“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page” declared Saint Augustine.

Leeds Trinity University regularly provides study, work and volunteering opportunities abroad, but this year, the University launched an extraordinary experience to second year students: the opportunity to travel to either Berlin or Amsterdam with all travel and accommodation costs paid for.

As a widening participation University, many students are the first in their family to enter higher education, so this trip was more than just another holiday. Many of the students who travelled did not have a passport prior to the trip, and some had never been abroad before. Some of them were single/young parents who would never be able to afford a foreign holiday and they were delighted at the opportunity to travel abroad.

While the students were excited, it was my first trip with over 100 students, and I admit I had more than a little trepidation about what I’d volunteered for. My main concerns were missing students, missing passports and missed flights. Fortunately, none of these scenarios unfolded! Also, I had only joined the Faculty of Social and Health Sciences a few months earlier and I didn’t know my colleagues very well. However, it was an honour and indeed a lot of fun to get to know what a truly dedicated, caring and outstanding team we have at Leeds Trinity. When reflecting on our time away, colleagues who have worked at the University for two, seven, and even fifteen years claimed that the trip to Berlin is one of the highlights of their careers at Leeds Trinity.

But enough about the staff, and more about the students: what an inspirational group we travelled with. Made up of students from Psychology, Sports, Criminology, Investigations and Policing, Law and Journalism, it was great to get to know them in a way that can’t be replicated in the lecture theatre. Their insights after the harrowing, but deeply meaningful, visit to the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Memorial were humbling. After a tour around the Stasi Museum, students debated the parallels of communist surveillance in East Germany and modern-day technological surveillance. We also visited the Jewish Museum, the Olympic Stadium, and the Criminology students attended a talk at the Berlin School of Economics and Law with Professor Klaus von Lampe, an international expert on organised crime.

Yet it was simpler activities that really moved some students. One told us after the river cruise, that the boat ride had been one of the best moments of his life. In addition to the scheduled activities, some students arranged further fun. Some went to see a live rock concert and several students explored other museums, art galleries and famous sites such as Checkpoint Charlie, the remainders of the Berlin Wall and the Brandenburg Gate. Two of them fell in love with the pandas at the zoo! The plentiful street bikes and scooters for hire provided an entertaining and eco-friendly way for some of them to see the majestic capital of Germany.

My colleagues who took Business, Computing and Media students to Amsterdam shared similar tales of excitement, exploration and most importantly, education. Given the success of these trips, I hope this is just the first chapter of the travel adventures that the University provides for future explorers.

Amy Lund is the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social and Health Sciences at Leeds Trinity University.