A Tale of Two Schools
The Marist Dundalk and the Maristengymnasium Fürstenzell

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The first ever German Exchange took place this year and 13 lucky TY and 5th Year German students had the opportunity to spend a week in Fürstenzell in March. The students from Germany then came to Dundalk for a week in April. Here’s what both groups thought of the experience.

Die Iren in Deutschland
Dienstag, den 20. März. It all began at 4.00am in the morning! And finally at 4.00pm in the afternoon we reached our destination – Fürstenzell, in Südostdeutschland. We met our Austauschpartner at the school and left for home with them. It was scary but exciting at the same time.
Mittwoch: Another early start – die Schule beginnt um 8.00 Uhr!!!We visited various Stunden and were made to feel very welcome. After the kleine Pause (um 9.30 Uhr!) we left to meet the Marist Chaplain, Fr Tangen, who gave us a guided tour of the Maristenkloster (Marist Monastery) and in particular the beautiful Bibliothek. After meeting the Bürgermeister (Mayor) we went back to Schule and headed home with our Partners. That night we went to a Hausparty!
Donnerstag: Another early start – off to Passau! It was freezing but we went on a guided tour of the city…zu Fuß!. We were shown its Italian roots, the Glasmuseum and the Dom of Sankt Stephen. The history was breath-taking and the tour guide interesting…but soon we were let loose and natürlich headed straight for McDonalds! That night we were invited to another Hausparty – by a friend of one of the students! Some of us won’t forget that night!!
Freitag: It snowed on Thursday night – so as we headed high up into the Bayerische Wald the snow got thicker and the landscape more beautiful. We visited a Glasfabrik in a small village and had an opportunity to see how glass is made. We also had the opportunity to make some items ourselves! But the best bit was probably the snow ball fight! Friday night was bowling night – German bowling is certainly very different to Irish bowling!
Samstag: Finally a lie in! We all did different things with our partners but on Samstagabend sind wir in einer deutschen Disco gegangen. Super!
Sonntag was also spent with partners und ihre Familien but some of us met up in the Therme (Thermal Springs) in a neighbouring town and had a great afternoon.
Montag: A busy day at the Maristengymnasium – we had a Musikstunde, a tour of the Inventions which the students had developed in recent years and then an aerobics class with the Spanish Exchange group. This was followed by a Fußballspiel. In the evening we had the Abschiedsfest, which was for all the students and their parents involved in both the Irish and Spanish exchanges.
Dienstag: München here we come! The long journey passed quickly and we were soon in the beautiful city of München. After a walking tour of the Stadtmitte we were given time to go shopping and enjoy the culture of the city at our own pace. All too soon it was time to leave for the Flughafen and the Reise nach Irland. We said Auf Wiedersehen to our Austauschpartners but we were happy that we would be seeing them again in a few weeks.

Die Deutschen in Irland

11.15 Uhr. Ankunft am Flughafen in Dublin. Kälteschock! Im Sommeroutfit mit Sonnenbrille auf dem Kopf betreten wir zum ersten Mal irischer Boden. Schnell wird uns bewusst, dass die Iren eine andere Vorstellung von ,,Summer weather’’ haben.
Ein bisschen an die Kälte gewöhnt, ging es dann zur Schule, wo uns die Gastfamilien sehr herzlich empfingen.

Am nächsten Tag bemerken wir den Unterschied zwischen dem deutschen und irischen Schulleben. Jeder merkt sofort ,dass die ,,Germans’’ eingehoffen sind, da wir unter den schwarz-grauen Uniformen mit unserer Alltagskleidung herausstechen.

Die Unternehmungen, die bereits am ersten Tag anfingen und sich über den ganzen Aufenthalt fortsetzen, waren alle zu jeder Zeit interessant und abwechlungsreich.

Besonders beeindruckt waren wir von der Stadt Dublin nicht nur wegen dem vielfältigem Shoppingangebot, sondern auch wegen den kulturellen Sehenswürdigkeiten.

Die gemeinsamen Unternehmungen, vor allem die Homeparties waren immer eine ,,fetzen Gaudi’’.

Die gute Laune schwand jedoch schnell, als sich die Woche dem Ende zuneigt. Der Abschiedsschmerz war groß und es flossen dicke Tränen.

Letzendlich wollen wir uns herzlich bei allen Begleiten für die gute Organisation bedanken und hoffen, dass der Kontakt weiterhin erhollen bleibt.

By: Julia Zitzelsberger, Andrea Sprödhuber, Helena Stöcker, Veronica Böhmer und im Namen der ganzen Gruppe.

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