In August 2022 I went to Germany for 5 weeks. This was my second time going to Germany but my first time travelling by myself. Naturally, I was nervous going to stay with a family that I had never
met before. But I shouldn’t have worried. I spent 3 weeks in Erlangen which is a city in Bayern. I stayed with a family set up through TY Europe. They were absolutely lovely and treated me as if I was part of their family. While I was in Erlangen I attended school for 2 weeks before it broke up for the summer holidays. Everyone at the school was incredibly nice and made me feel very welcome. I really enjoyed going to school in Germany and experiencing a different education system. And it also gave me a chance to learn new subjects as I was in classes that I don’t usually take. As schools in Germany finish at 1 o’clock it gave me a lot of time to see the town. We went to swimming pools, climbing parks and museums. At the weekend we would go and see neighboring towns as well as going to fairs and markets. This enabled me to experience the German culture which is very different. While the family did speak English I spoke to them purely in German. This vastly improved my German and I learned a lot. I really enjoyed my time in Erlangen. It was so different from my normal life. All the people were lovely and it taught me some really valuable skills. Following my 3 weeks in Erlangen I traveled to Cologne where I spent the remaining two weeks.
Cologne was a big contrast form Erlangen. While Erlangen was relatively small and quiet with many old buildings, cologne was a big city. Having been severely bombed during the war it wasn’t the prettiest of cities. However, it was absolutely fascinating city. Obviously, the Dome is one of the most famous of its landmarks and it didn’t disappoint. It is outrageously over the top in every way. Cologne was also a roman city so it had many ancient points of interest. We went on a bus tour round the oldest parts of the city as well as cycling round cologne. We also saw the city from the river Rhine when we went on a tour ship. We traveled to Drachenfalls, saw Bonn and Dusseldorf as well as managing to go swimming every day.
I had an amazing time and had so many experiences that would not have been possible without TY Europe. Not only did I experience German culture and German life but my German language and confidence around speaking German improved more in 5 weeks than the past year. I had an amazing time in Germany and was one of the best experiences I have ever had. I can’t wait to go back and it is an experience I will never forget and I can’t thank TY Europe enough for organizing it and for keeping in touch with me while I was there.
