MYP 4, 5 & DP1 Takes On Berlin!

As the year comes to an end and DP2 rear up their brains for important tests to come classes MYP4 to DP1 had some time out to enjoy the interesting sights of Berlin. With the bus setting off bright and early on a Monday morning, traveling all day, students were shattered and could not wait to get to the Pegasus hostel. Although, we managed to travel safely and loose no one for twelve hours (not even our luggage!) just as we were nearing the hostel we lost half of the students along with one teacher. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait for them for more than three weeks as we did with our luggage on the previous trip, they were back within ten minutes. With the hostel in sight the fun could begin, but not without a good night sleep first.

It was an early rise for the ISB kids, once again, with breakfast starting at 7am. However, it wasn’t necessarily the kind of breakfast you would happily wake up for at 6:30am. But do not fear, the teachers are here providing various goodies such as peanut butter and oranges. Once in the city of Berlin, we soaked up so many sites in the space of a couple of hours. We saw the amazing Brandenburg Gate, the touching Holocaust Memorial, the place where Hitler killed himself (now a car park), the stunning Berlin Cathedral, Gendarmenmarkt, what was left of the Berlin Wall, Museum Island and last but not least Checkpoint Charlie. Then it was straight the the Berlin Dungeons after a quick stop for a mouth watering ice-cream. To calm our nerves after this terrifying experience we went for a long soothing shop in a local mall. The day finished with some much needed sushi.

Wednesday was tough, with the tour of Sachsenhausen opening our eyes to what really happened inside concentration camps. The tour guide took us around the whole camp and explained in extreme, hooking detail what happened inside the huge, secretive walls and what type of people were held hostage there. It was a shocking and upsetting morning for the most of us. To lighten up the mood we decided to take a trip to the famous Tiergarten and spend some ‘family time’ playing football, Ninja, and many other fun games. After the fun and games it was back to the city for a traditional German dinner and for a wonderful night filled with laughter, fun and food. An inside look at Sachsenhausen prepared us for the following day in which we toured the Jewish museum. This was extremely interesting and the Holocaust memorial inside the museum was especially breathtaking. After a few hours in the museum we headed to one of the most fun activities on this trip, EXIT, in which you have to solve a particular mystery, using clues, in a set amount of time. This suspense, brain-working experience was extremely exhilarating and was well worth doing. At the end of the day it was back to normality with mouthwatering pizza and pasta for dinner.

The last day was well spent doing all things graffiti. To start off we had a tour to see a little bit more of Berlin’s most famous graffiti, who and how it was made, and different types of street art. Then it was to the workshop to make our own, in which we proved to have some amazing graffiti artists in our school! After everyone was finished with their creations we headed back to the hostel to freshen up for the last night. Of course there’s no way we could end this trip without a party, so it was to the Karaoke bar to let our hair down for the last night. It was an amazing night to end an amazing trip. When we got back to the hostel tired and yearning for a bed we slept like babies in preparation for the long journey home, away from the beautiful city of Berlin and a school trip we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Written by Annabel – MYP4