Hamburg Exchange 2010
In early October 2010, a
party of 11 intrepid UCS German students, accompanied by Mr Underwood, Dr
Plow and Mr Doran boarded an aeroplane at Luton Airport, bound for the
north German city of Hamburg. Although we had been in contact with our
partners via e-mail, we all had a feeling of apprehension as we were
nervous to meet the people we would be living with for the next seven
days.
When we arrived I was blown away by the way they welcomed complete
strangers. We were all whisked away from the airport before any of us had
said “Guten Abend”. When I arrived at my family’s house, it was already as
if we had known each other for years, due to the fervour of the
conversation in the car. Everybody had so many questions, and they
stretched my modest German speaking capabilities to the extreme. After an
enjoyable evening of games and a delicious meal, it was off to bed,
because there would be an early start the next day.
We were at the train station by 7:00 local time, the British contingent
bleary eyed and half a sleep, and the rest of the party finding it
extremely funny that we were so tired. The day commenced with a tour
around Hamburg by bus, which was a great opportunity to see the city, but
also to get to know our German counterparts. After that we went on a boat
trip around the city’s famous Docklands. That evening we had a party at
another exchange partner's house. This was really great fun and we all
really enjoyed it, and we left feeling like we had made some new friends.
The week held much in store for us, we went on many day trips to famous
and not so famous destinations, which included Berlin, Lübeck and of
course the Heinrich Heine Gymnasium School. It was amazing to get a sample
of the culture of such a wonderful country, the epitome of this was the
sampling of Currywurst, a German delicacy that had reached near cult
status among us, for reasons none of us can fathom.
By the end of the week we were all firm friends, and we rounded off the
week with a wonderful meal in a restaurant, where we laughed with our
exchanges like old friends. It was a great way to end the week. And as we
boarded the plane to return to the UK, we all couldn’t wait for the return
leg in London, which was equally such a success. We’d like to say thank
you to Mr Underwood and Dr Plow for organising the trip.
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