Chicago-Austausch 2009
Wer mit auf die Austauschreise nach Chicago will, der muss früh aufstehen!
Bereits um 5:15 Uhr war am heutigen Sonntagmorgen Treffpunkt am Flughafen in Fuhlsbüttel. Alle waren da und nach erfolgreichem Check-in heißt es jetzt Chicago, here we come!
Über Paris fliegt die Gruppe mit Frau Badstein und Frau Gröpl nach O´Hare Airport in Chicago, wo sie von ihren Partnern, die sie im Juni bei uns am Dörpsweg bereits kennen gelernt hatten, in Empfang genommen werden.
Wir wünschen unserer Austauschgruppe einen guten Flug und viel Freude in der neuen Welt!
Weitere News werden an dieser Stelle von unserer Redakteurin vor Ort in Oak Park bald folgen.
We., 13.9.09
Nach einem neunstündigen Flug sind wir alle wohlbehalten angekommen. Zwar sind wir noch etwas müde, lassen es uns jedoch nicht nehmen, alle Aktivitäten mitzumachen. Man will ja nichts verpassen. Vor uns liegen zwei Wochen voller neuer Erfahrungen und Eindrücke und wir wollen jede Sekunde genießen.
Silja Brodersen. 15.9.09
Der fünfte Tag der Reise. Bei manchen fängt das Heimweh langsam an, doch wir sind trotzdem noch alle voller Tatendrang.
Wir haben schon eine Menge gesehen, mehr als man erwarten könnte: Wir waren auf dem John Hancock Tower und auf dem Willis Tower, haben eine Wanderung durch die Dünen von Indiana gemacht und hatten zahlreiche Gelegenheiten zum Shoppen (was besonders die weiblichen Teilnehmer gefreut haben dürfte).
Da fragt man sich schon, wie das noch gesteigert werden soll. Aber ich bin mir sicher, dass "Frau" sich da noch etwas einfallen lässt. Wie zum Beispiel das Football Spiel, das wir heute abend alle besuchen werden.
Grüße aus Chicago!
Silja Brodersen, 18.9.09
So, das waren sie also. Unsere zwei Wochen in Chicago. Sie gehören sicherlich mit zu den spannendsten unseres Lebens. Was wir alles erlebt und erfahren haben, lässt sich in einem einzigen Bericht wohl kaum zusammenfassen. Aber eines steht fest: Es hat sich richtig gelohnt!
Und jetzt rückt der Abschied immer näher: Morgen sitzten wir schon wieder alle im Flieger Richtung Hamburg. Und ich bin mir sicher, dass keinem von uns der Abschied leicht fallen wird. Die meisten haben hier richtig gute Freunde gefunden.
Aber trotzdem freuen wir uns darauf, unsere Familien wiederzusehen und ihnen alles von unserer spannenden Reise erzählen zu können.
Hiermit also die letzten Grüße aus Chicago
von eurer Silja Brodersen, 25.9.09
Letzte Austauschetappe: Chicago - Hamburg
Trotz Bombenalarms am Flughafen Hamburg landete der Air France Airbus am heutigen Samstag pünktlich um 11:40 Uhr in Fuhlsbüttel. Damit endete der traumhafte Chicago-Austausch des Jahres 2009. Im Terminal 1 schlossen die wartenden Mütter und Väter, Freundinnen und Freunde ihre Lieben wieder in die Arme. Alle waren noch voll von den schönen Erlebnissen auf der anderen Seite des Atlantiks.
Dennoch vergaß keiner der Teilnehmer sich bei den beiden begleitenden Lehrerinnen, Frau Badstein und Frau Gröpl für die großartige Organisation und die liebevolle Betreuuung während des gesamten Austausches zu bedanken.
Auch von Seiten der Schule danken wir unseren beiden Kolleginnen sehr herzlich für die so erfolgreiche Durchführung des Chicago-Austausches 2009.
