By Eralba Hajdaraj
I still hear everyone’s cheers upon seeing the Eiffel Tower, all golden and sparkling, echoing faintly in my head. I can still smell the fresh Irish air and the sweet Dutch stroopwafels. I can still feel the Berlin sun and the chilly Normandy breeze on my skin. FHCI’s Europe Trip was the best and most unforgettable ten days of my life. With this article, I will outline my experiences on this trip and attempt to convince you to dare to experience it next time.
FHCI’s Europe trip was an opportunity for all Forest Hill students to immerse themselves in Canadian history “on the front lines”. But it was so much more than that. It was an opportunity for even the shyest people to make new friends and acquaintances – some of which they would meet once more, and some of which they would only see again in their memory. It was an opportunity to learn and experience life-changing things, an opportunity to rattle your comfort zone and even learn about yourself.
The trip’s itinerary was as such: we would depart from Toronto on April 8th, 2025 and arrive in Dublin after a six hour-long flight. After spending a couple of hours in Dublin, we would catch our next flight to Berlin and spend a couple of days in the city. We would then take a fast train over to Amsterdam, where we would spend two days, before passing by Ghent, Belgium, on our way to Normandy. In Normandy, we would explore different towns and historic sights before heading to our final destination – Paris. On the 17th, our trip would come to a bittersweet end with our arrival back in Canada.
Ireland
After landing, exhausted, in Dublin on Sunday, there was no time to waste. We encountered our first tour guide and set off for the city center, where we were given a short tour and talked through some history. Immediately, I was impressed with how colourful the city was. After the rough and grey Toronto winter, Dublin was green, warm, and sunny. As a group, we made for St. Patrick’s Cathedral and spent time unwinding in its verdant yard, gathering souvenirs and speaking to locals. It became apparent to me that “Six Nations” was occurring, so there was an abundance of French tourists in the region. In Dublin, I also tried matcha. I would not recommend – quite grassy. We had breezed through our ten hour layover and solemnly made our way back to the airport to head to our next destination. However short my time in this country was, it left a great impression on me.
Germany
When we arrived in Berlin, it was dark and much colder. We wandered through a sort of “airport city” before hopping on a bus and arriving at our hotel, where we received a feast of pizza and wings fit for royalty. What was cooler – we even did our own dishes afterwards! That morning, I headed over to an ALDI – a sort of German supermarket. For whatever reason, everything was on the floor – food, drinks, produce… how fascinating! That day, we met our tour guides, Asaf and Nikolai, and the first thing we did was visit the beautiful Brandenburg Gate. What I must now point out is how empty the streets were and how pleasantly that coincided with the sunny weather. Afterwards, we visited a nearby Holocaust memorial, one which was casually located on a small expanse on the side of the road. What seemed like a bunch of blocky, grey seats at first revealed itself to be a hilly maze. At its heart, the blocks were dystopian skyscrapers blocking out all the light. Despite the memorial’s purpose of stirring feelings of empathy and remorse, it was all unsettlingly blank and confusingly dull. We then visited the imposing Berlin Cathedral before navigating through sudden traffic toward the historic Checkpoint Charlie, which was once an official crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. We were given time to roam around the area and visit shops, and I couldn’t help but notice the red everywhere, like a storm – Soviet memorabilia. I also had a Fanta exotic. Would recommend. What stood out most in Berlin, surprisingly, were the bright yellow buses and streetcars. An odd, cheerful colour, to say the least. After touching remnants of the Berlin Wall, now battered and graffitied, we headed to the nearby Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. It was a place heavy with history, yet eerily empty and unsettling – a place haunted by the past. In the quiet, pleasant weather, it seemed impossible to imagine the suffering and deaths that took place here. That was when I realized there was no way for me, someone privileged enough to live in a nation like Canada in a year like this one, to ever imagine such horrors. Another thing to note about Berlin is the contrasting buildings – some seem cute, small, and classically Western European, while the occasional others were sleek and modern. These types, however, were in stark contrast to the brutal, stereotypically Eastern European block buildings. These categories of buildings would be found next to each other in no apparent order – the modern ones being those built in areas which were bombed in the Second World War. That night, near the Berlin TV Tower (or, as the group dubbed it, the “CN Tower Ripoff”), we heard stories from a West Berliner and an East Berliner who had lived on their respective sides during the time of the Wall. I was shocked to hear how somewhat ordinary life in the East seemed, apart from all the political censorship and spies.
