Hamburg, meine Perle

This, my final blog post, is a little different from my previous ones in that I amwriting it from back at home in England.

Although I could see the dreaded end date fast approaching, my last month in Hamburg still managed to be just as good as the ones before. As part of my course I took part in a 3 day field trip to the Harz Mittelgebirge, a mountain range in the middle of Germany. The trip was a great way to see a different side of Germany away from the large harbour of Hamburg, and as a geographer spending time in Caves, going down mines and walking along Gorges was a very enjoyable experience.

After only a couple of days back in Hamburg I was once again packing up, ready for a trip across to Warsaw. Fifteen hours and two coaches later (one of which had a TV for each seat) we reached Poland’s capital. I have to admit that I had some preconceptions about what Poland looked like, however the drab communist style housing blocks were few and far between. Warsaw has an amazing range of buildings, and the old town looks amazing- considering it was almost all rebuilt following the war. Aside from looking nice the old town was also home to some very good ice cream and food. Warsaw’s skyline is dominated by the Palace of Science and Culture, which was 100% a gift to the polish people from Stalin and not a “Big Brother is watching you” message.

Warsaw is also a very entertaining city, and it seemed that you couldn’t walk down a street without seeing a busker, whether that be a violinist, an accordion player or a xylophone player. One particularly memorable night involved stumbling across a “multimedia fountain show” with lights, water, film and music. After the show as we headed back to the hostel we then came across fire dancers in the old towns square, which was incredible to watch. Warsaw and Poland were much better than I ever imagined, and as we began the return journey I felt sad that I was leaving so soon.

It is just under a month ago now that I made my way to Hamburg airport to start my journey home. Whilst I was gutted to have to come home my time out there was incredible. I met some amazing people from all over the world, had some amazing experiences and I was fortunate enough to live in the most amazing city.

Hamburg, meine Perle, it was an absolute pleasure.