“Grade 9 visited Krakow, Poland, where we explored endless landmarks and gained many experiences along our journey.
We arrived at school at 8:30 and after taking the trip to Brussels by bus, we took off to Krakow Airport and arrived during the afternoon.
The following day, we had to wake up extra early to have breakfast together, as we took the bus to Auschwitz at 9:30. We had a lovely guide who accompanied us through Auschwitz, and later Birkenau. The sights were horrific, to say the least, but also important to show and preserve for us, the future generation, to make sure anything like the Holocaust never happens again. Following our visit to Auschwitz and Birkenau, a long day was still ahead of us, as we went about 130 meters underground to explore the Wieliczka Salt Mines with another guided tour which was quite an interesting experience (and the walls tasted salty). We then transferred back to Krakow, dined at the ‘Restauracja Ziolone Tarasy’, and went to bed tired after an extremely packed day.
On the last day of the trip, we commenced our “Young Impact” Challenges. The previously divided groups could now fulfill their goals/missions that they had chosen to make a positive impact on the city of Krakow. This was later followed on with a relatively short walk to the “Wawel Royal Castle”, a gargantuan significant castle that served as a residence for Polish Kings and is a big symbol for Polish statehood. We were then given a lot of free time to explore the city or just chill in our rooms before having dinner at ‘Restauracja Corleone’ and packing our things for the following day.
Overall, this trip to Poland has majorly helped us understand the significance of the Holocaust and how we can take this experience and use it later on in the future. We also got the opportunity to explore the city of Krakow and other famous landmarks in Poland, creating a wonderful school trip for us all.”
