School Physics Trip to CERN!

Last January I took an awesome group of students to Geneva to visit CERN, here is our itinerary, and some tips! In my opinion this is something every A level Physics student should get to experience, at least once, if not twice. It’s great to be immersed in Physics, and it’s great to push students outside their comfort zones and see them grow and develop.

At this school, a CERN trip has been run about 6 times over 8 years (numbers approximate) in January, with mostly AS students, and some A2 students tagging along. This year I was asked to run the trip, the first time I’d been (although the other staff had been before), and me being me, I decided to make it bigger than they’d ever done…. We ended up with a group of 4 staff and 30 students (18 first year, 12 second years)

Looking at flights it was the same price to leave early Friday and get back late Sunday, as it was to leave midday Friday and get back midday Sunday, so in my mind, this was extra time in Geneva for free, so why not?

Some tips then:

1. Get booked in CERN first, it’s free, and obviously you don’t want to book flights and then not get this! http://visit.cern/tours/guided-tours-groups-pupils-or-students
2. We stayed at the Ibis budget Geneve Aeroport and loved it. It was recommended by a former colleague, and it was the first time our school had stayed there. It’s basic, but it’s clean, cheap and in a fantastic location. It’s a 10 minute bus from the airport (the 10 route to Pally (Balexert)), and 15/20 minute bus into the Old Town of Geneva, and a 10 minute bus out to CERN. Buses are frequent, and free. You get a free pass from a machine at the airport as you leave, and then a free pass for the duration of your trip from the hotel when you check in. https://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-5653-ibis-budget-geneve-aeroport/index.shtml
3. We left school at about 4am, got to Manchester airport at 6am. The first thing I did was gather the students, give out maps of Geneva I’d made, which had the details for the teachers phones (from school), and emergency contact details on. Before anyone could leave us for breakfast they had to text both phones their name, so we had all the numbers. We then set the ground rules which stayed the same the whole trip: travel in groups of 3 or more, phones switched on, be sensible, meet back where we tell you, when we tell you, or call us before then! We had breakfast at the airport, and were in good time for our 8.25am flight, which got us into Geneva at 11:30. We were at the hotel by 1pm. We checked in, dumped our bags and carried on into Geneva. We decided not to stop, because we’d just crash, then not sleep that night!
4. The first day we went into the Old Town of Geneva. We walked in a group to our meeting point, and gave the students a few hours before they had to be back. We decided to head to the Cathedral, inviting the students to come with us, and most of Year 12 followed us. This worked out well, as it was a much better deal to climb the towers if you were in a group with students. I paid for everyone myself, and just got the students to throw me 1.50 when they had it (No one had much change at this point, just notes). It was hard work climbing, but the views were incredible! After this we had a bit of dinner, then headed back to the hotel. The hotel is opposite a shopping centre with a big supermarket, so everyone got some snacks/drinks here for the night.

Map we gave students, showing the general area, map to CERN bus stop, and the area for Sunday.

Area for Friday/Saturday

5. CERN !— We had a mid-morning tour (about 10am), and this worked really nicely in terms of not having to wake up too early. You need to walk down past the shopping centre to the next bust stop down for the 18 bus to CERN, again this is free. I’d advise you to arrive a bit early, as you don’t want to be late. You can look round the museum and gift shop whilst you wait anyway, so it’s not wasted time. After the tour I’d recommend eating in the CERN restaurant, the food is good and prices are reasonable.

6. Following CERN we headed straight into Geneva again, and explored Old Town again. Despite our advice, some students ate in McDonalds, which costs as much money as some of the restaurants. I’d throughly recommend Restaurant Chez ma Cousine — which isn’t far from the Cathedral.

7. Sunday we woke up a bit later, then headed to the train station by bus. Shops in Geneva were nearly all shut from 5/6pm Saturday until Monday, but the one at the station was open, so it let students refuel! We then walked up the left bank of the lake, to the M3 water taxi (Mouette), which is included in your free city travel pass! We then turned round, and got the M4 one back. This got us nicely up the bank, where we wanted to be, and it was a great way to see the city. Plus boats are always cool.

Water taxis!

8. From here we again let the students chose were to go, with choices of either seeing the UN buildings, exploring the Botanical Gardens, or checking out a History of Science Museum (which was free). We did the History of Science Museum, which was AWESOME, and then we wandered up to see the outside of the UN buildings, and the broken chair sculpture (which one of our students was obsessed with seeing!).

9. We then got another bus back to the airport, for our flight which left at 5pm, getting us back to school for about 7.30pm. It was a long weekend, but awesome!

10. Flight advice — Just travel with carry-on luggage. Saves money, time and hassle. We emphasised over and over to the students that they would have to carry everything they took around Geneva on Sunday after we checked out the hotel, and they were ace!

11. Money — We advised students take about £100 cash, and they paid £200 for the trip (flights, hotels and coach travel). No one ran out of money, and no one went hungry, so it was about right!

12. Scan all their passports and EHIC cards (make sure you advise them to not pay for them, they’re free and you don’t need to pay someone to fill in the form for you!). Get the file stored on OneDrive or whatever your school uses, then print a few copies to split between staff, same with boarding passes. Don’t have everything in one bag.

13. Students got loads out of the trip, and most loved the freedom and getting to explore somewhere new. Some started off terrified and grew into it, others were fine the whole time, a couple were terrified for the whole weekend. It’s a great way to get to know students a bit better, and also helped with socialising between classes.

As usual, I’m sure I’ve missed loads, so any other questions shout!