Trip to Brussels/voyage à Bruxelles en 2023

Day one

Dear Diary,
Today was the first full day after our arrival in Brüssels, which is the capital city of Belgium. The night was good, even though it was very loud outside because of all the Ambulance driving on the streets. We started the day with a yummy breakfast at the hotel. In contrast to the dinner on Sunday, the breakfast had different options to eat, like toast, croissants and vegetables. An hour later, all if us got in the bus and Max, our bus driver, together with a tour guide, showed us many different things and buildings. I was amazed about the Royal Family’s Garden. It’s as big as Monaco! Imagine having such a big garden all to yourself. By the way, the royal family had visitors from England today. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth (She’s gonna be the first queen Belgium ever had, how cool!) studied in England at a university and now her friends came for a visit. Except from the royal family’s houses, we also visited famous places like the Atomium or the Parliament. After this informative bus tour, we were allowed to move around completely freely in Brüssels. Near the place where our bus kicked us out, was a really full but nice shopping street. Me and the others spent so much money in all the stores, but it was worth it. However, we were also ripped off nastily! A lady approached us with flowers. She handed us the flowers and wanted 2 Euros from us. One of my classmates gave her only 1 Euro, which the lady took. But then she also took the flower but didn’t give him his 1 Euro back. That’s so mean and the flowers weren’t even pretty. Of course, that didn’t stop us. For dinner, I went into a Lidl to get myself a baguette and some garlic butter. When I was about to leave, a little kid said something to me in French. Her eyes were kinda sad. But because I did not understand what she said, I only answered with a big smile and the word >Baguette<. It’s one of the only French words I know and I thought it’s funny, haha. But the kid looked traumatized, what shocked me completely. Anyway, I look forward to the rest of the week and I’m excited about what is going to happen.
Until tomorrow, dear Diary! (written by Gwenny de Haan)

Day two

Dear Diary,
Our second day in Brussels was spent visiting the House of European history, as well as the European Parliament, where we met Marion Walsmann, a member of the EU Parliament originally coming from Thuringia. Throughout our stay at the museum we visited a total of four exhibitions showcasing different events which left a great impact on Europe, including the Second World War. Throughout the whole „tour“ we had to answer questions given to us by the staff while using tablets to understand certain things about the gallery like portraits or ancient artifacts. After a short lunch break we visited the Parliament.
Our visit there started with a short presentation held by a member of the parliament before we got to meet Mrs. Walsmann, who introduced herself and her job a little bit more. After that she answered some of our questions, including her opinion on Al and her previous jobs. We closed off our meeting by taking a look at the plenary hall. The following hours were spent roaming around the city or lazing around in the hotel, eating pizza and later on going to bed. (written by Leni Höpfner)

Day three

Dear Diary,

The 5th of July in 2023 was the third day that was spent in Brussels. Everyone had to stand up early because today we wanted to visit one of the greatest sights in the city – the Atomium. The bus arrived at 10 o‘clock and we had time to explore the Atomium and the Adam Design Museum until half past 12. One of the most amazing things for a lot of students was the breathtaking lightshow, that was connected over three floors. The Adam Design Museum with the many crazy designs was also very interesting and a great chance to look at daily things with a different point of view. Afterwards we drove by bus to the next attraction, which was Planete Chocolat, but before the spectecular demonstration started, we got one hour to eat lunch. Half past 2pm the demonstration about the Belgian chocolate production started and we all learned some new and exciting facts. Our classmate Lara Scharff got the chance to prove her knowledge about the chocolate production, by assisting the professional master of Planete chocolate. The highlight of the demonstration was, that we all got a taste of the delicious belgian chocolate. To finish the day and the wonderful classtrip, we got the opportunity to do whatever we wanted to do in the capital city of Belgium. (written by Allegra Rothe and Ruth Zähringer)