In loser Folge veröffentlicht der Urspringblog auch Beiträge in englischer Sprache. Lesen Sie heute den Reisebericht des Erasmus+-Austauschs mit unserer Partnerschule im schottischen Thornhill.
It has already been six months since the last visit in our school, all of us were looking forward to visit Scotland as a part of the Erasmus+ program. From June, 2nd to June, 7th 2019, accompanied by a teacher 9 students from our school went to Scotland and visited our partner school, the Wallace Hall Academy (WHA), which is located in Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway, in the south-west of Scotland.
We gathered at the Urspringschule at 7 am on Sunday morning and were taken to Stuttgart Airport. There we met our teacher Mrs. Radermacher. The plane took off on time at 11 am, which means our trip just started. At about 4:30 pm local time, we landed in Glasgow, where the Hungarians and a bus were waiting for us. After a one and a half hour drive we finally arrived at the WHA. There we met our exchange partners and soon went to our host families.
The school starts at 9:15 am in the WHA. On Monday morning our exchange partners brought us to the school, there we were welcomed by Mr.Harley and got a guided tour through the school. When we got back the Hungarians and us presented our schools to the Scots. After the presentations we got divided into 4 groups, each group was assigned a project that they needed to work on, like the problems of local tourism and a school for the future. We worked all day long on our projects and handed them in before the school was finished. We were also able to go to the town and buy something for lunch. In the evening we had a party next to Drumlanrig Castle, where we got another chance to get to know the Scots and the Hungarians better.
On Tuesday we made a trip to Edinburgh. At 10 am we left the WHA with a bus, and arrived in Edinburgh at about 11:30 am. Our first destination was the National Museum of Scotland. We spent about an hour in the museum, then we were allowed to go into the city in groups. At 5 pm we gathered at the bus and headed back. On our way back we made a stop at a restaurant, so that we could try the delicious fish & chips. We got back to the school very late, therefore we didn’t have any further program.
We made another trip to Wanlockhead, the highest located village of Scotland, at an altitude of around 410m, on Wednesday. There we visited an old gold mine. We didn’t just walk through the museum and the mine, we also tried to wash for gold. Most of us did find some gold pieces, and we were allowed to keep them as souvenirs. In the afternoon, we visited the Drumlanrig Castle again, and had a walk in the beautiful garden. At 6 pm we met at the place of a host family. There we talked with each other, played football, got something to eat and had a lot of fun. What’s more, we also heard two pipers playing the famous Great Highland bagpipes.
Thursday was our last day at WHA. We started with learning some traditional Scottish dances. The Scots showed us first, then the Hungarians joined in and we tried to dance with them. After this part, a teacher of the WHA taught us a fitness dance along with the music from Bruno Mars called “Uptown Funk”. For lunch we prepared some food from our countries. Then we were allowed to leave the school with our exchange partners. In the evening we had our last party in Dumfries.
The next Friday morning was very sad, because we had to leave. While everyone was still waiting in the school, the flight of the Hungarians got canceled because of strikes at the Glasgow Airport. Luckily they found a replacement. At about 10:30 am we said the last farewell to the Scots and left the school with the Hungarians by bus. Our flight wasn’t canceled but it got delayed. So we had to wait for 8 hours in the airport. While landing in Amsterdam, we saw our next flight to Stuttgart taking off… Thanks to Mrs.Radermacher and Royal Dutch Airlines we were able to sleep in a 5-star Hilton Hotel right beside the airport free of charge. A new flight to Stuttgart was also arranged, which was on Saturday at 1 pm.
On Saturday morning we had a luxurious breakfast in the hotel. Then we went to the airport at 9:30am. Because the weather in Amsterdam wasn’t really good the flight got delayed (again) and the gate was changed several times. After another hour of waiting we got aboard (!) and the plane finally took off. When we landed in Stuttgart, it had already taken 35 hours for us to get back home.
We all had a great time in Scotland. Our host families were very friendly and kind to us, they’ve got everything planed and prepared perfectly. A week of Erasmus+ exchange program wasn’t long, but we met new people, and made friends with them. Most importantly, we had a lot of fun! I believe all of us would love to visit Scotland again in the future, because we haven’t seen Nessie (Loch Ness Monster) yet!
Text: Jiahong „Felix“ Yuan & Jacob Hochbaum
Mehr zu unserem Erasmus+-Projekt „There is no Planet B“ lesen Sie auch unter urspring4erasmus.eu!
