Excursions to Liverpool 2009
Excursion to Liverpool July/August 2009
Neil Deane:
This year, in the last weekend in July and the first week in August, a second excursion took place to Liverpool, once again under the guidance of that unfamous Liverpudlian, Neil Deane. Two groups of students spent a long weekend in this vibrant town, following a similar programme to the one in 2008. There were, however, a few new features, including a trip to John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s childhood homes, a visit to a beautiful tudor mansion (Speke Hall) and a guided tour of the Liverpool Football Club stadium (Anfield Road). A passionate and wonderfully eccentric art expert also took us on a never-to-be forgotten walk around his favourite paintings in the Walker Art Gallery.
My own personal highlight was the visit to John Lennons’s childhood home where our guide helped us re-live the moment when Paul came to visit John for the first time to practise together. Talk about musical history in the making! Shiver-down-the-spine stuff for me, I can tell you!
An excursion is only as good as its participants and this year’s students approached their stay with openess, tolerance and a will to observe, explore and learn. A big thank you for them for helping to make it such a roaring success. Their enjoyment in and appreciation of my home town provided me with a great deal of personal satisfaction and joy.
I thought it would be a good idea this year to let the students themselves express what they thought of their stay rather than submit potential Liverpool excursionists to my usual over-the-top, subjective ramblings. So here are the uncensored comments from some of this year’s participants. I hope it gives some idea of the great time we all had and encourages others to come on next year’s excursion or make the trip themselves when they next visit Britain.
Group 1: 30 July – 3 August
Antonia Landwehr:
The days we were allowed to spend in the Capital of Culture 2008 were a great mixture of a fabulous stay in Liverpool. There were so many different things to see. One of my favorite places we went to was “The Walker Art Gallery”. Normally, one expects not too much from a guided tour in an art museum, but this tour was not like a “normal” tour. The guide was the most enthusiastic person describing the pictures with pure passion and therefore made the whole thing very interesting. Next, I really enjoyed “The Beatles Tour”. We got to see the childhood houses of John
Lennon and Paul McCartney, which was a special treat for each of us. But Liverpool would not be Liverpool if we did not get a glimpse of the culture behind all those rather formal things: The pubs.
It is a totally different atmosphere than in German pubs which I guess is especially due to the mixture of people in there: Old people are sitting there as often as the younger ones and every pub seems to worship The Beatles. All in all, I can definitely recommend the tour to future students! Go for it!
Dina Kalanci:
Liverpool is a great, big city. We had a wonderful time there. Our lecturer "Mr Deane" did a lot of different things with us students. He showed us the most beautiful places of Liverpool, so that we got an impression of it. Mr Deane is a very cute man, he has got sense of homour (but can also be sometimes the "Mean Deane" :)
I like him much and thank him for being part of this Liverpool excursion. Furthermore, our group was great, too. We had a lot of fun together. I recommend it to every English sutudent, if they have got the chance to take part in such kinds of excursions. My highlights were "the Beatles tour", "the Liverpool stadium" and definitely "Spice City" (Indian restaurant).
"So,go and get to know LIVERPOOL!"
I thank Mr Deane and my lovely group for everything.
Melis Boncuklu:
Kurz gesagt: Die Exkursion nach Liverpool war ein voller Erfolg! (Mit unserer tollen Truppe und Mr (mean) Deane, war der Spaß schon vorprogrammiert! :)
Es gab viel zu sehen und zu entdecken: interessante Museen wie die Walker Art Gallery oder das Merseyside Maritime Museum, eine Zeitreise zurück in die Vergangenheit in den Kindheitshäusern von Paul McCartney und John Lennon, ein Muss für alle Fußballfans das Anfield Stadium, die schöne Liverpool Cathedral, ein bisschen Comedy, Bier Bier und nochmal Bier in den zahlreichen Pubs und genug Einkaufsmöglichkeiten ich sage nur "Primark the best place to be" und noch vieles vieles mehr. Also für jeden Geschmack etwas dabei! Ich kann nur jedem Englischstudenten empfehlen die Möglichkeit zu nutzen und an der Exkursion nach Liverpool teilzunehmen. Ihr werdet es nicht bereuen!
Also, Mr Deane in diesem Sinne nochmal vielen Dank an Sie! :)
Christian Selbach:
Now, not to have a report about the tour would be a shame - other people need to know what they missed! I think the trip was a truly unique experience to get to know Liverpool and meet cool and ...uhm interesting people. I don't know where to start, so I'll try to pick some of the highlights of these 5 days:
- The tours of Lennon's and Macca's homes were really cool and a must-do! You didn't have to be a Beatles maniac to enjoy the tours.
- The Anglican cathedral was quite impressive as well (Yeah, I know, we should've gone on the tower....) As with the Bealtes' homes, you didn't have to be a fan (i.e. religious) to appreciate the building and the tour! Nice guide.
- Speaking of guides: PRB! The guide at the Walker Art Gallery was amazing! Definitely the most active tour guide I've ever witnessed.
- Walking! We did a lot of walking which I enjoyed, since you get to see different parts of the city. Bus tours are for American and Japanese tourists!
- I liked the pubs. Friday night was pretty cool. Good pubs, plenty of ale and Phil was lucky not to get beaten up (or killed) by that tough-looking guy!
- Getting to know Deane Sr.and hearing stories about Liverpool was really nice!
- The posh Adelphi was just good enough for the 'boring couple,' but the Wellington (our accommodation) had its charm too - a bit rough but cosy.
Nina Wöltgen:
Visiting Liverpool with our native Exkursionsleiter ND gave us students the possibility to experience the town away from tourist guides and sightseeing busses. Not always sure about the shortest ways from the bus stop to the next meeting point, Mr Deane gave his best, not only showing us breathtaking buildings, but diving into the "Pool of Life" - having a pint (or two) in Mathew Street was only one of several ways to do so.
