First study trip of the Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule Schwäbisch Hall.
On Sunday, May 7, the first class of the Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule left their familiar surroundings in Schwäbisch Hall with their suitcases packed to become the school’s first class to go on a study trip. Supported by the European Union’s Erasmus Plus education program, their aim was to visit the partner school in Zamość near the Ukrainian border in Poland. After a half-day journey by train and plane, they reached their first stop in Krakow together with the accompanying teachers Parzival Held and Achim Knaak.
Here, the Schwäbisch Hall students met up with pupils from Zamość the following day to explore Poland’s second largest city together under the guidance of a city guide. The next day, they continued on to Zamość. While the Polish twelfth-graders initially occupied the rear seats of the coach and the visitors from Schwäbisch Hall enjoyed the scenery in the front compartment, the first joint conversations took place towards the end of the journey.
However, the ice was finally broken the following day during group games and games to get to know each other. The students sorted each other by shoe size, hair or eye color without speaking and tied a loop with a large ribbon without letting go. By painting portraits of people of the same age who were initially strangers to each other, everyone was able to experience that humor is a means of quickly forgetting initial cultural and language barriers. In keeping with Europe Day on May 9, the Polish principal Boguslaw Klimczuk then gave a presentation on Robert Schuman, the founding father of the idea of a common Europe. The young adults then conducted interviews to find out what it means to them to live in the EU and to what extent they identify with it. The guided tours of the partner school and twin town as well as the joint volleyball match in the evening rounded off a successful day of international understanding.
This laid the trusting foundation for kayaking and hiking together the next day in the Roztozce National Park and the sense of community continued to grow. The barbecue at lunchtime rounded off the day’s excursion. Afterwards, many students were amazed at the diversity and beauty of nature in south-eastern Poland.
Things got a little more formal the next day with a visit from the mayor of Zamość, Andrzej Wnuk, who talked about the city, the Lublin voivodeship and, above all, the cooperation with Germany and the twin town of Schwäbisch Hall in particular. An open question and answer session and a joint picture in front of the town hall concluded the meeting. The German and Polish students then continued by bus to a guided tour of the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp in nearby Lublin.
The Polish and German students spent their last evening together in Zamość before the German group continued on to Warsaw the next day for a tour of the city. Boguslaw Klimczuk took over the tour himself and amicably accompanied the German visitors to the most important sights. The highlights were the view of the city panorama from the Palace of Culture and a leisurely stroll through the streets and alleyways of the old town. He gave the group valuable cultural insights, for example when he drew attention to the many well-dressed high school graduates.
On Sunday, May 13, it was time to say goodbye after an intensive study trip full of new impressions. The train took them back from Warsaw to Schwäbisch Hall. Some of them used the time on the journey to work for school, as next year they too will be sitting their Abitur exams for the first time at Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule. But first they want to plan another class trip together. Who knows where they will go next time? They certainly have the cell phone numbers of their Polish friends. In any case, Boguslaw Klimczuk and Achim Knaak agree that there should be another study trip to Zamość for the next 12th graders.