Orleans Park School students deepen European twinning bonds in Konstanz

Last month, nine Richmond students visited Konstanz as part of our Twinning Reaffirmation. In this blog, they share their enriching experience in cultural exchange and European collaboration.

From the 4 to 8 May, our A Level German class had the pleasure of visiting Konstanz, one of Richmond’s Partner cities. We all individually stayed in host families, meaning we were immersed in German, invaluable in helping to improve both confidence and fluency in the language.

We had a busy schedule as we took part in the Europakonzil Youth Conference, an amazing opportunity that last took place in 2022. It brought together students of a similar age from Lordi (Italy), Fontainebleau (France), Berdychiv (Ukraine) and Tabor (Czechia) and of course Konstanz, some of which are twinned with Richmond. It was amazing to have met so many different people, and to hear about their varied experiences growing up in other parts of Europe, as well as being able to understand the differences, but also certain similarities between our cultures.

Throughout the conference, we were encouraged to collaborate with lots of different people to put forward ideas regarding promoting unity in Europe and establishing stronger connections between cities.

On the first day, we enjoyed watching presentations of each city, created and presented by the students. They were really informative and gave us a better understanding of what life in those cities is like. We also spoke about the six European values: Human dignity, Freedom, Democracy, Equality, Rule of law and Respect for human rights, and it was really interesting to hear how people interpreted those values and how they presented themselves in our personal lives and experiences.

On the next day, some of us participated in a Flag making workshop, where we worked with a local designer in Konstanz to create flags that aligned with each of the six values. Myself and Eve had volunteered to be members of the Editorial Team, so were in charge of the Instagram account of the City of Konstanz, taking photos and videos of the event under the instruction of founders of a marketing company in Konstanz. Eve on the other hand was responsible for writing a newspaper article for the local newspaper, in which she described more of what the Europakonzil was about and what it meant to take part.

On the last day, we all came together to present our Flags in the city centre, overlooking the lake, which was a special moment for us all. We were joined by representatives from each city for the last day, giving us as students from Richmond the opportunity to meet Cllr Gareth Roberts and Alan Mockford (Chairman of the Richmond in Europe Association). This provoked an interesting discussion about our future in Europe, which everyone was heavily engaged in and gave us as students a valuable insight into the work Richmond is doing to benefit us in terms of European relations. 

Throughout Europakonzil, sharing our opinions and dialog with each other was heavily promoted. This helped us really immerse ourselves in understanding different perspectives and the lives of our counterparts from different cities across the continent. Undoubtedly, another fantastic opportunity Europakonzil gave us was to experience life with a host family in Konstanz.

As German students, we all took this opportunity to practise our speaking, and also were able to experience parts of their daily life, helping us to see how what we are learning in our A Levels will help us, now and in the future. As we all stayed individually, this encouraged communication solely in German when we spent time at our homes for the week. The host families were fantastic and were another part that contributed to how amazing our time was in Konstanz.

Overall, Europakonzil was an incredible experience that we will never forget. It was amazing meeting so many new people from all over Europe and experiencing life in Germany, as well as contributing to a project that feels valuable and allows us, as young people in Europe, a voice to share our opinions and talk about what we believe in.

Student quotes

These were our favourite parts of the trip - we asked some fellow students for theirs too. 

Matilda Edwards

"My favourite part of the Europakonzil was having the opportunity to meet people from all over Europe, and getting to know more about their cities and their experiences growing up there. I really liked the importance that was placed on collaboration and cooperation, as we were consistently encouraged to branch out and not just stick to the people we already knew."

Eve Jackson

"My favorite part of Europakonzil was getting to meet so many new people and build connections all over Europe, while experiencing life in a fantastic German family that helped me experience the culture and improve my German. I met so many amazing people that I am still in contact with and hope to see again, which I wouldn’t have been able to do without Europakonzil."

James Wilson

"In my opinion, the best thing at the Europakonzil and our visit to Konstanz was experiencing and getting to know a new city really well and getting to know people who had the same European-centered interests."

Lilly Ross

"Given our now more complex relationship with the EU following Brexit, it was both vital and encouraging to see so many twin cities united in their support of European values—suggesting the potential for a fortified, more cooperative relationship with the EU in the near future."

Lucy Gaster

"The best thing about the Europakonzil was meeting so many new people! I have made friends for life, and have already organised when they are visiting Richmond!"

For more information on our affirmation weekend, go to the VisitRichmond website.

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