Who would have known that someone’s thoughts can change so much over the course of a week? We were all innocent 10th graders looking forward to go on a seven day trip through Germany and Poland and the minor attraction was going to be the concentration camp we were going to visit. Rumors were even going around that we might only go to three concentration camps instead of 4 which was great from a student’s perspective because that would give us more time to hang out in the city.

With a broken leg and having to go on crutches I was almost at the point of saying that I wouldn’t go on the trip because it became too stressful for me. But with great friends who said they would help me with everything persuaded me to come on the trip. This became then one of the best choices of my life.

It all started on midday Sunday when we traveled on a 14 hour boat trip from Oslo to Kiel which was an amazing experience in itself, but to keep on track I am going to skip to two days later where we finally arrived in a budget hotel. Where there was still an old building from World War II standing right across the street and of course with the amazing imagination of about thirty 10th graders we managed to make a lot of scary stories that happened in that house. But when we learnt the history about the place those scary stories weren’t funny anymore. That was just the beginning!

The next day we were all preparing for a boring day visiting Auschwitz Birkenau which was said to be one of the biggest concentration camps during the war. Coming into Auschwitz imagine green grass and open fields that looks green like the savannahs in Africa. But when the guide started telling us to imagine all the green we saw as mud, where you would sink with mud above your ankles everything changed. A little bit farther into the camp we saw the rooms where they were gassed, sometimes there were so many people that they had to start pushing people into the rooms or even just kill them with a gun. Picture a room that could fit 2000 people. That would seem like more than enough space, but at this concentration camp enough space to kill 2000 people was still not enough since there were still 100-200 more people who were supposed to be executed. Of course a war requires a lot of resources and manpower and if a person looked fit enough then they would bring you to somewhere else in the camp where they would literally strip you of your identity. All your belongings were taken from you, all hair was shaved off your body and they wash you completely clean. The only identity you had was a number on your wrist.

As 10th graders we were just starting to get a feel of how it was to be in a concentration camp. Next we were going to meet with a survivor from the war, which for me personally I was looking very forward to. But to be honest it was crazy boring and I definitely wish I could have sat in an 8 hour bus ride instead of that room, but hey, at least he had Facebook.

Next stop was another concentration camp called Sachsenhausen which was an amazing place as well, but this place didn’t change our way of looking at World War II as much as Auschwitz. One thing that did surprise all of us was that since they didn’t have enough jobs, they made people walk around a track for the whole day with only breakfast, lunch and dinner breaks. This was to test the quality of the shoes. It’s amazing how they could kill so many people but still have too many that they had to make extra useless jobs.

The day after that we went to the concentration camp that really transformed our view on World War II. The most surprising part was that this was an all-women’s camp called Ravenbruck. It was really hard to imagine that people could be so mean to innocent women and the stories the guide told us was horrific. There was a huge lake right outside the park, but the most surprising part was that the captives didn’t even know it was there until the war ended. Well the one’s that survived that is. That is mind blowing a lake that is less than ten meters outside the wall captives didn't even know was there. Students started asking question about why there was no vegetation and if there were fish. The guide said “no.” We were all shocked. We asked why there were no fish. The guide said because there were so many women that got killed so they ended up burning them up and the easiest way was to get rid of the ashes was to dump it in the lake which is what they did. The lake was said to be very beautiful and nice but after the war and even now nothing has grown in it. Imagine that so many people died that the left over ashes was enough to stop the vegetation of a whole lake.

Many of us who traveled to Poland and Germany were most excited to go shopping, visiting the water park and having fun with friends. None of us would have ever guessed that the best part of the trip would be the concentration camps. Even when the teachers asked what they could improve on, many of us said that we should go to more concentration camps and have more time at each place. As a result of the trip all the jokes and stuff we would make fun of the war wasn’t even acceptable. Some of the students even got tears on the way back, because they couldn’t understand how it was possible for so many people to suffer and nobody ever trying to take a stand and stopping the horrific things that happened. So it’s true, somebody’s thoughts can change so much over a course of seven days.