b'An unforgettable BELGIAN EXPERIENCEAfter the meticulous planning of the Belgiumsome ground rules, and were given downtimeMuseum which had many exhibits of militaria trip by our teachers and many months ofdue to our very busy schedule the next day.and re-creations of trenches and dugouts waiting for the journey, the time had come! OnAfter playing table tennis, watching Villa winused in the war so we could see a visual 22nd October at 5am sharp (for the majority),(again) and spending some time in our rooms,representation of what the soldiers went we made our way to school, incredibly tiredit was 10:30pm and time for lights out. Ithrough, at least marginally. Let me tell as the sheer excitement had kept us awakewould absolutely love to claim that we all sleptyou, the conditions were not very pleasant all night. It felt strange being at school soinstantly considering our extensive journeyat all. After this, we visited Talbot House early and seeing faces we normally wouldntbut this was certainly not the case. But whatin Poperinge to experience a sense of the expect to see at such a time, but this didntmore can you expect from a huge group ofhomely and good-natured atmosphere that matter as we were about to go on anhyperactive 16-year-olds! the soldiers would have enjoyed when away amazing trip abroad surrounded by our bestfrom the trenches. We played the piano, friends and some of our favourite teachers. had games of chess, drank some tea and We all handed our baggage in and boardedexplored the beautiful garden. We then the coach, extremely optimistic for the tripreturned to our hotel for a quick dinner before ahead. The drive to the port of Dover wasonce again boarding the coach and making very tedious, but we soon got over it andour way to a bowling alley where we all had were singing songs. Id like to tell you thea blast. This was a great way to round off a teachers joined in, but this would be far fromrather emotional day.the truth as they didnt seem to have anyOn the third day, we woke up quite sad as interest in our music. After a quick stop at ait would be our last full day. After breakfast, service station, where we all paid extortionatewe set off to Hill 60, a site where a bomb prices for usually cheap snacks, we set off,weighing over 30 tons had been dropped edging closer and closer to Dover. A coupleAfter a sleep that felt more like a nap, we(over ten times the weight of the 40 students of hours later, we arrived at the port of Doverwere up at 7am sharp preparing for the dayand four teachers in attendance). It had left and boarded the ferry. The crossing went byahead. By 9am, we had eaten breakfast,a humongous crater in the ground which quickly, particularly because we were havingshowered and put on fresh clothes. We madelooked somewhat beautiful in the landscape. the time of our lives on the deck, takingour way to the Langemark Cemetery, a siteIt was surreal yet upsetting walking around copious amounts of photographs and havingfor German soldiers who lost their lives in thethere knowing that around 100 years ago, a generally great time. Time really does flyGreat War. It was incredibly eerie being at athousands had lost their lives where we were when youre having fun (or I guess you couldplace where thousands of men who had diedstanding. We then made our way to the burial say it sails). for their country were laid at rest. We then Soon enough, we had arrived at Calais andmade our way to the Tyne Cot Cemetery, spirits were higher than ever. We were only anwhere almost 12,000 Commonwealth hour away from the hotel and this final leg ofsoldiers are buried or commemorated; for the journey went by very quickly. We buzzedthose who remain unidentified to this day, it with enthusiasm, admiring the beautifulis heartbreaking as their families cannot even countryside, and we soon arrived at the Oudereceive some closure on the deaths of their Abdij Hotel in Lo, a small town near Ypres.loved ones.We checked into the hotel, went throughNext up was the Passchendaele Memorial site of a former student of ours and this was incredibly sad for us all; the realisation that, 100 years ago, we could have been that student who had left his life behind and gone to serve his country, and that it was only time that separated us. We then visited a couple more burial sites and memorials, one of them being for Commonwealth soldiers of South Asian descent who had tragically lost their lives fighting for the British Empire.Soon enough, we had finished visiting the sites for that day and we made our way to the centre of Ypres for some well-needed free time where we could explore the city. Some of us spent time talking to locals and making 46'