Berlin Excursion 

After being hyped for weeks before and the tickets selling out in a matter of hours, the legendary Berlin excursion completely lived up to people’s expectations! On the night of Thursday, the 20th of April, people excitedly packed their backpacks (some smaller than others) with apparently way too many snacks and clothes for all kinds of weather. The next day would be the day IK goes to Berlin!

Despite the meet-up being very early at 8 in the morning at the Groningen train station, energy was high. The excursion committee even stayed in a good mood after discovering that Max had done the one thing they had asked us not to do: he brought a SUITCASE! So, the international representatives of IK left the station and got to their first stop, Leer, where they encountered their first hurdle: a train strike. But never fear! After a two-hour long breakfast, the journey continued to Bremen and then further to Hamburg where it felt like the train station was actively trying to hide its bathroom from us, but we found it in time. The train ride from Hamburg to Berlin came with its own complications as it was so crowded that IK people huddled together under the baggage shelves. But then finally, we arrived in Berlin! To mark the occasion, we all took a celebratory picture in front of the main station and even met what seemed like a local celebrity😉. We took a short break at the hostel only to head out again separately to explore the area and get some dinner and drinks. Klaudia even got free drinks because she had a bad day, but the waiter heard “birthday”.

Saturday started with a breakfast buffet and then it was off to see the museums of Berlin. The group that planned to go to the Pergamon Museum, actually got to see 2 museums – they also went to the Neues Museum. The other group headed for the Neue Nationalgalerie and even saw a Gerhard Richter exhibition. After this, the scavenger hunt throughout Berlin started. To quote Klaudia from the excursion committee: “The beginning was pure chaos, the middle was pure fun, and at the end 90% people were lost”. As a person who got lost themself, I can definitely confirm this, especially the fun part! Then, it was free time again and people split up to prepare for dinner at Belushi’s, thanks to the party committee, and explore the bars and clubs of the city after with a very helpful list, also thanks to the party committee. Unfortunately, some people just had bad luck as they first got to a jazz bar, which charged a lot of money to enter, then decided to take a leap of faith and travel outside of the city to the rooftop bar only to witness a police raid at that very place. I’m not saying I was a part of that group but I was. After this, we were all very tired and decided to return to the hostel right as everyone else was ready to go out after they had chilled at the hostel for a bit. Well, better luck next time and it was still fun.

Sunday started with breakfast and check out (already?!). Then, it was time to head to the flea market at Mauerpark. There, some tough bargaining over prices took place over things like cool earrings, movie posters, and much more. People split up again from there. Some stayed at the flea market, some went to a café, some went to the German Bundestag building, and some went to the museum island – IK basically took over the entire Berlin city center. Unfortunately, in the late afternoon, it was time to leave again. From Berlin to Hamburg to Bremen to Leer to Weener to finally Groningen at just after midnight. Everyone was really tired but still in a good mood and we thankfully caught all the connecting trains. Once we arrived, people split up pretty fast, probably rushing to their beds but who knows where the night took everyone.

The excursion will forever remain in people’s memories and go down in history as super fun. Thank you so much to the excursion committee! You did such a good job! If you, the reader, want to get an impression of the excursion, please check out the vlog on the YouTube channel “Klaudia Sekowska”.