A great group met great guys - remember the more than enthusiastic guide at Walker Art Gallery or the stand-up comedian who couldn't belive his eyes when he saw smiling Mr Deane surrounded by slightly younger girls... PRB forever.
Philipp Hülsmann:
If I were asked to recommend a place in Liverpool that should not be missed my answer would be: “Go to the Walker Art Gallery!” First, I have to point out that I am not a friend of art. At least not of drawings or paintings of any sort. But the tour guide who introduced us to a selection of works was so amazing that even I was absolutely fascinated. From the very first moment of the tour he did not do what anybody will surely know from museum tours. Monotonous, almost sedating speaking tour guides and a bunch of information nobody needs are the best combination to lull the audience into sleep. But he was different. He was passionately dashing from one painting to the other, had a good portion of humour and really managed to catch everybody´s attention. The tour was not just a normal guided tour but an awesome performance of a guide who is an artist indeed.
If you are open to new experiences and like to be entertained by an artist who expresses his passion to the full, go to Mr. Deane and ask him for the name of the “mad art expert”! Go to the gallery and let yourself be convinced that visiting a museum does not have to be boring or lifeless but vivid and full of interesting facts and anecdotes instead.
One last remark should be made. If you are shown the painting “Lorenzo and Isabella” by Millais, look for the letters PRB and ask the guide what they stand for. I mean besides the meaning Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood...
Group 2: 6 August – 10 August
Andreas Ordon:
Liverpool is a city of contradictions and taking part in Mr. Neil Deane´s excursion showed us in great detail how life in an English town is like today and in addition to that, how it developed according to its change from industry-based economy an...jibberjabber...blabla...you´re still reading? You are interested in those dry facts and think about going there next semester, too? You HAVE to be kidding me! Stop reading immediately, go away and do not think about doing this trip ... because, to be honest: If you are NOT interested in kind-hearted Scousers, fun, beer and scotch, fun, sleeping right above the landlord´s pub and its cow-look-alike dog, bloody bad jokes (oh, they were soooo bloody), drunk people on Friday and Saturday, lots of flesh in way too tight dresses (yeah, English girls have their own unique style), you are OUT!
Whatever you might expect from such an excursion, be warned: You need good feet, stamina, the temper of a chilled and stress free 59 year old hippy, fallen into a bowl of downers as a child and finally, you need a good liver (haha...you get it?! Good liver in LIVERpool....haha...) and: tolerant humour because it will get naughty after a while (haha...you get this, too?! Haha...“naughty“...ok...I´ll stop it...no more bad jokes because this will be Neil Deane´s job as soon as he will lead you around his places there – I promise). So calm down, take a deep breath and realize: Going to Liverpool with Neil could be the only thing worth remembering in your English studies...and if you want to raise your voice now and claim that Geoffrey Chaucer was – at least – as interested as an excursion to „the pool of Life“ might have been: You are OUT again!
So, I think you all got the message: Participating was, at least for me, the highlight of my university-time and I can only recommend you to do this, too. And I also hope your group will be as great and as funny and as easy-going as ours was. It was a lovely time of laughter, joy and sunshine. As always: The best things happen in between so do not stick too much to your timetable or sightseeing plans.
By the way: We were group 2, the good looking handsome ones and in case you need proof, just check out our smiles on the wall in Neil´s office. A picture says more than a thousand words...even if I have the feeling, we really intended to use the most embarrassing pictures for our collage there.
Let´s not get too much into detail about the three/four days as such and let us not write down all sights or events, either (or excuses for pictures on Studivz which might get you into trouble with your boy-/girlfriends) and so, for those who like it quick and dirty:
IT IS FUN!
TAKE PART IN IT!
GET USED TO THE ROUND-SYSTEM FOR GOD´s SAKE
AND DO NEVER EVER UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES TELL YOUR GROUP, YOU DO NOT DRINK!
(note: Neil turns into a monster when he has to sit all alone over his Guinness and he will leave out the best spots in Liverpool as punishment! Fair warning, fellows!)
Cheers cocks!
If you miss this, you are really OUT!
Gustaw Kosicki:
It was a great experience to be in Liverpool, the hometown of Mr Deane.Despite all the problems, especially for me, (which everybody knows about) I made it to Liverpool. From my point of view it was a great pleasure to get to know Mr Deane’s father and to experience all the different facets of the Pool of Life. The greatest experience for me ,and everybody knows it for sure, was the Anfield Road experience. This was the greatest day of my life and I appreciate that Mr Deane gave me the opportunity to experience this.
Bahar Kaya:
The trip to Liverpool was fantastic! We had a group full of weirdos including me and that is why we enjoyed ourselves so much.
It was probably a tough challenge for our tour guide (aka Neil Deane) to make sure that every student had fun, found his way through the city and did not catch the swine flu (which is amazing considering standards of British hygiene). But he managed it all very well, so nobody was homesick...
We saw a bit of everything: The impressive Catholic Cathedral; the incredibly huge Anglican Cathedral, where we also had the opportunity to walk up the tower and see the city from above; The "multi-functional" show-off building St Georges Hall; we also took the ferry across the Mersey and enjoyed the wonderful view.
We laughed our heads off while watching a comedy. In the evenings we got to know many very interesting and nice people and joined them for a drink, or two... or many more… Basically, we drank until our imagination allowed made it possible to understand Scouse, which turned out to be completely different language.
Above all this, we were very lucky with the weather! Sunshine! All in all we had a great time and I would recommend this trip to every student. Take the opportunity and let yourself be guided through the Capital of Culture ‘08 with a very special and fun person.