Bochum - Germany (Comenius) Trip: Shannon Clayton

Wednesday 24th November

It Started on the Wednesday I got up at 7:00 am like any other school day only to realize today was the day I left for Germany and I still hadn't finished packing! In only 1 hr and 10 minutes we would be at the train station awaiting our train to Manchester airport. I said my goodbyes and me and mum set of to Swinton train station only to find we couldn't see anyone there yet so whilst we waited we wondered what my host would be like. It wasn't too long until Mr Minshull had arrived followed by Anna and her parents, I said by to my mum so she could go back home and went to join the others. Me and Anna decided to chat about our cases as even though I had been panicking all week mine seemed to be tiny and really light compared to hers. That's when I started to panic maybe I hadn't packed enough. Suzy took long enough to arrive but once she did it was time to get to our platform. They said bye to their parents and Anna's mum even gave me a huge hug, not that Anna noticed.

Once we boarded the train I asked Anna if her mum always did that she just said her mother was a weirdo and that she would tell her off once we got back from our trip. On the train me, Suzy and Anna finished our PowerPoint’s which we would be showing to the Germans and Spanish pupils evolved in the Comenius project. Once we had finished me and Anna decided to nosy through sir's itunes and found plenty of 80's music and girls aloud, we tried taking photos as we saw a camera on the screen of the laptop however we didn't find how to take pictures. There were 2 trains to catch to Manchester one to Meadowhall then the next straight to the airport.

The journey to the airport wasn't too bad but as time ticked on we started to get hungry. We got to the airport around inner time so once we were through check in we decided to eat. We went for a shop where Suzy bought a toy giraffe and I bought magazines. We had a lot of fun at the airport talking about our beloved Derek and creating inside jokes. There wasn't many shops to look at but we found a tech shop and started playing on the ipad it was very entertaining. It was soon time to board the plane and it was near enough empty, we loved it we was hoping that the plane back would be the same. I had never read the Harry Potter books although I have seen the films, so taking my friends advice I decided to read them although after a while I had to come back to reality so I listened to Paramore whist reading my Kerrang! mag. It was only about 1 hour on the plane so then we was at Düsseldolf - Germany. To get to the train station however we had to catch the sky train which was so fun as we don't have them in England.

We then stood waiting for ages waiting for our train to come because we had missed the last one that we all decided to freshen up on a bit off German.

We talked to local to ask if we were saying things right and it turned out they could understand us. The train came and I was startled at how many cyclists there was onboard. We were all nervous about meeting our hosts, probably me most of all because I had barely talked to Julia yet the others had been constantly messaging. It was only 5 minutes at Bochum train station when Mrs Chisholm pulled a fella, personally I found it hysterical.

We saw the German teacher who showed us to each of our hosts. Once we saw them I seemed over the moon they spoke English however I turned and saw Julia's parents just stood staring but also smiling at first I thought they just didn't know what to say to me but it turned out they couldn't speak any English! When we got to Julia's home I thought they would let me just rest and unpack, but they didn't instead relatives came over to see what Julia had got for her birthday. When I did eventually get to go to bed it was the hardest bed I'd ever slept on. It was worse than sleeping on the floor, but I'd get used to it.

Thursday 25th November

It was an early morning today, what with having to catch the bus to school at 7:45 am. For breakfast it was either toast or bread with Nutella, jam or cottage cheese with chocolate milk. At the school in Germany it was non-uniform which we thought was much better than our school. I though our school was big but this was huge compared to ours in Wath. I felt so lost but it was okay because Suzy arrived only two minutes later. Luckily our class was together and it was Spanish so we knew what they was talking about due to us learning it ourselves. Halfway through the lesson Eliza (Suzy's host) and Julia excused us as we had to go and join our teachers to wait for our coach. We was going to go to a incineration plant. Mr Minshull was ecstatic, however seeing where our rubbish goes wasn't really my cup of tea. Anna and Laura joined us and when everybody was at the meeting point we went to get on the coach outside.

What I found surprising was they didn't race to get the back seats. On the way there me, Suzy and Anna caught up with each other to see what their last evening was like, but then we didn't really know what to talk about so I put my music on full blast. The trip wasn't long, when we got there we was greeted and directed to a room filled with refreshments, coca-cola "THANK THE LORD!" I was sick of drinking grape juice. We sat through a discussion which was all in English, and found it fascinating how the other students knew what he was talking about. After the conference we got to wear blue builder hats and fluorescent jackets for our tour and we looked like bob the builder.

We followed our tour guide and he led us to where the rubbish was tipped it stunk vile luckily we had our scarf to cover our noses, although it made us look like terrorists. As we moved on we got to see rubbish being lifted by huge cranes and then rubbish being burnt and even the control room. On the way back down to the room we lost our teachers who were very keen on how the plant worked. But we went back to collect them then set off back to the room where we had earlier had our information talk, we said goodbye then set off back to Albert Einstein school.

