During the January Leave-Out weekend, our group of 19 Sixth Form Physics students, accompanied by 3 staff members, undertook a memorable trip to Geneva. The primary objective was to visit CERN (the European Organisation of Nuclear Research) and extend our knowledge in physics beyond the classroom. The remainder of the journey focused on discovering the region’s culture and history, as well as engaging everyone in exciting activities new to many.
We arrived in Geneva on Friday afternoon and efficiently reached our hostel via the city’s convenient public transport. After settling in, we participated in a wide game of treasure hunt along the shore of Lake Geneva, followed by a tram journey to the bowling club for both dinner and entertainment afterwards.
The following day was largely devoted to CERN preceded by a morning visit to the Geneva Old Town. Our exploration of CERN began at ‘Wandering the immeasurable’, where recognising the names and formulas depicted on this giant steel statue immediately set an atmosphere of excitement as we traced the evolution of modern science and mathematics from the Pythagorean Theorem to the Higgs Boson. The highlight of the day came with our official guided tour in the afternoon. Our journey around the ring of LHC (Large Hadron Collider) beginning with the ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) detector, where we were shown the process of colliding accelerated heavy ions through a video display on screen and a detailed explanation of the detection equipment and system from our passionate guide, who used a retired piece of the actual detector equipment as reference. The engineering complexity was astounding; nevertheless, this sense of wonder was deepened even more as we were led through an internal section of the LHC and captured the shared sentiment of Fleming’s Left- and Right-Hand Rules within the accelerator’s magnet system. The visit concluded with time at interactive exhibitions across the campus, where we engaged with hands-on activities that tested our fresh knowledge from earlier. The rest of the evening offered a taste of Swiss culture with curling, then the traditional Swiss fondue for dinner at 11 pm. It was not difficult to tell how much everyone enjoyed curling as we began with the minimal knowledge of the game to finish by playing small group matches, cheering regardless of winning or not.
Our final day in Geneva started at the Ariana Museum, where we were toured around to explore the development and techniques of ceramics and glass, particularly in the interplay between European and East Asian artistry. This was our final stop before waving goodbye to Geneva. Overall, the trip has achieved its core goals with resounding success, not only in physics but also in broadening pupils’ horizons by navigating a foreign city, engaging with experts, and immersing in cultural activities.
Feedback from the pupils:
“It was a fantastic experience! Many thanks to Mr Hnatek, Mr Kelland, and Dr Heining for arranging and leading such an amazing trip!” -Melody (U6)
“Great journey with lots of tightly packed content, only a small moan for perhaps more free time and traditional food other than meal deals…?”-Adrian (U6)
“It was a great experience with a good mixture of culture, physics and fun! I will definitely recommend it to the lower years.”-Hugo (L6)
