On Thursday 29th March 2007 eleven German students from years 9 and 10 travelled to Hameln in Germany to meet their pen pals.

We travelled by train from Alton to Waterloo, and then took the Eurostar to Brussels. From here we went to Köln and then to Hanover until we finally reached Hameln. Although the journey took a long time, we enjoyed travelling through different countries watching the countryside change.

On the next morning, we were met by our German pen pals who walked us to their school called Albert-Einstein-Gymnasium. It was very exciting because we had been wanting to see them and their school ever since we first made contact with them via letters and emails.

Claudia, my pen pal and some of her classmates, showed us around the “Schule”. It was quite different from an English school, but it was very nice. Our German friends were much better at English than we were at German! But I tried my hardest to sound like I could actually speak German!

In the afternoon we all went to lunch at an Italian restaurant which was slightly peculiar as we were in Germany. We learnt that going to the “Italiener” is a very German thing to do. Sitting in mixed groups around the tables, all of us started having conversations in a mixture of German and English and giggles were heard everywhere.

Later we had a guided tour of the historic centre of Hameln. The town is very beautiful. We learnt all about the “Rattenfänger”, the myth about the Pied Piper.

On Saturday morning we went to a German Supermarket to buy lunch and snacks for our return journey. It was quite an experience to browse all the isles. We had a lot of fun buying a ridiculous amount of food. Back at the Hostel, our German friends picked us up in small groups to spend the day with them.

Tara and I went to Claudia’s house to look around and then took the train to Hanover to go shopping. Claudia and her friends were very nice and welcoming and we chatted with ease (in English). But a few German phrases were exchanged, too. It was good fun. When we said goodbye to Claudia and her mother, I felt quite emotional and sad to leave them because they were so lovely.

That night we had an impromptu party, as it was the last evening. We painted our faces like mice and re-enacted the story of the “Rattenfänger”.

At the end of the trip no one wanted to leave, we had all had a wonderful time. All the German girls were so nice and I look forward to their coming to England or for us to go on another trip to Hameln.

“We had Kaffee und Kuchen the proper German way which was delicious. Then we walked in the forest and up a steep hill to get to a tower. We enjoyed a 360° view of Hameln!”

“We were taken to our friend’s house which was a farm. They had 17 cows and a new born calf. We watched the cows have a car wash. The whiff of the countryside was wonderful!”

“We went to the park with our German friends and were given an Easter egg and a German lesson. We were taught words like schräg which means diagonal.”

Caitlin and Olivia

(more photos...)