Wir freuen uns auf die kommende Runde im Jahre 2011!
H. Wehde, 26.9.08
Chicago-Austausch 2007
Alina berichtet aktuell aus Chicago / Oak Park and River Forest:
Alina´s last entry
Today I had to wake up at 7.00. I had to pack my suitcase and get everything ready for my flight home. And right now it is 8.20 and I have my things ready.
In a few minutes Lukas and I will go to a beach downtown. I really wanted to go to the beach, because I don’t want to visit Chicago without swimming in the Lake Michigan. Laura and Nick House will come with us.
I’m very sad and I do not want this exchange to end. It was such a great time. Chicago is a very impressing and wonderful City. I am thinking about coming back again, maybe to study at the University of Chicago.
I think it was great luck that my exchange family had been the Meyer family. I’ve spent very happy, funny, and wonderful 2 weeks in Chicago and especially in the family. They were all so nice to me and I felt very welcome.
Thank you Lukas, Ute, Pat, Phil, Hannah and Sammi, Alex, and Dominik. You are such a wonderful family.
I think that the exchange should last for a little longer time, because Chicago is so huge and America so different, that you can’t explore everything in only two weeks. I really wish, that I could have stayed here for a little longer.
My last sentence is for the Meyerfamily:
Thank you so much for this great experience, I am happy that I got the chance to stay in your family for these two wonderful weeks.
School, Dinner and a Boat
Today, we were a little sad, because it was our last day in school. I went to Wheel Throwing and all the rest of Lukas’ classes, but Karlyn rescued me from having to go to Math in 7th period. Thank God. She took me to her sewing class, and we worked on her handbag. We were dismissed from school early, so we could go to the Spirit Assembly. The entire school showed up, except for the kids that ran over the fence to escape. It was nice, but not too exciting. Afterwards, skipped the meeting with the principle, and rode our bikes home. When we got home, we had to dress up because Mr. and Mrs. Meyer were taking us out to a fancy dinner at the Italian Village. We took the Metra downtown, and then walked to the restaurant. It is a very nice restaurant. The food was delicious. We stayed downtown and took the Taxi to the Wendella boat. It was a very hot day and the Loop was extremely crowded. Everyone was walking in the opposite direction of us, going to the train, not coming from it. Then we had a wonderful boat trip along the Chicago River and into Lake Michigan. It was amazing. We stood on the bow of the ship and sang stupid songs. IT was quite funny. Sadly, like the exchange, the Wendella Boat trip ended too soon. Then we walked all the way to the John Hancock Tower Observatory. The view over the city was fantastic. Afterwards we went down and bought some smoothies, very delicious smoothies. Mrs. VanDerMolen gave us a ride home. We sang in the car for about 10 minutes, and then fell asleep. At home, I had to pack my things quickly, so I could get to sleep. It was a great Last Day.
A Day of Science and Religion
Like almost everyday, we rode our bikes to the school, nice and early. When we arrived at the school, some kids’ parents drove us to the Science Museum. We spent two hours at the museum, and had a lot of fun building miniature house and visited the exhibit on electricity. We looked at the German submarine and read a lot about the second World War, about Hitler, and we all felt terrible. Later, we visited Grace Lutheran Elementary school, and ate lunch there. First we visited the 1st grade class and sang “Alle meine Entchen” for them and they seemed to be very excited. Then we went to the 2nd grade and after that to the 6th grade where Frau Ewald was teaching. The Americans asked many questions like “Habt ihr Kühlschränke in Germany?” It was very funny. Then we visited the Jewish temple and felt even worse about World War II. We then finished and Frau drove us home. Then Lukas and I rode bikes all the way to Claire’s house. Here we ate a lot of pizza, played a lot of baseball and soccer, and even managed to have Lukas hit the ball over the roof of the building. It was a fun day with a lot of mosquito bites. That was not fun.
