Friday Headlines
the weekly newsletter from EHS
From Bonjour to Guten Tag: A linguistic Adventure for Year 9
11 July 2025
Written by: Zaina M (9C)
What do you get when you mix beautiful weather, breathtaking cities, and a bunch of enthusiastic Year 9 students? The ultimate MFL adventure!
On the 29 June at 10pm, 34 eager students embarked on an adventure to Colmar and Freiburg by coach; however, to get there, first we had to make a quick stop at a Premier Inn near Folkestone to meet our driver, Jack, who drove us through the Eurotunnel into France in the morning of the 30 June. The journey consisted of high hopes, hot weather, bright skies and a lot of singing!
After a long journey and many quick stops, we arrived in Colmar, where we were greeted with boiling hot weather of temperatures reaching up to 35 degrees. The girls and teachers rushed into the hotel exhausted to get ready for the evening meal and activities. When dining in the luxurious Restaurant Pfeffel we ate our meals, which were inspired by the Alsatian cuisine, and we later made our way through central Colmar to wonder around and view the main market and shops. The day ended with an early bedtime and some secret late-night movies.
The next day, after an early morning and a delicious breakfast, which mostly consisted of pastries and lots of fresh fruit, the girls travelled across the German border to Freiburg for a day filled with lots of exciting new things to do! After arriving in Freiburg, we were greeted by lovely, enthusiastic travel guides ready to show us the wonderful life of Freiburg and give us the tour of the town. We were shown the beautiful buildings and the main church which had a lot of history behind it that most of us did not know about. We were also fascinated by the story of the river; legend says that, if you step into it, you must marry somebody from Freiburg, and everybody laughed when Señor Flox dipped his foot in the river to cool down! We then headed over to the Schauinslandbahn – the longest cable car in Germany – to look at the views. Everybody was excited to ride it; we took a group photo at the summit and ate our packed lunch, which consisted of freshly baked cakes, eclairs and baguettes provided by a local bakery. Afterwards, we travelled to Triberg to admire the beautiful waterfalls and visit the Black Forest Museum. It was an educating and fascinating part of the trip.
On day three, we drove away to the Haut Koenisburg castle, located just outside of Colmar, where we were given English audio tracks to guide us around and teach us about the history and structure. After walking endless steps up the castle and around the big halls, we headed back onto the bus where our driver Jack took us to visit to the picturesque village of Riquewihr, inspiration for the setting of the live action version of the Disney film “Beauty and the Beast”. The afternoon continued with a boat trip in Colmar's Little Venice and after lots of photos and selfies kindly taken by the staff, we headed over to central Colmar for a walking tour and some free time to spend our money. After a lot of delays by some heavy shoppers and lots of toilet breaks, we headed over to the restaurant Pfeffel to enjoy a nice evening dinner.
On our final day of the trip, we drove over to the famous Europa Park, a theme park in the north of Freiburg. We all split off in our groups to enjoy the day and checked in with everybody at several times of the day. We all tried to go on as many rides as possible, including Mr. Ball and driver Jack, who we found on the same rides as the students. Upon our return to Colmar, we headed over to the park, where we took one last group photo in front of the big Colmar sign and had some free time. Some of us ran through the fountains and ran around the park freely. After getting drenched we were surprised with ice creams and sorbets to end the evening. Finally and sadly, we started packing our suitcases and cleaning our rooms to get ready for the room inspections the next morning.
We had to wake up at 4am, ready to set off at 5:20am. Our final stop was a hypermarket outside Metz, where we bought some snacks and souvenirs for the day. Finally, after some delays in the Eurotunnel and some typical traffic around London, we made it safely to EHS on Friday night.
It was an incredible trip which we all enjoyed, and we are all very grateful to the teachers who accompanied us: Mr Ball, Miss Thaper, Madame Barbet, Frau Harpwood and Señor Flox. Thank you for making the trip an absolute delight and for taking the time to organise it and take care of us. We are also incredibly grateful to our driver Jack for driving us everywhere and helping us out.
Colmar Trip
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