Gouda at GyRa

In May our exchange students from Gouda in the Netherlands visited us in Hamburg! They were in Hamburg from May 12 to 16 and stayed with us in the host families. The theme of our exchange was “Room for Rain” — that is, how cities can be better protected against heavy rainfall and floods. In April we were in Gouda and gathered first ideas there. We listened to lectures and started working in groups to find a solution for areas with heavy rainfall problems.

In Hamburg we also heard several lectures from experts and built models ourselves. Our models were to show how to better prepare cities for heavy rain. One group, for example, built parks with areas where water can be collected. The goal was to find practical ideas that make cities greener and safer. We then presented the models at the end of the week with a poster!

In our free time we could spend a lot of time with the Dutch and had a lot of fun! On the first evening we all ate together and afterwards watched a light show, on the second day we were in the city center and among other things on the Green Bunker and in Altona to listen to a lecture. On Wednesday we worked on our models in the morning and in the afternoon we were in HafenCity for another lecture. On Thursday we completed our models and in the evening we were all together bowling as a closing activity. On Friday we had the whole day free and around 4 p.m. our exchange students took the train home.

For us the week was really great! We learned a lot about the topic, but also spent a lot of time with our exchange students. Unfortunately they were only here for 5 days, but we had a wonderful time together and we hope to see each other again soon!

A report by Charlize and Milena (10th grade)

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