch geredet, vor allem die Jungs. Alles in allem war es ein sehr gemütlicher Abend.🙃

Auf der Geburtstagsparty von Constanze war ich nicht dabei, aber ich bin mir sicher es war ein riesen Spaß. ☺️

Zum Schluss will ich noch über Dienstag Nachmittag schreiben, da ich denke dass es noch toll wäre euch etwas über die Präsentation “Our Favorit Childhood Books”, aus erster Hand, mitzuteilen.

Für uns vier, Theresa, Chrissy, Anna, und mich war es ein riesen Erfolg und auch ein enormer Spaß. Wir haben ein paar Kindern unsere Bücher, “das kleine ich bin ich”, “mein kleiner Esel Benjamin”, “die Maus fliegt zum Mond” und “der Regenbogenfisch”, vorgelesen.

Danach haben wir mit den Kindern kleine “ich bin ich’s” gebastelt, auch ein paar Erwachsene waren daran interessiert. 😁😂 Es war klasse!!!!!

Keene State College

Keene State College 

Heute, am 30. Oktober,  besuchte die 7a Klasse das Keene State College. Nachdem wir am ersten Unterrichtsblock teilgenommen hatten, wurden wir von einem “American Schoolbus” abgeholt und nach Keene gefahren. Dort wurden wir der Deutsch Professorin und einem Studenten der Universität vorgestellt. 

Als erstes erhaschten wir einen kurzen Einblick in das Studentenheim des Keene State College. Wie auch bei uns teilen sich mehrere Personen eine Art Apartment, in dem Küche und Badezimmer geteilt werden. Anschließend besuchten wir den Sportbereich der Universität, der unfassbar groß ist und viele verschiedene Möglichkeiten anbietet, um neben dem Lernen Sport zu betreiben.

Das Highlight unseres Ausflugs war definitiv das Essen in der Cafeteria. Von Pizza und Nudeln bis zu Salat und Wraps gab es wirklich alles und wir waren definitiv nicht mehr hungrig als wir mit dem Essen fertig waren. 

Danach besuchten wir eine Vorlesung des Deutschkurses, in dem wir uns mit den Studenten auf Deutsch verständigten. Besonders die Präsentation der “Austrian Cuisine”, von Killian, Nemanja, Kevin Dominik und Maxi S. kam besonders gut bei den Zuschauern an. 

Als wir wieder an der ConVal High School ankamen, fuhren wir in kleinen Gruppen zu einem Halloween Store, weil wir uns, um unsere Kostüme kümmern mussten. Mehrere Mädchen entschieden sich dazu, ein Gruppen Kostüm zu machen. 

Nach einem langen Tag trafen wir uns in einem mexikanischen Restaurant in Peterborough, wo wir den sogenannten “Taco Tuesday” auskosteten. Obwohl es ein langer Tag war, konnten wir dennoch viele neue Erfahrungen und Eindrücke sammeln.

28.10.2018: Our exiting Sunday

Yesterday we had a small and nice get-together and sleepover at Lucy’s house. This morning we all got up together, got ready and went to Peterborough to grab some breakfast at a local Diner called “Nonies”. It was really busy, so we had to wait for our food a little bit longer than usual, but the waiting was worth it. The food was great and exactly what I had in mind when I think about American breakfast. Some of us had Eggs, Bacon and Toast, others French Toast and Waffles. 

After our tasty breakfast, we met up with the others at the school to go to the soccer game between “The Revolutions” and the Canadian team “Montreal Impact” near Boston. The bus drive was about two hours of relaxing and talking. After we got out of the bus and saw the stadium, we were impressed by the enormous size of the building.  

The game started with the two national anthems of America and Canada. Everyone was super exited to witness a real American soccer game in a stadium of that size. Then, in the 2nd half of the game the Revs scored their first goal and we were all really happy.

The game was pretty interesting and in the end our team from New England, The Revs, won!! 

After the game ended we went back to our buses and drove back home to Peterborough. At approximately 9 PM, we were back and went straight home, because we were all very tired.

It was a great and exiting day full of new experiences.  

Deyna Dizdarevic

Arrival in Peterborough, New Hampshire

Yesterday was the day of the days: our trip to the US started. 

We met at Salzburg Airport at 8 a.m. and flew to Frankfurt. 

There we had to rush because we only had one hour to catch the next flight and the airport is really big so we ran across the whole building and made it in the last minutes of boarding.

We landed at about 5-6 o'clock, eastern daylight time and we were all really glad that we finally arrived in Boston.

A Hostfamily came to guide us to

the bus that took us to Peterborough, New Hampshire.

The bus ride was really fun, we listened to music and some of us napped.

The bus took us to Conval Highschool where we were picked up by our hosts.

We are really excited to spend the next two weeks with our host families in Peterborough.

Salem and Spooky World

On Thursday some students went to Salem. In the evening some students went to The Spooky World, it was cold but it was so funny. So it was great to see how the haunted houses in the US are.
Nemanja Vidovic

Saturday the 27th

On Saturday it was a very rainy day, so a few of us got together and we went to a trampoline park. This was alot of fun! Later that day all of us met up at one of our hosts houses, where we had a nice get-together. We played pool, tablesocker and we were listening to music. Overall it was a long and enjoyable day.

 Laurenz doing a backflip

New Hampshire - Indian summer

Im Herbst in New Hampshire sind vor allem die vielen Blattfarben der ausgedehnten Wälder beeindruckend. Besondere Leuchtkraft entwickeln die Blätter bei Sonnenschein. Die Landschaft in New Hampshire ist geprägt durch Granit, zahlreiche Flüsse und Seen und durch schier endlose Waldflächen, die in Summe eine besondere, einzigartige Stimmung erzeugen.