Josh
Tulsa to Germany

hello all,

Today I returned from my week in Schwarzwald (black forest).  I have many stories and i only stayed a week there.  For starters Elaine(wyoming), ramiro(equador), satoko(japan), and myself left Ulm and traveled 2 hours or so to Triberg.  When we arrived we met two other exchange students from ohio and mexico.  we then went to the youth hostel and sat around unfortunetly for about 4 and a half hours until someone else came.  they just dropped us off and left and said "ok you can do whatever you want, have fun" then left.  well we had no idea where we were or what to do so we just sat, slept, and talked until someone else came.  Before dinner we met the other exchange students.  There were about 17 in all from canada, usa, mexico, equador, new zealand, and australia.  After dinner the other few Rotarians that were there welcomed us and told us about the week.  Let's just say what he said did not appeal to any of us.&nbs p; it included, 3 days of hiking in the forest all of which were 12, 17, and 18 kilometers respectivley.  During those days, we were cold, wet, barely had any view and tired.  I can remember one time we had to hike up this "hill" as what they called it, all of the exchange students called it a mountain; it was 1km at a 45 degree angle and it was not your typical trail that you would take on a hike.  That was the worst experience I have ever, and I mean ever, had.  Of course during the hikes we talked to each other and saw the views, and just enjoyed everyone's company.  The other 2 days were spent in the towns of Rottweil, where the name of the dog rottweiler comes from.  also in the town of Fenninggen-Schwinninggen.  Both towns we took a little tour of and shopped around.  On the last night we had a meeting to see when we would leave.  Well for some reason us four in the beginning were going to be the last four to leave, and not like a hour after everyone else, try 5 hours after everyone.  So for this reason alone we had a lady tell us a different way to go, so we she told it to us and unfortunetly it was 2 more hours longer.  Anyways off to the train station we went and got on the train.  Everything was going well, we paid for our tickets;(after we found the money by asking around for it), found a spot on the train and waited.  We arrived at the next train station changed and got on the train to Stuttgart.  Well this is when things went bad.  first of all we could see that this train was way to nice for our cheap tickets, so of course when the guy comes to check our tickets were all asleep.  So he wakes us up asks for our tickets, then tells us that our tickets are for the small trains not for the nic e ones that we were on.  So we asked how much and it was 15 Euro for each of us four; and this is after we paid 21 Euro for the first ticket.  We talked with him and luckily we only had to pay for two childrens tickets instead, thank gosh.  When we arrived in Stuttgart the gate that the ticket guy told us was of course wrong so we had to fing the right one out of 25 other gates.  We finally did and by this time we have not eaten the whole day and of course we have no money so we can't.  We finally arrive in Ulm and realize that we are like 3 or 4 hours ahead of schedule and ramiro and myself had our host parents drive us to the train station.  Elaine and Satoko walked from their house.  So we had to call our parents from Elaines cell phone that her host parents gave her.  I called my house first and of course its busy, so ramiro tries and no one is home.  I try th e upstairs phone again and its out of order.  Ramiro tries his host parents'  cell phones and thier turned off.  So again I try, but by this time the phone card has no more money on it so we ended up take the bus back to our houses and walked up the hill that we both live on.  Everyone was sooooooooo tired after that and I am going to bed after this email.   All in all it was pretty interesting and a good memory.  I definetly will not forget the people we met or the places we saw.  And today I found out that all of them are coming to Ulm for some big Rotary function thing so I will be able to see them again. 

Until next time,

Josh