A Visit to the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum
Today, I had to get up at 6.20, as normal, but it was a “late arrival” day. It means that the teachers have a meeting until 9.40, so everyone had to be at school at 9.40. Except for us, we had to be there at 7.30. That was bad. We took the El to the Roosevelt stop. We got off there, and walked the long walk to the Aquarium. Laura and I wanted to get a Cafe’ Mocha at Starbucks, but we did not have time.
We entered the Aquarium through the group entrance and visited the wild reef first. It was amazing. We saw the oldest fish in the Aquarium. He has many wrinkles. He does not know how to drive. There were many sharks, penguins, dolphins, lizards, and sea-horses, but I missed the jellyfish. It was disappointing. We saw the dolphin. It was so geil. Sadly, we were not able to see the Beluga whales because they recently had a calf, and the calf was still nursing.
After the aquarium, we walked a shorter walk to the Field Museum. It was amazing seeing this very very very very very old Dinosaur skeleton called Sue, the Dinosaur on the picture. Nobody can tell me if it is a girl or a boy, but for some odd reason, it has a girls name. We walked to the dinosaur exhibition on the third floor and had a lot of fun with the skeletons. Afterwards, we went to the cafeteria to buy some Cafe’ Mocha, but they did not sell my Starbucks coffee. It was very sad. Then we walked to the El, took it to the high school, and rode our bikes home. When we got home, Lukas taught me how to play baseball. I am a phenomenal pitcher and batter. I hit 14 home-runs.
We then went to Maggie’s birthday party. Lukas beat Kimia in Ping Pong. It was awesome. Then Lukas lost control of his paddle, and hit Nick in the face. He lost 6 teeth, and is staying over night at the hospital. ;-). Just kidding. After Nick broke his face (haha) we ate lots of sweets. We ate ice cream, candy, cake, and coke. It was delicious, but a little filling. We had to find room for dinner when we came home. Then Lukas did his German homework all by his self. He is so good in German, I would say he is almost as good as me. We then watched the Cubs win. It was super exciting and cool. They are much more fun to watch than the White Sox, but they do not have fireworks. Soon after, I went to sleep.
Wer sich einen kleinen Film aus dem Aquarium angucken möchte, der kann das in "Alina´s blog" unter folgender Adresse finden: www.meyerfamily.com.
From Gospel to Youth
Today we were allowed to sleep until 9:30. It was not as good as the day before, but it was still nice because I woke up to delicious pancakes. Then Lukas’ Mom drove me to Philip Sparks’ house and from there we drove to the Apostolic Faith Church in Hyde Park. It was an amazing experience. A few girls started crying. I did not see any boys crying, because they all sat in front of me. The gospel songs made me want to dance. The mass was about two hours long. After mass we went to Arnie’s and Lou’s soul food restaurant. They had excellent lemonade. I had delicious fried chicken. Maisie Sparks drove me home, and I fell asleep in the car. Karlyn still has my earrings because we switched them in the car, and I fell asleep and forgot about them. I still have hers. I checked my emails, and then Ute drove me to Lukas’ Youth mass. It was not as exciting as the Gospel Church, but it was very simple, in a back yard, and very nice. It was especially nice to hear Lukas sing. After the mass, we went to his Youth Group. It was fun. We played hide and seek, in a very strange way. It was called Ghost in the Graveyard. Lukas and I were not very good at it. After that we went inside and talked about faith. It was interesting, and I knew all about it because when I received my Confirmation, we had to do the same thing. I knew the story that the priest told, and I thought it was cool. The day was wonderful and filled with Sun!
