Bad Godesberg School “Cheers” to 50 years of student exchange with England

Bad Godesberg · For half a century, students from Amos-Comenius Secondary School have been visiting their partner school in Bury, England. On Thursday, a ceremony will take place to commemorate the 50 years of student exchange.

A friendly “Cheers” will surely mark the Thursday celebration of 50 years of student exchange between the Amos-Comenius-Gymnasium (Secondary School or High School) and the St. Edmunds County Upper School located in the English town of Bury. For five decades, young Brits have been coming to Bonn for a week every spring, and the German students visit the Cambridge region for a week in summer. The 50 years of student exchange will be celebrated in a ceremony on Thursday evening at Amos-Comenius at 6 pm.

In both Bonn and in Bury, students are housed with families. They visit the school and take part in a cultural and leisure program. Amos teachers Volker Möbius and Andrea Hoffman believe it is one of the oldest student exchanges between an English state school and a German school. Many similar projects have been terminated.

The Amos students were astonished at the Japanese lessons or having to do improvisation in the drama class when they visited Bury. Meanwhile, the British students experienced the Room of Silence in the protestant school and the enormous wall paintings made by every graduating class.

Musicals and concerts were the undisputed highlight of the past years, with the German group attending “The Lion King”, “Mary Poppins”, or “Les Miserables” in the London West End. In Germany, British students were treated to “Miami Nights” in Düsseldorf, “Saturday Night Fever” in Cologne or the “Abba Revival Band” in Bonn. There were also trips to the Ford plant in Cologne, the Bonn history museum and the Aachen Cathedral. In England, the students were treated to boat trips on the Thames, barbecues in English gardens, a visit to Cambridge and to Ickworth House.

Of course, along the way there were also some breakdowns and bad luck: losing a passport on the airplane, a slippery affair on an icy street in Essen, or the three-hour train stop at 2 am after a visit to the Cologne Arena. But never mind, both Möbious and Hofmann says “Cheers” to 50 years of the German-British student exchange.

(Orig. text: Ebba Hagenberg-Miliu)

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