Daniel's Musings on His Summer

I asked my son, who is generally a very reluctant writer, to pen an essay about his summer in Germany and Switzerland, 2008. As usual, he dashed something off in a few minutes and was through with it, but I was reasonably pleased (despite one lapse into unrefined language near the end):

What I Did This Summer

I will always remember this summer as the summer to remember. This summer was not the kind you forget in about a week; this one will follow me to my grave. My summer was all about Europe, but mostly Germany. Germany was a nice place with great respect for the environment. Most people either rode bikes, walked, or drove small cars with great gas mileage. One of these was particularly popular, the Smart Car. The Smart Car is a cute thing and is able to fit two passengers (although barely). Other cars are also popular like the Mercedes Benz. Mercedes is not just a luxury vehicle like here in America—no. Mercedes Benz makes buses and trucks to transport goods.

Germans also show their love of nature in their recycling. Germany has a great system for recycling and reusing. They sometimes use glass bottles when you buy a Coke, and when you turn the bottle in you get money. They also use reusable plates. To make sure you turn in your plastic Coke bottles, they have machines that will take the bottle and give you as much as 25 (euro) cents back.

For such a populated country, Germany has an abundance of pretty countryside and not as many large cities as other places. Many little settlements out in the country have solar panels throughout the town, providing clean energy. Germany uses wind as energy, also. Giant windmills create energy that doesn’t pollute.

On a different subject, Germany (a.k.a. Deutschland) has great food. As you walk down a cobblestone street, imagine the smell of fresh baked bread filling your nostrils. You look around and see a bakery—actually, you see several. That is what it is like everywhere. Germans also love their beer and football—sort of like Americans, except Germans don’t drink that Miller and Bud cr**, and "football" means "soccer." I even got to see Germany make it to the championship game against Spain. Even though they lost, I still rooted them on and ended up buying a German jersey, bringing Germany back home with me.