First visit: Germany, 23 - 29 November, 2017

Antti's travel blog

23 November

Germany, here we come! Yours truly hopped aboard the train to Helsinki-Vantaa airport at 9.02 while the rest started their journey an hour earlier in Vammala. The weather was nice and snowy in Tampere - not so in Ostfildern, apparently (15 degrees above Celsius). It sure felt like the "good ol' times" as this was my first Erasmus trip since 2014 - family life takes its toll and has its requirements.

We had about three hours to kill at the airport before the flight to Frankfurt started boarding so it was nice not having to rush your lunch (unlike usually, best wishes to school lunch times ...)! The flight was quick and uneventful, just the way we like it. The layover in Frankfurt allowed us just enough time to find our way across the gigantic airport from one terminal to another and sit down for 15 minutes before the flight to Stuttgart. After a quick takeoff, we had 10+ minutes in air before the plane started its approach to Stuttgart. We met with our greeting party and made our individual ways into the warm Stuttgart night - it was something like 18 degrees above! Well, that wasn’t to last as us Finns have the tendency to bring the cold with us (that and dark rye bread & salmiakki) … I and Saara finished the evening with a nice dinner with both our hosts.

“You there, fetch me my lunch!”

24 November

We had a luxuriously late start (well, by my standards anyway) after an evening off: meeting at OHG at 7:45. The day started with a greeting by OHG’s deputy head, then an overview of the program by the head coordinator for the project, Katharina. The topic for the visit was air pollution in cities and how to improve the situation. Each country team had conducted a bit of research into the topic prior to the visit and now it would be time to debate on two motions related to it. Katharina introduced the worksheets in which the students were to plan and document the project work in detail - important and relevant as the aim of the project was indeed to improve their project management skills.

Breaking the ice

Getting started

Next, two junior students took us guests on a guided tour around the school with special focus on the school’s environmental studies and interests: we had a look at solar panels up on the roof and the measurement system for measuring the levels of nanoparticles on the air.  After returning to the auditorium Katharina’s grade 12 students gave us a model debate on whether social media is the Enemy or not (or something of the sort). The British parliamentary style is not the easiest to master, but they did a good job at showing the different turns and aspects. I reckon our students benefited from an actual example.

Burglars? No, Finnish students on a tour at OHG.

 “Dear Sir, I declare your motion sucks!”

Later Lucas from OK Labs gave us information on not only the measurements of air pollution in the Stuttgart region but also on sharing culture and independent citizens organising the collection and sharing of data. There are apparently quite a few devices around the Neckar valley as the flow of clear air is somewhat obstructed due to the geography of the region, thus making the situation particularly problematic in Stuttgart with its large concentration of cars and car industry.

In the evening us teachers gathered at a jolly nice restaurant called Garbe for a jolly nice dinner. Some German teachers from the current and previous Comenius/Erasmus projects joined us in feasting with traditional dishes like Spätzle, Schnitzel and … well, Schnapps too (I know, it’s not a dish but it is traditional). What a great time!

Everybody say “Käse”!

25 November

Hey ho, hey to - to the Mercedes-Benz museum we go! Since all of us guests had our public transportation passes (valid for two weeks), we tracked our way to Neckarpark by local trains and had two hours to tour the museum which hosts an impressive collection of cars, other vehicles and - in general - all kinds of memorabilia related to the history of the automobile. Great fun! Of course, the museum is too large & the exhibits too extensive to digest in one go so the fact that I’d been there twice before certainly helped.

State of the art in German design. In the 1880s.

Everyone, remember where we parked the bus!

Nice wheels!

The Bat… err, the Popemobile.

After the museum we made our way to city center where the students went their separate ways before the 3PM meeting with the German teacher Florian for a game involving the use of public transport in Stuttgart. And we teachers did what was only fair and rational: had lunch.  In the afternoon we had time to wander about the city center. I did some shopping for the family and myself and did a short stroll around the castle park. There were quite a few people around as the weather had gotten uncharacteristically warm and sunny.

In the afternoon I and Saara had time for a quick dinner at Katharina's place (sausages, mash and Sauerkraut, yummy!) before the main event of the day: opera, the show being “Madam Butterfly” (enter an ominous drum roll ...)! I had my doubts beforehand as I've exactly never been a fan of the operatic singing style. Plus my colleague had her doubts as well, knowing my penchant for sleeping at teacher meetings and etc. Well, it turned out that I didn't do that much napping after all (well, by my standards), which was probably at least partially due to the fact that the seats were kinda small not really all that geared towards sleeping. I managed to swap seats for the second half with a couple of ladies sitting by the aisle so I could stretch my legs a bit better. And despite what a hasty reader might think (the change of seating → the likelihood of yours truly falling asleep increased manifold), I was actually able to follow the events on the stage a bit better as I began to understand the German "subtitles" (projected onto a canvas above the stage) more and more over time. Credit where credit is due: an interesting experience indeed!

26 November

Teachers’ day, yes! As there were no students to bot … present, we decided to make the most of this rare occasion and had a day trip to Schönbuch nature park, Bebenhausen Monastery and the university town of Tübingen. The weather was somewhat colder than in Stuttgart or my residence in Esslingen - apparently, the locals call the region along the lines of “Bebenhausen north of Siberia” or something of the sort - but hey, at least it didn’t rain! We had a brisk walk along one of the paved trails in the nature park, guided by a nice forester who was also a real earl (perhaps all that blue blood helps to deal with the cold?) and a jolly nice fellow: it was his day off but he still agreed to show us around! The park was very lovely indeed and although the weather was definitely chillier than earlier, long johns - worn for the first time this year for this occasion - did indeed help.

