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Heinrich-Emanuel-Merck-Schule Darmstadt

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Tuesday, 4.10.2016: Journey to Cracow

 

We started the drive to Cracow at 6 a.m. On the tour we passed Dresden and had two breaks. A little bit behind the German-Polish border we had another break to change money and to make the room allocations. After the break we watched the movie Schindler’s list.

We had to stop the movie because of a police control. After a break of 30 minutes we continued our tour. We arrived in Cracow at 19:48 and went directly to the hostel and put our stuff into the rooms and got ready for dinner.
We met at about half past 8 in front of the hostel to walk to the restaurant Bazilia to have our dinner there.
In the restaurant we all had pizza. After eating and discussing a few organizational issues we took a walk to Wawel Castle. On the way to the castle our teachers told us more about Cracow’s past and present.
Then we went back to the hostel and by 22 o'clock all the students were in their rooms – some already in their beds, others chatting about what they expected from the week.

Wednesday, 5th of October 2016: Meeting the partner school  and town rally

We woke up at 8 o´clock and went to have breakfast. Directly after breakfast, we drove at to our partner school which took about 20 – 30 minutes.
We were warmly welcomed by the students and teachers. Subsequently we were divided into two groups. One group was shown around the school, while the second group played a funny game with the students of our partner school. After 45 minutes, we changed the groups and the other students played the game. Another 45 minutes later, we took a little break for 20 minutes and then played some more games before we went to the buffet to get something to eat. In two groups.
A little later we gave a present to the Polish principal and some teachers. We had made the presents – a game - a week before in Darmstadt. We explained the game  and played karaoke and sang songs of our countries.
Some students sang popular songs of Cracow and another of Germany. At 12:30 we finished the visit and went back to the hostel where we started a city rallye.. We had a quiz with some questions to answer and some tasks to do and tasks we had to answer. We had a time limit of 2 hours to finish the rallye.
At 17 o´clock everybody came back to the restaurant where we met and had dinner. After dinner every group presented the solutions to their questions and explained how they had completed their tasks – because cause everybody had a different quiz. After that we could go back to the hostel and had free – time.

Thursday, 6.10.2016 Visiting the Saltmine Wieliczka

At 8 o´clock all of us met in the restaurant in Krakow where we usually had breakfast At 9 o´clock we drove with our bus to the Salt mine. The drive took 1 hour. When we arrived in the Saltmine we half an hour free time while we waited for the tour guide There were tourists from different countries.

A German speaking leader accompanied our class to the Saltmine Wieliczka. He showed us different particularities such as the Kinga-Chapel, Holy Cross, Johan Chapel, Antonius Chapel and at the end the Johannes Paul 2 chapel.
The Saltmine has many beautiful attractions. The Saltmine is 160m to 200m deep and has not been operating since 1993. We were allowed try the salt
At 2 o´clock we were back again in our Tara Hostel and had free time until dinner. Many of us went to Krakow’s historic city center. We were surprised when we saw how many students there were. In Krakow there are approx 50.000 students. At 7 o’clock we were back in the restaurant and ready to have dinner.   
Friday, 7.10. 2016 Visiting Krakow and its surroundning

The day started as usual at 8 o'clock with breakfast at the Restaurant Bazylia. Afterwards we started our tour through the Jewish quarter. We passed by an old Jewish school and went on to the old synagogue, which is already restored. There we heard some things about the Jewish culture. Then we went to a Jewish cemetery, which is located right next to the synagogue. After a walk over the cementary we listened to a presentation about Jewish life before 1939. Then we walked through the streets which used to be part of the ghetto in Krakow. At some buildings you are still able to see bullet holes. We reached the parade ground, were we listened to a presentation about the pharmacy right next to it and its owner Tadeusz Pankiewicz, who provided aid and other things considered illegal by the occupiers. Then we went to the Schindler factory, where we had a five minute break. After some more time of walking we reached a big plaza with a big church at one side. Here we had our lunch break. While some ordered pizza, others ordered kebab or went into a grocery store. After the break we walked just about hundred meters and stopped at the house, where the family of Roman Polanski used to live. There we listened to a presentation about Roman Polanski and his movie “The piano man”. After that we walked around a small chapel nearby a cliff. The teachers led us to the top of a hill. From up there you could see all of Krakow and a quarry, above which we walked around. Then we came to a hole, which was a mass grave during the occupation by the Nazis. Next to it there is a memorial. We walked past the house of Amon Göth.  Apparently somebody is about to move in despite the dark past linked to this building. Finally we reached our final point of interest of this walk: the labour camp Plaszow. Afterwards we had free time until 19 o'clock. Some went straight back to the Hostel, while others fist went to the supermarket next to the nearest tram station. Then we had dinner at the restaurant. In the evening we had free time again.

Saturday 8.10.2016:  Visiting Auschwitz

From 8:00 there was breakfast in the restaurant Bazyilia. At 9:00 am we met in front of the restaurant to get into the bus, which took us to the main camp of Auschwitz. On the trip there (which lasted about 1½ hours) listened to lectures from fellow students on the main camp and on Auschwitz Birkenau.
At around 10:30 am, the tour of the main camp began, but first  we had to go through the security check, we were divided into two groups. During the tour, we were told a lot about the life of the Jews in the main camp and much about the terrible punishments that were imposed on violations of the rules there or even imposed arbitrarily. The tour lasted about 1½ hours.
At about 12:30 we went by bus for 10 minutes to Auschwitz Birkenau. We arrived at the gate with our tour guide (who previously led the tour through the main camp). The tour through Auschwitz Birkenau lasted about two hours. When we walked through the gate, we saw many small wooden barracks or watchtowers and the fences or their remains. After about 200 meters there was an old wagon on the tracks, 60-80 people were transported in this wagon. Even further back we saw the old gas-chambers and dressing rooms as well as the crematorium. At the end of the railroad track today stands a huge monument to commemorate those who died at the time.
At 2 pm, the tour of Auschwitz Birkenau was over and we drove back to the hostel by bus.
From 16 to 17 o'clock we had free time.
At 5:00 pm, everyone met in the hostel room to discuss the impressions of the day and to consider whether such a thing would be possible again today.
At 7 pm there was dinner in the restaurant Bazyilia, afterwards most went to the hostel or once again to the city. At 10 o'clock there was night-time rest in the hostel.

Sunday 8.10.2016 Individual Excursions

We got up at 8:30 am and we got ready for breakfast, but it was optional, that means that we could come to breakfast but we didn´t have to. That´s why a big part in our class continued to sleep. At 9:00 am we had breakfast with müsli , bread and more. Afterwards we discussed what we would do on our free day. Our teachers made suggestions for some trips e.g. Schindler´s museum, but we planned to go to the marketplace of because we just had to walk 15 minutes. But first we walked back to the hostel and talked together and listened to some music.
At 1 pm we walked into the city and we explored the marketplace. We shopped a little bit e.g. clothes in Zara. At 3 pm we went to get some food because everywhere on the marketplace you will find restaurants or food stands. We ate the polska specialty “Zapiekanka”, that was very tasty for everyone. At 6 pm we walked back to the hostel. At 7 pm we had our last dinner in a restaurant with the class. Then we went back to the hostel and we packed our suitcase and cleaned up our room because we knew we would have to wake up at 5 am because our bus would leave at 6 am.