AVG besucht City Of London School for Girls
Thursday, 22nd June 2023
Full of excitement, our German group consisting of 14 girls, Ms Hutsch, Ms Kauffmann and Jaime Helm, our assistant teacher from the US, met at the airport in Luxemburg to fly to London. As the English exchange group had been to Trier in March, we were really looking forward to our one-week stay with our exchange partners of the City Of London School for Girls. After a relaxed flight, our plane landed at the London City Airport at 11 o’clock GMT in the morning and we took the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) to Bank. Due to some issues on the way we arrived a little late at the City of London School for Girls, so our program was delayed.
After we had placed our luggage at the school, we walked to the St. Paul’s Cathedral nearby. While walking around in the cathedral we used an audio guide explaining the different parts of the building. The audio guide also contained a version for families with multiple videos and quizzes for each part of the cathedral, which was my personal favourite. After everyone had finished the tour, we made our way to the top of the building. Even though the way up there was a bit of a challenge, it was totally worth it because the view over London was just breath taking! We used the opportunity to take incredible photos of the London skyline and eventually went back down. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any time left to go to Notting Hill so we just had a lunch break until it was time to head back to the school and meet our exchange partners. We were welcomed with snacks and had some time to chat and catch up. Then everyone went their way to their host families.
Friday, 23rd June 2023
On Friday morning we met at Waterloo station at 8 am to walk to the British Museum. We all had time to tell each other about our host families and how our evening was. It turned out that we all were really happy with them. On our way to the museum we were able to see the London Eye and have a first look at the Houses of Parliament and the Elizabeth Tower aka Big Ben (although that’s just the name of the clock). When we arrived at the British Museum, we split into groups of three and had a look around. The British Museum is with its eight million works the largest one in the world. It is dedicated to human history, art and culture and is free to enter. Special exhibitions usually require a fee. My favourite exhibition was the one about the Egyptians because of the unique exhibits like the mummies.
To get to the Natural History Museum on time we took the Tube from Holborn to South Kensington. From there it was a five-minute walk to the museum. Even though we were all pretty tired already, we were still impressed by all the different exhibits there. To get to one of my favourite exhibits, the earthquake simulator, we took an escalator that went through the earth’s core. There were also a few souvenir shops so at the end everyone could go through them before we headed to Kensington Gardens near the museum. At the park we had a break and ate our lunch until we went back to the school to meet our partners. Then my partner took me to Leadenhall Market because it is near the school. It looked amazing! Eventually we went back home.
Saturday, 24th June 2023
Everyone spent the weekend with their host families, so on Saturday morning I went to the German school with my partner and her little sister because they have German parents and they are supposed to speak German fluently. It didn’t take the whole day though, it was from 10am to 12pm. It was really interesting for me to see the way they learn their mother language. Because their summer festival was about to come up they practiced the „Erlkönig“ – I’m pretty sure you all know that famous poem. After her dad picked us up from school, we went home for lunch. Before I came to London I asked her if we could visit King’s Cross because I’m a big Harry Potter fan, so we went there and it was amazing! We had some trouble finding the Harry Potter Shop but with the help of other people that were also going there, we found it eventually. Since we also went to Oxford and Reagent Street we got home pretty late but we were happy to go to bed after a long fun day.
Sunday, 25th June 2023
On Sunday we had to get up pretty early for a day at the weekend day because my host family wanted to take me to rural London, one hour outside the city. We were on a small island next to the Thames, so there were a lot of people bathing since it was 30°C that day. My partner and I walked around the island for a whole hour and chatted a little. When we got back, we also went into the water and it was really refreshing! After a few hours we drove back home because we both still had to catch up with some homework. Later in the evening we were invited to her mum’s work dinner and the people there were really nice. And since my host family only speaks German at home I finally got the opportunity to speak English with other people. We also ate dinner there so after we returned home, we went straight to bed.
Monday, 26th June 2023
This day was my favourite day of the whole exchange because we were able to visit London’s most famous sights. We met at 9:30 am at the school’s entrance and then we took the Central line from St Paul’s to Holborn and from there the Piccadilly line to Green Park. The Changing of the Guards seemed to be one of the most popular attractions because it was already really crowded in front of Buckingham Palace. After we watched the guards playing “Our House“ by Madness, we headed to Covent Garden and passed the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Elizabeth Tower and Trafalgar Square on our way. At Covent Garden we split into groups of four and had two hours of free time to get food or some souvenirs. Eventually, we made our way back to the school to meet our partners.
Tuesday, 27th June 2023
On Tuesday we went to “Registration“ with our partners, where one teacher checks if every student is present. Usually they go to their classes afterwards but they joined us on our trip to Greenwich that day which was pretty cool because we got to meet some of the other English girls. To get to Greenwich we walked over Millennium Bridge to the Thames and took the ship. In Greenwich we went to the Maritime Museum first where every group had to solve a quiz. It was really interesting to see how the ships were built back then and the different parts of the museum. After everyone finished the quiz we had another two hours of free time until we met back at the museum. Lastly we went up to the Royal Observatory and had a great view over the London Skyline! Back at the museum the group that had most of the questions right got rewarded and then everyone went back home.
Wednesday, 28th June 2023
On our last day in London we finally got to go to class with our partners but unfortunately just for the first period. After that we met at the entrance and went to the Hindu temple in Neasden. It was a really unique experience to watch a traditional prayer and learn something about Hinduism. After the prayer we watched a presentation on how the temple was built and how Hinduism spread over the world. The last activity of our exchange was the Camden Lock Market with multiple souvenir shops, food varieties and much more. My friend and me ended up buying London Hoodies as a nice memory of our trip. And even though we were a little delayed on the way back to the school we all got back home to our partners.
Thursday, 29th June 2023
This was the day we went back to Germany so there’s not much to say about that day. What’s important is that, even though our flight was twenty minutes late we all got home safely and most importantly – we were all HAPPY!
This exchange was such an amazing and unique experience for me! I saw and learned so many new things and I will have great memories. To all the future 9th graders: I can only recommend this exchange to you because you will also gain many new experiences and memories just like we did!
