After three days with Marten in Gotting, I rode with one of his friends and fellow IFYE Charlotte to the German IFYE meeting near Hannover. The meeting was a great three days of tours, meeting people and exploring Germany. The only downside was that most everything said to us was in German, so there was quite a bit that I didn't get. Still, I got to see a monastery, the birthplace of Wilhelm Bush, a 500 cow dairy, and tour small towns along the way.
What I enjoyed most about the conference was getting to meet all the past IFYE participants and hear how the experience is something that they still feel so passionate about.
Among the people I met was Bettina Heineman, the coordinator for my travels and with whom I have been exchanging emails for months. It was so good to finally put a face to her! She gave me my train tickets for traveling to host families, and asked if I know how to ride a train. Before I left America this was a valid question -- she deals with people straight from the U.S. usually -- but not me, no, I consider myself a train riding professional at this point...
The trains in Finland, Estonia, Scotland, France, Italy, and Germany have all been lucky enough to meet me as well as the Paris metro system which is a certainly it's own breed of monster.
Wow I got off track there! The point is I came, I saw, and I survived the German IFYE meeting, and it was super.
