Greenhills Girls German Adventure

Accompanied by their German teachers Bettina Wuerdinger and Karin O’Hare, 21 students ranging in age from 15 to 18 from Our Lady’s College, Greenhills travelled recently to the city of Solingen for the German leg of the exchange programme between the Drogheda school and Friedrich Albert Lange Schule.

The exchange is a long running programme established to promote the development of language skills and to forge cross-cultural links between Greenhills students and their German peers.

The group enjoyed a fun-filled and packed itinerary which featured time in German classes as well as many visits and excursions, the first of which was a group bonding trip to the very popular theme park, Phantasialand.

A highlight of the exchange was a visit to the Industriemuseum where the girls had the opportunity to try their hand crafting some of the blades, scissors and tweezers for which Solingen is renowned. A visit to the Haus der Gerschichte provided the students with an insight into the history of the Second World War and they also had the opportunity to visit nearby Cologne and its world-famous cathedral, one of the few structures still standing when on March 6th, 1945, US forces entered the city.

A pizza party, a trip to Haribo headquarters, some trekking and even a hike to the Neandertal, the valley in North Rhine Westphalia where in August 1856, one of the world’s first specimens of Neanderthal man was discovered, completed a very full ten days!

Students and teachers enjoyed this year’s visit and by all accounts are looking forward to welcoming their German friends back to Drogheda very soon.