Grade 10 spent the Week Without Walls outdoor adventure trip in Furtwangen, the highest city in Baden Württemberg in the Black Forest.

We stayed at the Bregtal Hostel, which is also „Eliteschule des Sports”, a boarding school for students doing nordic sports such as ski-jumping, biathlon and cross-country skiing. Our last activity on Wednesday, the summer biathlon, took place at the training stadium where the competitions of the professional athletes are taking place, too. This was a great experience and a successful finish of an overall joyful and fun trip.

BK

On the first day, we arrived in Furtwangen and did archery. It was extremely fun, we did a lot of progress in archery by learning the correct method and improving our aim as well as power. Later we also played table tennis and kicker in the games’ room as well as basketball and volleyball in the sports room with the others. We interacted with the others in the class and had fun. The challenging part for me (Aadi) was mainly improving my team coordination when our group played the checkers game with Daniel and to remember the pattern where he was stepping.

On the second day, We went to Europa Park. It was a fun experience as we got to do multiple roller coasters, some easy and some thrilling. I (Soham) tried roller coasters for the first time and was able to get rid of my fear. Some challenges that we faced, were that we had to navigate the whole park, which took a lot of time. At Europa park, we got to visit ‚ many countries’ and do country-themed rides such as Euro-Sat and Euro-Mir. We also took exciting photos. After arriving, we had a rest, along with dinner later.

Thirdly, We went to the Summer Biathlon, which consisted of running and rifle shooting. We tried shooting with laser while laying down and standing up. It was a new experience. However, it was a little exhausting as mistakes resulted in a penalty of doing extra rounds running. We were good at shooting while laying down but shooting while standing up was difficult as our arms couldn’t stay still.

Later, we took a short walk in the forest and a retired forester, Mr. Kaltenbach, explained the landscape to us. It was interesting to learn that the word ‘sustainability’ came into existence when the Black Forest was chopped down to only 20% of its original size, making the people realise that it should be protected and the trees regrown. On our way back to Heidelberg, we played verbal games such as Akinator with the others and had an amazing time overall.

Aadi & Soham

The highlight of WWW were, Europa park especially riding blue fire, playing billard and eating snacks in our down time . A challenge was the weather as it was raining both during archery and when we where in Europa Park. Another challenge was managing our time at Europa Park to make sure we got the most out of our visit.

Aliyah, Joanne & May

Our three days in Furtwangen were a great part of this school year. We enjoyed spending time together, getting to know each other even more and learning new skills like biathlon and archery. Both things were definitely challenging at the beginning, but as we did different exercises and practiced we improved in our abilities and confidence. Our biggest highlight was spending a day at Europa Park as we rode on the multiple rollercoasters and felt the rush of adrenaline. We think it was a really great way to end our MYP experience and hope that many classes after us will also be able to participate in this.

Laura, Maria & Filiz