One of the most unique parts of being a student at Frankfurt International School is enrichment week (also known as trip week), a week-long experience that every student from grade 6 to grade 10 participates in, travelling all around Germany with their classmates. From the forests to the cities, they take part in a number of activities both big and small. But the real question is –  what do the students think about this trip – and what could one expect going into this?

According to 9th grader Moa, the best parts of her class trip were, “going to the mall, going to the opera…and definitely the pizza dinner by the river.” As a ninth grader, she travelled to Dresden, a city in the east of Germany, where they “went hiking, went into the city, and did a bunch of homeroom games”. 

On the other hand, 7th grader Sofie “really liked e-biking”, which she did in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, along with biking, swimming, ropes courses, swimming, and, “a night out where [they] dressed up as medieval characters and walked around the city,” with a guide teaching them about the city as they went. Similarly, 7th graders Nick and Finn favored the water park, as well as the “snowballs” – a traditional dessert found in the city.

“The one trip I had been on…is the Berlin trip, and that is absolutely amazing,” 11th grader Jana recalls, referring to the 10th grade trip. “The overall highlight from that trip was being able to roam around by ourselves…we did some really fun stuff”. Unfortunately, 11th graders at FIS don’t participate in trip week due to other activities, but 11th grader Yao thinks that “the 11th graders should also be allowed to go on the trips.” Jana, as well as fellow students Crystal and Cathy, agree, arguing that even a short, 2-night trip would be better than none.

That goes to show that this system isn’t perfect – by taking hundreds of kids with very differing opinions and personalities on a trip, you’re bound to have some setbacks.

Moa explains laughingly that for her, a challenge was, “walking the really steep downhill with the heavy backpacks, and not burning the pasta while cooking”. On the other hand, both Sofie, Nick, and Finn all say that the Night Watchman tour in Rothenburg was hard, as, according to Sofie, “it was very late in the night, and a lot of people were falling asleep”.  Finally, Jana says that they “didn’t really have a lot of free time outside of what was scheduled”, and they had a lot of things they were required to do.

But in the scheme of things, trip week is not only a fun time to hang out with friends, but also a whole new approach to learning. “It was kind of nice learning about the history of Rothenburg…and that connected a little bit to our next unit in Humanities,” Sofie explained.

Even more importantly, these students aren’t just learning history – but all sorts of important life skills. “Something that I took away was definitely patience,” Moa said, “because for hiking and camping, I got the worst bruise, and I had to be quite patient for it to stop hurting.”

And, of course, Moa touches on the reason trip week was thought up in the first place, “One big takeaway was the friends that I got, because I was able to talk a lot and was able to develop my social skills”. 

This really tunes in on the true importance of these trips – bonding. In an international school such as FIS, with many kids coming and going each year, one can see the importance of being able to make new friends and develop social skills. 

And despite challenges, this remains one of the highlights of the FIS calendar, and for good reason. After all, making new friends in extraordinary places, and doing things that you’d never thought you’d do, are the kinds of things that are sure to make memories.

And those are the kinds of memories that last forever.