A Wonderful Shopping Experience
The day started at 6 o’clock, because I had to wrap Laura’s birthday presents. I bought her a nice ring, a statue of Buddha and one of those red chinese lamps. I collected some money from everyone so I could buy something for her. Lukas and I went to school by bike. It was a nice day, but a little cold. We had to wait at the OPRFHS for the bus to arrive, but we all waited for Laura to arrive, because she was too late and everyone wanted to greet her. When she arrived, she was happy about the presents. It took us an hour to get to the great dunes. There we had a tour into the dunes and a guide told us something about the nature on dunes. Then we got some time to just hang out on the beach. After that we drove to an outlet store and everyone was excited about the low prices. I bought some Calvin Klein Jeans for only 40$ (30Euro) !!! Laura and I went together and spent most of the time in shops like Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas, Puma, Hollister(!) and so on. When we got back to Chicago, we took Laura out to dinner at the Mexican Restaurant Lalo’s. The food was delicious! They sang Happy Birthday for her ( and for every other person in the whole restaurant :-) ) Then we drove to Alexandra’s house. There was a party where we roasted Marshmallows and sang stupid songs ( Bastian played the guitar). Then Alexandra tried to drive us( Bastian, Lukas, Maike and I) home, but we listened to music instead. It was great fun.
Wer einen kleinen Film anschauen möchte, der kann hier klicken!
A Night at the Ballpark
On Saturday, I got to sleep in until 10:30. It was wonderful! We ate breakfast quickly, and drove off to the Condo, where Alex and Dominik live. The Condo was quite amazing and very close to the University of Chicago. We drove to the University and it was the Freshman Orientation day. There was a lot of free food, including wraps, hot dogs, bagels, bratwurst, croissants, and for dessert, ice cream. We toured around the Campus and saw beautiful buildings. The whole Campus looks like a Castle! We walked to the bookstore and bought a nice sweater. After looking around the campus, Ute drove us to meet the rest of the group at the Water Tower Place. We shopped for about an hour. Laura was searching for a polo shirt for her brother. Karlyn, Bastian, Lukas and I then walked to Starbucks so I could purchase my Café Mocha with whipped cream. It was delicious. We walked to the Red Line station, and took the El to the White Sox game. The El was packed with people going to the game. It was funny because there were many Germans on the train. We arrived at the stadium two minutes before the game. The game was a lot of fun. Karlyn and I joked about running on to the field. It was really exciting when Jim Thome came to bat, because we all thought he was going to hit his 500th home-run. Sadly, he did not, and the White Sox lost (YES!!). There was a little boy who cheered really loudly for my camera, and it was very funny. After the game, there were huge fireworks. We then took the El home, and Lukas had to go to work. It was fun when he came home, because he helped me with the blog.
Millennium Park and Chinatown
I am still a little sick (cough), but Chicago is great fun! Today we were at SOM, an architecture office. They are about to build this huge skyscraper in Dubai. It was interesting. Laura destroyed a design model, it was a skyscraper and it was totally damaged. And after that she damaged a jalousie and everyone looked at me, as if it was me. We then went to the museum of art and tried to find something interesting. At contemporary arts we found a funny movie about a bean, a girl and a donkey. It was so weird, because they sang arabian songs about philosophy. In the one hour we had for getting some lunch, we went to Millennium Park and took a foot-bath in the fountain. It was wonderful because it was a hot day and the water was very cold. Than one of these yellow school-buses took us to the University of Chicago and we had a tour around the campus. It was so amazing, the University is so beautiful, it looks like an old castle. And it is so huge that they have their own police and their own buses. Isn’t that amazing?! We went back to the bus and we drove to Chinatown. We were in many nice little shops. It was a little stressful for me because I had to buy some presents for Laura’s birthday. Then the bus brought us to the OPRFHS and Nick ( Laura’s exchange partner ) drove me home.
