The history trip to Berlin was amazing; I truly learnt a lot of new things that I probably wouldn’t pay attention to in class. It was like the four walls of Mr Shakeri’s room disappeared and we were moved some 1000 miles east, into the heart of Germany, where we had to live and study for 4 days, and the best part was, you were with your friends and with no parents around. Over the course of 4 days, me and the rest of the group travelled to so many places and different sites. We felt like we knew the place like the back of our hands. The main thing was not just the new things we learnt, but what made the trip more incredible was that we had the experience of being there, being where history was made and recorded.
It was the experience that made all the difference; one example would be when we were in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, on the outskirts of Berlin. We were freezing to death while standing in the camp, wearing a shirt, jumper, a very thick coat, scarves, hats and gloves, but yet we could feel the cold right to our bones. That’s when the teachers told us that the prisoners there would have to stand for hours at -25°C, wearing only 1 very thin layer of clothes. We were dumbstruck, if some one had told me this in class, as I mentioned before, I wouldn’t have paid much attention to it.
The experience of being there was not the only thing that made the trip worth it, the tour guides were the people who bought history to life, they were well equipped with the knowledge in their field, and they were able to answer every question that was asked. They also fed us the vital information that we need in a way that we hung to every word they said, they made the tour fun and exciting, and clearly showed links between the things we saw.
Another thing that everyone enjoyed was the youth hostel, all the facilities were amazing and incredibly enjoyable, especially the bar and the pool table, even the teachers joined in on that one. The food is amazing (not the Hostel’s!!) in Berlin, I tried a new pastry called a ‘Berliner’, it was amazing! It is like a donut, but filled with a strawberry-like icing, coated in a clear glaze like sugar.
Overall, from the moment we stepped on the coach, until the moment we stepped out after the trip, we really enjoyed every moment. The journey to Berlin was long but when your friends are around, anything can be fun. The 4 days there was just great, it made us speechless. The time flew by so we never realised we were going home, some of us just wanted to stay there, too bad we didn’t get to. We had to come back and now do a controlled assessment on what we learned there. The basic line is: the trip easily, hands down, beats any thing you would possibly learn in class. It is worth it.
(P.S Wrap up warm and take lots of money)
By Shivang Joshi (10PRE) – Gifted in History