When we got to the school we had dinner and we think we had the vegetarian option not that we was aware why but it still tasted nice. Julia's friends met up with us. There was; Pia, Carlotta, Hannah, Nessie, Leonie, Philli and Shawn. They was very nice but it was like they didn't want to say something and say it wrong but it would have been nice to hear them try speaking our language as well as us trying out their's.

After lunch break we went to do a Comenius activity where we was all split up and out into different groups, we got to know each other a little and designed a video. When school finished I was told that we would all meet up later on in the evening to go and see the Christmas market. Instead of getting the bus back Shawn's mum gave us a lift, she didn't mind at all. She spoke some English to me but then focused on her driving. They talked about music a lot about Justin Bieber and Lady GaGa and The Wanted.

We was dropped of at Shawn's house and we walked the rest of the way back. We didn't have anything to eat as we was going to get something at the market we got washed and recharged then went back out. We met Leonie at the tram stop and then caught the tram to town where we met Eliza and Suzy. Although Laura, Anna and Philli turned out to already be in the market. So we met them outside of star bucks instead of the station.

We walked around but every time we wanted to go somewhere the others wandered off. It seemed a bit like Laura and Philli was trying to fit in with the others but when it came to where to eat Julia, Eliza and Leonie wanted to have McDonalds, where as we wanted to try German food. We split into two groups and one went to McDonalds the other had German food. We ate this dough which was pizza like which had a topping of some cream sort sauce, bacon and onion. It was very delicious, I even wished we had them in England. We finished our food and went for a wander where I saw a slipper which was for both of your feet I was going to buy one but we had no time as the stores were closing. So instead we were re-assured we would come back I would by one another day. We met back up with the other girls but then Leonie needed to go home, it was getting later and then soon enough everybody else needed to go so we set of back but again we got a lift from Eliza 's mum this time, who thought I was called Sarah! :S

We got back and I changed for bed but before going to sleep me and Julia watched 'another Cinderella story' in English.

Friday 26th November

Today I actually had chance to have a lay in as there was no school lesson due to their teacher being off ill. On the other hand we still had to go into school to do the Comenius activity. We continued on yesterday's project and showed our PowerPoint’s. When we had finished we set off but the bus was ages away so we decided to walk to the trams but one was closed because of mechanics working on the rails. If we had waited our tram would be ages so instead we walked to the nearest bus stop and waited but on the bus we missed our stop because Julia was too busy talking to one of her friends. So we got of in town and Julia rung her mum to see if she'd pick us up. She agreed and came within 20 minutes. I was so excited about tonight we were going to a concert. We got back, changed and then left.

Before we set off to the ISS dome we picked up Maria (one of Julia's friends outside school). We got to the arena and they took professional photos, gave out five badges and free chocolate bars. Stood outside for several hours we near enough froze to death but when we got inside it was lovely and warm. Unlike many of the concerts I've been to this one was live, had a variety of different acts and we was stood at the front of the stage! It was all good there was English and German acts such as Monrose, The little black pony, Paul Potts, Mike Posner, mad con, far east movements etc. it was near enough interval but I was boiling. My head was spinning and I needed to sit down I felt really faint. I told Julia and when she explained to her mum she dragged me and forced me to sit down, she offered me something to eat but I wasn't hungry I was just gagging. They bought some drinks and I felt a lot better. The second half wasn't as long as the first half so it wasn't too long till it was over. When it finished it was really late so we was all so tired I nearly fell asleep in the car on the way back All I was bothered about now was going to sleep

Saturday 27th November

Today we was going to Munchen for the Christmas markets, I was hoping to find something to take back home with me but nothing caught my eye, then again we also had less time as me and Julia had to get the earlier train so we wasn't late for Julia's birthday party. Not that I was completely bothered, all I had on my mid was going home tomorrow. Throughout the beginning of the party I felt so lonely hardly anyone made conversation with me as if I was some sort of alien but I tried to be attentive. Julia did get some funny birthday presents for example baby food and many packets of chewing gum.

Suzy and her host arrived and then I had someone to talk to although we looked like very miserable as everyone else was dancing - well swaying. Eventually they came over to us and got us up dancing although the music being played was just being replayed over and over. I thought it was funny how their kind of birthday they have at the age of 13 is what we'd have at the age of 9. They had a screaming contest and I became very agitated so I screamed and it soon shut them up. I was so hoping the night would soon end so that I could go to bed and go home finally tomorrow.

Sunday 28 November

Home day finally! Ire-packed which didn't take long, watched a film then went to the train station where I met my teachers. We didn't really do much except talk about going home, we said goodbye and boarded our train. On the train we just talked about how glad we were to be going back. At the airport me and Anna made our own remake of the Barbara Streisand song by duck sauce. We found Billy boy and Patrick tic tac but then it was time to board our plane. Unlike our plane to Germany it was a lot more full on the way back. When we got back to Manchester me and Anna got excited at the site of the escalators as we remembered the past Friday at Meadowhall. We thought it would be fun to play on our ipods so we had a game of truth or dare. After a while we were pranking people with Anna 's free credit but then it wasn't too long till we was at Swinton where we all set off back home.