The International Experience: South Burlington HS

The International Experience: South Burlington HS This group was created for all TIE participants, parents or anyone who is interested in spreading the word about our international exchange program.

Please share your experiences, comments, and photos from TIE. And please invite others! TIE is an international exchange program for South Burlington High School students. The program offers a two and a half week travel/home stay experience in Spain, France, Japan and Germany. While Japan and Germany are open to any student who wish to apply, you must be in at least level 3 Spanish or French to ap

ply for travel to Spain and France. This program is different in that it seeks to offer students a more personal, first hand experience abroad. Students not only tour the country but live with a family and attend classes with a student from our partner school in each country. SB students then host these students as they visit the US. Students experience the culture and language in a way that most HS travel programs do not offer. They build confidence, meet new friends and acquire a new world perspective.

TIE GermanyMarch 7: Hameln: shadowing and presentations at SGH, final visit to Hameln, Farewell Dinner (Lexi, and possi...
03/18/2025

TIE Germany

March 7: Hameln: shadowing and presentations at SGH, final visit to Hameln, Farewell Dinner
(Lexi, and possibly others)

For our final day, I only had one presentation to do thanks to a cancellation, and so I decided to spend most of the early day in town shopping. Today was the first day of the medieval faire going on in Hameln, which is about 5x bigger than Vermont's main renaissance faire that happens in the Summer (for reference for anyone who's gone), and I was super excited to check it out. I'm, to be honest, a big nerd at heart and I love the whole fantasy-historical scene that comes with this sort of thing. I walked around for about two hours in the early day looking at shops, contemplating buying things.
One shop, which is very typical for medieval/renaissance fairs, sold animal fur and products made with it (coats, hats, rugs, etc.). I found there a sort of shawl made out of sheep fur that I fell in love with, foolishly! The consequence being a loss of about one paycheck. They didn't take cards and I only had €40, so I had to run around looking for a bank that would allow me to cash out the amount of money I needed. It was a struggle. But I got it in the end >:)
I then met up with my exchange partner Lilly and friends (Grady, Nick, Claudia, Frieda, and Claudia and Lilly’s boyfriends) to get döner in town for lunch. I shared a standard one with Lilly, and thought it was...pretty good. Didn't blow my mind, so I guess I can say it didn't live up to the hype, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. We then wandered sort of aimlessly and made our way down to the riverside where we relaxed under the sunshine, afterward leaving to go relax at home before the goodbye dinner.
The dinner at Schiller's cafeteria was enjoyable and the food was good, although sort of overshadowed by plans to hang out again at the medieval fair later that night. It was much the same as our's at SB, with presents and a 50 year anniversary cake. It also felt bittersweet with the feeling that I wouldn't be in Schiller again, and that this was a closing of sorts, the first of many to come that night. But overall, nice.
Around 8 we could finally leave. Lilly and I were both dressed up, me with the fur and her with a full medieval dress and coat (we both looked very funny). Once in the city center, we met up with Lilly's boyfriend and her friends — amazing people; lots of love; miss all of them already :,) — and watched the fire show.
After the fire show (mixed reviews on it), we walked around more and had a bunch of fun that's hard to describe in hindsight- basically, acting like a bunch of childish idiots. We did a little bubonic plague roleplaying, I guess you could call it, and I chased one of Lilly's friends down because he had the plague (duh) and accidentally ran into her, for example. We bought a game that I was very convinced I could do, where you climb on this imbalanced rope ladder and ideally ring a bell at the top. Failed horribly, despite being extremely convinced I could do it. So I fell for the selling gimmick. I also allegedly called Frau. V a w***h while being very "in character" when we crossed paths. As I said, childish behavior.
Nearing the end of the faire, I said the final goodbye to Lilly's boyfriend who had to go home

TIE SpainThursday, March 6th, 2025 by Orion CooperThere’s nothing quite like waking up at 6:00 am in a medieval themed h...
03/18/2025

