Day Three

Half asleep, with sleepy heads and droopy eyes, we all trudged out of bed at 4:00 a.m. and made our way to our meeting point at Holsten Strasse, for a very early start to our Third Day here, at Hamburg. Here, we were all hoarded onto a bus that would take us to the Pellworm Island, a small island in the North Sea, home to the largest hybrid renewable energy plants in Europe.

One thing in today’s programme, worth of mentioning is the ferry ride. With a wide expanse of sea on all sides, and pleasant cold wind blowing at our faces, the 30 minute ride was an amazing experience.

Pellworm is an old island which was once a part of the larger island of Strand which was torn into pieces in a disastrous storm tide in 1634. Its area is 37 km², and its population is roughly 1,200 with only one doctor, who substitutes out as a general physician, a dentist, an orthopedic, and what not, and only one pastor, who happens to be woman with three children of her own!

The main occupation here is agriculture and the farmers, who happened to have ideas of a self sustaining life at their island, began producing their own energy 30 years ago. Today, Pellworm has its own solar photo-voltaic energy plant, a wind energy plant, and also a biogas plant, all on quite a big scale!

We also met Dieter Haack and Sven Maier of E.ON companies, who explained to us, the working of the different plants.

We then went to the small harbour town of Husum, where we were left free to go around, shop, or get ourselves an ice-cream or two.

At five o’ clock, they decided to call it a day, and we all dispersed, individually, or in groups, to spend the later part of the evening as we pleased, also waiting in anticipation for the next day which promised us a meeting with the Mayor of Hamburg and the Minister of Trade from India.

So, join us in our wait, and let’s see what tomorrow has in store for us..

                                                                                                                                        -Malavika

MAY 10th

               Today is the second day of our programme!! We went to Lise-Meitner Gymnasium. It was a great start as we were taught how to play the samba drums . There were various instruments .Each of us got one kind of instrument.There was a sir who taught us how to play . He did not know how to speak english so one of the german teacher's were translating it for us .We played it pretty well . The music was just amazing .
              Then later the students of LMG gave a power point presentation about wind mill and how they use wind energy for various perposes . Then we had lunch at LMG . The food is really very different from the Indian food as you all know . But I must say today's food was really good ! :)
             I think I  really should talk about the climate here -- its just so fresh and perfect . We walk a lot everday and mostly travel by bus and train. even though we walk a lot we enjoy doing it because of the awesome climate and the beautiful veiw of the city. The city is really beautiful .
              Today we also went to a place where they build buses that run on hydrogen. I think we can impliment this in India also .May be the coastal regions can be a good place. Then slowly they can be brought into the main city also .
             After this few of us with our buddies went to a park beside the lake Alter . A few of us played football, and the others just lazed around.Later we went back home for dinner and my host parents were waiting for us at the dinner table.We ate pasta and chocolate cake . I spent some time talking to my host mother . I was telling her how we live in India and the differnt kind of food that we eat.Later i played with my buddies dog lisa.Today was my partners brother's birthday so i made a card for him and he really liked it a lot !!
             Its really amazing here and very different !!!
                                                                                                                             -Sai Varsha.

Day One

Today, the 8^th of May saw us arriving at Gymnasium Eppendorf after an extremely refreshing night’s sleep. We all assembled at the main hall and were treated to a lovely performance of Chopin by one of the students. Then the principal greeted us, after which each of us were given a badge with the “tigle”-the symbol of the exchange- printed on it.

After the welcome ceremony, the students of Eppendorf took us on a tour of their school. Eppendorf is a beautiful school, and to me, the best part was the cafeteria in which I think we all had one of the best brunches we have ever eaten. We also happened to meet two students who took part in last year’s exchange- both of them were really jealous of us and only reinforced our excitement about the exchange by talking about how much they missed it.

We left Eppendorf at around 11.00 to go to one of the biggest attractions in Hamburg, the St. Michaelis Church which is affectionately called “Michel”. It took us about fifteen minutes to get there, as we both walked and took the metro. The church is known for it’s green top, and can clearly be seen in the Hamburg skyline. It was established in the 18^th century, and still stands after being burned down twice and damaged in the Second World War.

We climbed the 427 steps to the top of the church tower-one of the hardest things I have ever done-to have our breath taken by the absolutely amazing view. The roof being so high up, we could see the whole of Hamburg, and we stayed there for more than half and hour enjoying the city move beneath us.

 

Climbing down the stairs was far easier than going up. We went into the main church, and the immediate peace paired with the organ playing made us all walk up and just sit in silence. The inside of the church was so beautiful, and the paintings of statues of Christ and Mother Mary and all the various angels were incredibly crafted.

We left the Michel, and walked and took the metro down to the harbour. Hamburg is the world’s third largest port, and this fact was proudly put on display thanks to the busy water traffic coupled with the number of people walking around. We walked for quite a while and waited for our boat to come. When it did, we had a long tour and saw all the major Hamburg landmarks, all while still on the water. Hamburg has more bridges than Venice, and we saw just how prominent Hamburg is as a city associated with water on our tour.

After the tour we went to the “Miniaturwunderland” which stands as one of the most amazing things I have seen. The whole place is like a city, filled with miniature people, trains, etc. Built over two stories, this lace was like the whole world in miniature. It was marvelous- we saw castles, concerts, snow, mountains, forests, airports, everything in miniature. Some extra touches by the artists like adding a tiny Superman and some dinosaurs chasing humans were appreciated by all. It’s both shocking and inspiring to think that someone would dedicate their whole life to creating millions of miniature people, each different, and building hundreds of miniature trains and putting it all together to create what really is a wonderland.

We were left to our own devices from this point, and some of us decided to go out for dinner. We took the metro and walked down to get some pizza, doner (a special type of food which resembles a too large sandwich) and falafel after which we went to a park and ate there. We spent some more time in the park, watching people go by and generally having fun. After the park we walked some more to another part of town which was spray painted entirely in graffiti, something not at all common in Hyderabad. After this, at around 7.45, we decided to go our own ways and we took the metro/underground train to go back home.

And now, as I write this, I think I can safely say that we have had pretty much the most perfect first day here in Hamburg.

Introduction

Welcome to the blog for the Indo-German Exchange 2012 in Hamburg, Germany!

It is the 7^th of May and we have just arrived in Hamburg after spending about nine hours in the air over two flights and three hours on land in two continents. The journey was fine and even though a bit long, thoroughly enjoyable thanks to some excellent in-flight entertainment. Needless to say, each one of us is very excited to be here.

The Indo-German exchange 2012 is taking place between two strikingly similar cities, Hyderabad and Hamburg. Two schools from Hyderabad- Nasr and Sreenidhi International School- and three schools from Hamburg-Gymnasium Eppendorf, Lise-Meitner Gymnasium and Heilwig Gymnasium are participating in the exchange. 18 children from Hyderabad were paired with 18 students from Hamburg and after a few months of communicating, the exchange finally began in January of 2012. The aim of the program, besides promoting international friendship, is to work on a project on renewable resources, to hopefully build the way to a better future.

The first phase of the program was completed between 10^th and 25^th January, during which the students from Hamburg flew to Hyderabad with three of their teachers. And now we have entered the second phase of the program, and the 18 children from Hyderabad have finally flown to Hamburg to be reunited with their buddies and continue their project work.

So here is our blog, documenting our every day adventures here in Deutschland, and providing a record of our friendship beyond borders.