Studienfahrt nach Grittleton 2017

The first day (Sunday/Monday)

At 10 p.m. we met at school and after 30 minutes we started the trip. In nine hours we only had three breaks. Then we arrived at Calais and the coach got on a ferry. One and a half hours later, we saw the White Cliffs of Dover, from there it took us another two hours to get to Canterbury, an old town with a famous Cathedral. There, we went shopping. It was a long and tiring trip, but finally we arrived at Grittleton House where we unpacked our things in our rooms in the former stables. The best part today was a funny prank we played on one of the girls in our room, but that will stay our secret.

by Kaja, Lilly, Friederike, Nina E., Juliana and Emily M.

Tuesday

Today, June 20^th 2017, we got up and went to have breakfast. After that we went to our first English lesson in Grittleton House and had class for two hours. Then we had to clean the coach because we had made it very dirty the day before and the teachers were angry with us. After that we went to Castle Combe. We had to walk through a bit of wood and we stayed in the village for one hour. There, we took pictures and ate some very tasty homemade cake. Our next stop was the town Bath. First, we went shopping. Later, we walked to the Roman Baths and visited the museum with an audio guide. Then we went home and our coach “overdrove”* the mirror of another car. At last, we were back and played catch with all the students and the teachers, which was very exhausting.

*“overdrove” = meant to be a joke, of course 😉

by Laetitia, Felina, Nina H., Kristin, Leonie, Emilia, Stefan and Luca

Wednesday

Today we went to Bristol. First, we went shoppinng at Victoria’s Secret, Hollister etc. After that we met in a park and walked to the museum ship and former passenger steamship SS Great Britain where we could see what the cabins and all the rooms below deck looked like. She was the first ship which was built out of iron in 1839. The archtiect was Brunel. The ship’s first trip was from Bristol to London in January 1845, but later on she crossed the Atlantic to go to the USA within only 14 days for example. That was very fast at that time. It was a very hot day again, but we had lots of fun.

by Stefan, Giuliana, Juliana, Max, Matilda, Tim and Lisa

Thursday

Today we went to Stonehenge and Lacock Abbey. At Stonehenge, we saw the famous stone circle where a group of druids had a ceremony because of the summer solstice (Sommersonnenwende). Stonehenge is such a great tourist attraction because nobody really knows how the heavy stones were brought to this place. It is still one of the biggest mysteries. Later on, we went to Lacock Abbey. We saw lots of interesting things, for example, the place where three Harry Potter scences were filmed, a beautiful rose garden, an amazing botanic garden and, most importantly, we had some tasty chips. At the end of the day we went back to Grittleton where we made a quiz about the day and tried to answer the other groups’ questions.

by Franziska, Joanna, Parisa, Fabienne, Lucia and Nora K.

Friday

A week of incredibly sunny and hot weather, nice sightseeing, some inevitable shopping and lots of fun with the students has come to an end. Looking back, the students were in for all the group activities and games we had planned and there were hardly any problems that could not be solved, so we really enjoyed our time with them. A first this year was that – instead of going to the city centre of London on our last day, as we used to do – we tried out something new and went to the World Heritage Site Greenwich, a borough of London by the river Thames. After the coach ride through London including a little sightseeing tour going past the Natural History Museum, Harrods, Trafalgar Square and the Tower of London, we got off at Docklands and walked our way to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel which goes beneath the river. Having arrived on the other side, we set the kids free to explore famous sights like the sailing ship Cutty Sark, the Old Royal Naval College, the Royal Obervatory, where you can overlook Greenwich Park and have a great view of London’s skyline as well as stand over the Meridian Line with one foot in the east and one in the west, or Greenwich Market with its many little shops and food stalls (all known from their textbooks at school). Since all good things must come to an end, we left Greenwich at about 10 p.m. to go back home via the Channel Tunnel. Unfortunately, due to a booking mistake the coach operator had made, we could not get on one of the trains and finally had to take the ferry once again. Being delayed for a couple of hours, completely knackered and looking forward to our own beds, we arrived – safe and sound – at the car park in Friedberg at about 1 p.m. on Saturday. Although the trip home was a bit bumpy, we are looking forward to having another go in 2018 – hopefully without any surprises. So watch out and join the crew, Year 8!

by Dominique Lerch, Sonja Maiweg, Ann-Kathrin Shahzad and Thomas Vesely