Aylesbury
exchange

Excitement mixed with fear grew in me rapidly as my parents drove me to the airport where the meeting point was. All of the partaking students met up in front of the baggage drop-off counter at Stuttgart Airport. None of us could have guessed how fantastic the exchange ahead of us would be. From Monday to Friday our German group has been on multiple trips to London, Oxford and even the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studios! The weekend was individually planned by each family we stayed with. Out of all unforgettable school trips I’ve been on during that week, I liked our Thursday’s visit to London the best. Starting from the Aylesbury train station we took the train to London Marylebone Station and then changed to the Bakerloo and Jubilee line and then we ended up in Canary Wharf. The Docklands Light Railway took us to Greenwich for a voluntary walk up the famous hill. It was very steep but totally worth the view! We all met up again for the boat trip at half past one in the afternoon. It then took us all the way from Greenwich to Westminster allowing us to see most of the sights like the Tower Bridge, the Big Ben Tower, the London Eye or the Shard from a different perspective. Additionally, after a few rainy days the weather played along on that Thursday too which let us enjoy the trip even more! Trusting us with not getting lost, our teachers gave us again some free time to explore the neighbourhood on our own. My group went to some street markets to buy delicious street food and afterwards we went on to Buckingham Palace. Moving around the city in smaller groups challenged every single one of us. We had to prove ourselves with big responsibility and organization. We ended the day by returning to Aylesbury on the train from Marylebone. At the Aylesbury station our exchange students together with their families had already been waiting for our arrival. During the whole stay in England our English teachers Mrs. Karch and Mr. Zehrlaut made us feel safe and gave us support. I’m grateful for all the memories I could collect during that week and on behalf of other German exchange students I want to thank all of them and all the others who were associated in the organization of the Stuttgart-Aylesbury exchange for giving us the opportunity to experience an unforgettable adventure.

Nina Bacal 9b