First of all: the excursion was great and I enjoyed almost every part of it. So writing about highlights is quite hard when there were so many of them. Therefore I will present my personal lowlight. Actually there were two which are closely interrelated.

I must admit I was quite nervous when we entered the ferry in Zeebrügge. It may all be psychosomatic but I just do not like travelling by ship (I never travelled by airplane but I will find out about that next year when I fly to New Zealand…). With the caring assistance of a fellow student I got seasick (he can be very persuasive and it was an easy challenge because I was already nervous about the ferry trip). It was not an intensive sickness which normally includes hanging over the railing and airing one’s belly. But it sufficed for me not to enjoy the trip.

Then some of us had the great idea to go to the so-called cinema and watch The Da Vinci Code. It seemed to be a good distraction for my stomach and to that extent. On the other hand it was quite disastrous because the picture quality was very poor (black was displayed as grey which does not look good in a movie which plays almost exclusively at night and is full of dark museums, churches, and crypts). There was also a second problem in the form of a piano player in the bar next door to the cinema. He was playing fairly well but the melodies did not suit the movie and the singing of drunken English passengers did not change this circumstance. But hey, at least I slept well afterwards (in this very small cabin…).

The trip back from Hull to Rotterdam was much better for my stomach. Please do not ask me where the difference was. Perhaps I was more relaxed or too exhausted to be sick. Spending another 6 pounds on the cinema was risky but nevertheless I did it. This time the cinema was much better (although it cannot be compared to a real one). The only problem was that the movie Superman Returns turned out to be very boring. The three Englishmen who accompanied me seemed to think the same because they all fell asleep during the movie.

As these were the worst experiences I had, the rest of the excursion must have been very good. And indeed it was a trip I will keep in good memory.