Wadden Sea

Yesterday, I went on one of the field trips put on by the school to the Wadden Sea. When I signed up for it, I thought that it was in Hamburg, for some reason, and I also thought that it was Hochschule Bremen organizing the trip. However, when I got the email the week before with more information about the trip, I found out that it was in Wilhelmshaven and Hochschule Jade organized the trip. I had to be at the Wilhelmshaven train station at noon, which would be fine on a weekday, but on the weekend, the train service is not the same. I had to take two trains and a rail replacement bus to get there, which took about two hours. I got to the meeting location, and the group took a bus and then walked to the North Sea. There, we got on a boat and had a tour of the Harbor. The harbor is part of the Wadden Sea, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The harbor is also the only or the biggest (I could not fully tell what the guide said) deep water port in Germany. It is the biggest naval base for Germany, and so we were able to see a lot of German naval ships. After the harbor tour, we only had half an hour for pictures by the sea and lunch. We ate quickly and took pictures simply because we did not have much time. Then, we had a guided tour of the Wadden Sea museum. I learned that Wadden Sea is not a geographical term, but more of an ecological term. It refers to the area between the barrier islands and the mainland that dries during low tide and is submerged during high tide. Apparently, if you have a guide who knows what he is doing, you can walk from the mainland to the islands during low tide. It was very interesting to see the animals that live in the Wadden Sea area. It is also a major resting point for migratory birds going to Africa from the Artic or vice versa. After the tour, we went to the train station to go home. The trip home was better because it only required one bus and one train. It was a fun trip, and it is not something I would have thought to do on my own. I was pleasantly surprised.