Sears Tower and Beyond
Today I woke up at 6 o’clock. I didn’t want to wake up at 6, but I had to. We drove school at 7, and wandered the halls for an hour. Lukas then dropped me off at the Student Activity Center where the day began. The other group members were waiting there for the teachers to arrive. We then walked to the Ridgeland stop and took the El to State/Lake. There we met our architectural tour guide. We walked all around the Loop and learned that every skyscraper has a sculpture, and there are big sculptures of Picasso. The sculptures are two “girls” talking to each other. We then walked to the Marquette Building and learned that he was a great explorer. Helmut Jahn built many buildings in Chicago. Mies Van De Rohe was famous for the black steel buildings. It was a long walk and we all felt like falling asleep. Our next stop was the Sears Tower. It was WOW! The view was amazing, and you could see for miles. We were able to see the entire city. Next, we hurried over to the Millennium Park, and tried to grab some food. Then, Laura, Alex, and I grabbed some coffee from Starbuck’s. Alex’s huge Chocolate Chip Frappuccino was more on my jacket than in his mouth. We then stared at the Bean and took wonderfully funny photos. We rented bikes soon after and rode along the Lake to Navy Pier. Laura and I had the Tandem bike. First we tried to stay on, and Laura was really scared. We switched places and she drove, turning us into professionals. The group stopped at the beach for exactly six minutes. Alex tried to push me into the water, but I fought back. If I had my swimsuit, I would have gone in. We then returned the bikes returned home. Mrs. Mason drove Lukas and me home. When we got home, Lukas went to work, and I watched “Blues Brothers” in English. We ate dinner with the family, and it was quite entertaining. The day overall was a blast!
Alina, 17.9.07
Alina berichtet über die ersten Stunden nach der Ankunft:
Our first steps on American soil.
The first thing we had to do, was to get out of the airport. They checked our passports and asked questions like, "Are you a member of a terroristic group?" We all felt like criminals.
But this feeling didn't last for long. Our exchange partners were waiting outside and it was very nice to see them all again. We were driven to school in one of those famous old yellow school busses. My first impression of Chicago: very green, many trees. That is so because O'Hare Airport is located outside the city.
In Chicago, at Oak Park River Forest High School, we met the parents. Oak Park ( and especially River Forest ) are little suburbs of Chicago with many trees and mostly one-family houses. Most inhabitants are upper and middle class. We are all very happy to be in such a nice neighbourhood.
Then every student left with their exchange family. We got time to unpack and get to know each other. Then we met again with all our American friends and had a welcome party. Everyone talked about the things that had happened in Hamburg and we were very pleased to see them all again.
Alina Donner, 11.9.07
--> Chicago-Bilder <--
Chicago-Auschtausch 2005
Am Sonntagmorgen um 9 Uhr traf sich die Austausch-Schülergruppe des Gymnasiums Dörpsweg im Terminal 1 des Hamburger Flughafens, um den Sprung über den großen Teich nach Chicago zu unternehmen. Unter der Leitung von Frau Badstein und Frau Gröpl fliegen unsere Schüler über Paris nach Chicago. Dort erwidern sie den Besuch unserer amerikanischen Freunde von der Oak Park River Forest High School.Wir wünschen allen Teilnehmern einen schönen Idian Summer und traumhafte Eindrücke aus der neuen Welt!18.9.05
Touchdown in Hamburg
Wenn auch mit einer Stunde Verspätung, so sind am 3. Oktober um 13:38 Uhr - mit der Air France Maschine aus Paris kommend - unsere Austauschschüler aus Chicago wieder glücklich in Hamburg gelandet. Vom langen Flug gegen die Zeit leicht ermüdet, wurden die Weltreisenden von ihren Eltern wieder in Empfang genommen.
Sowohl von den amerikanischen Partnern als auch von allen deutschen Teilnehmern gab es nur Lob und Anerkennung für diesen so überaus gelungenen Beitrag zur trans-atlantischen Verständigung zwischen der Oak Park River Forest High School und dem Gymnasium Dörpsweg.
Unser besonderer Dank gilt Frau Badstein und Frau Gröpl, die dieses Austauschprogramm so hervorragend organisiert und koordiniert haben.
H.Wehde, 3.10.05
2. Post aus Chicago ... what a wonderful city!
Hallo Leute!So, nun ist es schon Mittwoch Abend... bisher war alles wirklich großartig!!!
