German Exchange German Leg 2016
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Eve McCormack 3A
During the first week of December 2016, 44 of our Coláiste Bríde girls travelled to southern Bavaria to spend 7 nights with their German host families on the German leg of the school’s German Exchange Programme. The group of enthusiastic students were accompanied by Mrs. A. Doran, Ms. M. Whitty and Ms. R. Mernagh. The Coláiste Bríde group, who had hosted their German partners in September were very excited at the prospect of seeing their partners again and getting to know their host families, experiencing German family life, exploring the town of Bruckmühl and surrounding areas and attending classes at Coláiste Bríde’s German partner school, Gymnasium Bruckmühl. Apart from daily attendance at lessons in school, there were lots of scheduled activities which included a guided tour Schloss Herrenchiemsee (a castle built on an island in the middle of a lake) where we learned a lot about King Ludwig II, ice-skating in the Eishalle in Bad Aibling where everyone had great fun and a guided tour of Dengel Schokoladenfabrik, where we sampled lots of tasty chocolates – truly enjoyable! Included in the scheduled activities was a trip to Salzburg, Austria. We travelled by train to Salzburg, walked along the bank of the river Salzach and had a guided tour of Amadeus Mozart’s house. We spent time exploring the city and visiting the beautiful Christmas market. Before spending the weekend with our host families, the school rock band, “The Suricats”, put on a special performance for us in the school Mensa (canteen) on Friday evening. This was really good fun and was followed by a disco – we all loved the DJ! Our host families provided delicious nibbles and a great night was had by everyone. The 6th December is a special day in Germany as children are visited by Nikolaus in the night and he leaves small gifts behind for them. On the morning of 6th December our teachers took us to a local café and treated us to hot chocolate and a bagful of sweet goodies which was a great way to start the day. After teary farewells, we left Bruckmühl early on the last day and headed into Munich city centre where we spent the day exploring the city centre, doing last minute shopping and soaking up the atmosphere at the Christmas market before flying back to Ireland. The German exchange was definitely an experience to remember! |