The next day, we woke up offensively early and immediately hastened to catch our train to Amsterdam. When we got to the station, I was almost relieved to hear our train had been cancelled, that all the rushing would stop. But then the next train got cancelled, and the one after that, and we were left confused, waiting and waiting for hours. On the bright side, we got really immersed in the everyday German culture, one not too different from ours. Almost everybody bought a small basket of (decadent) strawberries from the station’s supermarket. Since the station was an open area, we moved to a mall where civilians grew curious about our pile of luggage. Some of us also got the chance to visit a bunker and a park at this time! Eventually, once everyone seemed to finally get fed up of lollygagging, we ended up taking a bus to Amsterdam.
(I think you can tell from the length of this passage that I really enjoyed Germany.)
The Netherlands
When I woke up near the end of the bus ride, we were driving through the edges of Amsterdam, which were honestly quite creepy at night, with spaced-out hotels and uncharacteristically wide streets. In the morning, however, the entire city seemed bright, cartoony, and typically Dutch. The “real” Amsterdam revealed itself.. The grass was green (surprise, surprise), and there was the occasional tulip patch here and there. The already narrow streets were crowded with blue and white streetcars and more bikers than cars (yes, everyone bikes in Amsterdam – you’re weird if you don’t). The canals were not too dirty, and the houses were just as expected – tall, narrow, and shades of brown and grey. The classic Netherlands. We visited Anne Frank Haus and got time to explore the city, where I met a few native Dutch people. Let’s just say I had some interesting conversations about teenagers and politics nowadays with them. I also tried Halo-Halo. Would not recommend. I would recommend stroopwaffels, however – not only were they delicious, but they also carried a smell which made me ascend to heaven. We then headed to a tourist area outside of the city – a stereotypically beautiful Dutch countryside simulation. There were rows of windmills with narrow stairs, and clog and cheese shops. There were even sheep! This place was what one would think when they hear the word “Netherlands.” It was so beautiful and cheerful that I, an Albanian with no connection to the Netherlands whatsoever, felt intense Dutch pride within me.
But, alas, all good things must lead to even greater things, as the next morning, we were off to Belgium.
Belgium
One interesting thing I must note is that throughout all the driving past borders during this trip, not once were our passports checked. There weren’t even checkpoint structures or border patrol – just a sign reminding you that, apparently, you were in a new country. In Belgium, we stopped at a beautiful town called “Ghent” – a medieval fairytale village. We toured a castle with interesting stories still carried in its air (the walkie-talkies we were given were intent upon describing every detail of how this low-life king was horrible to his wife). There was also a beautiful cathedral in the area with colourful mosaic windows. The Belgian waffles were overpriced but worth it (I honestly only ate desserts throughout this entire trip). Would recommend! As the sun began to set we visited Ypres, a town filled with Canadian tourists. In the town was Menin Gate, with the names of soldiers who died in the Battle of Ypres engraved on its walls (there was a terribly large number of names on it). We witnessed a ceremony for the fallen, one which apparently occurs each night, and placed our very own poppy wreath to commemorate the soldiers whose lives were lost for our freedom to travel in a country called Belgium today – a beautiful country that might not have existed otherwise.
But we did not sleep in Belgium. Instead, we set off for Lille, a town near the Belgian border but French all the way.
France
We slept in Lille that night in a hotel adjacent to a colossal stadium. In the morning, we drove to Vimy Ridge, where we explored a historic Canadian battlefield, bumpy with disturbingly deep, harrowing hills where artillery had exploded over 100 years prior. This left the greatest impression on me – the hills that remained surprisingly deep despite the years that had passed, the grass that had taken over, making the battlefield green and beautiful despite the craters revealing the trauma the land had gone through. It was eerily beautiful and horrifying. In the same area, a blinding white memorial awaited us, stark against the field of green grass. It was difficult to keep your eyes fully open here – that’s how white the stone was. The figures carved into the Canadian War Memorial were remarkable. Our guide, Beata, posed an intriguing question to us on the structure: “What does it mean to be Canadian?” Maybe you can think of an answer to this question, or perhaps you will never truly know. Perhaps there isn’t an answer to it at all.
We then visited a small town called “Arras”, which was visually and architecturally similar to Ghent, but smaller. It, too, had a cathedral in the heart of the town. We headed to our hotel in Caen that night, where I tried gefilte fish. Disgusting. Horrendous. Cried a couple of times. Would not recommend.
The next day, we headed to Gold and Juno beaches. Our skin was being ripped apart by the numbing wind. As I ascended the steep climb back up from the torrential ocean, I really did pity the soldiers. At Juno Beach, there was also a museum in which we toured a German bunker. We visited a graveyard of Canadian soldiers, and I read a few poignant soldier biographies written by Canadian Grade 10s. And finally, the moment you have all been waiting for – we drove to Paris.
