Years 8 and 9 students immersed themselves in German life during a trip to Cologne. The weekend started with a visit to an animal park that cares for rescued animals, where the students fed and cuddle the furry residents.

A city tour offered a trip back in time to historical Cologne in the 1920s, which was followed by a visit to a famous art museum and one of the highlights, dining at the German restaurant Schnitzel, let's go!

The culinary journey continued the following day with a visit to the chocolate museum, where lots of lecker chocolate was consumed. The next stop was the MMC TV Studios, where shows such as the German Strictly Come Dancing are filmed. The students were able to present their own talk show and took on different roles including host, guest speaker, audience, camera operator and director.

In the evening, the group saw the musical Starlight Express, an amazing experience with the actors driving around the students on roller blades.

The trip finished with a visit to the cathedral, where some braved the 350 steps to the top of the tower, and fun at the bowling centre before heading back to Luxembourg.

The students loved the experience, offering the below comments:

• It was amazing and I had a fab time. The only problem was it went by too fast.
• I think that I improved my German. Everyone was really nice and the vibe was fun.
• I found it really fun finding about the history and exploring other topics like the chocolate and the filming.
• It was really cool to see all the animals and being able to feed them and just be with them in general.
• Interesting to see what everything looked like in the past and it was fun that there was VR.
• Super fun! So interactive and interesting to know about the chocolate history in Köln!
• I loved filming with the camera. I thought it was really cool to see how everything worked and how they film things. The workshop was super fun and it was genuinely super cool that we were allowed to use the equipment. The tour was interesting and I was shocked to find out so many celebrities had been there. I hope to visit again.
• Great. I loved the fact that it was on roller skates.