Abingdonian 2017

25 www.abingdon.org.uk Lent Term Germany was in every sense a chilling confrontation with the difficulties of Herr Brandts’s Ostpolitik”. The group also went to Cologne where the cathedral was “now fully restored”. What the article doesn’t mention is that it was “now fully restored” from the effects of the allied bombers. However, if you think there was a policy of ‘don’t mention the war’ you would be wrong. Dr Ohly, Head of History at the Ratsgymnasium, gave talks and wrote articles for The Abingdonian on German history and the effect of two world wars, acknowledging the shame the country faced in 1945 for, in Germany’s name, “had been committed the atrocity of genocide, above all against the Jews, but also against many inhabitants of the occupied countries”. It was perhaps for this reason that the Ratsgymnasium embraced so wholeheartedly Abingdon’s proposal to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War in 2014 with a joint project that would use our two schools to illustrate the common humanity and cultural similarities of our two countries, and make an attempt to understand our separate perceptions of events. The exchange, fostered over the years by Abingdon’s German teachers, especially Keith Hasnip who supported it so wholeheartedly in the early years, remains in good heart. And in this post-Brexit era its original aim of promoting greater understanding between our two countries remains as necessary as ever. Sarah Wearne In February, a group of 17 fourth years, alongside our fifth year equivalent at St Helens, touched down in Bielefeld, Germany ready and raring to see our German exchanges. Having hosted them the previous October, we already knew our partners. It therefore didn’t take long to settle in, bonding over notable moments such as ironic history lessons and nightly laser tag wars. To our (pleasant) surprise, all of the German group were more interlinked than we expected, allowing us to meet up and socialise as a big group. One night we would all be out at a restaurant and the next we would be dancing. More explanation is probably needed about the topic of “dancing”: most of us were, somewhat unwillingly (bar the odd couple), dragged down to a dance class. From the side-lines we watched our exchanges ‘gracefully frolic’ around whilst trying to build up the courage to join in. Soon after it was Valentinstag, which proved to be just as awkward in Germany as in Abingdon! Of course not all of what we did was organised by our exchanges, but instead our teachers. If we weren’t with our partners in lessons, we were taken off visiting different iconic sites from Dr Oetker Welt (unlimited free pizza) to chocolate shops in Bremen. Most of the time we were split in to two groups (girls and boys) but some boys made the most of having girls to talk to. In addition to socialising, the exchange allowed us to try lots of activities we wouldn’t have done back home, outdoor ice-skating for one. Not only that, but the packed lunches provided by our host families were excellent. I would highly recommend exchanges to anyone, whether or not a committed linguist: Anyone who goes on an exchange gains a huge amount of life experience, in addition to improving their language skills. This is the part of this article that the teachers really like: what we learned from going on the exchange. Even if you don’t speak much German for the entire week (which is hard to do as you will slip into German for things like ordering food), you’ll still pick up a better accent or different ways of saying little things or slang for that matter just from listening. Admittedly your exchange family is most likely going to get you to speak some German so there’s no getting out of it, but it’s not all bad. For me, someone who hasn’t always found German easy, the exchange has certainly improved my speaking and listening skills (and made German lessons much easier as a consequence!). We were also able to learn the important life skills of communication and smiling and nodding if we didn’t understand! What none of us had really realised at the beginning of the week was that the 2017 Bielefeld exchange was a bit different to usual. Our trip marked the 50th anniversary of the exchange. On the Saturday we were able to avoid normal lessons with our partners and took part in the celebrations instead. We didn’t honestly know what to expect beforehand and were rather surprised when we entered the assembly hall only to see First Orchestra on the stage… in Germany! For a reason unknown to us, a German Shakespeare strolled up on stage and introduced the whole occasion in a humorous way. Each head teacher of the three schools (Abingdon, St Helen’s and Ratsgymnasium) rose up to give a speech on the exchange. To our surprise, the first half of Mr Windsor’s speech was entirely spoken in fluent German! He did translate for those of us less skilled in understanding German but still, we were impressed. A few impressive performances from both the German and English bands and more German Shakespearean soliloquies later and we found ourselves enjoying some German delicacies prepared by our exchange partners’ families. The eight days we spent in Germany went incredibly quickly. Not only did we have the opportunity to practise our German, discover new places and meet some lovely people, we were also honoured to help celebrate 50 years of the Abingdon- Bielefeld connection. Liam Deegan, 4JAM