Happy Halloween

We experienced our first overnight train last weekend (Oct. 17-19) on our way to Prague, Czech Republic. Don't plan on doing that again! There are separate little rooms with 6 seats in each, so luckily there were only 6 that went. On our way there our seats didn't even have headrests and they were so uncomfortable. Two of the girls ended up squishing together on a blanket on the floor, so the rest of us were able to spread out a little. Didn't get much sleep at all! We got to the hostel and were not able to check in yet, but they let us keep our bags in a storage room and we were able to change, freshen up, and get some breakfast. We did a tour of the city, which picked us up right at the hostel. It was nice to get a feel of the town and see where everything was. We got to see the Prague castle and St. Vitus cathedral, where we were able to see the changing of the guards, which was cool. The guards can't move, so we all had to take a pic with them. After the tour, we were dropped off in the middle of town and we did some shopping and grabbed lunch. We were all so tired from the horrible train ride and went back to the hostel and napped after lunch.


Once we were showered and rested, we headed downtown. We first went to The Charles Bridge. It is beautiful at night! Cars are not allowed to drive on the bridge; it is only used for walkers. There are statues all along both sides and there were lots of people performing. We happened to find a 5 story club that we had to check out. Had a good time, of course. Each level had its own type of music and different set ups. Sunday we spent most of the day shopping and walking the town. There were a lot of great stores there and I took advantage of that :) I was quite proud of how well we got around Prague.


Unfortunately, I would have to say our overnight train home was even worse than our ride there :( We had an obnoxious group of boys in the little room next to ours. They kept wrestling and slamming into the wall. I could literally feel the wall moving against my back. They were very loud and continued to be through the whole ride, maybe had the last hour silent. Again, didn't get much sleep, and to make it worse, we didn't get back to Heidelberg until 4:45am!! I had to be up for school at 6:30! Lets just say it was a very long day for Ms. Sweany!


This past weekend we spent in Salzburg, Austria! BEAUTIFUL! We lucked out again and had an great hostel. We went on The Sound of Music Tour on Saturday. This is what most people come to Salzburg for, so we had to do it. I thought it would be kind of cheesy, but I loved it! The bus picked us up from our hostel and took us to all the spots where the movie was filmed. At each location, he would tell us what part of the movie was filmed there. He would also give background of the family and the town. The best part of the tour was singing along with the whole bus throughout the tour :) We all had a blast!


After the tour we checked out some more sights in Salzburg and then took a quick nap before dinner. Carolyn, one of the girls from Miami of Ohio, had been to Salzburg with her family over the summer and wanted to take us to this Italian restaurant. It was delicious and the owner was awesome! He was our waiter and was so funny. We found an Irish pub for a few drinks before crashing for the night.
Sunday we did the Salt Mine Tour. I wasn't so sure about this one either, but again, I loved it!! It was by far one of my favorite tours I have done. It took us up through a lot of mountains and dropped us off at the mine. We all had to wear these miner jumpsuits, which was kinda cool. Then we sat on this little train and drove deep into the mountain. There were different spots where we would stop and get off the train and walk through the mine and there were a lot of cool display about the whole mining process. It was very up to date with technology and the displays were really fun. There were also two parts in the mine where we slid down these huge slides :) SO fun!! There was also the water that we went across in a boat and had the low ceilings with the salt crystals you could see. It was awesome! We ended up catching a earlier train ride home so we didn't have another late night getting in, which was very nice.


We had our time change this weekend, so now there is only a 5 hour difference from back home. I am not used to it yet, and not liking it at all! It is already starting to get dark when I'm walking home from school :( Our teachers warned us about it getting dark by 4:30, but I was just not expecting it to throw me off so much. It always feels a lot later than it is and it makes me sleepy.

I am finally having a free weekend this weekend! It gets exhausting traveling every weekend and spending all your free time on a train. There is no school Friday! Thursday my teacher is taking me and her other intern, Megan, to get massages and then out to dinner!! She spoils us :) Friday Megan, Carolyn, and I are going to Darmstat for the night. Megan has a friend that lives there and we want to check out Frankenstein's Castle. Supposably it is pretty scary. People can come out and touch you and I heard their costumes are unreal. Along the back of the castle there are different shows you can stop and watch, and you can also go inside the castle for food and drinks. Saturday when we get back we are going to dinner with one of the girls, Tara, and her dad and then Sunday we are having a little birthday party for her. I guess my weekend will still be pretty busy, but I am looking forward to sticking around Heidelberg!

