Past Events

Foreigners become Friends (FbF) – City Trip Mainz

Gutenberg Museum and Christmas Market (03.12.2016)

The weather was great and after a train ride and a short but sunny walk through Mainz (for the group from Darmstadt), the students and hosts from Darmstadt and Mainz met in front of the Gutenberg Museum. Luckily we had some time for group pictures!

Afterwards the one hour guided tour through the Gutenberg Museum commenced and the group could see and in a few cases participate in how a traditional printing press is used (as it was done when Gutenberg invented it). Of course, the group had to see the famous bibles that are stored in the museums vault and represent an amazing achievement. The guide explained how much time and work were necessary for just eight copies (months by the way) and that details and pictures were added later by hand. Still, the printing press cut down on the time it took to copy a book by hand tremendously. A few students also got a memento a so called letter of indulgence that they themselves helped printing.

Coffee Break / Tea Time

After the tour ended and the group was finished browsing the extensive collection of the museum the group met in a local café called "Hinz und Kunz". There we had coffee, tea, cake and exchanged experiences and got to know each other better.

In a relaxed atmosphere conversations sparked and the hosts from Mainz told a little about the history of the city.

In addition, the organizers had the opportunity to talk a little about ideas and possible future projects.

A host from Mainz led the group through small alleys and narrow streets (of the old town) and told the students and hosts from Darmstadt additional information regarding architecture and history. Then we tackled the Christmas Market and split into smaller groups, because of the densely packed people, who enjoyed "Glühwein" or some of the treats from the many food stalls. After having fought our way through to the stall that sold the "best" Glühwein" (also we had no way to make sure and tasting everything would have surely led to disaster 😉 ) the day was already nearing its end. Not long after Ralph (see picture) led the group from Darmstadt back to the train station "Römisches Theater", but not without showing us another beautiful street with Christmas lights. Content but already a little cold the group was quite happy when the train finally arrived and went back to Darmstadt with many new experiences and hopefully a good time!

The event was organized by Benjamin Lobedank >Foreigners become friends< (Studierendenwerk Darmstadt), in cooperation with Yvonne Raftopoulo from International Generations Meeting Darmstadt (IGeM) and Petra Volanakis from >Foreigners become Friends< (Studierendenwerk Mainz).

 

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