Year 12’s adventures in the cultural capital of Europe
Emily H, History & German student, 12AMZ
government in China. This moving experience was an example of Berlin’s cultural diversity and how ordinary people have stood up against repression for decades. We rounded off the day with free time in Kreuzberg, exploring cool vintage shops and enjoying some iconic Doner. Here I learned my personal favourite fact about Berlin, courtesy of Ms Robinson: there are more Doner Kebab shops in Berlin than Istanbul!
BERLIN: A CITY FULL OF DIVERSITY AND CONTRASTS. IT HAS ONLY BEEN 36 YEARS SINCE DIE WENDE, OR THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL, WHICH MEANS OUR CLASS WASN’T JUST LEARNING ABOUT HISTORY ON THIS TRIP- WE WERE LIVING IT, AS THIS EVENT SHAPED MODERN EUROPE AS WE KNOW IT TODAY. WE BEGAN OUR ADVENTURE ON THE 22ND JUNE MEETING IN HEATHROW AT 4:45 AM- SO EARLY I WAS CONSIDERING SHAKING A FEW LARKS AWAKE! HOWEVER, MORALE WAS HIGH AS WE WERE EAGER TO SET OFF WITH OUR FRIENDS TO EXPLORE A NEW PLACE, BEGINNING WITH A WHISTLE-STOP WALKING TOUR, COURTESY OF MR BANNISTER’S HISTORY FACTS (HE SOMEHOW MANAGED TO PACK IN POINTS ABOUT EVERYTHING FROM THE PRUSSIANS TO POTSDAM), AND AN ASCENT OF THE MARVELLOUS SIEGESSÄULE, OR VICTORY COLUMN. WE ENJOYED A PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE CITY UP THERE, AND THEN IT WAS TIME FOR CURRYWURST AND WORLD CUP ANTICS AFTER A GOLDEN HOUR WALK ALONG THE SPREE. Of course, no visit is complete without experiencing the East Side Gallery, so we took in the fantastic murals under blazing sunshine before heading to dinner (Indian under the Canadian Embassy, yet another cross-cultural moment for us!) and then back to the hotel for more football- though no Vindaloo was consumed at dinner, so we
didn’t score one more than Panama! The 24th saw us taking a trek across the city to a Stasi prison, fully preserved from Soviet times, today a memorial to human rights. Our guide’s own father had been imprisoned for twelve years on account of possessing a letter he was writing to the BBC’s Letters Without Signature. We German students found it bleak yet fascinating to discover the true human stories about something we had only seen in our A level film, ‘Good Bye Lenin!’ before that day.
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