Gestern hab ich es leider nicht geschafft mehr zu mailen, da ein langer Tag mit vielen Erlebnissen hinter mir lag! Gestern war echt ein prima, wenn auch sehr langer Tag! Wir waren im Kunstmuseum, wo es echt schöne Bilder gab und auch Fotographien! Allerdings konnten wir nicht alles ansehen, da die Ausstellungen zu umfangreich waren für die kurze Zeit, die wir hatten. Danach haben wir im Milleniumpark Pause gemacht und sind dann in ein Gebäude gegangen, wo die Büros einer Architekturfirma waren. Diese Firma heißt SOM. Die haben uns viele Projekte und Gebäude vorgestellt, war ganz interessant. Dann kam aber wirklich der beste Teil des Tages! Zuerst eine Bootstour bei Sonnenuntergang, wenn man dann auf dem Michigan See ist, kommt man aus dem Staunen nicht mehr raus, die Skyline von Chicago ist echt unvergleichlich schön!!
Der krönende Abschluss war dann das Cola trinken ganz oben im John Hancock Center, dem drittgrößten Gebäude der Stadt. Da es draußen schon dunkel war, hatten wir eine grandiose Aussicht auf Chicago und die ganzen Wolkenkratzer und den See bei Nacht!! Mit all den Lichtern!!
Heute waren wir in Chicago Board of Trade, also der Börse! Das ist wirklich so, wie man sich das vorstellt. Wir haben von weiter oben durch Glasscheiben das Geschehen ein bisschen verfolgen können, wie all die Menschen ihre Arme in die Luft reißen und handeln, das war wirklich lustig!!
Dann waren wir noch auf dem Searstower, dem höchsten Gebäude der Stadt, das war auch echt wunderbar. Der Nachmittag war Freizeit und einige waren im Kino.
So viel erstmal von mir, schöne Grüße aus dem warmen Chicago (heute 31 Grad!)
Kathrin aus Chicago am 21.9.05
News aus Chicago 9|21|05 um 20:50 (03:50 deutscher Zeit)
Hallo klein Hamburg!Gestern waren wir bei dem Architektenbüro in Chicago schlechthin -
Am Abend hatten einige noch das Vergnügen Chicago in der untergehenden Sonne von einem Boot aus zusehen und einige konnten ein Konzert von Franz Ferdinand genießen.
Heute waren wir in der Chicago Board of Trade und konnten die Handzeichen der Trader bewundern. Danach konnten wir die Aussicht von dem (fast) größten Hochhaus der Welt bewundern - It was AMAZING ... Die Aussicht kann man nicht mit Worten beschreiben - man muss sie erleben. Am Abend waren wir noch mit einigen Austauschpartnern im Kino während andere, ausschließlich weibliche, Personen es vorzogen, einkaufen zu gehen!
bye Andy & Andi
Gut gelandet ... 1. Post aus Chicago
Hallo liebe Dörpswegler,hier unser erster Bericht aus Chicago ...
Den Flug gestern haben wir recht gut überstanden, war aber wirklich sehr lang. Abends hatten wir dann eine kleine Willkommensparty mit leckerem Kuchen, Würstchen und so. Hinterher sind wir noch schön Eisessen gegangen bei Cold Stone. Das war recht lustig, aber sehr große Portionen... nach einer regnerischen Nacht und einem regnerischen Morgen hat sich die Temperatur von gestern, also 28 Grad (!!!) wieder eingestellt. Ist wirklich richtig warm. Heute dann die Schulbesichtigung, der wirklich extrem riesigen High School! Die haben doch tatsächlich 13 Sporthallen und ein Theater für 1700 Personen. Nach einer Fahrt in einem tollen gelben Schulbus fuhren wir dann ins Museum of Science and Industry, wo es Flugzeuge, ein U-Boot, ein Kino und vieles mehr gab. Natürlich auch viel zu Technologie und auch zur Genetik.
Mit herzlichen Grüßen, eure Kathrin
20.9.05