| ACTIVITIES : CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS 14 January 2001 - Arrived in Germany 16 January 2001 - First day of school 18 January 2001 - First Rotary Meeting - Gave a speech on Malaysia, Rotary Club and District, family and myself in English. 19-21 January 2001 - Rotary Club�s Austria Skiing Trip 27 January 2001 - Visited the ruin of the Rosenstein Castle with my host family. 7 February 2001 - A Rotary Club member bought tickets for exchange student to witness a live German Soccer live semi-final match between VFB Stuttgart and Schalke 04 in Stuttgart. 12 February 2001 - German course started. 14 February 2001 - Visited a chemical plant �BASF� as part of our Chemistry lesson. 17 February 2001 - Attended the �Guggenmusik� carnival with other exchange students from my host club. 18 February 2001 - Attended Kinder-Fasching (a carnival) with my host family as my host sister Eva was having a performance. 23 February 2001 - Gave a short talk on Malaysia to my classmate and English teacher during English lesson. 24-25 February 2001 - A trip to Schwarzwald (Black Forest) near Freiburg with a Rotary Club member�s family, the Messner with another American exchange student hosted by that family. 26 February- 4 March 2001 - Stayed with the Messner family, the same Rotary family that brought me to Black Forest for 1 week. 27 February 2001 - Went to the town to watch a street procession (Umzug) as it was the last day of carnival with Mrs. Messner and another exchange student. 10 March 2001 - Rotary Event - A visit to the �Staatgalerie Stuttgart� for the art exhibition on �Yves Tanguy� work of art with a mystical theme. 12-16 March 2001 - Berlin Trip with my classmates as part of Politics studies. Places visited includes - Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate), Reichstag (Parliament Building), Checkpoint Charlie, Pergammon Museum, Kabaret in Europa-Centre, Sony Centre, Mauer Museum, IMAX, East Side Galerie (East Side Gallery)(the few remaining part of the Berlin wall, Berlin Fernsehturm (Berlin TV Tower) and other places of interest. 1 April 2001 - A visit to the Mercedes Museum with my host family and other Spanish Exchange Students, who are under a one-week exchange programme with my school. 5 April 2001 - Tarragona Abend (Tarragona Evening) a small carnival. 6 April 2001 - Visited a Bible Exhibition with my classmate. 7-16 April 2001 - Stayed with the Messner family again for one week. 9 April 2001 - Went to Stuttgart with Mr and Mrs. Messner to collect the new car from the Mercedes Headquarters where we were treated to a tour to the production factory of Mercedes Cars. 14 April 2001 - Went to watch a Church Choir from the Protestant Church from Heubach practising where Mr and Mrs. Messner were performing. 20 April 2001 - Met with a group of youth from the Evangelisch (Evangelist)/Baptism Church from B�bingen with my classmate. 29 April 2001 - Officially ended my first of my three terms in Germany, next host family, Family Messner who are already close to me. 29 April 2001 - Officially part of the Messner family 5-6 May 2001 - A trip to Lauscha with the choir group from the Evangelium (Evangelism) Church from Heubach as my host parents, Willy and Ursula Messner is part of the choir. 12 May 2001 - A visit to Trossingen and Aldingen to visit my belated host grandparents grave. Also visited the Farm in Trossingen where my host father had grown up as a kid. Later to Birnau Bodensee (the largest lake in Germany) and Meersburg (a very touristic town) before completing our one day tour around the state. 19 May 2001 - Rotary District Conference for District 1830 in T�bingen. Sang a song in the Schwaben dialect with the other exchange students, which was probably one of the most interesting event of the whole conference. Later in the evening was the �Pr�sidentseinladung� (President�s Invitation), another Rotary event. 23 May - 10 June 2001 - A trip to France, Paris-Montreuil to attend my Uncle�s wedding. Visited many places in Paris including the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, Lourve Museum and others. 16 June 2001 - Gustavo�s (an exchange student from Venezuela who was with me together with the Messners) farewell party. The club now has only 2 inbound exchange students. 19 June 2001 - Visited the Heubacher Brauerei (Heubacher Beer Brewery) as part of Biology lesson. 20 June 2001 - End of the spring season. 21 June 2001 - Start of the summer season. 25 June 2001 - The unofficial �Abi-Fest� of my school. Host brother Daniel Messner officially ended his one-year stint as an exchange student in Mexico. 