At the end of the first week, Mr. Young, Mrs. Randall, Mrs. Petrie, and Mr. Erikson took the students and teachers from St. Hildegard out to the west coast of Vancouver Island for a visit to Tofino, Uclulet, Pacific Rim National Park and MacMillian Cathedral Grove. The weather was incredible and the

This was a wonderful town to walk in. Although the Roman-Germanic Museum was closed we got to both the Ludwig and the Wallraf–Richartz Art Museums, which were definite highlights for the group. Our first stop after the Dom, however, was the old town right along the Rhine Schäl Tünnes

The rest of the day was spent along the Elbe from the Bismarck Denkmal to the Hauptkirche St. Michaelis, then to the St. Pauli-Landungsbrücken back towards the HafenCity quarter (Speicherstadt). Lots of walking and a crowded subway made for an amazing day First the group took a walk in the Bismar

Hamburg was where Mr. Randall really nerded out; it is one of his favourite places in all of Germany. His passion for the city translated really well to the group and many students found this as their favourite stop as a result. After the train from Berlin the group found their stay at the Generat

Day two in Berlin was on Friday (March 29th). Fridays for Future had already organized a school strike for Climate Change in Berlin and Greta Thunberg was coming to take part and demand more action on climate change. Our students really wanted to take part in this important event so we helped them g

Our first stop on the next part of our exchange was the capital of Germany, Berlin. There was too much to do given that we had just two and a half full days in the city. We made it our goal to give the students from Vanier a taste of what the city was like so that they may come back to Berlin and se

At some point during the two weeks in Ulm, most of the students had the opportunity to visit the Blautopf. The Blautopf, in Blaubeuren, is the headwaters of the River Blau which flows from the Swabian Jura mountains into the Danube at Ulm. The water is saturated with tiny limestone particles which g

Our group found it incredibly moving to spend some time at the Dachau Concentration Camp. We had prepared our students ahead of time with lots of information about the concentration camp yet no amount of prep work could truly match the power of standing in such a place. Our teachers (Mr. & Mrs. Rand

The star of the city and center of town is the Ulmer Minster. This Burgerkirche was started in 1377 and was "finished" in 1890 (with renovations will it ever be done). The Minster is one of the largest Gothic churches in Germany and its claim to fame is the 161.5 m (530 ft) spire which is the world'

The last week of activities started with another cultural exchange day in the school at Vanier. Tuesday saw Mr. Young take the group to the Horne Lake Caves. The large group was split into three smaller ones for underground exploration of the karst environment. Wednesday saw Mr.

Our last side trip was to Bonn. The entire group made their way to the Beethoven museum, however the Haribo store was probably a bigger highlight for them...sigh. Mr. Randall, however, finally found Bienenstich and that made him very very happy. Travelling by train again The birth house of Ludw

Our final stop on the three week whirlwind Germany extravaganza was Cologne and Bonn. When in Cologne it is virtually impossible to not spend time in the Cologne Cathedral. The cathedral become one of the most significant places of pilgrimage in Europe in the 1100's because Emperor Frederick I (AKA

The group made their way to the Rote Flora, a former theatre in the Sternschanze quarter in Hamburg. It has been squatted since November 1989 as an autonomous cultural centre in opposition to a decision to turn it into a musical theatre. There were visits to Underpressure and lots of graffiti to tak

After the climate march we divided the group up. Mr. Young took a group back down the Unter den Linden to the DDR museum and to the Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (German Resistance Memorial Center). Justin driving a mock up of the Trabant In the museum and on the streets, the group found th

Before we made our way to the Deutsches Historisches Museum (Museum of German History) we stopped at Neue Wache (Central Memorial of the Federal Republic of Germany for the Victims of War and Dictatorship) Then we went to the German History Museum... Our time was spent in the exhibit "German H

Of course when it came to say goodbye it was very difficult. Our time at St. Hildegard and in Ulm came to an end, but the strong friendships we made were a part of what made the exchange so wonderful.

Our hosts at St. Hildegard arranged an overnight excursion to the historic town of Ravensburg for all students. After a train ride filled with excited conversations (no Justin no matter how much you want to believe it a Berliner is not a jelly filled doughnut...and where is your wallet anyways?) we

Our host school and families graciously arranged for our students to travel to Munich to discover the highlights of the Bavarian capital. After a short ride in on Deutsche Bahn we made our way to the Marienplatz to visit the Neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) just in time for the Glockenspiel

At times it felt like the movie "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles", but a 20 something hour trip saw us travel from YQQ to YVR then on to YYZ and finally to FRA, but we weren't done...then by train from Frankfurt to Ulm. We were greeted warmly by our host families...there were lots of signs and

In February 2019, students from St. Hildegard Gymnasium in Ulm, Germany, accompanied Frau Maurer and Frau Strobel to the Comox Valley in Canada. When they arrived, there were many excited Canadians waiting to greet them at the airport with flowers and welcome signs. On Monday, on the first week of