INTRODUCTION The aim of this report is to show you our experience in Germany. We had a very good time and me met a lot of new friends during the stay in Lohmar. Besides, the families who put us up were very kind and they looked after us nicely. What s more, there are some big differences between each country s habits. To start with, water; we were surprised that they drink water with gas instead of still water. Secondly, the timetables; they do every activity earlier than here like getting up, meals, going to bed Finally, the taste of the food was such strong that we had to make an effort to eat it.
LOHMAR The place where we stayed is called Lohmar. It is a town in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Lohmar is located about 20 km east of Cologne and 15 km northeast of Bonn in the Bergisches Land area. Because it is only 20 minutes by car to Cologne or Bonn, Lohmar is a popular place for commuters. The main part of the town area is at the course of the Agger, southern of Overath. The population is about 30.000 inhabitans but it is a very large city taking into account that the houses are expanded taking up a huge surface. That s why we got surprised about such an unusual house style.
Day 1 17/03/2014 Travelling day We met at 11:00 o clock in the school to go the airport by car because we had to take the plane to Frankfurt at 13:10. We were very nervous but in the same time, excited. The flight didn t have any problem so we could relax. We arrived at 15:10 to Frankfurt in which we also took the high speed train, destination Siegburg. One time there the teachers pick us up to the school in Lohmar where our exchange students were waiting for us. Eventually in the end of the day we met our families, we had dinner and we went to sleep since we were exhausted.
Day 2 18/03/2014 We met at 8:00 o clock in the school. We had some classes before going to the trip. Furthermore, the classes were in German so we got bored because we couldn t understand anything. Later on, we took the bus and we went to visit The Open Brown Coal Pit in Paffendorf.
There, a guide gave us an explanation about the sources they use to produce energy which the most used is the brown coal. What s more, we realised that they damage the environment continuously in many ways. One of them is to dig the surface in order to find and reach the brown coal. The other one is the pollution it creates when the coal is burnt. Besides, as far as dead towns are concerned, unfortunately, they are destroyed leaving local inhabitans without home; in the same way, we concluded that german people should reduce the amount of energy they consume
After visiting the museum, we took the bus and we went on a tour; we saw all the brown coal pits around Lohmar and the dead towns which are destroying to create more pits as there is a lot of coal underground. A Brown coal pit A Dead town
Day 3 19/03/2014 We stayed all the morning in the school because we had to do the presentations of our countries. We were very nervous as we had to talk in front of many people who we didn t know yet. The presentations consisted on a survey and explanation about our countries and schools.
In addition, we had lunch in the school canteen. Although we thought that the food wouldn t be good, It wasn t as bad as we expected. After lunch we were looking forward to visit Cologne and its famous cathedral and bridge. We put a lock in the bridge to remember our stay there. Then, we had free time so we went shopping with our exchange students. We had a wonderful time!
Day 4 20/03/2014 As everyday we met in the school and by bus we went to the Mining museum in Bochum (mining shaft and the tower type headgear). It was very interesting because we learn a lot about the energetic history of Germany. We entered in an underground artificial mining and we recorded a very funny video inside. After that we had lunch in Bochum and we saw a little bit of the city. It was great!
Then we returned to Lohmar and we had free time until the party. The party was next to the river and we made a fire and we did a small picnic with some tipical snacks from Lohmar. It was a good way to know more about each other! It was brilliant and unforgettable!
Day 5 21/03/2014 In the morning we wanted to take advantage of the last day so we went to Siegburg to do some tourism. After that we returned to the school and we spent the remaining time with our families until the time to take the train. We were a bit sad as we had said goodbye to our new and very nice friends, and of course, our host families. We arrived home late at night with the souvenirs from Germany and the feeling that we had a brilliant experience thanks to our Comenius project!