10/27-28

On tuesday morning we went to the Millennium Park and visited the Cloud Gate. It is a big plastic sculpture which looks like a bean. Because of that it is also called "Bean". After visiting the nice park we went to the Art Institute of Chicago. The Museum is really huge and full of sculptures, photos, culturelle objects and pictures ( for example Nighthawks by Edward Hopper).
In the afternoon we went shopping and discovered the beautiful city.
At the end of the day we had our last dinner together in a delicious pizzeria next to our hotel... after that we had to pack.
In the next morning we visited the Navy Pier and bought souvenirs for our familiy or friends. Then we went to the airport and started our long trip back home.

 Thursday 22nd was basically a normal schoolday, but it was our last schoolday in the highschool. After the 7th hour, three other german students and I stayed a little bit longer at the highschoolarea to take some last photos. When we were done, we went to Arnes home and played monopoli. I was picked up by my hostfamily at 5 pm and we had dinner. In conclusion a very nice day.

26th of October

Today was our first real day in Chicago. We left our hotel at 8.30 am to visit the museum of science and industry. It was very impressing and we could try lots of things on our own. The topics that you can see in the museum are very manifold. We also saw a film about the journey to space there which was also very impressing.
After about two hours in the museum we went to Willis Tower, a huge skyscraper where you can go on one of the top levels and have a lovely view over Chicago. After many pictures were taken up there we had a lot of free time to go shopping or just relax in the city.
After this exciting day we returned to our hotel in the evening.

Sunday, 25th of October

The first thing we did on Sunday was saying goodbye to our host families because we were leaving to spend a few days in Chicago before going back to Germany.
After arriving in our hotel we got on the bus again to take some pictures at Lake Michigan and to visit the Hancock Tower for a lock at the skyline of Chicago.
One hand it was sad leaving our host families, but on the other hand it was nice spending some time in a big and impressive city like Chicago.

23.10.15

Frieday was a special day. The Gapp group was splitt up into smaller units and was send to different schools. Some of us went to the midle school or to the primary school, some of us, included myself, were send to a catholic elementery school.
We anwered a lot of questions, talked about our home-country Germany and watched the everyday-life of the kids.
In the afternoon, some of my friends and me enjoied a late lunch buffet at Pizza Ranch and after that, visited the last Football game of the season. Unfortunetly our team, the Comets, lost.
After returning home, I already started packing some of my belongings for the trip to chicago and for the journey back to Germany.

Saturday, 24th of October

Saturday was the last day with our families. We get up really early and we went to Osage to an 'I love Lucy' dinner.

After breakfast we've carved pumpkins and roasted the pumpkin seeds. 

We still got much time left until the farewell dinner at Dave's, so we went on a walk with our dog Rocky. Then I packed a package and searched for options to send it, but Ryan and I decided that a second suit case is cheaper. Then we went to the farewell dinner, where our teachers and the major held speeches about GAPP. After the speeches we also told them about our experiences of our stay. Later on, we and some of the other German students went to a spook house in a little town, which was scarier than the one I visited the evening before. As we came back we just watched a 'horror' movie, that wasn't very scary, more funny I would say and we went to bed.

Wednesday, 21st of October

Every Wednesday, school starts one hour later than normally so we had the chance to sleep one more hour this morning. After a normal school day from 9:10am-3:10pm I drove to Leonie and her host Jenna because we had planned to make pumpkins. For us Germans, Leonie and Me, it was the first time making pumpkins just because of the reason that Halloween isn't that popular in Germany. But even if was the first time for us, we were not too bad, I think...

After making pumpkins we decided to go to the cinema in Charles City which only costs 2$ because it's runt by volunteers who don't get payed. We watched 'Maze Runner 2' which won't become my new favorite movie but it was nice spending some time with the others anyway.

Tuesday 6th

Tuesday the 6th was basically a normal schoolday. My host and I arrived at 7:30 am at school and left at 3:10. After school, we took three other german students with us and went to a cross country meet Dike. The meet was on a golf area and we watched four races. All at all, we stayed there for approximately one hour. Back at home my hostfamily and I were playing UNO and other games until we went to sleep.

16th of October

After our stay at the Econolodge in Wall we drove the bus to the badlands national park and drove around and took many fotos. The mountains looked awesome. On our long drive home to our host families we also stopped at the Sioux Falls and went around in the park and had the opportunity to take pictures. After the long and exhausting bus drive we were very happy to finally arrive in St Ansgar or Charles City and were happy to see our hosts again (and to go to sleep)

15th of October

On the 15th of October we were leaving the Reunion Cabin in the morning. We then were driving on the wildlife tour where we saw buffalos and prarie dogs. After that we went to the Rushmore Mall and stopped at a lake on the way to make a short break. At the Mall we were allowed to go shopping until the bus left and brought us to Rapid City. After that we went to Wall and stayed another night in the Motel we were staying at before.

10/13-14

Our day starts with the breakfast in the lodge. Then we went by bus to Rapid City and Mount Rushmore. It was an amazing memorial. We spent a lot of time at our stops. We arrived in our great lodge at the evening. Everybody was suprised. After we ate the dinner, the whole group watched a movie together and was happy about the lodge. The next morning starts with a breakfast, after we  prepared our lunch we left and drove to the crazy horse memorial. But not everybody likes it the same. All in all was it an interesting time.

