If someone were to ask me “What do you remember most about school?”, I’d know exactly what to say. I’d tell them about the most amazing trip to Washington and New York ever. I’d tell them about the big red brick buildings of Episcopal, the shiny white monuments of D.C. and the most amazing group of exchange students there is. It’s not just some class trip that happens every year and that everyone gets to participate in, but rather an exclusive exchange program with a few American students from Episcopal High School. It all starts off at the airport where the feeling of leaving and going on an adventure is just starting to sink in. Everyone is nervous and excited, after all it might be a first long flight or a first time visiting a new continent or even just the excitement of meeting someone new. Of course, it's expected to have some hiccups along the way, which in our case were: shaking an immigration officer's hand instead of handing him your passport, having trouble with the fingerprint scanner and even being escorted away for trying to smuggle blueberries into the US. Thankfully we all made it through immigration and met Miss Ellington - the German teacher of EHS - who was waiting with a large white stereotypical American school bus to pick us up. After a short drive and a couple of nerve wrecking minutes later we all got to meet our exchange partners for the first time. The first moments of saying hi and getting to know each other seemed a little awkward but soon after that time seemed to just be slipping through our fingers. We experienced a whole week of American high school life by accompanying our exchange partners to their classes, which all took place in different rooms, and in the afternoons we spent our time touring Washington D.C., visiting: The Capitol, the White House, The Smithsonians, Washington Monument, and much more. After this magnificent week and a heartfelt goodbye to our new friends from EHS we continued our journey by Amtrack to New York. There we stayed at a hotel close to Times Square where we didn’t even get a moments rest before making our way to The Edge and a Broadway Show, followed by dinner right in the middle of the bustling streets of Times Square. The following day was just as packed with a boat ride to Liberty Island and the famous Lady Liberty herself, whose crown – after climbing an intricate spiral staircase from the base to the top - provided us with an amazing view of Manhattan. These are just a few highlights of this ever so memorable trip which was made possible by Prof. Klimpfinger and Prof. Bending who I hope enjoyed these ten days just as much as we did.

Verena Sellner 7B