Danzig-Austausch 2023 – Lloyd Gymnasium Bremerhaven

21.9.: Arrival

Today was our first day in Poland! We met in the morning at the train station and took the train. to Hamburg. After a few times switching the train we were already at the airport. We went through a few security checks and then had to wait a bit for the plane to start. After a few minutes of waiting we could finally get on.

After an about 1 hour long flight we arrived at Danzig, where we were happily greeted. Everyone went with their exchange partner to their home where we met their families.
We spent a few hours at their homes and then all met up at the school to get to know us better. When we arrived there, there was a big circle out of chairs, each with a small notebook, a pen and a few stickers on top.
We then proceeded to play a few games to get to know each other and our names. The first game was saying your name and a thing you like, which the next person had to repeat and say their name and a thing they like, this would go on until everybody said their name.
In the second game we got a piece of paper with a grid. Each space had a thing someone does, for example this person has been on the Eiffel Tower/ has blue eyes etc. We then went around in the circle asking people if they did one of the things and if yes, we wrote their name into the corresponding space of the grid.
At the third game, we all sat down on the floor, one half the polish students and the either half the German students and two teachers held up a veil in the middle. Then one student from each country would sit on the other side when the veil got dropped by the teachers. The first person to say the name of the other person would win.
And at last we all danced a famous Polish dance togheter, the Belgijka. After that we either went home or to the park nearby as a group. We went for a small walk and then all went home and with that finishing the day. (Ferenc)

22.9. Dunes of Leba

We all met at the school, got on the bus and left at 9am. We went to the dunes. we slept through the entire bus ride and arrived at Leba at 10:30. We took golf-ish-carts to the dunes and went for a walk from where we got dropped off. The dunes were really steep so it was kind of exhausting but it was still fun. We got to the top at 11:20 ish. at like 11:30 Mrs Krämer and Mrs Dopp did some gymnastics which was today’s highlight, no doubt. At noon we sat down by the beach and had a picnic. We stayed for a bit and then walked halfway back to a spot were we got picked up by one of those carts which took us back to the bus. We left at 230pm and got dropped off around 4pm from where we went home.

(Janne & Karina)

23.9. Danzig Old Town and Museum of the Second World War

In the morning, we had a guide who showed us the Old Town of Gdańsk. The guide took us to historical places in the Old Town, such as the Old Town Hall. After the guided tour of the Old Town, I went to the top of the Marienkirche, where the view was fabulous! I also went on a Ferris wheel near the Second World War Museum, which I visited afterwards. The Second World War Museum was extremely interesting as it taught us how the war started and what happened during its years from 1939 to 1945.

(Roman)

24.9.23

Today Bennett and I went on a bike trip with our partners. But before that I woke up around 9 am, me and my partner had breakfast. Afterwards I got myself ready for the day and we went to play basketball. Later we went to Zabka and got ourselves something to drink and to eat. We then went to the train station with our bikes and took the train. There we met friends of my partner. Later on, we went to Bennett and his partner. From there we went to a lake on the bike through a forest. When we got back my partner and I ate Kebab. Then we went home and relaxed for some time. His mom then dropped us off at the train station so we could go bowling with the others. After bowling the Polish partners and the Germans went to the beach where we ended the day.

On a sunny Sunday in Poland, I was at Weronika’s house because she’s my exchange partner. Johan is my regular friend and his exchange partner is Wiktor. Together we had a great day. We started with a fun bike ride in the countryside. It was very exhausting but still cool. It also was beautiful and peaceful. At lunchtime, Weronika and me had a delicious meal at Weronika’s house. Her family cooked traditional Polish dishes, and we talked and shared cool stories. In the afternoon, some of us, including Johan, Wiktor, Weronika and me, decided to go bowling. We had a lot of fun trying to get strikes. But it was very hard! In the evening, we went to the beach. The sunset was amazing, and we danced and celebrated with our friends and also with old people, it was very funny. This Sunday in Poland was all about having fun with friends, enjoying good food, and being at the countryside and the beach.

(Johan & Bennett)

25.9. Westerplate and Stutthof

Today we went to the Westerplatte and the Stutthof Concentration Camp. We all first met at the school and at 8:30 the bus drove from the school to the Westernplatte. When we were at the Westernplatte one Polish exchange student told us a bit about it as the place where the second World War started. Then we walked to the memorial of the Westernplatte on the way we also saw a destroyed bunker. Everyone was really impressed. After we walked back to the bus. we continued our tour to Stutthof and as we arrived it was a really weird feeling. At the museum we were separated and the Polish exchange students had their own guide as well as the German exchange students. We went into the barracks were each of them showed another exhibition about the camp how it was build and how the inmates lived there. There was one room with shoes from the people that were hold in the concentration camp and you could realise how scary the camp was. We also saw the oven were the dead bodies were burned and gas chambers. After the museum we watched two films about the concentration camp. The second one was about how the people who worked in the camp and who also torture the people were sentenced and it was shocking that the people didn’t get to be in prison for their rest of their lives. The longest punishment was 7 years in prison. After the film we went back to the bus and drove back to the school were everyone was going now with their exchange students to their home.

(Leonie & Melissa)

26.9.23 Marienburg

Today, we firstly went to class with our exchange students – but only for the first lesson. Then we got into the bus and drove 1.5 hours to the Marienburg Castle, which is the biggest castle of the world made of brick. We formed groups consisting of two German students and one Polish student, got an audio guide and then explored everything on our own. During the three hours we spend at the castle, we also had to answer 30 questions about the building, the past life there and everything else that has to do with it. We’ve been in many of its 130 rooms, looking at all the different exhibits and listening to the interesting information the audio guide told us about. At 13.30, we gave all of our answers to the teachers to correct them because they had promised a little prize to the group with the most correct answers. Then we headed back to school and were able to enjoy our free afternoon, so we for example met others, played some boardgames or visited some other places in Gdansk.

(Fenna & Juna)

27.9.23 Gdynia

Today we visited Gdynia, a smaller city right next to Danzig. We took the S-Bahn (something like a train) to the Migration museum. Our guide Markus told us a lot from topics like where people migrated to to how Poland was divided before and after the Second World War. Gdynia was a very modern city and in the 1920 the most modern city in Poland with luxuries like toilets in every appartment and hot water. And Markus was really proud to tell us that the first underground garage was here in Gdynia. Then we visited a very old apartment complex from the 1920s with a mini museum inside the old bunker. The owner had kept a lot of old everyday items. After that we went to a restaurant and met there with the Polish students. The food in the restaurant was very delicious.

The last evening of our exchange is yet to come.

(Ella)