TIE Spain

Thursday, March 6th, 2025 by Orion Cooper

There’s nothing quite like waking up at 6:00 am in a medieval themed hotel, taking a freezing cold shower and packing up all your stuff just to find Saph is already up and waiting for you outside the dining room. Today’s breakfast saw an abundance of breads, pastries, meats, fruits, juices, and more. Then, almost as quickly as we had arrived to Toledo, we left. The bus ride to Madrid was long, but it was light work for our now seasoned group of travelers. The capitol city was nothing short of impressive, and we eagerly walked to our hotel where we settled into our rooms and. Shortly afterwards, we ventured out to visit El Prado, one of the largest and most acclaimed art museums, and home to many of the world’s most famous works of art. Notable pieces include “The Garden Of Earthly Delights” - Hieronymus Bosch, “Saturn & The Black Painting” - Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, “The Executions” - Francisco de Goya, “Las Meninas” - Diego Velázquez, “The Nobleman With His Hand On His Chest” - El Greco, and more. This truly was an experience in which we (the viewers) had nothing to do except take it all in. This isn’t just because of the fact that these paintings and sculptures were magnificent and demanded attention, but also because of the fact that photography of any kind was ABSOLUTELY PROHIBITED throughout THE ENTIRE MUSEUM. Although this was a disappointment to many, in the end it just made sure that we were able to fully appreciate all of the works with our own eyes and not through a screen. Once each of us had our fill of fine art for the day, we slowly made our way through the rainy streets of Madrid to meet up at our dinner location - on the menu tonight: Paella; chicken, seafood, or veggie - pick your poison. I think I speak for everyone when I say it was a most delectable meal. After dinner, we were all free to venture out on our own (while staying in groups of course) and check out all of the stores around the area before heading back to the hotel and getting ready for the night. Hotel shenanigans were abundant this night and Saph had to dish-out some justice (just kidding it wasn’t THAT serious). Eventually we were all able to get at least a little shut eye to prepare us for our last full day in Spain the next day.

TIE GermanyMarch 6: Visit to Hannover (capital of Lower-Saxony) (Nick)I had a special opportunity to bike to the Train ...
03/07/2025

TIE Germany
March 6: Visit to Hannover (capital of Lower-Saxony)
(Nick)
I had a special opportunity to bike to the Train station and meet up with the rest of the group on the way to Hannover. The ride was beautiful, as we rode from the tiny village I am staying in through fields.

In Hannover we took a guided tour from one of the teachers at the Schiller Gymnasium. First we saw the Opera house. One interesting fact about it is that it was built originally on the edge of the city. It was built with the foresight that the city would one day expand and that it would be in a
more central location.

Next we saw the Ägidienkirche. This is remarkable

TIE SpainWednesday, March 5th, 2025 by Adam KettUnfortunately, we left Salamanca today, Sadly saying goodbye to our Span...
03/06/2025

TIE Spain
Wednesday, March 5th, 2025 by Adam Kett
Unfortunately, we left Salamanca today, Sadly saying goodbye to our Spaniard friends and heading out on the bus for Toledo. We visited a small, old, town along the way to learn about a very large and very old monastery there and what life was like in it back when it was heavily used. After the monastery, we were on our own to find lunch at the various cafes and restaurants in the town.
After lunch we went to a church inside of a mountain that had one of the largest crosses in the world on top of it. The cross just barely poked out of the clouds giving us a great photo shoot. Then we all piled back on the bus and after an hour bus ride we arrived in Toledo in the late afternoon, had a quick look of the area as a group and had the rest of the night to explore the old Spanish capital on our own. Toledo, filled with small gift shops and a wide variety of places to eat made it a good night to explore.

