30th April
The day began with drizzle and cold air surrounded us . We were disappointed with that . But we continued with our plan for today . All of ur reached the largest plane manufacturing company site in Europe i.e., AIRBUS Hamburg Site at 9:30 in the morning . Two guides took us around the place and very elaborately explained the manufacturing of civil aircrafts . All of us were surprised with the facts he told us regarding civil aircrafts . We were shown how 1mm thickness of aluminium plates are sufficient to carry more than 800 passengers on the double decker plane . The guide also explained the importance of bolts for the planes and the most expensive bolt available is 71.58 Euros . We walked around the site for two and a half hours . As the tour ended the rain turned out to be harder and stronger so our plan was cancelled . We were upset but on the other side were eagerly looking forward for the three day long holiday as will spend time with our host families .
Varshitha Eddula .

A SCIENCE DAY!!!

It was a wonderful start to our day. We all gathered at the LMG which was pretty far from our place. We had two presentations. One was about Science and Technology and the other was about Education. We had a lunch break later and the  food was very nice. Later we all went to the DESY. Its a Science Centre for Atomic Research. We were given a very good explaination. We had a pretty long walk and all of us were a Little tired. After this we went back home and had dinner with the Family. Later WE all Watched a Movie together and everyone went to their beds by 11pm.

Vrishali Bashetty.

                                                          DAY 2 IN BERLIN!!!

27th oft April was the second day in berlin and a really interesting one I must add.  On the previous night we split ourselves into two groups ; The early group and the late group, depending on the time when they would leave the hostel.  I was fortunately a part of the late group (got more sleep) and we left the hostel at 10:30 am, one hour after the first group. First, we visited the jüdisch museum , a highly symbolic building with every part of the architecture having some significance. Our guide (a very kind and well spoken lady) gave us an excellent tour and spoke about a lot of things, including the similarities between islam, Judaism and Christianity. After this we visited a workshop on upcycling, a kind of recycling where one uses  waste materials to create something innovative and useful out of it.  There we were taught how to make jewelry using old rubber tyres and I created a bracelet, a pair of earrings and a finger ring. This was definitely very enjoyable!!  After this, we had some free time to ourselves before we would leave to go back to hamburg. In this little time we relaxed at mc Donald’s (oh yes we’re teenagers after all) and then got into the bus again and drove back home( yes it’s no less than our home now).

Maleeha

Hamburg Meine Perle.......

26th April, 2015

Hamburg Meine Perle.......

          We started our journey to Berlin at around 7 in the morning. Ater leaving our bags at the youth hostel-hotel, we left for sight-seeing. We went to a museum where there was a display of ancient egyptian artifacts. Among those were the "Bust of Nefertiti", mummies and stunning jewellry.We saw the "empty bookshelf" memorial which was built in order to commemorate the burning of jewish books.We then saw the magnificent Brandenburger Tor (the famous Berlin gate) and savoured on some street food. The Reichstag, the german Parliament was very fascinating as the system was pretty similar to ours with a few interesting variations. Also it was the first time we experienced the rain in Germany ! It was so different from our monsoon! Later , in the evening, we went our own ways for dinner.
    Berlin was beautiful in its own way with the classic white buildings, historical events, museums and street performers. But Hamburg had already become like a home for us (which was quite surprising) and we longed to go back . So we slept to the soft melodies of " Ohh Hamburg meine Perle, du wunderschöne Stadt........."

Aparajita

Shopping, ice and everything nice

25.04.2015. It was the first Saturday, A lazy Saturday. We were allowed to do whatever we wanted. Few of us went for shopping and the rest for ice skating. Ice skating was so much fun as none of the Indians knew how to ice skate and had a interesting time trying to figure it out. Each time we skid we laughed, but when we fell...we laughed harder.
.
 It was easier than we thought it would be. When our time in the ring got over, we were all able to glide on the ice easily and were wishing for more time.

 The people who went for shopping had just as much fun as the others. They shopped and shopped and shopped, but fortunately they didn't drop. I bet they would have shopped more if the boys weren't complaining. The poor guys were exhausted by the end of the shopping trip.

The day did not end though. Few of the girls got a chance to attend a ball. The night was still young and they danced till their feet hurt, they danced the night away, a perfect ending for such an awe-inspiring day.

Niralasa Rao

That Day in Hamburg...

DATE: 24th April, 2015
Meeting School of the Day: Gymnasium Eppendorf

Today, we met up with the other buddies and teachers at Eppendorf at 8:30am. Since my buddy was from Lisa Meitner Gymnasium, we lived quite "far"(German far = India ha! paanch minute me ponchungi!) from the Eppendorf . The public transport is amazing in Germany, so it took us about 20 minutes to reach Eppendorf via Metro (S Bahn).

After the 'Good Mornings' and several hugs, we finally settled down in our allotted classroom at Eppendorf. The program for the day started off with the a PPT presentation on the topic 'Mobility' by the team that I too am apart of. After our presentation, came a series of questions about the topic which enrolled the students into a rather "food for thought" discussion. 

It was then time for us to rush to the Museum für Völkerkunde nearby to watch an abstract theatrical play. The play signified the life and afterlife of the Lampedusa tragedy victims. The actors and the director of the play themselves had migrated from various parts of Africa and other unstable nations. Their aim was to spread awareness of the tragic situations of the these migrants. They spoke to the audience of their journey for the past few years and how they had performed plays in various parts of Europe hoping to find supports and help for an adequate living. 

After the eye-opening play that we had experienced, we then walking through the Hamburg University Campus. Here, we came across the various buildings of the campus that specialised in various fields of study. We also came across some of the original architectural buildings of Hamburg and got to see the small gold painted plates that memorialised the Jews who once lived there and we killed during WW2. That was quiet fascinating. 

Then, we walked (yes! walked, walked and....walked the whole time!) all the way back to Eppendorf to fill our tummies with food and meat and bread! We had some delicious lunch at Eppendorf that had a complicated german name that we Indians can barely pronounce. Lunchtime came to an end and the time for another presentation dawned upon us! This time about the "Economy". Although we students were tired, the presentation attracted questions from not only the students, but also from knowledge hungry teachers.  

The day had finally come to a glorious end! And it is time for a fun filled weekend! Happy Weekend! Sleep long and Eat like there is no tomorrow!....and maybe, just maybe go around and do fun stuff in Hamburg, because its not everyday that WE live in Hamburg!

Ramyatara Mullapudi.

                                        Original Architectural Buildings of Hamburg                 

                                  Lampedusa Play at the Museum für Völkerkunde

                                         Delicious Food at Gymnasium Eppendorf

Neuengamme

23/04/2015

On the 23rd of April we all met early in the morning at the subway station for our long day ahead to visit a wind park and the concentration camp at Neungamme. We took a while to reach the windpark but when we reached we realised that it was totally worth it. We spoke with the owner of the wind farm about how the wind mills are undegoing repowering, how wind mills affect animal life and human life, how they work and about the usefulness of wind mills in the production of energy from renewable resources. We learnt a lot and enjoyed driving the manual go-karts as well. We then walked to the concentration camp which was in the same area. Here we remembered all the German History we have learnt and put it to practice to feel what the prisoners felt at the concentration camp working for the Nazis and getting tortured to death. We spent almosgt the whole day walking through the concentration camp and enede our tour at a memorial where there were scrolls of the length of a wall with the names of almost all the prisoners they lost each day.
This day we learnt not only how important it is to remember what happened in the past but to ensure that nothing so devastating should ever happen again in the world. With this thought in our head, the day came to an end and we all went our separate ways with our respective buddies.

Thank you.

Shikhaa Munglani

Wednesday started with all the students and teachers eagerly gathering at the main train station. After a train journey and a short walk, we made our way to the wind park. There we saw and learnt about the working of wind mills, which was very interesting.

Then, we went to the Neuengame concentration camp after some more walking to get to know about the life of the prisoners who were there. we also visited the memorial. It was an educational experience that touched our hearts. from there, we took the bus back and everyone parted ways, tired but excited for the day to come.

-Ananya Reddy

First Day in Germany

It was the first day at school. We all met up at Lise Meitner gymnasium . Had a welcome assembly. The choir had sung songs for us..Then we did few activities to get to know each other better .Then we had lunch. Later we went on a bus ride and a boat ride on Elbe river. It was indeed an amazing ride. As we got down from the ferry we took the train to the town hall. We were given some basic information about the city. Later we were told that we could do anything we like. So from there we parted ways.

           -Narne Veda Samyuktha

Reunion

20th of april was our day of departure from India to Germany. The most awaited day of our lives. 18 of us were at the aiport filled with excitement for the future but were little sad to leave our loves one behind. Before we could even realise we were already in Hamburg! It was totally unbelievable. Our buddies and their parents were so happy and the whole airport was filled with laghter , hugs, claps and also German food. The 18 of us went home happily along with our buddies.                                                            

                                                                         - Raavi Sri Kavya