Half-Term Trip to European Seminar

During October half term a group of 6th Form and Year 11 Germanists, accompanied by Mr Donaghey, travelled to Todtmoos to take part in the annual European Seminar. Home for the next five days was the Europäische Gästehaus, an imposing and comfortable hostel in an idyllic setting in the heart of the Black Forest. Sustained by some mid afternoon” Kaffee und Kuchen” the students set out on a short hike under a cloudless sky to explore the picturesque local scenery including some spectacular waterfalls.  After a hearty Schnitzel supper there were presentations of our schools, some ‘interesting’ ice breaker games and a quiz with a European theme, all of which helped everyone get to know each other. The theme of the seminar was “Culture of Europe – Europe of Cultures” and the students attended three 90 minute seminars on different topics relating to this theme, including challenging stereotypes; exploring what is culture and founding a new country; writing a constitution and environmental issues. On the third day there was an educational and enjoyable trip to the university city of Freiburg. The students climbed the 209 steps of the gothic Cathedral with stunning views of the city and surrounding hills before venturing round the city centre and sampling some local Bratwurst. On the final day, supplied with ‘state of the art’ ipads, the students explored the village with a mission to capture, in a two minute time frame, the ‘essence of Europe’ with some very creative and entertaining productions. There was no shortage of evening entertainment on offer either with a choice of table tennis, table football or chilling and dancing in the Party Keller. Our students left Todtmoos with snow falling and temperatures twenty degrees cooler than on our arrival.  They had ample opportunity to speak German, engage in stimulating debate on serious and trivial issues and learn more about each other’s cultures. The scene on our departure at Basel airport was, as in previous years, an emotional one and showed just how many friendship groups had been made during the seminar. In all, a trip to remember. It is hoped that the Facebook page will enable the students to keep in touch with one another until their next meeting. The seminar will take place in the UK next year and we very much look forward to welcoming our friends to our shores.