Germany Trip Pictures 2013 (1)

I went to Elmira High School between 2009 and 2013, and during that time, I found myself most interested in learning the German language and different elements of fiction writing.

As a first-day freshman in German class, our teacher presented us with an opportunity to be an exchange student and immerse ourselves into the language. The program was called: Friendship Connection Inc. I wanted to be part of that opportunity because my grandfather, Reinhardt Figura, whom I was close with, spoke German and was born and raised in Germany. I asked my mom and tried to convince her, saying it would be a great present for graduating high school (she didn't know what else to get me).

After my first day as a freshman in 2009, my mom secretly agreed to that wish--thank you mom--and (with the help of my grandma Laura Bonnie) saved up the money from that point.

For a couple years, I didn't think much about the trip; I only I wanted to learn the language and culture, and of course, graduate high school.

I didn't know at the time that my mom was working directly with my German teacher over the phone.

When I was a high school senior in 2013, my mom paid--without my awareness--Friendship Connection Inc. (which had an incredible discount price for the round trip + a guided tour).

After my Christmas vacation my senior year, my German teacher called me to her desk after grading papers as her TA and said: "I have the name of your exchange student."

I was confused and surprised at the same time, then I knew.

She handed me a sticky note with the name written on it, and to this day, I have that same sticky note on my bathroom wall, the teacher's handwriting beautiful and flawless in cursive.

A couple months later in early 2013, the same person written on the sticky note flew to the United States to stay with me and my family for 4-weeks. I drove us to the Portland mall and the Portland Zoo, Multnomah Falls, the Sea Lion Caves (world's largest sea-lion cave), and Northern California to see the world's largest tree. We had such a marvelous time, and he experienced so much of the American life in the United States.

After he went back to Germany and a couple months after that, it was my turn to travel abroad. At the time, I was recovering from a broken hand and a concussion from skateboarding (which gave me Post Concussion Syndrome, also known as PCS).

During my stay in Germany, I was a student for a short time at Elisabethschule in Marburg with my friend. Then I took a 2-week tour of Southern Germany. My exchange student family took me to northern Germany, while the program took me on a tour bus guide to southern Germany with a bunch of kids that were my age in the same program. I landed in Frankfurt, lived mostly in Hesse, near Marburg. I saw races at the famous Nürburgring. I went to the car museum in Wolfsburg. I went to Berlin and Sachsenhausen Memorial Site. I toured so many fascinating locations that it really overstimulated my development with the language (I later took many German classes at the University of Oregon between 2018-2020 and had straight A's). Some places I visited include: Neuschwanstein Castle, Adenau, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Wetzlar, Giess, Marburg, Munchhausen, Hemfurth Edersee, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Rothenburg, Schwaebisch Hall, Garmisch Partenkchn., Muenchen, Salzburg, Wolfgang Skgr., Wolfsburg, Berlin, Oranienburg, and many other places.

After I returned to America, I took that summer and autumn off to fully recover from my broken hand and from Post Concussion Syndrome. In 2014, I met my fiancée Kaylee Elizabeth Condos and enrolled into college. We have been in love since that first day we met (sounds corny, but it's true) and remain happily together.

Over the years, I've told dozens of people about my trip and the many sights I saw. I took over 3,000 photos on my trip with my iPod touch - 4th generation. And when I told my friends that, many wanted to see! I never had a platform to publish these pictures until I created this website. Both Instagram and Facebook have limits with the number of pictures one can upload. It took me over 3 months to go through each of the 3,000 pictures and upload them one at a time to this website. There is alcohol in some pictures. I did drink, but I never got drunk. I've been careful all my life about alcohol because my birth mother died from alcohol, and I don't believe in drunkenness. I'm happy to finally bring you the pictures I took as a staple in history. A visual adventure to see. And a moment in time. Germany 2013.

I hope you enjoy.