We (Try to) Party with our German Exchange Student

  

     We were blessed this spring to have our German exchange student, Emilia Wengortz, return to stay with us for a second year in a row, from the middle of March to the middle of April.

 

Imogen welcoming Emilia for her second exchange tour here

     When Emilia stayed with us last spring, she was an incredibly responsible, gracious, and helpful guest.  So when she asked if she could come again this year, Tim and I had no hesitation in saying yes.  This meant that we had an excuse get out and about and enjoy some of the things that San Diego has to offer. Tim is always one for making the most of his precious time off work, so showing Emilia around was no hardship.
     We thought an all-American experience might plausibly include a baseball game, so Tim got us all tickets to see the San Diego Padres play at Petco Park.  It was on a Tuesday night, so I had to meet them coming from USD, as I had to teach an Ethics class that afternoon.  I can't even remember how we got everyone to the stadium from their various places (Ramona, Rancho Bernardo, Poway), but the logistics were worth it.  The game was so much fun!  There was a great atmosphere there, and Petco Park is a really nice stadium.  The Padres lost to the LA Dodgers, but that didn't matter very much to us.

San Diego Padres game in Petco Park, downtown San Diego

       We also took Emilia to the world-famous San Diego Zoo - something we didn't manage to pack in during her last visit, somehow.



Emilia and Imogen at the San Diego Zoo





     2016 marks the 100th anniversary of the San Diego Zoo, so there was the cool lion logo everywhere, which you can see in the above picture.  We started off the trip by watching one of the Zoo shows, featuring a cheetah and an impressively obedient seal.

 

Stage before the show - very clean, I thought

 

A very fast cheetah

 

A very well trained seal

     It was warm, but the zoo was manageable, and is always interesting.  My favorite animal there is the tortoise.  I love the fact that these guys are about 100 years old.  Anything old is good, in my book.

 

A tortoise racing up the pathway (this took a while)

Komodo Dragon - I actually didn't know what these were until I watched Skyfall

 

     It just so happened that Universal Studios near LA opened The Wizarding World of Harry Potter during the time that Emilia was staying with us.  So, there was no question, Imogen and Emilia had to go.  Tim had a day off of work and gladly fulfilled his duty of a good host parent.

     I didn't go on that trip, so Imogen has very graciously done a little guest blog for us about it:   

 

     Imogen:  'Right when we walked into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, we saw a ton of Diagon Alley-like buildings on both sides of a cobble stone road that led up to a mock Hogwarts building. In the buildings were all types of stores that exist in the Harry Potter books, such as Honeydukes Candy Shop and Olivanders Wand Shop. There were also stores that sold robes and different items of clothing featured in the movies.

 

Emilia and Imogen make it to Hogwarts!

 



An imposing Hogwarts



 

     While we were there, we made sure we had some butterbeer from a little cart right by Hogwarts.

The Hogwarts building contained the line to the main Harry Potter ride which was a 4D virtual ride, which we all found very impressive. While waiting in line we saw different rooms featured in the movies including Dumbledoors office, common rooms and various classrooms. All in all, the park simulated Harry Potter sets very well.'

 

Emilia and Imogen enjoying butterbeer

  

Tim is not too old for any of this ....

 

The gargoyle at the bottom of the staircase leading to Dumbledoor's office

 

     Other highlights included many trips to the San Diego beaches, despite the unseasonably cool weather this spring.  There were plenty of lowlights as well, like living the crazy overscheduled life of your average American family.  Indeed, that was probably just a much an education about America as anything else.  We've magnified the Protestant work ethic so much that we have very little time to do or thing about anything else; something which still feels very foreign to my British husband.