We entered through the city’s modern area, La Défense. As I looked at all the glass buildings, I asked aloud: “Which city is this?” and, to my greatest shock, Mr. Billinghurst replied, “Paris.” It did not look like what I imagined Paris to be whatsoever. But after a couple of minutes, things began to change – the buildings became classically cream-coloured and Parisienne and the Eiffel Tower could be seen in the distance. One thing I noted, however, was the lack of streetcars, which had been abundant in every other city. We visited Sacré-Cœur, a beautiful basilica with railings heavy with locks and an expansive view of the entire city. That night, we took the metro to the heart of Paris and, after walking a couple of minutes from the station, we turned a corner. Suddenly, there it was – the Eiffel Tower. Before this trip, I thought the Eiffel Tower would let me down – I had seen countless photos of it online, and it didn’t seem so outstanding. But seeing it all grand, golden, and sparkling in the clear night sky with my friends, who were also shocked, was a sort of miracle. Everyone began screaming and cheering (and scaring away the tourist scammers) as if this was the climax of their lives. It was the “we made it” moment, after days of travelling and exhaustion. It was what we had all been truly waiting for.
The city was empty the next day, Sunday. We toured around with Leonard, the trusty Belgian driving us and visited L’Arc de Triomphe, which turned out to be much larger than I’d expected. We then headed to Versailles, where we learned about Kings Louis 12th to 14th. What interesting people they were! The Palace of Versailles was built by both Louis XIII and Louis XIV. It was beautiful inside and out, with golden gates and frescoed ceilings. It was rich with colours, mirrors, delicately carved statues, golden everything, and rooms in which no corner was unadorned with something a rich person would have. That day, we also visited the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which, though beautiful, was insanely crowded and heavy with that “candle” smell. It spurred a sort of “fever dream” feeling inside of me, seeing all these people gathered to marvel at the cathedral’s beauty, with the mass singing hymns in the background. Even the security guards were singing with all their hearts! To wrap up that day in Paris, we took a small boat down the Seine and near the Eiffel Tower – an incredible photo opportunity as the sun was setting!
Side note – the hotel that night was so spectacular, I used the shower twice because it was that good.
Conclusion
The next morning, we rose at 5 to catch our flight. In the airport, there was an interesting “tube” system (refer to image below) with squishy flooring for passengers to move from one area to another. We eventually boarded our first flight to Dublin after a few delays. Once in Dublin, there was no time to waste; we immediately boarded our flight to Toronto and headed home. On the plane, I watched Troy (solid 9/10) and Oppenheimer (4/10 – would not strongly recommend). Once we arrived in Toronto, we were all terribly exhausted. Although I loved Europe, I was so tired that I considered kissing the Canadian floor.
In conclusion, I learned so much on this trip and felt things I have never felt before. I am more educated and sociable because of this experience, one which was made even better with the care of the teachers involved – Ms. Cimera, Mr. Billinghurst, Ms. Nibbs, and Ms. Ibe. This trip is an incredible opportunity to make friends, find passion, and immerse yourself in the everyday foreign culture. If you ever get the chance to go on this trip, take it – though it might leave a (huge) hole in your wallet, it will forever change how you see the world.
Shoutout to Beata, Nikolai, Asaf, and Leonard!
Trip Survivor Testimonies
“The Europe trip was great! Learning about history in the classroom is one thing, but actually being immersed in these places I’ve only learned about is a whole other ball park!”
— David Billet
“I had a chance to visit countries I never saw myself seeing, and it was good to have someone else plan the itinerary for a change.”
— Elia Pasha
“The trip for me was so much fun. As a person who had never really seen Europe before, the views were spectacular. I was more than excited throughout the trip. Seeing the different sites and places, eating the unique food, and listening to different languages, it was all so amazing and truly an experience, it’s a once on a life time trip, I mean, when are you going to be 15 in Paris with your friends? I feel like the trip has a special place in my heart, and I went through experiences I will NEVER forget. I learned so much and saw places I never dreamed of seeing, all thanks to this trip. Those times will truly be missed. I now hold special, unforgettable memories, and I hope we can experience another amazing trip like this. I believe I speak for all of us when I say it was the best experience of my life.”
— Yotam Ariel
Personal Ranking of Experiences in Each Nation
Germany -> 10/10
The Netherlands -> 9.5/10
Ireland -> 8.5/10
France -> 8/10
Belgium -> 7/10