News The German Exchange in Hamburg 26.04.2019
Our girls celebrated the 41st year of our German exchange, spending ten days with their partner students from the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums in Hamburg. Year 10 students, Freja Hogsander and Hannah Goldin, summed up the trip below.
“We all had a great time visiting Hamburg, seeing all of the tourist attractions, and getting to know both the students in Germany and the Latymer pupils who also took part in the exchange. I would recommend, if you are taking German as one of your GCSEs, to go on the exchange as we used and learnt a lot of German whilst we were there.
One of the most fun things we did during the week was, in my opinion, visiting Lübeck. We had a quiz which meant we needed to go throughout a small area of streets surrounding the famous marzipan shop, Cafe Niederegger. This was one of the most enjoyable parts of the entire Hamburg exchange because it meant we explored places we would not have otherwise seen and it facilitated bonding amongst the team.
The shop and the surrounding area were very picturesque and the shop had such amazing marzipan sculptures that we were tempted to spend a lot of our money!
The atmosphere in Hamburg itself was very good – the people there were kind (and the fact that there was seemingly a bakery with fresh pastries on every other street didn’t hurt) and all of the houses were beautiful. The apartment I stayed in had a cherry tree in full bloom and the weather throughout the exchange was ideal. In short, I really believe that going to Hamburg has broadened my horizons and taught me German on another level. I would gladly go again!”
– Freja Hogsander
“The German exchange was one of the best experiences of my life! I had no idea what to expect when I arrived in Germany but my week was packed with fun activities and I really bonded with my German exchange student. I loved the trips because we had free time to really explore Hamburg and I especially loved the lessons as it was really fun to experience a different way of learning. We all made a lot of new friends in Hamburg and I will definitely go back to visit my exchange partner and her family!
The city itself is gorgeous with the stunning Alster and many other terrific sites to see. At the weekends I did various activities with my partner which ranged from sailing, climbing, going to a funfair, playing mini golf to shopping, going on canal tours and just really bonding with the family I stayed with.
All in all I would highly recommend the exchange to everyone that can participate and it will definitely help to improve your German speaking skills!”
– Hannah Goldin