I am missing everyone back home and hope you are all doing well!! I can't believe how fast my time here is going; I only have like 45 days left!

Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!!

Love,
Amy

It's been awhile...

It has been awhile since I posted last, but I have been busy, busy! I guess I'll start where I left off...

September 26-28 Amsterdam!
It has been my favorite trip so far. The city was all water; there were canals everywhere. Our hostel was in a great location, which made it so much easier to make our way through the city. Our first day there we visited the Anne Frank House. It was an awesome experience! We weren't allowed to take any pictures, but it was so amazing to be walking through where she actually hid out during World War II when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. After that we took a boat tour throughout the city, which was nice. So many people get around the town by boat and there were also a lot of house boats parked along the river.
We had to make our way to the Red Light District after the boat tour. Crazy! That's all I'm going to say... We mostly did a lot of walking around while we were here. It was a beautiful town with lots of culture. Sunday, some of the girls walked through the Van Gogh museum. The rest of us went through a huge shopping district. Lots of big designer names. While waiting for them we just hung out a a park nearby. It was very relaxing and nice to just sit still for awhile. Then we met up by the IAmsterdam letters, which might sound silly, but was lots of fun. Took lots of pictures there and headed for the train.

In front of the Anne Frank House

Iamsterdam Famlily Pic

The next two weeks were spent doing schoolwork! "This whole school thing is starting to get in the way of my traveling", haha. This was a quote that came out of many of our mouths over the last two weeks. Our professor was here October 6-10th, so we had a lot to prepare for. We had to have a video reflection done on ourselves and peer reviewed by another intern and our mentor teacher, as well as a reflection of how I thought it went. I also had to be observed teaching two lessons. I had to have a full lesson plan for each of those days, which we usually aren't doing. It didn't help that it was a crazy week of school while she was here and our schedules were all off whack. Tuesday was the school track meet, Thursday we had a fire drill in the morning and a staff vs. student football game in the afternoon, and no school Friday. My lessons went very well though and I was given a lot of positive feedback which was awesome :) Friday I also experienced my first inservice. My professor and the 6 of us student teachers gave an inservice about co-teaching. Many teachers do not know what it is and how to use it in the classroom and it is very beneficial. It was a little weird teaching the teachers, but it went really well. The teachers were impressed and it will be interesting to see how many of them change their ways and try to use the co-teaching models. After our inservice we took a little nap and packed up for Paris before heading downtown with our professor and many of the other teachers at all of the schools. It was POETS night! (Piss On Education Tomorrows Saturday) I think it is hilarious! They all go out every Friday after school. After you have been to 3 POETS nights, you get your own card made, were aiming to get one in the future. Last week, when they showed their card they got beer coozies that had the acronym on it that someone made up for them.

Some of us with Dr. Whitten

Needless to say, we were feeling great by the time we jumped on our tour bus for Paris Friday night at 11 :) I just remember waking up in Paris for breakfast at 7am, so it wasn't so bad getting there. I am very glad we did a bus tour for Paris though, because the place is crazy busy and I don't think we could have navigated the town by ourselves. We were also able to get to see a LOT of things we probably wouldn't have got to if we had done it by ourselves. The only downfall of the bus though, was spending most of the time inside the bus; not too cozy. We went to the Palace of Versailles, the Louvre Museum, a boat tour, city touring on the bus, and dinner before getting to our hotel (yes, hotel finally, not a hostel!!) at 9pm. It was a long day! Our plans to go out for the night in Paris had changed to being in bed by 9:15! We had to be up by six, breakfast at 7, and on the bus by 8 to head to the Eiffel Tower. We had some unexpected traffic delays, as there was a marathon that was starting right from the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, so they had a lot of roads closed off. After walking a few blocks to maneuver around the marathon, we made it to the Eiffel Tower. We got there before it even open and had to stand in a huge line to get tickets. We all went all the way up to the top of the Eiffel Tower!! It was so awesome! From there we made our way to the Notre Dame Cathedral, and then back on the bus for our 8 hour trip back to Germany.


It has been a crazy couple weeks, but things look like they should be pretty good from here on out. I'm mostly done with the planning and paper work for teaching, and we now have the rest of our trips booked. I'm loving the fall weather! It has been so beautiful and not too cold. This coming weekend we are headed to Prague! Should be another great weekend! Can't wait :)