German Exchange 2008
The first half of the 25th exchange came to a conclusion this morning at the airport. If success is measured by tears shed, we were very successful indeed. Please post your messages for all to read at the end of this page.
There was a very nice article about the exchange in the Woodbury Bulletin this past week(4/3/08 edition).
Hessen TV on your Computer
You can now see Hessen TV free on the internet. If you have a high speed internet connection, this is just a great way to see Germany.
You can watch Hessen TV very easily. Start by clicking on http://www.hr-online.de. Then click on Fernsehen. Look for the very small hr-fernsehn live on the right side, way down on the page and left click on that. You will need to install Octoshape for the type of computer operating system you have, which you will find on that page. You might also need to install Java if it is not on your system. I had to install Octoshape twice for it to work on my computer and I also had to restart the computer before it worked. You might also have to install Windows Media Player version 11. Earlier versions don’t work. Also please remember that Germany is 7 hours ahead and this is live TV so to watch the 8:00 p.m. news you will need to have the live stream, streaming at 1:00 p.m.
Click on the live stream link on the “hr-fernsehn live” page and you can get all of the latest information from Hessen all in German. Good luck.
Long Distance, International, too!
Another cool deal is to use Skype to make long distance phone calls. I have it installed on my computer and click on Germany to make calls to landlines there for 2.1 cents per minute from my computer. Your computer will need a microphone and a speaker. Some come with these options built in other don't. Good luck. You can experiment and call your home phone from your computer, sorry but that will cost you 2.1 cents per minute, too. For those of you who were at the meeting on Monday, you heard about my woes about calling a cell phone in Germany. My advice is to stay away from cell phone when you use these types of shortcuts or calling cards. Landlines (festnet in German) don't surprise you with extensive bills later.
Homberg THS
Our partner school is undergoing a web page change, look at this sight anyway to see some pictures of the town and school.(http://www.schulserver.hessen.de/homberg-efze/theodor-heuss/) This year is the year that the Hessentage festival (http://www.hessentag2008.de/) is being held in Homberg as your group arrives, that is like our state fair. Have fun and click on some of the pictures to see what Little Red Riding Hood in German "Rotkäpchen" looked like. Many of the Grimm fairy tales were collected in the Homberg area. Also check out the city of Homberg at http://www.homberg-efze-kreisstadt.de/167.0.html and the city and region of northern Hesse at http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homberg/Efze.
The following German Trip Book is a Microsoft Word document more than 21 years in the making and is quite good. There are so many things to consider. This document will take a long time to download and even more time to comprehend.
German Trip Book
The legal documents need to be completed for participation in the exchange and signed before a Notary Public to be legal. They are also Word documents but with only 4 pages they should not take long to open.
Legal Documents
You will need to complete most of the 100 questions and participate in all scheduled activities while in Germany.
100 Questions
Travel Times and Emergency Contact Information
Here are the actual Travel Times for 2008, don't hesitate, let Frau Hosfield or Frau Moran know that you'll be aboard.
Note the June 13 departure and July 11 return. We have dropped the reserved seats to 15 seats at this time. We have 8 students who will be taking part, 5 at Woodbury and 3 from North.
Icelandair has confirmed the following flights and times:
1 FI 656 G 13JUN 5 MSPKEF HK30 H 1920 0620+1
2 FI 520 G 14JUN 6 KEFFRA HK30 0725 1250
3 FI 521 G 11JUL 5 FRAKEF HK30 2 1400 1535
4 FI 657 G 11JUL 5 KEFMSP HK30 1635 1755
Here is another Suggested Packing List in addition to the above list in the German Trip Book.
Here is the Calendar of Events in Germany for 2008, many more activities will be going on in the community and will keep you very actively involved. This is the summer to be in Homberg with the Hessentage going on, see above site.
Look to Travel Times and Contact Information to find out how to call German Phones from US.
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