Vielen Dank, Deutschland!

Wow, I can't believe my time in Germany is over! I'm sitting in the airport in the Frankfurt and thinking about how much I've learned and grown these past 3 weeks! I learned a lot about myself both personally and professionally. I was challenged to teach topics and content that was outside of my comfort zone which made me feel more confident in my teaching abilities! I can't wait to take on my own classroom this coming school year! When I started this journey, I wanted to learn about classroom management and from what I saw during my time at AFG (and conversations with other student teachers!) I know procedures and policies I want to implement in my future classroom.

I want to say thank you to everyone that helped me while in Werne, Germany! I'm so thankful for the kind teachers at AFG that let me teach their students! Thank you Heike for making sure we were well supported and challenged while in Germany! This program couldn't work without you. Thank you to my host parents and siblings for being the most hospitable and kind family ever! I can never thank them enough! Thank you Elizabeth Hook for co-teaching with me and translating all the menus at restaurants! Thank you to my parents for supporting me in every way possible so that I may take trips like this that teach me things that just aren't possible in a classroom in the US! Danke euch allen!!

I'm so excited to return home, see my family and friends, and graduate on Saturday! I'm excited to bring my knowledge into my future classroom and see how I can impact my future students. Below are pictures from my last week in Germany! Don't forget to watch our group project video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQYTyD_lVps&t=1s . Go Tops!

Reflecting at a Holocaust memorial in Berlin

Group picture in Berlin

My sweet host sister, Anna

Connecting with culture (and each other!)

Mixed emotions as this week comes to a close! This week has been full of teaching and afternoon sight seeing. I've enjoyed teaching the 6th and 9th graders this week with my co-teacher Ms. Hook! This week we've been teaching about how to write tv and newspaper reports and how to write good speeches. This week's topics have been out of my comfort zone, but teaching them has been nothing short of enjoyable! It's getting bittersweet that this journey is coming to a close soon.
This week has me feeling more and more like a local as I navigate town on my bike and participated in the festival on April 30! May 1st is like their Labor Day here, so Monday we were able to celebrate this holiday with one of the teachers from our school. She took us dancing which was fun and a great way to connect with the culture!
This week I've also been able to see some castles in the area! My host family took me to one in Münster and one of the teachers at our school met us at a castle in her village! The kindness and hospitality here never ceases to amaze me.

While I've been able to connect with the culture, I've also been able to connect with the other student teachers here with me and that's been one of my favorite parts! I truly enjoy sitting in cafes with everyone or eating dinner out! Shoutout to Maddie Haas for always bringing her fancy camera and taking fun pictures!

This evening I'm putting final touches on my lesson for tomorrow and packing my bag for a weekend in Berlin! Look for a post about my weekend on Monday! Now, enjoy some pictures! 

New favorite German city

This past weekend, I went with two other students teachers (who are great friends!) to Cologne (Köln--the German spelling/pronunciation). This city is beautiful and I learned so much.

We started off our day by taking the train from a nearby village to Cologne. This was about 2.5 hours on the train, and I enjoyed being able to see the nice sites and views from the train. Upon arrival in the train station in Cologne, I needed a small piece of home and we found ourselves in a....
Starbucks! It was nice having something that tasted like home. While we were drinking our coffee, a nice English speaking couple leaned across the table asking where we were from (I can't imagine how they knew we weren't from Germany!). We told them our story and why we're in Germany, and this husband and wife were retired teachers from Australia! We were able to sit and have a really interesting, in-depth conversation about education and compare our two educational systems.




After leaving Starbucks, we walked right into the beautiful cathedral in Cologne. This cathedral is Gothic style and leaves you in awe of its architecture. We decided to climb the tower in the cathedral because why not! We had no idea what we got ourselves into. To climb to the top it's over 500 steps...and to get back down you take the same flight of stairs of over 500 steps! Below you can see our faces/stages of how we felt climbing the stairs. For anyone considering visiting Cologne, it is worth it!
 While also in Cologne, we visited the Roman history museum which was wonderful!

Pre-climb

Post-climb

We couldn't leave out the chocolate museum while in Cologne! We are all avid chocolate lovers and wanted to see how chocolate was made (and of course eat all the samples throughout the tour!). We learned a lot about the process of chocolate making process and see the nice Rhine River which many refer to as their Mississippi River! We ended our trip with a little shopping and were exhausted! 

Sunday's in Germany are truly days of rest. Many stores and restaurants are closed so that everyone can spend time with family and friends and rest. Let me tell ya, after a long day in Cologne, I took that day of rest to heart! I propped my feet up and planned my lessons for the week! I'm looking forward to a week of teaching and Berlin this weekend!