Reunion in Germany (2011)

Post date: 30-Jun-2014 23:03:26

During the New Zealand summer holidays a reunion of International Students who had studied at Ōtaki College took place in Germany's winter Christmas break.

Howard Manins (the Directory of International Education at Ōtaki College) travelled to Germany to see his son and family who live near Hamburg. While there he was lucky to be able to meet up with a number of students and spend some time with them.

The first meeting was in Hamburg with Nina Weidner (2010), Lilofee Stark (2010), Isabel Gramoll (2010), Anton Bergmann (2011), Marius Mehling (2010) and Max von Studgart (2011). We all met outside Burgerking in the Hauptbarnhof then caught the underground to St Pauli where we found a large outdoor ice-skating rink. We hired skates then tested our skills on the ice. Having only skated once before a very long time ago I was pretty wobbly but managed quite a few rounds of the rink with a lot of support. When my ankles coudn't take the pain any more we all came together in the centre of the rink and enjoyed a nice hot cup of Glūhwein.

After an hour of ice skating we had all had enough so walked to the nearby Reeperbahn for a meal and a beer and a chat about the time spent at Ōtaki College and what everyone is up to now. This was followed by a walk down the Reeperbahn and photos at the Beatleplatz. The evening finished with coffee near the Hauptbarnhof before we all went our own way, very pleased to have enjoyed each other's company.

The second meeting took place in Lingen, while I met up with two other ex Ōtaki College students, Jan Christian Cyris (2007) and Martina Lohmann (2008). We enjoyed coffee together in a local cafe and talked about the wonderful times at Ōtaki College, especially the great trips we did as part of Outdoor Education. That night I stayed with JC and the next day he took me to his high school, Gymnasium Georgianum, where I got to meet the Principal, Heinz Buss. It was wonderful to be able to make the connection between a school in New Zealand and one in Germany.