tl;dr: We went to Schengen and Verdun War museum and memorial. It was very interesting and beautiful. Unfortunately, it was also a co-field trip with Charleston College. The Charleston group were the most annoying, inconsiderate, self-centered people I’ve had the displeasure to come across in the recent past. I hope I never meet them again.
Unexpectedly, Sunday was an all-day field trip, long enough that we had to pack a lunch in the morning and got back right before dinner. What was most surprising though was that we had to share our field trip with another school, Charleston College.
The trip was…. well, the places we went were very interesting.
As for our co-field trippers - I don’t think I’ve ever felt such animosity for an entire school before. Including—if not especially—the teachers.
We started by heading to Schengen in Luxembourg, where the Schengen treaty was signed. Our tour guide knew everything about the history and walked us through various monuments. They even had graffitied sections of the Berlin Wall set up.
Unexpectedly, Sunday was an all-day field trip, long enough that we had to pack a lunch in the morning and got back right before dinner. What was most surprising though was that we had to share our field trip with another school, Charleston College.
The trip was…. well, the places we went were very interesting.
As for our co-field trippers - I don’t think I’ve ever felt such animosity for an entire school before. Including—if not especially—the teachers.
We started by heading to Schengen in Luxembourg, where the Schengen treaty was signed. Our tour guide knew everything about the history and walked us through various monuments. They even had graffitied sections of the Berlin Wall set up.
We finished at a square where all the participant countries had their own plaque and flags, and went into the info center/tourist shop which was a boat anchored to the side of the river. I bought a Schengen magnet for my family’s magnet collection back home. It was in this boat that the Charleston group committed their first offense.
Strike #1: Tour groups in Schengen get a special treat at the end of their tours, which is an engraved lock to put on a designated area in the main square. The tour guide was slightly confused about our group consisting of two schools, and asked whether we needed two locks or if we were all together and only wanted one.
Now, any rational person would explain we were two schools and needed our own locks. The Charleston professors, however, decided that we only needed one lock for the two schools, and informed the tour guide of this without even consulting with Professor Kronenberg or Professor Bridges. Obviously, they knew best and didn’t even need to ask what WE wanted.
Consequently, our lock was engraved with both school names. And even BETTER, Charleston College wrote their name big and on top, and our Rhodes College was squished on the bottom like an afterthought.
Strike #2: it becomes even more clear that Charleston didn’t just make a mistake with the lock because they were trying to be polite and not make too much trouble for the tour guide. Again without consulting our group, Charleston decided one of their own was going to be the one to put the lock on the bar. To my recollection, they didn’t even wait until our entire group was there to do it.
One of the girls was the most annoying in the group. She was easily recognizable even to me (notorious for not being able to recognize people) because of her very bad fake tan. She snapped the lock on and went to symbolically dispose of the key, with the justification that “~it’s my birthday tomorrow!!!~” When the tour guide seemed to realize that our group wasn’t being included in the events, she mentioned that there was multiple keys and other people could also dispose of a key - of course, the girl promptly twisted it and asked if it anyone else’s birthday was during the trip. When no one spoke up, she went to continue being the ~special~ person who got to do everything because it was her ~birthday~.
Fine. We were a little miffed, but we got on the bus and moved on. Next stop: Verdun.
After sleeping in the bus to avoid being annoyed by the Charleston professors and their conversation, we arrived in Verdun a bit later. Crossing into the French border was great, everything looked familiar again and I actually knew the language.
At Verdun, we got to the museum and were allowed to explore alone. The museum was really well done and covered all aspects of military and even some civilian life at the time. It explained the situation of Verdun very well.
After finishing the museum, I ended up in the lobby with the majority of our group still in the museum. So Pryce, Gracie and I decided we had the time to walk outside and we ended up exploring the destroyed village Fleury-devant-Douaumont. The landscape was eery but very beautiful. The ground was still cratered and hilly from where the bombs tore the soil up. In the village, there were markets indicating what establishments used to be in what areas, which was useful because you couldn’t even tell anything used to be there except for the occasional remnant piles of rubble.
One of the girls was the most annoying in the group. She was easily recognizable even to me (notorious for not being able to recognize people) because of her very bad fake tan. She snapped the lock on and went to symbolically dispose of the key, with the justification that “~it’s my birthday tomorrow!!!~” When the tour guide seemed to realize that our group wasn’t being included in the events, she mentioned that there was multiple keys and other people could also dispose of a key - of course, the girl promptly twisted it and asked if it anyone else’s birthday was during the trip. When no one spoke up, she went to continue being the ~special~ person who got to do everything because it was her ~birthday~.
Fine. We were a little miffed, but we got on the bus and moved on. Next stop: Verdun.
After sleeping in the bus to avoid being annoyed by the Charleston professors and their conversation, we arrived in Verdun a bit later. Crossing into the French border was great, everything looked familiar again and I actually knew the language.
At Verdun, we got to the museum and were allowed to explore alone. The museum was really well done and covered all aspects of military and even some civilian life at the time. It explained the situation of Verdun very well.
