Big School Trip Diary

The most beautiful thing about school life is: School is not only about studying. The most beautiful “not-only-about-studying” activity is the school trip. Once in a year we are allowed to “run-away” from school books, obligations, parents and are in totally different environment with our friends and our teachers. We don’t want to deny the educational character of the excursion, but we also want to emphasize that the time spent in the bus and in hotels was meaningful to us. We got familiar with a few foreign countries, as well as with each other. Not only that we know each other’s passions and favorite clothes bought in the shopping mall, we also know the color of each other’s pajamas and the tooth paste brand. Well, that’s called closeness.

In order not to forget this year’s school trip, we prepared a little chronological diary for you:

DAY 1

Our first day of the trip was a pretty long one. We woke up at 4:00 am and arrived at the hotel at 10:30 pm. I wouldn’t say anyone was tired or bored though.

We traveled for about eleven hours in the bus and had some breaks. We listened to music, played the games on our phones in the bus, and, although the bus is not the most comfortable place to stay, we had a good time there. The driver seemed to be very strict and moody, but we overwhelmed him with the good atmosphere and at the end he was almost friendly. Well, ok, not everyone is born to be fun.

When we arrived at Ljubljana we had a great walk around the city. We saw the buildings and some shops there. We saw also the river flowing through the city and the view was nice. This was more or less our first day of the trip!

DAY 2

In the morning we had our tasty breakfast and then we left the hotel. We went to the Bled Lake near Ljubljana. The view there was really nice. We had some free time there to buy some souvenirs. The hotel in the neighborhood had a possibility of free ice skating. That was awesome. Some of us really enjoyed. Not everyone can ice skate, but even the watching is interesting.

After this, we continued our trip to Vienna. One of the breaks on this trip was not planned. WE did not really realize what is going on. But, after a while, our already mentioned polite driver came back into a bus with dirty, black hands and we got it: it was not only a break, it was THE BREAK: the bus broke. But, somehow, the already mentioned polite driver has fixed it by himself. That’s how we forgave his sins from the day 1 and he became a star. We arrived in Vienna at around 8 p.m. We had dinner at a restaurant and after that we went to the hotel at 10 p.m.

DAY 3

That day it was the first one in Vienna. From the beginning Michael (Y7) saw a bus with his nickname on it. It was a happy start for him. Right after that, we went to Vienna’s museum of Natural History. It was nice and interesting in there. There were many different exhibits. There were all sorts of insects, diamonds and many other amazing objects. There were stuffed animals. There were dogs, cats and even dinosaurs. One huge dinosaur was roaring at us. It was not for real, of course, but they made it incredibly realistic. We had 1 hour and a half to spend there.

After this time we went out to the Christmas bazaar in front and to the shops nearby. Some of us bought things and others had a drink or a meal. After this we went to have our dinner and then back to the hotel.

DAY 4

That day we had a lot of free time. In the morning we went to the underground lake. It was a beautiful area to spend there. It was interesting to know about the story how that lake was made. We also had a ride in a little boat through the lake. The tourist guide was really enthusiastic about the story; everyone could notice that he really loves his job. The lake is called “Seegrotte”. This lake is the consequence of a natural phenomenon. During the Second World War, there was the underground aircraft factory and we also saw a model of a plane.

Later we had a walk and free time on the main street of Vienna. A while after this, some of us went swimming and some others went to the shopping Center nearby. We bought interesting things there and the others had fun in the pool. The shopping mall was huge, so it happened that we loose and find each other, but all of that was part of the entertainment.

Now the best part comes! After all that we went to a theme park called “Prater”. That was amazing for all of us. We went on all sorts of roller coasters and other fun activities. That place is truly full of energy. We feel sorry that we couldn’t stay there any longer. Though, I can imagine how all this looked for our teachers: looking at us while we are on all those trains, cars, roller coasters and other devices. We bet they couldn’t wait for us to finish and go to dinner.

After that we had dinner and we went back to the hotel.

DAY 5

In the morning we had to pack up and eat our last breakfast of the trip. Right after, we went to the Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna. We saw a bit of it and had a bit of free time there in the bazaar in front. We also had an audio guide in the castle and a voice was telling us the story about the rooms that we went through. It was informational, interesting and not too long.

When we went outside, some of us wanted to visit the zoo. Once again, we were losing and finding each other. Teachers and drivers were patient this time. We guess we needed some time to get used to each other. Isn’t it too bad that we are going to separate soon?

These were our last minutes of the trip. Then at around 12 p.m. we started our trip back to Belgrade. Of course we had fun on the way back in the bus, but not as much as on the beginning. We were already tired and… yes, we missed our parents, siblings and friends who did not go to the school trip… a bit…

One of the nice things about traveling is that you are coming back. You go somewhere, spread your horizons, see and enjoy some different worlds and you also become aware of all the beautiful things that are waiting for you: dinner with the family, nice made bed, all in all: the warmth of the place called home.

Without this warmth, school trips wouldn’t be so fun and without the traveling, the home could not be so warm.