TIE GermanyMarch 5: Visit to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Memorial Site (Finn)In the morning we got to the school to...
03/05/2025

TIE Germany
March 5: Visit to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Memorial Site
(Finn)
In the morning we got to the school to meet up and then got on a very nice coach bus that had reclining seats which was absolutely lovely to get a quick nap and look out the window at the beautiful north German countryside.
Once we got to the site of the camp we went inside and learned a little about the National Socialist Party and how they came to power and their ideologies and how those lead to the creation of such camps. Then we walked around the perimeter of the camp where there’s a clear path through the trees and saw some of the foundations of the buildings that were previously there but all had been burned by the British to try and eliminate the disease so only the foundations stand. Then we walked to the Jewish memorial past the mass graves that were made by the British when they liberated the camp to put the body’s the SS had left when they abandoned the camp. The mass graves built by the British alone contain around 20 thousand souls which were left when the guards fled. Then we ate lunch and went to the main indoor museum and saw accounts from people who had been in the camp and pictures taken by German guards, people in the camp and the liberators which were crazy to see because it puts all that we had been told about into perspective especially the shear volume of the dead and the mass graves which there were pictures of hundreds of dead body’s piled up being pushed into these graves.

TIE GermanyMarch 4: Visit to Hämelschenburg Castle, shadowing SGH partner students, 50th anniversary celebration dinner ...
03/05/2025

TIE Germany
March 4: Visit to Hämelschenburg Castle, shadowing SGH partner students, 50th anniversary celebration dinner

Today we went to the Hämelschenburg Palace. This was such an amazing place in our eyes. We found it very cool that the man giving us the tour was actually a part of the family! It made the tour and information much more interesting. He also talked a lot about how the inside of the house was set according to the needs of the family living there at the time. In one room, the entrance door was very thick so that no one could ease drop into conversations he may be having in that room. Another example was when he talked about how the kitchen, butler’s pantry, and dinning room are all located in a way that keeps the servants out of the way but close, so they are able to serve the family.
He then took us down into the dungeon which was very cool because there was still original hardware and rusty medal chains. We went back upstairs and took a look at the original weapons that were found as remains after wars. Lots of hand held guns, and sharp weapons.
Overall, the day turned out to be very fun and the weather was beautiful! We took lots of pictures and enjoyed the sunny weather. On the walk to the bus, there was a pond and about two dozen fish came swimming out from under the bridge begging for food. We really enjoyed visiting and taking a tour at the Hämelschenburg Palace!
Later, was our TIE 50th year (!!) celebration. There were a lot of people there that were a part of the exchange many years ago. The former and current principal was there. And lots of course all the American and Germany exchange students and families. There was lots of good food and conversation. Very fun evening :)

TIE GermanyMarch 3: Hameln: presentations and shadowing at the SGH (Grady)Today was a pretty uneventful shadow day. We...
03/05/2025

TIE Germany
March 3: Hameln: presentations and shadowing at the SGH
(Grady)

Today was a pretty uneventful shadow day. We started off the day with everyone presenting in different classes but were able to relax later in the school day with a lot of people leaving school for an early lunch. Many people also got to shadow classes. I attended a 13th grade advanced physics that while being completely over my head (both because of the material and language gap) was also fascinating. I then went home and helped make and then ate a homemade curry with rice with my host family. Everyone is trying to squeeze out as much time together before we leave, and planning for the busy week ahead.

03/05/2025

TIE Germany
The Weekend cont'd
March 2

Lumia:
For family weekend, we went to a soccer scrimmage with a group of our friends, and we got to get Döner afterwards. The day before that, on Saturday, we all went to a jump house in Hanover and spent a couple hours there. We did a little bit of costume shopping for the carnival and then we went back to Hameln. Overall, it was a pretty fun weekend hanging out with friends and grilling with the family.