27 June 2001 - A year ending class trip to Augsburg , Bayern (Bavaria). 28 June 2001 - Finally ended my German course, �DaF Intensiv 1� after 90 days of lessons. 28 June 2001 - Attended my second Rotary Club meeting. This time it was the Rotary Year Ending meeting, where the club has officially a new committee. 29 June 2001 - Attended a concert by �Rejoice� in Heubach. 30 June 2001 - Kinderfest (A grand children�s festival) in Heubach. 4 July 2001 - Rosenstein Gymnasium�s �Bundesjugendspiel� at TSV Heubach. It is like sports day but without competitions and medals. 7 July 2001 - Visited the Limesmeseum (Limes Museum) with �W�lflinger� from Stamm B�bingen B�ren (Scout troop) and their leaders. 7 July 2001 - Attended the �Jugendtag� (Youth Day) gathering from the B�bingen Youths. 10 July 2001 - Julia Barton from the USA returned home to USA after 10 months as an exchange student hosted by the Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd. So I was the only inbound exchange student left at the club. 14-15 July 2001 - Visited Freiburg, Staufen (famous for Goethe, the writer of �Faust�) , V�gisheim, Black Forest, Trossingen and Aldingen. Missed out on watching Tour de France live as it was raining heavily. 18 July 2001 - Joined the Rotarydamen (Rotary Club Members� Wives) as in their excursion to N�rdlingen and Bopfingen. 19 July 2001 - A class trip to Stuttgart�s Planetarium as part of Physics lesson. 21 July 2001 - First host brother, Philipp Kienzle came back home after a year in the USA as an Rotary Exchange Student. 22 July 2001 - Celebrated my best and most meaningful birthday ever. 23 July 2001 - Went for the Stamm B�bingen B�ren�s Rovers meeting to prepare for a camping trip. 24 July 2001 - Year ending class party. 25 July 2001 - Last day of the 2000/2001 school year. Received a report book like the other students. 26 July - 4 August 2001 - Participated in a �BPS Bundeslager� (A German National Scout Jamboree) as a guest with the B�bingen B�ren Scout Troop. 11 August 2001 - Officially ended my term as part of the Messner family and started my term as part of the Gruber-Ballehr family. 17 August 2001 - First host sister Alexandra Kienzle went to Baja California (Mexico) as a Rotary Exchange Student. 25 August 2001 - Visited the �Stauferfest� in Schw�bisch Gm�nd. 26 August 2001 � Started my �Europareise� (Europe tour) in Fulda, Germany. 27 August 2001 � Travelled from Fulda to Aachen then over the border to Maastricht, Holland. 28 August 2001 � After visiting Utrecht around noon, we went to the beach for a swim and ended the day in Haarlem. 29 August 2001 � Visited the first big city in our trip, Amsterdam. Among places visited were the �Anne Frank House� (museum), Madame Tussaud wax museum, met some Ajax Amsterdam (soccer) players and a boat tour around Amsterdam. Had dinner with a Rotary Club in Amsterdam. 30 August 2001 � Crossed the Holland-Belgium border. Had a guided tour in Brugge, Belgium. 31 August 2001 � Malaysia�s National Day. Crossed the Belgium-France border and travelled the A1 highway all the way to Paris. Climbed up the Eiffel Tower. 1 September 2001 � The Rotary Club of Chaville organised a one-day tour around Paris. Among activities included a boat tour around Paris, picnic in front of the Notre-Dame cathedral and walking tour to interesting places in Paris. 2 September 2001 � Visited the Versailles Palace and enjoyed the �Musical Fountain� show at the same place. 3 September 2001 � Visited the Sacre-Cour and later travelled further to Blois. 4 September 2001 � Visited two castles in Chambord and Amboise. 5 September 2001 � Left Blois and stopped at Bourges for lunch before heading further to Clemont-Ferrand to meet our one-day host families. The place is famous for its Michelin tyres and Pascal, who invented the barometer. My host family was the Deteix family. Also attended a Rotary meeting there. 6 September 2001 � Arrived at Avignon, one of the �cultural cities� of Europe. 7 September 2001 � Visited the Pope�s Palace in Avignon. 8 September 2001 � Made a stop at Grasse, the capital of perfume before ending the day at Menton. 9 September 2001 � Took a shuttle bus from Menton to Monaco. After crossing the France-Monaco border, we once again crossed the France-Italy border. 10 September 2001 � Had a day on the beach in Marina di Massa. 11 September 2001 � Visited the �Leaning Tower of Pisa� in Pisa. 12 September 2001 � Travelled to Rome and later to Vatican City to attend the Pope�s Audience, where he talked about the 911 terrorist attack in America. 