EXCHANGE 2023-24 / Tuesday 31st Oct., HALLOWEEN EVENING AT KÖNIGSTEIN (Teacher's visit)

Teachers alone visited the nearby town of Königstein. In its castle a Halloween party was being held, and children with their parents were gathering to have a scary-good time...

 

EXCHANGE 2023-24 / Tuesday 31st Oct., KRONBERG TOUR

After leaving school, the whole group of students and teachers did a tour of the village, Kronberg im Taunus. Sightseeing the castle and other interesting parts:

 

The statue of Pau Casals at Victoria Park, Spanish cellist, who gives name to the Kronberg's new music venue Casals Forum of the Kronberg Academy.

This is a piece of the old Berlin Wall placed by Kronberg's town hall, as a reminder of German's recent history and a symbol of Freedom.

Link here to our previous visit to Kronberg Castle in 2019.

Link here to our previous visit to the village of Kronberg in 2019.

EXCHANGE 2023-24 / Tuesday 31st Oct., WELCOME TO ALTKÖNIGSCHULE

Tuesday was the first day at Kronberg Altkönigschule. The Spanish students went with their German partners to their classes. At 11:30 all students gathered at the schools cafeteria to be welcomed by the school's headmaster Mr Popper and to answer an interview prepared by the German students, and at 12 they all had a brunch together as you see in the photos below. 

 

Link here to our previous stay at this school in 2019.

EXCHANGE 2023-24 / Monday 30th Oct., JOURNEY TO KRONBERG - AIRPORTS

Our journey to Germany started on Monday October, 30th when we took the 12:30 flight from Alvedro. After changing planes in Madrid-Barajas, the plane landed in Frankfurt International Airport at 17:30. Above the 20 Spanish students with the teachers (Hilda Fraga & Ramón Neira) in Alvedro before boarding on the plane. Below photos of them being received by their German partners at Frankfurt Airport.

GOODBYE MATTHEW, GOODBYE CHANDLER

 All the worldwide fans of TV series "FRIENDS" sadly woke up this morning to the news of the death of actor Matthew Perry, who played the role of sarcastic but lovable Chandler Bing in the famous TV-comedy. At the age of 54 and after having struggled with drugs and alcohol throughout the years he worked in the series as  he told in his own written memoirs.

Here's our tribute with some of his best moments in "Friends". RIP, Matthew. Bye bye Chandler!

Video "CHANDLER'S SARCASM":

Video "UNFORGETTABLE CHANDLER MOMENTS":

AIRPORT TRAVEL TIPS

 Now there, as we're about to start our trip to Germany, it's good to remember how to move around at airports.

PHRASAL VERBS WITH 'COME', 'GO', 'PUT' & 'TAKE'

SYNONYMS FOR 'STUPID'

STUDENT EXCHANGE 2023-24: KRONBERG IM TAUNUS / FRANKFURT / MARBURG

Another student exchange is taking place in 2023, it's the second time we visit Kronberg im Taunus, a small village in the outskirts of Frankfurt. Our last visit was in 2019 and there was an attempt to go in 2020, but the COVID lockdown called off any possibility.

Twenty of our 4th ESO and 1st BAC year students will be travelling there between October 30th and November 7th. The German students will be here at the beginning of March 2024.

Here are the places we'll be visiting, according to the programme prepared:

[Info source of the places: Wikipedia]

- KRONBERG 
We'll be visiting the base village of our trip and its castle on Tuesday October 31st in the afternoon, after having been welcomed and toured the school.

Here's some information about Kronberg im Taunus. It's a town in Hesse, Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. Before 1866, it was in the Duchy of Nassau. Kronberg lies at the foot of the Taunus, flanked in the north and southwest by forests. A mineral water spring also rises in the town. 

Kronberg Castle.

Neighbouring communities

Kronberg borders in the north and east on the town of Oberursel, in the southeast on the town of Steinbach, in the south on the towns of Eschborn and Schwalbach.

Constituent communities

Kronberg consists of the three centres of Kronberg (8,108 inhabitants), Oberhöchstadt (6,363 inhabitants) and Schönberg (3,761 inhabitants).

- FRANKFURT 
We'll visit the city on Wednesday November 1st stopping at the Opera, the old town, the marketplace, walking around the river and the financial district "Mainhattan" with a visit to the top of the Main Tower.

  Frankfurt am Main is the most populated city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants in 2022 make it the fifth most populous city in Germany. It forms a continuous conurbation with the neighboring city of Offenbach am Main and its urban area has a population of over 2.3 million. The city is the heart of the larger Rhine-Main metropolitan region, which has a population of more than 5.8 million and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr. 

Frankfurt was a city state, the Free City of Frankfurt, for nearly five centuries, and was one of the most important cities of the Holy Roman Empire, as a site of Imperial coronations, it has been part of the state of Hesse since 1945. Frankfurt is culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse, with half of its population, and a majority of its young people, having a migrant background. A quarter of the population consists of foreign nationals, including many expatriates. Frankfurt is the 14th-wealthiest city in the world.

Frankfurt is a global hub for commerce, culture, education, tourism and transportation, and is the site of many global and European corporate headquarters. Due to its central location, Frankfurt Airport became the busiest in Germany, one of the busiest in the world, the airport with the most direct routes in the world, and the primary hub for Lufthansa, the national airline of Germany. Frankfurt Central Station is Germany's second-busiest railway station. Frankfurt is one of the major financial centers of the European continent, with the headquarters of the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Automotive, technology and research, services, consulting, media and creative industries complement the economic base. Messe Frankfurt is one of the world's largest trade fairs. Major fairs include the Music Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest book fair. With 108 consulates, Frankfurt is second to New York among non-capital cities in regards to consulate seats.

Frankfurt is home to influential educational institutions and Its renowned cultural venues include the concert hall Alte Oper, continental Europe's largest theatre and many museums.  Frankfurt's skyline is shaped by some of Europe's tallest skyscrapers, which has led to the term Mainhattan. 

- MARBURG
This will be the new place to visit this time. An all-day trip to this medieval university town on Friday November 3rd.

Marburgis a university town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district. The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximately 76,000.

Having been awarded town privileges in 1222, Marburg served as capital of Hessen-Marburg during periods of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. The University of Marburg was founded in 1527 and dominates the public life in the town to this day.

Marburg is a historic centre of the pharmaceutical industry in Germany, and there is a plant in the town (by BioNTech) to produce vaccines to tackle Covid-19.

You can also see about the school we're exchanging students with:

- ALTKÖNIGSCHULE, KRONBERG

PHRASAL VERB "LOOK UP TO" = ADMIRE