Eva’s Halloween

Halloween! I was so excited about this day!

First we went to school with our host students, had classes, ate lunch at the school cafeteria …

On the bus ride home I had my first little Halloween experience. The bus driver was dressed up as a vampire and before we left the bus she gave us candy.

After eating something we looked for Halloween costumes. In the neighborhood where my host Erica lives Trick or Treat was from 6:00 to 7:30 pm, so we dressed up and left the house.

Erica told me before that I have to say “Trick or treat!” when somebody opens the door and then they will give us candy. At some houses the lights were off which means that nobody is at home or that they don’t want to be disturbed.

Even though it was raining there were many kids in the streets. We saw witches, ironmen, cheerleaders, fairies, football players and so on.

Of course, we got a lot of candy! When we came home we put all the stuff out of our bags and almost the whole table was covered!

I really loved my Halloween experience in America!

Theresa’s school day

Today we spent our day in school. My schedule for today was gym class, where we played volleyball, then International Food, where we cooked Mexican food, then Spanish and after that German, where we read short stories.

Next we went to the Study Hall, where you get the chance to do your homework. After lunch break I had another period in the Study Hall and then Economy. In the seventh period I had Arts and my last class for this day was English.

Between lessons – or periods how they call it here – students have four minutes to change classes. That is not much time as you often have to go to your locker to get books.

After school I drove home for having dinner and later in the evening my host Jessi and I went to an ice-hockey game before going to bed after a beautiful day.

Here are some pictures:

Clarissa’s Sunday

Today after breakfast we went to church. It was in a gym of a school and it was really different from our church. During mass the people were talking to each other. Some of them also had something to drink with them.

Back at home again we searched the internet to find out how to carve in our pumpkins. The carving part was really easy although Summer carved the face of Michael Jackson in her pumpkin!

In the evening we all met for the Haunted Hay Ride. A tractor took us to a field. There we had to find our way out again while people with chainsaws and masks tried to scare us. We stayed in groups of four or five. There also was a haunted house! It was really spooky!

When I came home I saw how dirty my shoes were from all the mud on the field. So I had to clean them before I went to bed.

The Niagara Falls

Today was our trip to the Niagara Falls. We left school at 5:45 am! And it was snowing!!

Most students used the long bus ride to catch up on sleep. When we passed the Canadian border the police officers scanned our passports and asked many questions. But finally we arrived at the Niagara Falls, which are really beautiful and amazing. Everybody took many pictures and then we were allowed to walk around by ourselves. Some students went for lunch at the Rainforest Café, which was really expensive, but nice.

Some students also went up the Skyland Tower, where they had a wonderful view over the whole area. Furthermore there was the Clifton Hill "Street of Fun" with haunted houses and a wax museum.

On our way back to the Niagara Falls Center we got soaked, because of all the mist of the waterfalls. That was fun!

Afterwards we started our tour behind the falls. We all got really “fashionable” bright yellow rain ponchos and went down to the tunnel behind the waterfall. Everybody went to a platform that was right beside the Niagara Falls. That was a really cool experience although we all got wet from the bottom to the top. So we got back to the bus fast.

To sum it up it was a really funny and interesting day.

Your German GAPP students

Some impressions:

Dress Up Day at Knoch High

Today we spent the whole day in Knoch High School. It was Dress Up Day for the senior students and their German exchange partners were allowed to dress up, too. It was funny to see all the costumes such as Ironmen, Mexican guys, Catwomen, Gingerbread Men and so on. During the last period every student of Knoch had to come to the gym for fall’s first pep rally.

The principal’s speech prepared the pupils for tonight’s football game against their big rival Mars. After several cheerleader performances and marching band songs the fun part of the event started.

At first they played a game called “Egg on the Spoon”, in which also some of the Germans took part. At the end the different grades screamed against each other to win the “Magic Stick”. Our German teachers and the principal decided about the winner. It was a really close decision, but the seniors won.

In the evening everybody went to the football game Knoch vs Mars. The Knoch Knights won 28:3 and are still undefeated!!!

Your German GAPP students

Look how we dressed up!

Visiting Volant

Today we went together with our host students to school for two periods.

Afterwards we all met in front of the principal’s office to go to Volant. The ride took about an hour, which we all used to sleep a little because we were all still exhausted from yesterday’s trip to Pittsburgh.

Volant is halfway between Erie and Pittsburgh and some residents are Amish. The Amish live without electricity and only use horse carts for transportation. They obey strict religious rules so we were not allowed to take any pictures.

In Volant there are 30 unique shops and restaurants and a couple of different events during the year. Most students walked through the town to get an impression of what the Amish offer. We bought some tasty organic cookies and tea.

After that we headed to the Grove City Premium Outlets. This is a huge shopping mall which is divided into seven different buildings with more than 100 shops!

We had about 2 hours to look around and buy something, which was far to less time for most of us. All in all we had a great time and enjoyed ourselves.

Your German GAPP students

Pittsburgh College Football Game

The last event in Pittsburgh before we went back home to Saxonburg was visiting a College football game at Heinz Field.

We arrived there at about 6 pm, which was two hours before the game started. So we had enough time to take photos of the field and the nice view over the city of Pittsburgh at night.

At about 7:45 pm the performance of the Marching Band began and they played the American National Anthem. We’ve never seen something like this!

Then the game finally started. The Pittsburgh Panthers played against the Connecticut Huskies. A few minutes after the beginning, a bad accident happened. One of the best Pitt quarterbacks injured his leg and had to leave the field. Nevertheless the Panthers had some homeruns and scored many points. It took us some time to figure out the rules of football but with the help of some Americans we finally got it! After the second quarter we bought something to eat. It was quite expensive there. A hot dog costs about 6 dollars!

Because we were all tired and it was quite cold we left the game after the third quarter. It was a great new experience!

The following day we found out that our team, the Pittsburgh Panthers, won the game!

Your German GAPP students

The amazing Heinz Football Stadium: