Tubingen

This morning was once again foggy and a bit overcast.  We met all the students and their partners at the train station around 9 to catch the train to Tubingen. They were prompt in arrival and ready for the days adventure. Our first stop was the DAI or German American Institute.  Here we watched a short video explaining the purpose of the institute, a non profit organization began in the 1950's by the American government to share American culture with Germans.  there are about 12 of them still functioning throughout Germany and Tubingen as a university city is lucky to have one.  The best part of the presentation at the DAI is the icebreaker activities and a chance for both American and German students to get to know each other a bit better.  The first activity consisted of students individually filling out sheets that asked them to answer or ask the following phrases - Is it true that... I always wanted to know... and I don`t understand why... the papers were crumpled up and throuwn into German and American cans.  The facilitators then each pulled a random sheet from the buckets and asked the group to adress such issues as - Is it true that everyone goes topless at the beach? To is America really dangerous? The discussion brought about stereotypical ideas and offered a chance to dispell some common myths. For the record, the boys were the only one who said they went topless at the beach.

We then moved onto the speed dating portion of the morning.  Students were asked to nonverbally arrange themsleves into American and German size order lines.  Austin and Cammie both knew immediately where to go but it took a little bit of time for the rest of the gang to sort themselves out. The 2 lines were then partnered up and the groups sat in a large circle, well, not really a circle, with the Americans on the inside and Germans on the outside.  The groups then sat across from a partner and were given a topic to discuss for a limited amount of time. The Circles were shifted and rematched several times with students being able to switch partners and talk about a wide range of topics with various people in the group.  This activity on top of the bowling event, really forced the students to interact with each other and talk to people they otherwise might not have the opportunity to.

At the end, each student was awarded a little American German flag friendship pin and we went on our merry way.

From the DAI we crossed the road and up the bridge to the punt boat ride.  Punt boats are sort of like gondolas and are a university tradition in the town of Tubingen.  We were assigned 3 boats and were ranked by quiet, loud, loudest.  Somehow the chaperones ended up on the loudest boat. Austin, Nick, Cammie, Juan, Victoria, Isis, Rochelle all had turns in "driving" the boats ´some with better success that others.  Fortunatly no one fell in, although there were a few close calls, (Victoria and Cammie.) Rochelle sang "rock the boat" and Maureen and Amanda squealed when the boat did indeed rock.  Austin and Isabelle did the reverse Titanic number at the front and Rochelle almost twerked her way into the Necar.  In all it was a fun event. When we safely reached dry land with no incident, the students were given some free time in the city center.

Tubingen is a beautiful city that was never bombed during the wars.  As such it is intact with cobblestone streets, a castle, and most of the original wall still standing.  It is home to a university and has a very international flare with a wide variety of languages being spoken. One can spend hours walking up and down the streets finding little bits of history, a sign that points out a window which Goethe once threw up out of, to a memorial for the synagog that was burnt during WWII. I think some of the students will return as it is a short drive or train ride from Reutlingen.  At 2:15 we loaded them back onto the train to begin their weekend family adventures.  Some are off to Switzerland, " are off to fly and we look forward to hearing of their adventures on Monday.