Schönbuch nature park

I could’ve sworn I asked her to smile ...

Then to the monastery. Nowadays Bebenhausen Monastery is one part museum and one part ... well, one part another kind of museum: part of the original monastery was converted into a “wee” hunting lodge for the King of Württemberg back in late 1800s. We toured the hunting lodge  guided by a very professional tour guide (she had gone to an English language boarding school) and the old rooms and furniture etc. etc. were very impressive. The former kings of Württemberg certainly led luxurious lives prior to the WWI in their cosy little lodge: for instance, the quarters of the last Queen of Württemberg consisted of several rooms with a large bathroom where the toilet seats had been specifically purchased in New Jersey, USA. That, my friends, is what it means to “live like kings”.

Damn glad I’m not the gatekeeper there ...

 Toiler humour?

After confusing the poor waiter at a local restaurant (they needed individual receipts, the poor Italians) we took the bus to Tübingen which turned out to be a really lovely old German university town. According to Wikipedia, every third person living in the town is a student - and the remaining two thirds probably like their beer as well. Unfortunately, we didn't really have time to sightsee apart from a short trek across the town. The market square was great and the riverside very pretty - and expensive - with all the authentic German facades & backsides of the old houses. It'd be amazing to come back in spring or summer!

The day ended at an Italian restaurant in Plieningen where there is apparently an active Italian community - there were two Italian restaurants opposite one another as well as a large party of Italians in the restaurant. As much as we all appreciate people having a good time, perhaps the fact that our table was in the room upstairs helped to keep the atmosphere relaxed without any need to shout to get the message across to the person sitting across the table.

27 November

We met with Lord Mayor Bolay of Nellingen in the morning and were warmly welcomed in traditional style: we were served with apple juice with mineral water (a combination that pleases the natives and is quite refreshing indeed) and pretzels plus a chest full of assorted candy and chocolate. The mayor had arranged a reported from the local paper to come & take pictures of the group. It’s nice to see that the local administration cares for the affairs of their schools and the projects they have going on.

Christmas came early to Lord Mayor this year.

<Homer Simpson mode /on> Mmm, pretzels …

But where’s the beer? < Homer Simpson mode /off >

Then to Stuttgart for a guided tour with an added focus on air pollution and how Stuttgart is coping with it. Our guide talked about the possible options for reducing air pollution in Stuttgart, including banning cars from city centre (not a very likely option, given the fact how the car is more than just a means of transportation for the Germans), implementing congestion charges etc. etc. Food for thought, at the very least. Our tour took us around the city center from Königsstrasse to the New Palace and from there past the Opera House to the market hall.

  Bunch of good-for-nothings loitering.

   Königstrasse.

  The Old Castle.

After lunch some of us teachers stayed in Stuttgart and did some more shopping. As we had finished the tour at Stuttgart market hall - which with its stalls selling cold meats, cheese, wines, chocolates, pastries etc. was about as close to Heaven as you can get - it was therefore only logical to return there for some shopping. A few moments later yours truly had a bit more good stuff to bring home to family (c’mon, let’s be honest: it was meant only for me, me, MEEE!). I and the Italian teachers went to a dinner at a Spanish restaurant later on. A nice tortilla, some salmon with parsley potatoes and a floor show of flamenco and Spanish tunes - a bit cheesy, if you ask me, but still ok.

28 November

Time for debates! The students had prepared two debates, the motions being “Fresh air is a human right” & “Cars should be banned from city centres” (the final task for the fifth group was to create a brochure documenting the work process and the visit). Just like I mentioned earlier, the British parliamentary style isn’t the easiest one to master. The students performed quite nicely: their turns were pretty fluent for the most part, they were able to argue back clearly and followed the conventions closely too. The first motion was especially tricky with its philosophical aspect and the difficulty in opposing such a motion convincingly, but the students had clearly made an effort to approach the issue from different angles.

Last minute preparations.

You let the students name their teams and this is what you get ...

After the debates and its follow up, a feedback session, we had one final lunch at OHG cafeteria before heading to an important appointment: the Esslingen Christmas market. The market takes up most of the historical centre of the town, the old market square and the adjacent streets, and has a Medieval part with stalls selling everything you could expect from “ye olde” Christmas market (amber jewellery, meat grilled on a skewer and Indian vegetarian dishes). You’d have expected the place to have been packed but the crowd in attendance - although by no means sparse - wasn’t actually that enormous, perhaps due to the constant drizzle, perhaps the fact that it was Tuesday afternoon and not e.g. Friday evening. We had a nice stroll around the place with some of us opting for some Gluhwein, some for miscellaneous shopping. Esslingen is definitely a nice town, a combination of modern pedestrianized center lined with shopping centres, boutiques and cafes and the old town with its old town hall, cathedral and narrow streets lined with … err, shopping centers, boutiques and cafes.

  Snapshot from the market square.

We returned to Ostfildern for the final goodbye dinner at Cafe Pause. Ingrid, the former German Erasmus coordinator and a driving force behind a plethora of projects, was there too with her husband, Gerhardt. The mood was festive but perhaps a bit melancholic too as it would take us three months till the next visit and a chance to see one another again.

29 November

The trip back was … well, see the first entry: quick and uneventful. This time we had a layover in Munich and were back in Vammala (or in Tampere) late in the evening.

A big thank you to Katharina, Florian, Christiane, Andrea and their families and everyone else who helped make our visit unforgettable! Thank you and be seeing (many of) you in Finland!

All pictures: © 2017 Saara Haapalainen and Antti Väisänen.