My German Exchange to Wurzburg by Aoife Mulhern, a diary entry
"On Sunday 15th of October we met in Dublin Airport at 4:30am to begin our German Exchange to Würzburg in the south of Germany. We landed at Frankfurt Airport at around 12pm and from there we got on a train to Würzburg after stopping for a pretzel, a traditional German snack. When we arrived at Würzburg train station we met with our host families and then went home with them. We were all very excited to finally meet each other and spend the week together.
On Monday we went through a typical German school day with our exchange partners, which included classes like Biology, Physics, Music, English and Maths. Afterwards we went to the Residence which is a famous building in Wurzburg. This was a very enjoyable visit and we were made to feel very welcome. For the rest of the week we had an opportunity to participate in many different classes, including French, German, Chemistry, History, IT, Home Economics and Geography.
After class on Wednesday we went to the town hall where we met the vice mayor of Würzburg and drank apple juice and ate some pastries. We then went to visit "Die Festung '' which was a castle in Würzburg. On Thursday after school we had a free day to do whatever we wanted with our exchange partners so we all decided to go shopping together in the nearby city. We went for lunch together and then went into plenty of German shops and clothing shops.
On Friday we finished school an hour early and we went to Bamburg which was a nearby city. We went on a fun activity search around the city and had some time to go shopping and visit a large church. On Saturday we had an entire day all to ourselves and our host families so everyone did different activities. For example some people went on hikes, to see famous sights or even to Oktoberfest!
On Sunday it was time for us to leave but luckily my exchange family and I were able to watch a professional handball game before we left. Everybody met up at the train station and we said our goodbyes before heading to the airport and eventually coming home. We arrived in Dublin at around 9:30pm after a brilliant week of fun!
We are all looking forward to our exchange partners coming to Ireland next April as we are already missing our new friends.
Finally we would like to say a big thank you to Ms.Cullen and Ms. Fitzsimmons for organising the exchange. It has been a fantastic experience so far and has given me a wonderful opportunity to improve my German and given me a great insight into German culture and society.
