My name is Ryan Knott and this blog is intended to describe the happenings of my life. The following year will consist of my participation in the Congress/Bundestag Youth Exchange program, a government program that funds a year abroad in Germany for 25 American high school graduates. The program begins with a seven-week period in Bonn where I will be attending language school, followed by a ten-month period near Frankfurt where I will be attending high school and doing internships in the healthcare field. I plan to make updates about once a month. Enjoy!
I start off my adventure with a few days at our family's cabin in Minnesota. I am able to spend some quality time with the family before Mom and Dad bring me to Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport. It is very difficult to say goodbye to the family, but I eventually head off to find my plane headed for Washington, DC. I get to DC without a problem and leave for Georgetown University. After meeting all the other participants at Georgetown, we begin our orientation sessions that consist mostly of discussions about what to expect during our year in Germany. We spend the next two days with more orientation sessions and some touring of DC, seeing all the famous monuments and the German Embassy.
We then go to Dulles Airport to catch our flight to Frankfurt. My suitcase was a few pounds too heavy, but that was easily resolved by throwing a pair of shoes in my backpack. The flight is eight hours long, but a good selection of movies and a long nap make it quite manageable.
Once we arrive in Frankfurt we hop on a bus and head toward Bonn. We spend some at the language school before our host families arrive to meet us. My host family is wonderful; very kind and welcoming. They are originally from Peru, so there’s an interesting combination of English, German, and Spanish spoken here at home. My German quickly comes back and I’m able to speak nothing but German in no time. I’m relatively pleased with how well I can communicate, but I really look forward to improving throughout my year here.
Highlights thus far include:
Tour of DC: here’s the group in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial
The quaint city of Monschau: we did some exploring and checked out its historic mustard mill
Visiting the Belgian Border
Rheinkultur, Bonn’s HUGE open-air concert (similar to Milwaukee's Summerfest)
Muenster Basilica: Beautiful church and service, but I can’t understand much of the Mass at this point
Godesburg castle: beautiful castle just 10 minutes from home with a beautiful view over the Rhein River valley
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