At the higher technical and vocational college in Neufelden it is common that you take a language trip in the 4th form. Usually the destination would be the United Kingdom or Ireland, but due to Covid we were not able to travel abroad, so we decided to stay in Austria. That’s why our trip took us to Judenburg, Styria where we stayed at an old monastery. In our accommodation we had language lessons with native speakers: Fred from the US, Marcelo from Canada and Neil from Great Britain every forenoon and also two evenings.
Due to the fact that we were 60 people, we had to split into two groups for lunch and dinner, which was a bit chaotic at first. After unpacking and lunch we played some games with the native speakers to get to know each other in the afternoon and evening.
In our Tuesday lessons we tried to brush up our basic grammar skills and because the weather was quite bright, we went to the outdoor pool in the afternoon, which was great fun.
On Wednesday some people woke up early in order to get active right before breakfast. Unfortunately, the food that was served wasn’t as good as at home, but this was compensated by our great teachers who held the English lessons, which took place right between breakfast and lunch. After lunch some students decided to play glow-in-the-dark mini golf that used UV-lights and had a great effect on the obstacles and golf balls. While some people were having a blast playing mini golf, the others were enjoying their spare time in Judenburg. (Mostly inside because of the heavy rain). The majority, including the teachers, were enjoying their evening at the local Irish pub.
After we had spent another night at the hotel, it was time to get some more English input before our bus driver Stefan Heinzl took us to Graz. In Graz we had the opportunity to go on a tour with a local guide and visit the famous clock tower at a place called the “Schlossberg”. After this we had some free time again. Many of us enjoyed our time in Graz, apart from our evening performance at an English cinema because it was extremely hot and the cinema hall was pretty small.
Friday was the last day of the language trip. After the usual morning breakfast, everybody had to pack their suitcases because the schedule was tight and there was still one last activity planned by our tutors. In this activity we were put in groups of six and every team received a sheet of paper with a total of over 20 tasks, which could be fulfilled with physical condition and imagination of the team members. After a farewell from our tutors, we headed to our last destination of the language trip: The Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Sadly, we did not have the opportunity to drive on the racing track with the bus, due to our late arrival. Still, we were able to explore quite a big area of the racing track for two full hours, before our guided tour started. During the tour itself, we were guided through the main building. Part of the tour was a video of historical events, original audio queues of famous formula one drivers, a showcase of the main operation center as well as a miniature museum of many different racing cars and many more attractions. At around quarter past four we departed from Spielberg, took a small break in St. Pankraz and arrived back at school at around half past seven.
All in all, we had a great time both learning English with our tutors and getting to know some landmarks in and around Judenburg. Although polishing up our English skills came up a little short, we got to strengthen our class spirit.