The college fooball game

On Saturday the 17th of October we went to Cedar Falls to watch the college game between the UNI Panthers and Western Illinois. This game was a special game because it was a homecoming game.Before the game started the marching band played a lot of songs. Watching the game was fun. But poorly they lost.
After the game we took some pictures with the football players while wearing our new UNI
t-shirts.

19. + 20.10.15, St. Ansgar: Insa and Alice

10/11-12

We (Paula, Sadie, her mum Angie, Kirsten, Makayla and Makayla's mum Darlene) went to the mall of America on sunday. It was a really long ride to the famous mall. As we arrived, we didn't go shopping right away because we were so excited for the rollercosters in the mall. So we went on rides. After that we all went shopping together. Later we also went to Sea Life but before that we ate at Dick's. In this restaurant all the people treat you bad and it supposed to be funny. We had a lot of fun there.
In Sea Life we could touch rays and saw many different fish. At the end of the day we just walked around and looked at the stores in the mall. Finally we were home after two and a half hours. Unfortanetly we had to pack our things for the upcoming ride on monday. But then we were happy to go to sleep. We were really gratefull that we have so nice familys❤️

We had a eleven hours long bus drive on monday. That was really boring!

But we took two interesting stops. One at a big hunter store and one at cabela's corn palace. We were at our motel in Wall at six pm. After discovering the little village, we went to bed. 

Saturday, 10th October

Today was a family day, so everybody did different stuff, with their host families.
So I went to Hampton, approximately 1 hour away from Charles City, to watch a Volleyball game from my host. They won every game so it took quite a long time to watch every game to the final, but after waiting all the time, they lost the final game.
I don't know what the others did, but family days are a nice way to spend lots of time with your host families.

Friday, 9th of October 

At first we had a short school day. Each of the classes was only 20 minutes. After the 3rd hour we went to the Pep Rally with all the schools. We had the Cheerleader and Pom Squad perform. After that we went back to our class and had classes to the 7th hour. Next we had a Tailgate. For lunch we had grilled hamburgers and ice cream. During the lunch we had activities like Bean Bags, a Rock Climbing Wall, and Inflatables. Then we watched a Volleyball Tournament with students and parents competing. Next we had our second Pep Rally where the Cheerleader and Pom Squad performed again. Then we added up the points for the Spirit stick. The winner was the Junior class. Then the Pom Squad performed with Staff and Football players. Finally they crowned the new King and Queen, Bryce Foxen and Breuklyn Opp.
After school we went to the Homecoming Parade and took pictures. Then we went home and got ready for the Football game. At 7 o'clock we went to the game and sat with other gapp students.We watched the Marching Band performed their Stevie Wonder Show. When that was over we went to Julianne's house to get ready for the Homecoming Dance. The Homecoming Dance was from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m..
All in all I had a great time with all the differences between my school life and theirs.

Thursday, 8th of October

Today was a Thursday like every other day. In school everybody should dress up in a special color, for example as a student of the 11th grade we could wear pink. 

Then in the third period, Luzie and I had to write a relatively easy chemistry test about a few substances. After school I've been waiting for my host-mum Valerie. We fetched Ryan, and then we went to a business dinner of Ryan's boss. In the late evening we played the settlers of catan, where Ryan won the whole time. 

Wednesday 7.10.15.

Wednesday, 7.10.15

The day started like a "normal" school day.
I had to wake up at around 6:30 and had breakfast. After that Valentin and I were given a ride by our host-mum and arrived at school at 7:30.
We attended our classes till 3:10.
Later some other GAPP exchange students and I walked to the YMCA, played basketball there and worked out a little bit.
Because loosing calories is too mainstream, we went to Pizza Ranch later and had an all-you-can-eat buffet. Valentines and mine host-dad picked us up and because we still had time before we had to get our host-brother, we were allowed to drive around a golf-course with a golfcart.
When we got home, the family dog welcomed us.
After an exhausting day I went to bed early and slept well till the next morning.

Monday, 5th of October

Last Monday was a special day because of two reasons: first, it was our first "real" day at school. Although we've already been at school on Friday, on Monday we got our individuals schedules and had our first lessons. Besides it was the first day of the Homecoming week comparable with our "Mottowoche" at home: every day has a category you can dress up to. The Homecoming week ends with a football game and a dance on Friday.

We only had school in the morning. In the afternoon there were some activities relating Homecoming. One group, for example,  drove downtown and painted the windows of some shops. 

In the evening some of us were part of the drama club which rehearsed for "The miracle worker" which is about the blind and deaf Helen Keller and also had the chance yo speak with a blind woman.

About the journey and the frist day in school

The journey was quite tiring. Everybody was awake for 25 hours. After the long journey, including driving seven hours with the bus we met our host family.
The first funny thing that happened, was to eat banana chocolate muffins for breakfast, it was really good but a little bit strange.
On the drive to school we only went straight ahead and only saw the amazing sunrise and corn fields. At school they showed us the school (the gym, choice room, cafeteria, library,...). After lunch we did a paper chase in Saint Angar to know more about our home for the next two weeks.
Every Friday in the gym is a little show from the marching band and the cheerleaders to support the American football player from the school, who will have a game at the weekend.

Sunday October 4th:  Insa Bunke

Monday, October 5

In St. Ansgar we started the day with music and games. My biology class dissected a real cat.

A warm welcome at St. Ansgar High School

45h04 left until departure

My suitcase isn't done yet...how about yours??? Excited???