Every year in December, students from Calvijnschool Het Groene Hart in Barendrecht, the Netherlands, go on an excursion to XLAB. Two intensive days of experimentation for the high school graduates were devoted to aspirin synthesis and analysis, wave physics and molecular biology, with the focus on the study of genetic fingerprints.
Teacher Wim van der Welle has been organizing the trip since 2012. In the course of the 6-hour journey by bus, a stopover was made in Bottrop to visit the Alpincenter here. With a ski slope of 640 meters, the indoor hall in the heart of the Ruhr region is considered the largest indoor ski slope in the world. The evening visit to Göttingen's Christmas market also had a wintry feel. Impressed by the success of the experimental work and the wintry experience in deep sub-zero temperatures, the students returned home after the 3-day excursion.