Last week's Guest Speaker: Gabrielle Burey
Posted by Franz Huber
on Feb 29, 2016
Gabrielle recently returned from her year in Minden, Germany. The town of Minden, on the Weser river, goes back for centuries. Famous for its bridge over a bridge (see picture), one of its major events in history was the Battle of Minden on 01 August 1759. The locals call it Annus Mirabilis. That, however, certainly is not what Gabrielle describes her year there. Her first host family’s cooking was all Vegan – Howzat for a completely new experience? She stayed there for 6 months, with the occasional ‘Sugar Craze’, or acute craving for a steak or at least a hamburger… “I grew very close to my last host family”, Gabrielle reported. All in all, a very interesting and character building experience for her indeed.
She went to school at the Ratsgymnasium
(no, nothing to do with Rats – pronounced ‘Raat’s’, from the German word ‘Rat’ as in Gemeinderat (Local Council Authority), and Gymnasium as in College or High School).
(no, nothing to do with Rats – pronounced ‘Raat’s’, from the German word ‘Rat’ as in Gemeinderat (Local Council Authority), and Gymnasium as in College or High School).There was a lot of Rotary activity, firstly with the sponsoring Rotary Club of Minden – Porta Westfalica, as well as with multiple major excursions, not just around Germany, but internationally throughout Europe. One of the local activities of the local club is ‘Baumpflanzen’ (tree planting): for every visiting student, a tree is planted. They can then return at any time in the future and check how it has grown, and perhaps in another 40 years, bring your grandchildren there!
Gabrielle engaged herself in a new hobby: drawing and painting. Good training for her intended career path: she will shortly commence a University course at the University of Queensland in Multi Media Design. And to continue her involvement with Rotary, she’ll also join a local Rotaract Club in Brisbane, the Rotaract of Brisbane CBD. And, just in case the brain is not stretched far enough: how about a course in Spanish?