Denzlingen Visit by UTC May 2018

From Thursday 10th May to Monday 14th May, twelve stude​nts participated in a cultural and sports festival hosted by the town of Denzlingen in the Upper Rhine Valley at the edge of the Black Forest (Schwarz Wald) in Germany. The festival was attended by young people from the Denzlingen’s twin towns of St. Cyr sur Mer (France), Citta della Pieve (Italy); our students were ambassadors for the United Kingdom representing North Hykeham Twinning Association. Our Lincoln UTC students arrived on Thursday evening after a short flight from Heathrow Airport to Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Airport. We were greeted by the German committee members of Denzlingen’s Twinning Committee who provided the transport for the hour drive to Denzlingen. Our accommodation would be the Sport-Halle Denzlingen where everyone would be staying and using camping beds to sleep on.

 

Friday morning was an opportunity for everyone to meet and introduce themselves to each other. The first activity was a rally around Denzlingen, there were eight teams, with participants from each country represented in each team – an opportunity to meet with other young people and get to know them. They were given a sheet with questions on about Denzlingen and they had to find the answers as they walked around the town, the finishing point would be the Town Hall were we would all meet up with the Mayor of Denzlingen before we headed back for lunch. That evening Katie and Liam competed a presentation to show what Lincoln UTC life is like and showed photos of Lincoln and North Hykeham.

The following three days would consist of a trip to the local swimming pool, Mach Blau, where students were given the opportunity to achieve their silver swimming certificate, a game of volleyball and lots of inter-team sports events including handball, basket ball and hockey. There was much fun to be had on the inflatable ‘human football’ table and due to the temperatures reaching a balmy 26 degrees the students very much enjoyed the impromptu water fight after all the sports had ended.

At the end of all the weekends sports events there was a certificate ceremony and the top three teams with the most points collected their medals from the Mayor. Then it was time to get ready for the disco in the evening, this gave all the students a good chance to have fun and relax with their new friends from across Europe.

Our last few days were spent taking in some of the surrounding sights and tourist attractions. On Sunday we went to Baumkronenweg Waldkirch, which was a hike up a steep hill to see the view out over the valley and then we all enjoyed the 500m slide back down to the bottom of the hill. Afterwards, students visited a historical mine that used to produce silver ore. This involved wearing hard hats and climbing underground. On Monday we headed over to the town of Freiburg to take in the history by visiting the Munster cathedral, one of the oldest in Europe, and enjoying what the market stalls and lane shops had to offer.

The students had a great trip, they enjoyed the varied activities and being able to immerse themselves in the German culture.