Khloe's Trip to Bornholm
Khloe's Year 8 (7th grade) class got to take a 4-day trip to the Danish island of Bornholm at the end of the school year! Bornholm is in the Baltic Sea and is almost completely composed of granite, so it's very warm there well into the fall. It was briefly occupied by German and Soviet forces, and has many historical sites, some dating back to the 13th century!!
Bornholm is the island in the bottom right - on the other side of Sweden!
The class trips are a sort of bonding and team building exercise that allows the kids to learn more about each other and their teachers. They visit historical sites and learn about the area, but they also have a lot of fun.
Khloe took the bus to the train station to meet up with her classmates and teachers the morning of their first day. It was a really nice day and the sun was out the entire trip, which was good because they had to take a ferry to the island when they got off the train. Khloe normally hates boats, but she was with friends and I think that helped.
Khloe: It was a very smooth journey, but I was pretty scared to travel across the waters.
When they got off the ferry, they had to walk with all of their luggage to the hostel where they were staying. Everyone was excited to see their home for the next four days.
Khloe: When the teachers half- randomly chose our roomates, I was surprised that I didn't get two of my friends. One of my friends, Olivia, her mom is a teacher and told Olivia what the roommates would be. So I was supposed to be in a room with her and my friend, Bruna, along with two mystery people. I'm so happy with who I got though, my best friend, Mazvita, and two other girls (also my friends but not as close). They were super funny and amazing to share a room with.
Khloe: I basically played football with all of my free time, and occasionally volleyball.
Five teachers accompanied the kids on the trip. They said that the kids had a great meal, took showers, and then had some good relaxing and socializing time. The teachers said that they thought an early night was important after such a big day of travel.
Khloe: An early night did not happen any of the nights. My roommates and I were up until 12pm-1am every night. We didn't have anything to tell us the time either, so we can't be certain. Sometimes the girls who were connected to our room wouldn't hand in their phones, so they let us borrow one for the time for a few hours. Also, two girls had their birthdays so for certain we stayed ups until 12 to congratulate them."
* * *
The teachers wrote a little blog post about the trip, but Khloe had some corrections to their report. Haha!
"The students were well rested after an excellent night's sleep."
Khloe: Nope.
"All the teachers slept well and had undisturbed sleep, which is always appreciated after a long day out in the fresh air."
Khloe: It was scary at some points because sometimes we would laugh too loud and almost get caught so it was a rush!
"After a hearty and delicious breakfast, we went for a walk into Rønne and enjoyed the cozy town."
Khloe: At 12:00 we were driven to one of the famous round churches on Bornholm called Østerlars Kirke, where we saw a grave that was used in a few Danish shows and movies as a prop!
The grave marker is under the protective cover while they do construction.
There were separate entrances to the church for men and women. Men deposited their weapons upon entering the church.
 |
| This is the top of the Round Church. |
 |
| This is a view from the walkway at the top of the round church and you can see the part that doesn't have a roof. |
 |
| A baptism font under the dome |
Khloe: Lots of babies died because they only cleaned the water out once a year and would very forcefully dunk them in the water. The structure around the baptism font is the support for the whole dome of the church.
 |
| On the walk between the church and the Middle Ages Centre, there was a field they used to transport gold with horse carriages across. |
"The second stop was the Middle Ages Centre, and again, the weather was on our side. It makes all the difference when it is nice and warm, as it allowed us to explore the houses in this village and also shoot an arrow on a traditional bow. Climbing to the top of the King's quarters was a top highlight!"
Khloe: The Middle Ages Centre was so fun!
 |
| This is written in viking runes. I was writing my friend a message saying stinky, but I forgot the 'I' so it now says stnky |
 |
| This is the stage tourists could dress up and perform little plays on. |
 |
| This is the big oven and seating area where the helpers of the mayor(?) at their food. |
 |
| This was the party hub where they drank beer and partied. |
 |
| This is the other side of the oven. |
"We finished our time off at the Middle Ages Centre with a tug-of-war challenge. Girls against boys. Who do you think won? Congratulations to the girls. "
Khloe: The girls won by a landslide!! Not gonna lie... for how much those boys say they workout, they're pretty weak. The girls not only won one match, but three! Some of the dudes were super cocky too, they were all like "you guys aren't going to win because we workout, and have muscles." I made eye contact with my friend Natalie and we knew that we were gonna bet them easily. It didn't even take over 5 seconds to cross the line. Some, didn't want to give up and kept pulling after the match was over.
In the evening, the kids gathered around a campfire and cooked traditional dough on a stick (snøbrød) with ketchup or jam as a condiment.
Khloe: It was very good!
The next day was also really nice, and the kids got to go on a bus tour of Bornholm with several stops, including Hammerhus, which is the largest medieval fortress in Northern Europe!
Khloe: The most important items for our backpacks were: Suntan cream, water and food! I did not bring any of those sadly, I left my lunch at the hostel because I didn't know we could bring them. But apparently we were supposed to have eaten them, but I was playing football and didn't know so that sucked. It became a snack...
They got on a bus early Thursday morning and drove to Hammerhus, a medieval castle. The teachers called it, "...an excellent tour full of stories, historical events and espionage."
 |
| This was the prison where the king's daughter was held along with her husband because they were stealing money in secret |
 |
| The wall the princess and her husband had to jump over to escape to Sweden |
 |
| Part of the butter cellar and near the area where they butchered the cows |
 |
| The guide was very fun! He's famous. He found gold from the Vikings and different objects in the Round Church and now he gives tours of the place. He says he's still searching for things! |
 |
| The view from a window at the castle |
They walked over the cliff tops at Helligdoms Cliffs to see the view, and then boarded the bus again to move on.
Khloe: I enjoyed seeing all the beautiful flowers located on the hillsides and in the little crevices of cliffs. The water was vast and blue, and everything about it was awesome.
The bus took them to Svaneke, which is a quaint town on the east coast of Bornholm. They got to see a candy-making demonstration and sandblast their own glass souvenirs.
Khloe: It was Danish Father's Day soon, so I wanted to buy Dad a gift, and I went into this funky store which looks perfect because it had all these different stones, rocks, crystals, and geodes and it was stunning! I had found him a little glass hippo that reminded me of his goofiness and how funny his voice impressions of our dog was, especially when he yawns, so I bought it for him! He loved it very much which I'm super happy about!
The teachers said, "When we got back to the hostel, we ate like Bornholmers, tasting the local smoked fish. All the students tried it and loved it!!"
Khloe: Nobody told us the fish was outside and being eaten so I didn't get to try it :/ But that's ok because I was spending time with friends.
Back at the hostel that evening, they had a campfire and roasted marshmallows.
Khloe: The students did impressions of the teachers and it was so funny to watch! Then, the teachers did the same for the students, and that was also super funny. My favorite impression was the one of my music teacher Paulo. He always says, "I need the sound of silence," and it was just super funny. Sadly, he's leaving the school, so I won't be seeing him again. I feel like I always have a deeper connection with my music teachers for some reason, but even though I've only worked and learned with him for half a school year, I wanted to cry when I heard he was leaving. He's a fantastic teacher though, and he always cares about his students and accommodates to their needs.
On the final day, everyone was sad to be going home. They had an early breakfast and packed their final lunches. Part of staying in the hostel is caring for the space, so the kids had to pack, remove their bedding, sweep the floors, fold their items, etc.
Khloe: My group were the last ones out...oops.
Overall, it was a very fun bonding experience with friends. I got to know a lot of my classmates better and it was a lot of fun.
Comments
Post a Comment