In year level 8 there is usually an exchange to England, but this year the English school which normally does the exchange with our school was not interested. Since the Bodensee-Gymnasium wanted to give us the opportunity for an exchange with an English-speaking country, they worked hard on making it possible, especially because they knew that besides the mandatory part of learning different subjects to improve our knowledge, experiencing diversity is extremely important for students while learning subjects especially languages. It can improve the daily use of the language, and it gives students a big opportunity for exposure to new environments, letting them get to know the language and culture better. Although there were complications, they found a way to get it to work.
So, on the 8ᵗʰ of July, we got on a bus that took us to Zurich airport. From there, we flew to Dublin, where our guest families were awaiting our arrival. Every morning, we met at the spire, a monument in Dublin, and travelled to where our activities would take place.
The next day, we visited Trinity College, where we were allowed to walk around and take pictures. The park of the college was beautiful and we all enjoyed a picnic on the lawn. After walking around the city for a while, we went to the Goethe-Institute, where we had English lessons. On the first day we had debates on different topics, such as “Does capitalism still work in the 21st century?” or “Will AI take over teaching in the next decade?” after that we talked about Irish culture and stereotypes. We also learned about the differences in the connotation of words between Irish and American English. The example we used was the connotation of the word “institute” which refers to a hospital for mentally unstable people in Ireland, while it is considered as a term for university in other English-speaking countries.
On the third day, we visited the National Museum of Ireland. There were many exhibitions about different periods of Irish history, covering topics such as Vikings and Celts. After the interesting visit we returned to the Goethe-Institute, where we talked about the museum in English class. We all agreed that it had been a great experience.
We spent the fourth day in Howth, where we took photos for a competition. A tour guide walked alongside the cliffs with us and told us stories about the region, and helped us get the best shots. We had a great view of the ocean. Later that day, we ate fish and chips in a restaurant close to the water and even saw a giant seal called Sammy that lives in the harbour of Howth. In the afternoon we had English lessons again. A lot of us noticed an improvement in our ability to express ourselves in English.
On day five, we went to Phoenix Park, which is a huge park in Dublin, bigger than Central Park in New York. We walked around and again we learned a lot. For example that Phoenix actually means fresh water. We admired the beautiful landscape and even saw the home of the president of Ireland. Later, we went shopping in the Stephen’s Green mall in Dublin. We walked around in small groups and bought presents for our families and friends at home. After buying everything we needed, we returned to our host families.
On day six, we took the DART, a train-like vehicle, to Killiney beach. We spent our time at the beach playing football, soccer, and frisbee. Later that day, we travelled back to Dublin to spend time in Merrion Square Park, where we visited a festival (Funtropolis), which had a lot of cultural stalls awaiting us. While some of us got lunch at one of the stands, others talked or played games on the lawn.
On our final day, we went to a museum again, but this was very different from the National Museum of Ireland. The World of Illusions is a colourful and interesting museum that shows cool illusions and explains how they work. After this mind-blowing experience, we had an Irish dancing workshop back at the Goethe-Institute with one of the participants of “Riverdance”, a famous dance show that toured the world. He taught us a lot. For example, he explained that children in Ireland begin learning how to dance Irish dances at the age of three. After that we had our final English lesson in Ireland. During this lesson, we talked about how much we liked the trip, and we all agreed that it was amazing and some of us might even visit Dublin again with our families.
The next day, we packed our bags and headed to the airport. When we left, we had learned so many things. Not only did we improve our vocabulary in English, but we also learned how to navigate in a big city or practice organizing ourselves and keeping track of time.
The trip was amazing, and we are all so grateful that we got the opportunity to learn so much about English in a different way than school could ever teach us. We all have to thank the teachers, who made this trip possible, Mr. Scherl, Mr. Neidel, Mrs. Schneider, and last but not least, Mrs. Schaidt.
Antonia Becker, Saanvi Gaddam, Saanvi Nayak