After finishing the museum, I ended up in the lobby with the majority of our group still in the museum. So Pryce, Gracie and I decided we had the time to walk outside and we ended up exploring the destroyed village Fleury-devant-Douaumont. The landscape was eery but very beautiful. The ground was still cratered and hilly from where the bombs tore the soil up. In the village, there were markets indicating what establishments used to be in what areas, which was useful because you couldn’t even tell anything used to be there except for the occasional remnant piles of rubble.
By the time we made it back to the museum 15 minutes later, the entire group had apparently been waiting for us for 10 minutes and we already on the bus. In our defense though, we weren’t given a meeting time. In response to this, we established a meeting time for the next stop of the Ossuary, which is when Charleston piled on the last straw.
Strike #3: carrying on their trend of imposing their decisions on the rest of us, the Charleston professors decided that our meeting time was going to be at 3:45, giving us 15 minutes in the Ossuary. We all agreed and confirmed the time, and went off to explore. It was a pretty simple monument, nothing too time consuming. I ended up translating a grave for the most annoying Charleston girl after she asked me to, and she didn’t even thank me. Whatever.
When 3:45 arrived, Rhodes College was on the bus. Charleston was nowhere to be seen. No one knew where they were - last we had heard, they wanted to scale the tower. Time crept on. Jonas started to snap. We got to witness the German breakdown over tardiness. When it was about 3:05, I think, Jonas and the bus driver got out of the bus and looked pissed off. Jonas went looking for them. No luck. Some of us got off the bus and went to the bathroom. They still weren’t there by the time we got back.
By the time it reached 3:30 and we were entertaining ideas of moving the bus to mess with them, Charleston finally emerged from the Ossuary. Jonas chewed them out on the way back to the bus. They got onto the bus like nothing was wrong. Turns out they went to watch the movie, and didn’t think to tell anyone.
In summary, they chose the meeting time and ended up being 45 minutes late without informing anyone. They didn’t care.
We were all pissed off, but relieved to finally be on our way home. Then the bus stopped again.
Strike #3b: we stopped in front of the destroyed village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont. Apparently Charleston wanted to see it, and since they got to make all the decisions, they were going to make us even later getting back.
The professor told us it was only going to take five minutes.
(“How long? 45 minutes?” Carter snarked, my favorite quote of the day. “Five minutes,” muttered the most annoying girl. I’m not sure if she realized it was a jab, but I’m sure it registered when raucous laughter filled the bus.)
Sure enough, Rhodes College were the first back on the bus, and 10-15 minutes later we were on our way again. We ended up getting back to the Akademie a whole hour later than originally scheduled.
At dinner an hour later, I heard that Charleston were complaining about us and saying that they hoped the next group they were with were more fun. Well, I wish to express my deepest sympathies for that next group.
I do not believe I will come across anything more annoying than the Charleston College group on this entire trip.
Strike #3: carrying on their trend of imposing their decisions on the rest of us, the Charleston professors decided that our meeting time was going to be at 3:45, giving us 15 minutes in the Ossuary. We all agreed and confirmed the time, and went off to explore. It was a pretty simple monument, nothing too time consuming. I ended up translating a grave for the most annoying Charleston girl after she asked me to, and she didn’t even thank me. Whatever.
When 3:45 arrived, Rhodes College was on the bus. Charleston was nowhere to be seen. No one knew where they were - last we had heard, they wanted to scale the tower. Time crept on. Jonas started to snap. We got to witness the German breakdown over tardiness. When it was about 3:05, I think, Jonas and the bus driver got out of the bus and looked pissed off. Jonas went looking for them. No luck. Some of us got off the bus and went to the bathroom. They still weren’t there by the time we got back.
By the time it reached 3:30 and we were entertaining ideas of moving the bus to mess with them, Charleston finally emerged from the Ossuary. Jonas chewed them out on the way back to the bus. They got onto the bus like nothing was wrong. Turns out they went to watch the movie, and didn’t think to tell anyone.
In summary, they chose the meeting time and ended up being 45 minutes late without informing anyone. They didn’t care.
We were all pissed off, but relieved to finally be on our way home. Then the bus stopped again.
Strike #3b: we stopped in front of the destroyed village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont. Apparently Charleston wanted to see it, and since they got to make all the decisions, they were going to make us even later getting back.
The professor told us it was only going to take five minutes.
(“How long? 45 minutes?” Carter snarked, my favorite quote of the day. “Five minutes,” muttered the most annoying girl. I’m not sure if she realized it was a jab, but I’m sure it registered when raucous laughter filled the bus.)
Sure enough, Rhodes College were the first back on the bus, and 10-15 minutes later we were on our way again. We ended up getting back to the Akademie a whole hour later than originally scheduled.
At dinner an hour later, I heard that Charleston were complaining about us and saying that they hoped the next group they were with were more fun. Well, I wish to express my deepest sympathies for that next group.
I do not believe I will come across anything more annoying than the Charleston College group on this entire trip.