TY Trip to Poland by Maicie Lea
This year we travelled to Poland for the annual T.Y. trip.
On Tuesday the 6th of February fifty-one students and our four brave teachers left Cootehill for Dublin Airport and our short flight to Krakow. For some of us it was our first time on a plane and for others it was our first time to travel without our families.
We got to experience the culture of a different country, visit Auschwitz Concentration Camp and see the amazing architecture of Krakow and many other wonderful things…
We had an amazing tour guide Ada, who was great throughout and was always there to answer our questions from her local knowledge. Our first day she showed us around the medieval center of old Krakow. We visited the castle and beautiful cathedral where the Kings and Queens of Poland were crowned for centuries.
The main highlight of our trip was our visit to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. It was our second day in Poland. It was incredibly emotional to hear about the history of the camps and to see all the items that belonged to the victims in display cases. We were all moved by this experience. As we walked through the camp we saw many rooms and items including the gas chambers. Seeing the small shoes of the children piled high left us all stunned for a while. As the snow fell we went to Birkenau, or Auschwitz II, in which we saw the train tracks where many people's fates were decided. We learned of Ettie Steinberg a young woman from Ireland who was captured in France by the Nazi’s and ended up in the camp. The entire trip to Auschwitz was very emotional. I believe we all left knowing much more about the Holocaust than we did previously.
On our third day we visited the salt mines at Wieliczka. Well we did after climbing down almost a billion stairs! When we eventually got into the mines we found out that all the walls, floors and ceilings were made out of salt. We were then encouraged to 'taste' the walls and some of our group decided to do so throughout the entire tour! There were some amazing salt crafts in the mines, including chandeliers and sculptures and even an entire church! After the tour we bought some souvenirs that were made from the salt in the mine.
We went back to the city and after lunch visited what was the old Jewish quarter. We visited a Synagogue and learned about what was once one of Europe’s vibrant Jewish communities. We then visited the factory of Oskar Schindler and learned how Polish Christians and Jews were treated during the German occupation. We also learned how one German made famous by the film “Schindler’s List” saved the lives of so many of his workers.
We finished our day at a waterpark. We were exhausted heading back to our hotel.
On our last day in Poland we went to a laser tag arena. The laser tag was a fun, competitive game that was filled with an intense battle of agility. The extreme battle led some people to sit in corners for safety or target the people who threatened their first-place title. After laser tag we gathered around a boxing machine, there were a lot of mediocre punches thrown, until one student Matteo Mori put the rest to shame including Mr.Sharpe.
Later, we went to the trampoline park. We enjoyed diving into a foam pit, jumping on trampolines and doing an obstacle course. The day ended when the teachers tried, but failed, to one up their students at all these things. This included one teacher Mr. McCaul trying the monkey bars three times, but only making it to the fourth every time.
Overall this was a great trip filled with amazing people, great experiences and most importantly, cheap Inglot.
On behalf of the TY group I would like to thank Mr. Sharpe, Ms. Lynch, Mr. McCaul and Ms. Brady for bringing us on a trip we won’t ever forget.
On Tuesday the 6th of February fifty-one students and our four brave teachers left Cootehill for Dublin Airport and our short flight to Krakow. For some of us it was our first time on a plane and for others it was our first time to travel without our families.
We got to experience the culture of a different country, visit Auschwitz Concentration Camp and see the amazing architecture of Krakow and many other wonderful things…
We had an amazing tour guide Ada, who was great throughout and was always there to answer our questions from her local knowledge. Our first day she showed us around the medieval center of old Krakow. We visited the castle and beautiful cathedral where the Kings and Queens of Poland were crowned for centuries.
The main highlight of our trip was our visit to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. It was our second day in Poland. It was incredibly emotional to hear about the history of the camps and to see all the items that belonged to the victims in display cases. We were all moved by this experience. As we walked through the camp we saw many rooms and items including the gas chambers. Seeing the small shoes of the children piled high left us all stunned for a while. As the snow fell we went to Birkenau, or Auschwitz II, in which we saw the train tracks where many people's fates were decided. We learned of Ettie Steinberg a young woman from Ireland who was captured in France by the Nazi’s and ended up in the camp. The entire trip to Auschwitz was very emotional. I believe we all left knowing much more about the Holocaust than we did previously.
On our third day we visited the salt mines at Wieliczka. Well we did after climbing down almost a billion stairs! When we eventually got into the mines we found out that all the walls, floors and ceilings were made out of salt. We were then encouraged to 'taste' the walls and some of our group decided to do so throughout the entire tour! There were some amazing salt crafts in the mines, including chandeliers and sculptures and even an entire church! After the tour we bought some souvenirs that were made from the salt in the mine.
We went back to the city and after lunch visited what was the old Jewish quarter. We visited a Synagogue and learned about what was once one of Europe’s vibrant Jewish communities. We then visited the factory of Oskar Schindler and learned how Polish Christians and Jews were treated during the German occupation. We also learned how one German made famous by the film “Schindler’s List” saved the lives of so many of his workers.
We finished our day at a waterpark. We were exhausted heading back to our hotel.
On our last day in Poland we went to a laser tag arena. The laser tag was a fun, competitive game that was filled with an intense battle of agility. The extreme battle led some people to sit in corners for safety or target the people who threatened their first-place title. After laser tag we gathered around a boxing machine, there were a lot of mediocre punches thrown, until one student Matteo Mori put the rest to shame including Mr.Sharpe.
Later, we went to the trampoline park. We enjoyed diving into a foam pit, jumping on trampolines and doing an obstacle course. The day ended when the teachers tried, but failed, to one up their students at all these things. This included one teacher Mr. McCaul trying the monkey bars three times, but only making it to the fourth every time.
Overall this was a great trip filled with amazing people, great experiences and most importantly, cheap Inglot.
On behalf of the TY group I would like to thank Mr. Sharpe, Ms. Lynch, Mr. McCaul and Ms. Brady for bringing us on a trip we won’t ever forget.