On Sunday the 1st of July, a group of 35 Year 8 and Year 9 students and 3 teachers left Chipping Norton at 8.30pm and headed for Germany. The journey was roughly 20 hours of films, chatting, and very little sleep! When we finally arrived in Nördlingen at 4pm that next day, everyone was exhausted and we all staggered off the coach to meet our exchange families, relieved to have finally arrived.
On Tuesday we joined in with our exchange partners’ first two school lessons and then went for a walk around Nördlingen and visited the Rieskrater Museum with the CNS group. The next day was probably most people’s favourite day as we visited Allianz Arena, home of FC Bayern München! After a fantastic tour of the stadium and changing rooms, we got a train into Munich city centre and did some shopping and sightseeing. It was very beautiful. On Friday, we went to Legoland in Günzberg. It was fantastic and extremely wet as it rained heavily on and off for most of the day but it certainly didn’t ruin our time; we’re English, we’re used to it!
The weekend was spent with our exchange families and many of us went to a local festival in Bopfingen; more shopping! After an excellent week we sadly had to pack our bags, get an early night ready for our journey home. On Monday morning, we met outside the German school at 5.30am for a 5.45 departure. After waving goodbye, we braced ourselves for the long journey home.
When we finally crossed the Channel by Eurotunnel in the afternoon we were restless and glad of the chance to stretch our legs on the train. After a few more hours we were back in Chipping Norton at 10.35pm and were greeted by our own families, who looked more asleep than us! Our Germ adventure was complete.
Imogen Bissett: 8GN
