So what exactly do you do at the weekend on the German Exchange?

Jasmine F: Me and Anna went shopping in Dusseldorf and went up the tower and had lunch right at the top. But the floor revolved around so it made us feel kind of sick. On Sunday we went in the woods with Eleanor and Helena and went up the wooden tower that’s used to see if there is a forest fire.

Emily H: on Saturday, Lena, me and her mum went shopping to Oberhausen, which was fun as its quite big and there are a lot of English shops there, like H & M. On Sunday me, Lena, David (her brother), Jonas (her boyfriend) and her mum went to center parcs in the Netherlands. It was really fun because it was a swimming place where there was a lazy river, an outdoor ride, a tubed slide, jacuzzis, an eating area, a pool with waves, kids pool and more!! It was a good day, and really enjoyable.

Maisie: On Saturday I went shopping in Dusseldorf and met up with some people. I also took a tour bus of Dusseldorf. Me and Julias family then went out for tea. On Sunday I went to a carneval and I then met Alicia and Marie there. In the afternoon I saw Mollie and Svenja we all went for a walk around the town and had an ice cream!

Eleanor: On Saturday I went shopping in Monchengladbach and bought some leggings, and after met up with Jasmine and Anna. On Sunday me, Helena, Jasmine and Anna went to this forest and went up a tower, then we went to have lunch at this place and met the old English woman! She was very nice!

Ella: On Saturday me, Katharina, Samuel (her younger brother) and her mother went and walked the dog round some lakes that lead straight to the sea. After that we met up with Katarina’s older brother Miguel and his girlfriend (Julie) and her dad. We then picked up Mike (her boyfriend) and we went shopping in a giant centre. Then I helped them set up for “KWON, Touch the spirit”. We blew up balloons and put up flags and were up till midnight making waffle batter. It was funny because Samuel made the mix go everywhere and on me. On Sunday I watched many fights of taekwondo. We did that until four o’clock then we went home to get ready for Saint Martin’s Sunday parade. Samuel was in it you see. We watched that then went home and had waffles and then it was time for bed.

Rachel: On Saturday we went shopping around the town and got some ice cream then we went to a dance festival called ‘Street Beats’ which Franzi’s friend was participating in, her group came 1st place which was cool after that we went to McDonalds!On Sunday we went ice skating with Molly H and her partner until 6pm, then me and Franzi went to a restaurant, called ‘Steakhaus Rustika’, with her family and that was very delicious! It was an extremely fun weekend

Chelsie: On Saturday we went to Sealife with Molly K and Svenja after that we went shopping in Centro. Centro is a massive shopping centre. We had Asian noodles and then we did more shopping. When we got home we played on the wii and got ready to go to Becca’s partners house for a sleepover. On Sunday we went to Moonlight minigolf. It was amazing. It was really fun and Kati’s mum won the game, we then went to a restaurant and had pizza.

Alex:On Saturday we went to Oberhausen shopping and to see sea creatures,t hen on Sunday we went to watch ice age live in Dusseldorf.

Molly H: Sup’ guys! On Saturday I went to see Lisa play football and went to a street dance competition. They filmed it and I’m going to be on t.v! Awesome. On Sunday we went ice skating with Selena, Katsie and Rachel. I fell over 5 times and Rachel fell over once. Great. I think I’m pretty good now though! It was fun!

Becca: On Saturday we went shopping in Essen. We spent like, 2 hours in Primark and all I bought was a jacket and shirt:L Then, because it was dark, we went for a walk and looked at all the Christmas lights. They were so beautiful. Then Chelsie, Mollie, Alex and their partners came round for a little party. On Sunday we went into Dusseldorf and took loads of amazing pictures. It was really fun.

George:At the weekend I played football in Hattrick hall, 5 a side football. It was very exciting. England beat Germany! In the afternoon I played mini golf with Nico and his parents and that was also very good. Then we had tea in a very good Pizzeria, the pizza was amazing. On Sunday I watched Nico play basketball and went to Towerland, a German Theme Park. For tea we went to a steak house, the steak was the best steak I have ever had. It was a very enjoyable weekend where I always had something to do.