Grady:
On Saturday we woke up early for a long car ride for a tour of her dad’s engineering company. We were able to see all sides of the company, from calculations and sales, to the machines that bind the parts together with 5000 tons of force!!! Afterwards we went to to Twilight Express which is a musical on rollerscates, which I appreciated because it had a level of German and a simple enough plot that with some help I could actually follow along and understand. Afterwards we went to L’Osteria and got “personal pizzas” that were 45 cm (1.5 feet) across! On Sunday we walked down to a bakery in the morning and got some amazing chocolate croissants. Afterwards with went with her baby niece to a science museum where I got to both enjoy the interactive elements and read in English about the science behind them. Afterwards we went back to the same restaurant and got some amazing pasta.

03/03/2025

TIE Spain
Sunday, March 2nd, 2025 by Wyatt Hankes

Today was a pretty great day consisting of more great times during carnival (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival)! Due to carnival it’s a 4 day weekend which we’re all kicking with our host families, so today is more of a personal chronicle.
I started off the day by waking up at 8:41 and getting ready for the lovely day ahead. My exchange partner and I were dropped off near a churro stand to meet up with Saph and Profe. Our reunion was under cold, grey skies that gave us the warm comfort of home. Bearing the cold saph and I warmed up for a large feat ahead. We lined up at the very back of the pack, and surrounded by the noise of supporters going berserk, started off on a 13.1 mile odyssey. While the dynamic duo started off on the run, profe hustled to the best picture spots, and my exchange partner, Hugo, cozied into a restaurant with chocolate and churros.

TIE SpainSaturday, March 1st, 2025 by Dom HerreraToday was a choice day so we got to do whatever we wanted. It was a gre...
03/03/2025

TIE Spain
Saturday, March 1st, 2025 by Dom Herrera

Today was a choice day so we got to do whatever we wanted. It was a great feeling not having to wake up early for school and being able to get a few more hours of sleep. My host’s sister, Leire, arrived early this morning from her school in Madrid so we had lots of great stuff planned! The first activity planned for the day was karting. It would be my first time so I was very excited and a little nervous. During breakfast it was raining pretty bad and it was quite cold so we didnt know if we would be able to kart. After breakfast, we drove about 15 minutes away, which doesn't seem very far but it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. Off the side of the road was a small dirt road that we turned onto, which led to the track. No one else was there because of the weather so we got the whole track to ourselves! The rain seemed to subside right as we started but it took a few laps to get used to the kart. I may have spun out in a hairpin turn, but everything went great and on the last lap we had an exhilarating battle for first place, and on one of the last corners I was able to pass my host student's dad! It was a ton of fun but very cold. We also saw a lot of people dressed up for Carnival, which is similar to Halloween, on the drive home. At home we played board games, ate lunch, and hung out. Then later, I hung out with some friends around the plaza. All in all it was a pretty great day and I hope we get to have some more great times before its over!

03/03/2025

TIE Spain
Friday, February 28, 2025 by Gwen Soper

The day started off with an early wake up to go to an exciting school day. Instead of wearing our uniforms, we braced ourselves for the day in athletic wear. We then attended first block with our Spaniards. After that, we went on a short walk to a pickleball facility and started practicing for the competitive tournament that was going to take place. We started with short passes over the net with each other and then played a short game. We took a quick snack break, eating what our families packed us. Then the games started. It started as a friendly competition, but it quickly escalated to a fierce rivalry between teams, and everyone wanted to become the champion. After many games (battles), Gwen and Victoria became the champions of the girls, and Adam and Sam became the champions of the boys. We started the head back to the school, all rivalry gone. We then attended an award ceremony/lunch, where awards were presented to the pickleball champions, the table tennis champions, the participants of the table tennis tournament, and the pickleball runner ups. During this celebration we enjoyed many dishes, including the Spanish tortilla, bread and cheese, many drinks, calamari and more. All of the students received an award for participating in TIE and we all left the school for the last time very happy. After school was done the rest of the day was spent with family and friends, and many people went to the plaza to enjoy their last Friday night in Salamanca. It was a day filled with fun and friends, and we wouldn’t have left it any other way!

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