We really enjoyed an action-packed and exciting visit to the beautiful Steinberger See.  Students from Grade 8 & 9, took part in various activities helping them with their team bonding and sporting skills.  Activities were numerous and included: Paddle Boating, Beach volleyball, a Dragon Boat Scavenger Hunt, Hiking (7km around the lake), Climbing, Paddle Boarding, Water Skiing, a City Cultural tour of Regensburg including boat trip and Go Karting!  

The students had a great time and most of them even learned how to Water Ski!  A trip thoroughly enjoyed by everyone!

The wakeboarding was so much fun and the free time. The food was actually good! (Elisa)

I think it was really fun I got to know more of the 9^th graders and the activities that we did was really fun and it was not boring at all (Merijn)

Mr. Lefebvre was the best part, wake boarding was cool to though. (Noah)

The Trip was great and the Teachers were nice. The camp really fine ,despite the bugs, the food was good. The wave boarding was phenomenal. The city was beautiful and old. The tour guides were very informative. The activities were chosen  great for the first time. The best part the camp. (Tarik)

It was awesome to try wakeboarding and waterskiing for the first time. We were pleased with the community. The activities at the camp were fun and we had free time. Somehow the teachers trusted us with free time in town – and that was incredible! They let us walk in Regensburg without any supervisors. (Sára)

Mr Knowles

Mrs Vette-Gillaume

Mr Lefebvre.

Our group ended the first day of travel swinging and gliding through a Kletterwald.  That evening, we warmed up by a fire and talked about the days to come.

 On Tuesday, the group enjoyed a full day woods camp where we were challenged to identify trees.  In the afternoon, as the skies parted, we built rain shelters in the rain in a race to stay dry.  We warmed up again next to the fire under a parachute and enjoyed s’mores as a group.  Our group then had a very enthusiastic and hilliarious challenge game called Crocodile Swamp where we were required to work as a team and cross to safety.  In the evening, we enjoyed an outdoor grill and then competed in teams with Trivia games about popular movies and Fortnite. 

We woke up to rain on Wednesday but this did not upset our plans.  In the morning, we visited Waldwipfelweg – a nature park and scientific experience, complete with optical illusions and a very high walk bridge over the forest.  After lunch, we walked in the rain to a Paradise Park where all the Grade 6’s enjoyed rides on a Rodelbahn powered by gravity down the mountain.  The rain even stopped just in time to enjoy the rides!  We ended our day with a needed hot lunch while we allowed our jackets and shoes to dry off.  We prepared popcorn and spent the rest of the rainy evening watching the movie, Wonder.

 We started our last activities of the week in the fog, as the bus took us to our canoe venture in Blaibach.  After learning how to paddle together?, we ventured down the Schwarzer Regen.  Our intrepid crew made it about halfway when one canoe capsized, making our adventure a bit interesting.  Fortunately, the boys were able to get warm again, grab a shuttle and meet up with us as we parked our boats and jumped on our mountain bikes.  We sped back to our starting point like pros while our wet clothes were drying in the wind.

Our last evening was a bit of a celebration for our adventurous week.  After a hot dinner, our crew was still hungry.  We decided to have a special pizza party and dance night where we all were able to laugh, be silly and enjoy our last evening in Bavaria.

 We were truly impressed by our Grade 6’s, who worked well supporting each other, learning how to take on more responsibilities, lending a helping hand to others in need, and having fun along the way.  We imagine that many of our students will have lasting memories from this trip.

Mr. Fortner, Ms. Bhattacarya and Mr. Licuanan

Grade 10 students travelled to Winterberg in the Hochsauerland region for Week Without Walls.

Baking Stockbrot over a crackling fire on the first evening after a forest walk and a challenging mountain bike tour up “Kahler Asten”, the highest mountain of the Sauerland region (8oo m) on the following Tuesday morning were the first three activities for the students and their teachers.

On Wednesday morning the group split up into two teams. Half of the group were doing archery while the other half practiced steering Segways. Our instructor was very pleased with our skilled students: Segways are steered only by shifting your body weight and by tipping the handle gently to change direction.

A walk across Panorama Bridge and several rides on a Sommerrodelbahn kept us busy on Wednesday afternoon.

If you want to know what a Sommerrodelbahn is, watch Mr Ledbetter on his way down on the H.I.S. Facebook page!

The students explored the forest in teams of 6 doing a GPS guided tour on Thursday morning. For our last activity in Winterberg we took off the ground and spent the afternoon high up in the trees.

The enormous amount of fresh air throughout the week helped us all sleep well (more or less…). A huge thank you to the students for their incredible sense of humour, positive attitude and for being risk-takers and for supporting and looking after each other.

Many thanks to my colleagues for chaperoning the trip, for lighting fires, sweeping floors, for their organisational skills, for singing, dancing and for entertaining the whole youth hostel.

text: Anke Schumacher