Joe: On Saturday I went to monchen gladbach stadium for a tour it was really good. Also I went to a st martins parade with Emily, Gideon, Sunny, Kathrin and Jasmine.

Jamie: What an exciting weekend! Saturday saw me playing football with seven other people. We had a match where England (and Benedikt) played Germany, and guess who won? What? No – not Germany… However, there’s always something that goes wrong no matter how hard you try to avert disaster. I got hit in the nose by someone’s elbow and had a really bad nosebleed, but miraculously I managed to not get any blood on my virtually brand new white t-shirt. In the afternoon we went to see a handball match in which my exchange partner was a reserve. As with most of the few sports teams that I occasionally support, we lost but I found he game really fun to watch. It is not very common in the UK and it is a fast, high-adrenaline and exciting sport. I don’t think there are many good excuses why we don’t play it in Great Britain. We went to see a festival in the evening to commemorate Sankt Martin, a well-known saint in Germany. It involved a parade and then a ceremony in which the story of Sankt Martin was told. After all the festivities, lots of children received a bag with lots of fruit and chocolate. (continued…)

Jamie (continued): On Sunday morning we went to a science museum in the city of Essen (I thought that we were going to a food museum). It was full of tricks and experiments to do with sight, sound and touch. It was a lot of fun and I learnt some things that I would never have known otherwise. On the way back we stopped at a fire tower in the middle of the woods near Hinsbeck (ironically built of wood). The view was absolutely phenomenal – you could see the amazing colours of the autumn forest in the foreground and you could see the Netherlands and all sorts of castles and church spires in the distance. On top of that, it was the day with the best weather of the whole trip, so the sun was shining and the sky was blue. We walked back with the atmosphere of a lovely late afternoon in autumn and that ended the fantastic weekend of an amazing stay in Germany.

Jasmine H: I went up a tall tower in the middle of the forest, and got chased by a dog. We then went to meet family, I also saw the parade and the carnival. I then watched a football match with the family and Monchen Gladbach won! I had three takeaways that were lecker, lecker, lecker! I also sat in the town hall with friends eating pizza and we did a raffle and we won a dead skinned rabbit, a bag of sweets and black pudding. It was a weird, but good weekend!

Charlie: On Saturday we went to a Sankt Martin festival at ate a special tradition for the celebration, afterwards we met up with some friends and went to a fire and saw Sankt Martin on a horse. On Sunday we went up a big tower in Dusseldorf, it was great and Mrs Hampson told us about how last year she had a dinner in the revolving restaurant and lost her bag as she put it down on the non-revolving part! hehe!

Eva: On Saturday we went to a coal mining museum and it was massive. It was very different to the English ones and was actually quite interesting. After that we went to Dusseldorf and went shopping. I found out that they have a Primark here too. I guess you do learn something new every day! When we were shopping we ran into a couple of Eva’s mums friends. One of them knew a lot of English because she lived in America for two years… We went to a bar and I taught her brothers spit which is a card game. I am usually very good at this game but I somehow lost every match… Oh well I guess you win some you lose some but in this case I lost a lot! It was different but I had a very good time!

Gregor: on Saturday Nils and I went to play football with some other friends in a place called hat-trick hall. It was strange because rather being a grass pitch it was an indoor astro turf pitch. After this we went with Harry and Kai to see skyfall in a cinema. On Sunday we went to a special variety show. It was very exciting and I had a great time.

Emily C: On Saturday we went to the town shopping, we looked around the Supermarket and I got to choose what food I would like to eat. Then we went for an ice cream.

Harry: On Saturday we went to Aqualand, a swimming pool in Köln. It was pretty good. Many of the slides were similar to the ones in England apart from one which involved a verticle drop and a loop the loop. Afterwards we met up with Gregor and Nils to go watch skyfall in german. On Sunday it was Kais granddad’s birthday so we went to his town and met up with his family to play kegeln, which was pretty unusual but fun.