By Oscar H, Year 8

At the end of September 2019, ten pupils Felsted Prep pupils, who are learning German in Year 8, travelled to the north of Germany to spend three days with pupils from the Osterholz-Scharmbeck Grammar School, close to the city of Bremen.
 
We were greeted at Bremen Airport by the German pupils and their teachers. They were all very kind and welcoming. We all then took the tram to Bremen station, stored our luggage and then tried lots of different German foods for breakfast. Following on from here, we headed to the nearby centre of the city. Together with our hosts, we took part in an Actionbound scavenger hunt on our phones, which led us to statues, fountains and historical buildings as well as instructing us to practise German tongue twisters. This scavenger hunt also led us to a beautiful sweet shop, where there were lots of sweets and caramels for us to try. The staff there even made sweets in front of us. We then walked to a restaurant called Paulaners. We all tried lots of different foods- even Wienerschnitzel! 
 

We then headed to the magnificent interactive Overseas Museum, which took us on a tour of nature, culture and trade from around the world. Afterwards, we travelled to Osterholz-Scharmbeck by train where we met our host parents. It was a perfect day.

On day two, we went to Osterholz-Scharmbeck Grammar School, We all saw how they learned in Germany: it is very different to our experience at Felsted. They took their own packed lunches to school and there was no school uniform. We took part in German, English, Art and Maths classes. It was a very insightful day.

After school ended at 1.30pm, we returned home to our host families. Some of us went to the Autumn Market; Phoebe took part in a gymnastics club session and Lewis visited the Climate Centre in Bremerhaven. Whatever everyone did, everyone enjoyed it.

On day three, we took two trains to Hamburg. One of the trains we took was a double-decker train! We then went on a boat for a tour around the enormous harbour. We saw lots of different sights, such as a beautiful bridge - It looked like something out of a Shakespeare play. We then descended into a very long hand-made tunnel through which people could walk to the centre of the harbour. It looked like something out of a dream. Afterwards, we visited the new Elbphilharmonie concert hall. It was enormous and gave us a view across the whole of a very rainy Hamburg! The day was finished off with shopping in the Europa Passage Shopping Mall. Unfortunately, this was the last full day of our trip.

On the last day we all gathered at the station where we said goodbye to our host families. We hope to visit again soon.