Week Fourteen - A Stone Age Woman - 23rd May 2014

In three countries at once!

Summer is here in Switzerland and Germany with temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius!  And with these temperatures the time has come to spot the Irish girls with the milky white legs who become sun burned easily as the winter coats get pushed to one side and the shorts make an appearance! 

Now that placement is over it is time to get back to our travelling, and, with only a few more weeks left we’ll have to make an effort to tick destinations off the long list we have.  This weekend we felt lucky enough to try to get to Basel again and this time we made it without any trees blocking the train track!  Basel is a beautiful city in Switzerland which lies on the border with Germany and France.  It also gives a girl a chance to be in three places at once as we visited Dreiländereck (Three Countries Corner) - this is a point is where the borders of Switzerland, France and Germany meet. 

With our Snake Bread

On Sunday our study buddy Tracy invited us to her home for a traditional Swiss barbeque.  We were welcomed into her home with open arms and had a brilliant evening where we were even given the chance to make our own traditional Swiss bread ‘Schlangenbrot’  or ‘Snake Bread’ over the barbeque. 

As part of our Stone Age history module that we are studying in the university we had to complete a residential week in Germany in a museum named ‘Federseemuseum Bad Buchau’.  This week was designed to be a very practical and hands on as we got to experience life as a Stone Age woman to its full potential.  Throughout the week we learnt about jewellery and textiles and how they were made.  We were also given the opportunity to make some ourselves.  Making rings from wax and tin, bracelets and necklaces from straw and shells and even making linen from flax – we quickly began to realise how time consuming all these tasks were.  In order to make our necklaces pretty we put shells on to a carefully ‘twisted’ piece of straw by scratching them on a stone to create a hole – this was a very patience trying task and when a hole started to appear you actually felt like you achieved something!  With the week being so hands on I have gained a true insight into what the life of a Stone Age woman would have been like.  This experience has certainly helped me realise how beneficial and useful a hands-on trip like this would be for children.  It has, without doubt, made me realise that while reading about History is beneficial, being given the chance to ‘live it’ certainly compliments the learning experience.  Trips such as this for children, while an essential part of the learning curve, are also enjoyable and memories from these experiences can help to act as prompts for them when completing future topics in school.  As the Northern Ireland Curriculum (2007) states:

“…gain information about an aspect of the past, for example…make visits to a local museum or an interpretive centre.”

Scratching a hole in the shell

Having a trip in a Stone Age boat

My completed necklace

Our house

Threading a belt!

This week I received the good news that the cast can now come off my wrist and everything is looking good although my physiotherapy must continue for several more weeks! 

Until next week,                                                               

Stephanie