Sarah Seifred
September 21, 2023
Today I have been in Germany for three weeks, and it’s hard to believe my trip is already almost half over. The first week of being in Germany consisted of getting used to being away from home, in a VERY small apartment and having to take the trains everywhere. Starting from day one of my trip, I was already tired when I woke up in the morning to get on the plane. Knowing that I had a 31 hour travel day ahead of me was exhausting. However, as I sipped my last cup of coffee before leaving Canada, I couldn’t help but think how excited I was to embark on my new journey. On the way to the airport, my mom was evidently nervous to drop her 26 year old daughter off and watch her embark on a long two month trip away from home. However, I was so happy and excited when I checked into ny flight I said to my mom “you couldn’t smack the smile off me”. We said our goodbyes at the security checkpoint and she watched as I walked away without any hesitation or fear in my step. I was really going, and nothing could stop me. I patiently waited for my flight to Calgary, watched TikTok on my phone and downloaded the Life360 app so that my mom could see my location, to ease her mind. Yes, I’m aware I’m 26 but she wants to know I’m okay.
I don’t remember much about departing Fort McMurray. However once I got into Calgary, I bought a new phone charger for the phone I bought the day before because the charger for that one already broke, ate some food and purchased EUROs. While I was waiting I looked around and saw many people also I was on my flight. A wonderful couple told me they were travelling to Italy and Greece, just for fun. It was a long 8-hour layover at Calgary International Airport, I had over 7 hours to fill. I filled that time with grabbing subway and working on school work. Meanwhile, the exhaustion was really setting in.
Finally, it was time to board my 8 hour flight to Paris, where I would have another 8 hour layover. One long wait down, two to go. I was optimistic and hopeful that I would have the whole row of seats to myself on that flight as when I selected my seats only two weeks in advance, no one else was placed in that row, and the airport gate didn’t seem to have many people there. However, upon arriving to my ring and uncomfortable seat, I realized I had a row where I would have to share with other people. I had no issues with that as I knew it could happen, it just would have been nice to have it to myself. My seat mates were very nice though. As we took off, I settled into my seat I the hopes of getting a sound sleep. However the whole flight was too uncomfortable to sleep, despite my neck pillow, eye mask, and melatonin. It was a long 8 hours as I didn’t have my chord to connect my earphones to my tv and I couldn’t access my music on my phone. So, I mostly sat there with ny eyes closed, praying for some sleep that I never got. 2/3 long waits done.
As we landed in Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, I admit I had a minor panic attack upon arrival. I had no one to show me where to go to get to my gate, and I was exhausted. So I went through the airport,got through customs And took a train and a bus to get to the gate I was supposed to be at. The airport gate area was so lovely. It has very large lounging couches for travellers to lay down and relax on. I was so exhausted from travelling for 20 hours or more at this point, that I locked my suitcase and my backpack together, layed down and napped for over two hours. That nap was glorious and I was dead to the wood for that time. I loved that nap. Although the nap was very helpful, I was still exhausted. I walked around my terminal to find some food, looking and acting like a zombie. I looked up and seen an airport staff member looking at me saying “not a hello not a bonjour 😊” and I looked back at him with a deer in headlights look, stared at him for 10 solid seconds and said “oh hello, I’m sorry I’m tired ”. I wasn’t expecting people to talk to me. As the time came, I boarded my flight to Hannover Germany, where I would spend the night. 3/3 long waits done.
Arriving in Hannover, I was honestly too tired to be excited for anything besides the hotel room bed. It was midnight when I arrived, and I officially completed over 30 hours of travel. I was so tired I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the shower and had to get the front staff to help me. Then I promptly fell asleep for 8 solid hours.
The next morning, I took the train to Hamburg. I was nervous as i had never taken a train before and didn’t know what to expect. I accidentally sat in first class. However when they checked my ticket they didn’t make me pay any extra and just let me be, probably because I had my head down on the table and was falling asleep again. Coming out of the train station in Hamburg and walking to my apartment was a whole new experience, for the first time I was really getting the sights and sounds of Germany. I felt so happy but at the same time, excited and disoriented as it looked so different than my home. Arriving in my apartment , I promptly put all of my things away, and had another nap. When I woke up, I went to a grocery store. I realized when j went to the store I should have learned the names of the grocery items I like in German. I felt so overwhelmed bu being around the new language, but google translate has been a great help.
The next day, August 31, is when the adventure truly began. Finally was energized enough to do some visiting and touring around the city. Since August 31 I have been to the phoenix centre mall, mercado mall, miniature Wunderland, Lubeck, Altona, and many restaurants and cafes, which were all so much fun. So far, I have nothing but food things to say about my experiences here in my school, Gymnasium Finkenwerder. Ravi, the teacher who has been supervising me, is excellent both in and outside the classroom. The teacher at our school all seem to be very friendly and willing to do fun activities outside of school as well, which is very nice. So far, during my time kn the school, Ravi has had me teach a few of his lesson and help him with lesson planning. I love the lesson planning as I get to do that with Ravi, and we can bounce ideas off of eachother. When we bounce ideas back and forth, we both learn. Since English is not Ravi’s first language, he knows more about English. I understand and see how to implement ESL lessons in a classroom, a significant learning component I am happy to bring back to Canada.
The ideas I have gotten so far for ESL are:
Start with a warm up where the kids have to talk with eachother and answer a question as this helps to Importverbot their fluency and pronunciation.
Remember that grammar is different in different languages, so watch for grammar mistakes closely
Provide a teacher exemplar
When doing a writing activity, have a to-do list for the students on how to write each paragraph and ideas for sentence beginnings etc.