13 September 2001 � Visited the �Sixteen Chapel�, where Popes are chosen. Also managed to tour around Rome. Interesting places included the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain (a wishing fountain), Spanish steps and many others. 14 September 2001 � Visited Florence. 15 September 2001 � Visited the St. Fransisca Church, where we can find the tomb of some famous people like Niccolo Machiavelli, Michaelangelo and many others. 16 September 2001 � Took a ferry to Venice and while in Venice, the �Gondola� to tour around the Grand Canal. 17 September 2001 � Visited Lido di Jesolo. 18 September 2001 � Crossed the Italy-Austria border and had lunch at the �Drei-L�nde-Ecke� rest house before the cable car ride all the way up Dachstein. Great enough, it was snowing. 19 September 2001 � Went rafting before ending the day in Salzburg. 20 September 2001 � Had a guided tour around Salzburg, the home to the �Sound of Music� and Mozart. Visited both the Mozart�s houses (now museums) before attending a festival in Salzburg later in the night. 21 September 2001 � Crossed the border for the last time in the Europe trip, this time the Austria-Germany border. Made a stop at Chiemsee (a lake) before arriving in Munich. 22 September 2001 � Attended the annual Oktoberfest (Oktoberfest 2002 was on the brink of being cancelled due to the 911 incident) in Goetheplatz, Munich. 23 September 2001 � Visited the �Residence� in W�rzburg, which is in the UNESCO�s list of �World Heritage�. 24 September 2001 � End of the Europe trip. 26 September 2001 � Re-attended school (new school year) and German course (new semester) after summer holidays. 28-30 September 2001 � �Wanderwochenende� in Austria with my host Rotary club. 8 October 2001 � Made a presentation on Malaysia during my English LK lessons. 10 October 2001 � Attended my school�s musical �Arabica�. 14 October 2001 � Travelled to �Rothenburg o.d.T.� with my host family. 18 October 2001 � Attended a theatre play �One flew over the cuckoo�s nest� in Ulm with my English LK teacher and classmates. 19-21 October 2001 � Joined �Stamm Einhorn� (my host brother Gero�s scout troop) as a guest in JOTA (Jamboree over the air) and JOTI (Jamboree on the Internet) in Waldstetten. 26 October 2001 � Went all the way up the Stuttgart�s television tower, the tallest structure in Stuttgart. 27 October 2001 � Joined my host Rotary club, the Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd, in an excursion to the �Deutsches Museum� (German National Museum) in Munich. Had lunch with the Rotarians at �Hofbr�uhaus� the most famous beer house in the world. 28 October 2001 � Official �winter time� although it was not yet winter (season). Had to re-tune all clocks and watches. 11 November 2001 � Opening of the �Faschingsguggenmusik� instrument washing ceremony in Schw�bisch Gm�nd�s market place and �Umzug� (street procession) of musical bands. 14 November 2001 � �Unitag� (University Day) and I visited the Stuttgart�s University in Vaihingen. 17-18 November 2001 � �Europareise Nachtreffen� (Europe trip�s reunion) in Marburg. 1 December 2001 � Attended the German Bundesliga (German soccer league) match between VFB Stuttgart and Borussia M�nchengladbach in the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadium, home of VFB Stuttgart. The match ended in a 1-1 draw. 6 December 2001 � Nikolaustag (Santa Claus� Day) 8-9 December 2001 � Joined the other exchange students in my Rotary district (D.1830) in a �Weihnachtsfeiern� (Christmas celebration) trip to Bad Mergentheim and also visited Rothenburg�s world renown �Weihnachtsmarkt� (Christmas market). 13 December 2001 � Attended a concert performed by students of Hans Balding Gymnasium. 17 December 2001 � Euro�s cent (The new unified currency for 12 European nations) were available for the public for exchange. Starter kits were being distributed all over Germany and Europe. 21 December 2001 � Last day of school and German course. 21-22 December 2001 � Attended another Christmas celebration celebrated organised by the B�bingen B�ren. 23 December 2001 � My �Abschiedsfest� (Farewell Party) with students from my school particularly from my class. 24 December 2001 � Celebrated the �Heiligeabend� (Christmas Eve) with my host family. We had a �White Christmas�. 25 December 2001 � Went to the M�nster (Schw�bisch Gm�nd�s cathedral) for the Christmas prayers. Flew back to Malaysia, my homeland after a year in Germany as a Rotary International Youth Exchange Student. |