GAPP

GAPP 2000

Erfurt Here We Come!

On the bitingly cold afternoon of December 29, 1997, a group of 14 high school students gathered together at O'Hare International Airpoart in Chicago to prepare to take off in a plane for Germany. These students from the Illinois Math and Science Academy were about to spend three weeks of their lives in Erfurt, the capital of the state of Thuringia. They would live with host families in the town and attend a German Gymnasium (high-school). The students would also spend several days in Berlin during their time in Germany, as well as enjoy a number of other excursions and field trips to other nearby towns and cities. Included in these were visits to Weimar, the city where Goethe and Schiller lived, and Buchenwald the Nazi concentration camp outside the town, and also Eisenach, the city where Johann Sebastian Bach was born and Martin Luther translated the Bible into German.

The students ranged in age from 15-18, and IMSA's sophomore, junior and senior classes were represented among the group. Students hailed from cities and towns all over the state of Illinois, some claiming residence in the metropolis of Chicago, and others living on small farms in rural communities in more southern parts of the state. As siblings nervously laughed, smiled and hugged goodbye, parents triple-check to make certain the students knew where their money and passport were, had brought enough film and clean underwear, and knew how to call home if something went wrong. Last minute advice and good wishes were given, and John Stark, the leader of the trip, insisted on snapping a photo in the terminal before they took off. Surprisingly enough, a large number of families acquiesced to being part of the picture, and offered their own cameras if they had brought them so that they too might have a copy.

After an approximately eight hour plane ride, during which more photos were taken and many heads lolled to the side in sleep, the group arrived in Frankfurt. With a two hour layover, there was a comfortable amount of time to use the bathroom, get a drink of water or exchange dollars for Deutschmarks, and for some hungry students, grab a bite to eat. For one student, this meant finding a McDonald's . Nothing less would do for this young man's addiction to French fries and chicken nuggets.

Eighty minutes on a plane to Leipzig, a bus and two train rides later, the exhausted students finally reached their destination on December 30, in the late mild afternoon the next day.

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GAPPers from Erfurt at IMSA