PJGE in Canterbury:School trip to Canterbury

Every year the students of the tenth grade get the opportunity to be part of a school trip to Canterbury. This year I was one of them and I would like to to share my experiences with you and finally I will tell you if I would recommend this trip or not.

So, let’s start:

At 6 a.m. (Wednesday, 6th March 2024) we (60 students + three teachers) started our trip. By bus we headed to Calais in France. In Calais we took the ferry and within 90 minutes we reached Dover/England. That was really interesting because some of us had never been on a ferry before. We also had lunch on the ferry and it was surprisingly good. The bus ride from Dover to our youth hostel in Canterbury was only 30 minutes long. That was a little bit strange because in England you drive on the left side. Totally the trip by bus and ferry took about 11 hours because we also did some breaks and but it was really fun. We listened to music, watched movies and talked a lot.

When we arrived, we were given some free time to check into our rooms and explore the hostel. Then, in the evening, we walked down in the city and we were told the program for the next day and some other general information like the bedtime. From then on we had free time again. Some of us went to explore the city and some went back to the hostel. The first night was short but very funny. We played tons of board games (also with the teachers) and made a lot of mischief. 

Next morning at 8 o’clock we had a very delicious breakfast with typical British dishes such as scrambled eggs, baked beans or bacon… YUMMY! After this incredible breakfast we started with the program. In fact we wanted to do a punting-tour. Unfortunately the stream of the river was to strong so we couldn’t do it, but we did a city tour instead. There was a guide who told us a lot of interesting facts about Canterbury. For example: Did you know, that Canterbury is the main city of the English church?

After the tour we got free time again. We finally had time to change our money from Euro to British Pounds. After that the most of us went shopping or had lunch or some snacks. But you were also allowed to go back to the hostel and relax if you wanted to.

At 7.30 p.m. we went to the so called ghostwalk. This ghostwalk was definitely one of my highlights. It was basically a tour where a guide told us some ghost stories at some house corners in city centre. But the tour guide was an actor and he was dressed up all black. With his hat, his cape and his old shoes he looked just like an old bad magician. The stories were about witches and mysterious deaths. His performance was absolutely amazing. Some of his stories were really good and it was really funny but also a little scary even when you know the stories couldn’t be real. But you never know, right?

My second highlight of this trip was right after the ghostwalk. We went back to the hostel and cooked something. This may sound a little boring, but trust me, cooking with your friends is one of the funniest things you can do. Especially when the ingredients you just had bought hours ago, are suddenly gone. Luckily Mr. George got them back for us and we could finally start cooking. It was just really fun and we made way too much pasta. 

On the next day, we had an incredible breakfast again and then we drove back. On the ferry we had a lot of fun again. We were just a little bit more tired and a little sad because of the fact that this wonderful trip is about to end. Unfortunately the weather was not the best, so some of us got a bit sick on the ferry. But when we arrived everybody was partying with loud music and we ended up again at the Aquarena car park.

All in all it was a really funny and an amusing trip. I can only recommend everyone to be part of it if you have a chance. Canterbury is a beautiful city. It’s not too big or not too small and you can easily go by foot from the hostel to the city centre. This trip is just an amazing experience and you can finally see how the people live, whose language is spoken all over the world.