Sunday in London

Dear Pia, today we got a stark reminder of the fact that it's April: It was snowing! So, after really warm days this one was really cold and on our way to Albert Hall we found Hyde Park under a white blanket and saw people build a snowman. Having paid Prince Albert a short visit, the group went with remarkable speed towards the Museum District but I'm not quite sure if it was their fascination with museums that made them speed up, or rather the cold weather ... Anyway, we ended up in the Natural History Museum where already the entrèe - a journey through our planet - left many speechless. After some time we met again, this time at the magnificent big hall, only to notice that everybody had managed to see just a fractional amount of the seemingly endless numbers of displays and exhibitions of this great place.
After our visit, everybody enjoyed their last bit of freetime, whereas I stayed at the museum and savoured the wonderful exhibition Shell Wildlife Photographers of the Year.
In the afternoon, a bus took us to the airport and when the plane took off we caught a last glimpse of this big town which had offered us so many impressions ...

Saturday

This morning started with two bad news: First we had to face the fact that it was already the second last day we would spent together in London and the weather forcaster really predicted April weather. Snow in London? Inconceivable!
As the days before we met at 9 a.m. in the hotel lobby and started our trip to Neasden Temple. Because the Mandir has been located in Neasden, a suburb in north-west London, we expected a long travelling time. The bus tour was a little bit confusing and irritating: More than three times we were driven past one and the same building. Some of us couldn’t stop the feeling we would never reach the temple (or at least wouldn’t be there on time). To our amazement we were on time J But getting into the temple wasn’t as uncomplicated as counting the days with snow in London. By the way, we couldn’t see any snowflakes – it was just a little bit fresh outside.
A Mandir is a house of god and therefore it’s very sacred. Hence all visitors have been required to abide by some rules: First we had to leave our bags in a visitor’s room (except for our purses – these we would need to buy us some “special temple souvenirs”, e.g. “genuine ayurvedic herbal engery pastilles” ^^). Afterwards we had to remove our shoes before entering the Mandir. This procedure took 15 minutes... From then on we had enough time to experience what Hinduism and Hindu prayer means. More or less we even became part of a typical prayer: We sat in a row (boys and girls separated from each other – otherwise it would be possible to indecently assault the opposite sex...) and listened to loud Hindu music. After we were spared for a small donation we walked in a special way to the different murtis and had a look at them. Some of us couldn’t get anything out of this ceremony. At last we made use of the chance to ask a guide some questions. So we found out, that sitting next to god and to have a look at him without the need of food is the Hindu’s highest aim. For me this was a disappointing conclusion. The we left the temple behind us and went to a Hinduistic fast-food restaurant, were we tried out different meals (mh, very delicious as well as not again Mc Donalds...).
written by Anne-Sophie

After we had eaten something some of us wanted to go to an English football game. We were really excited, especially me. So we went by train to Knightsbridge. As we had arrived we just saw the first Sunderland fans. The more near we came the stadium the more excited I became. And then we saw the football arena, the atmosphere was breath-robbing. Although the stadium was much smaller as our Olympiastadion it was much louder. I was the happiest boy on earth because I was going to experience a traditional English football game, but I was disappointed. All the tickets were sold out so there was no way to get inside the stadium. Because of that we decided to watch the game inside a pub but we had to find out that this was also impossible. We learned that in England it is illegal to show pay-tv in public. I was really disappointed but some time later I was much happier because I had bought a new England leotard. Then it was already at the time to go back to the hotel because we all wanted to meet each other because it was our last evening in London and we wanted to spend it together. First we went to a Chinese restaurant to eat something the food tasted very well. After we had finished we gave Mr. Umbrella a little present to thank him that he had made this trip possible. We gave him a “Mind the Gap” t-shirt because had told us that he always wanted such a shirt. I think he was really touched. Afterwards we went to a pub and had a very nice last evening. Back in the hotel Mr. Umbrella went sleeping but we did not. We sat a few hours together. But I will not tell what happened because this is not intended for everyone ^.~
written by Säxmäx

Saturday in London

Dear Pia, it seems that going to places of worship has become some kind of habit as we went to Neasden this morning to visit the Hindu temple there. I contrast to the other courses, we managed to get their without any problems and we even saw the new Wembley stadium on the way. The temple was very impressive - not only because of its sheer size ( it's huge and vast!!! ) but also because this was a very interesting encounter with some religion none of the course seemed to have known much about before, me included.
First of all we had to take our shoes off. After a first glimpse at the most sacred part of the temple we visited an exhibition explaining the basic principles of Hinduism. As is usual with exhibitions, this part of our schedule was met with a lot of scepticism ( partly based on reports by the other courses ) but I can only say that I found the displays not only easy to understand but also very helpful for us novices to this belief. After taking part in a prayer ceremony, we then headed off for question time with a representative of the temple. And here the many question were sufficient prove to me that the initial scepticism had turned into curiosity and interest - what else can a teacher hope for! Nonetheless, on the way out we agreed that we would need to be reborn several times as everybody had quickly identified his sins ...
Having listened to a lot of Hindi and Indian English, we then decided to have lunch at the nearby Indian eatery which was not only inexpensive but also tasty and very nutritious - I could hardly move anymore! The course then split off, with some of us heading off for Fulham's stadium but, unfortunately, only to learn there that the match was sold out.
Later in the evening, we enjoyed some great farewell diner at a Chinese restaurant in Bayswater and I was really very glad to hear the whole trip was regarded a big success. But what moved me most was the surprise the course had prepared: They not only invited me to the meal but also gave me a great T-shirt as a present!!! I was really shaken!!!
But, of course, this didn't mean the end of the day - instead, we met up with the other course in a local pub ....

Friday in London

Dear Pia, this morning we went to the political heart of the town again and visited one of the nation's biggest treasuries, Westminster Abbey. To me, this is still a very interesting place to go as I always discover something new but perhaps this is no real surprise at a place containing reminders of such an immense wealth of history ... I had the impression that my fascination was at least partly shared by your fellows but they were, of course, also looking forward to enjoying a lot of free time during the rest of the day as this morning visit to the Abbey was the only activity we had scheduled for the whole course.
As the weather was brilliant and really warm I decided to visit a white spot on my map of London, Alexandra Palace. Though the palace itself wasn't very impressive the view over London from the nice pub meant sufficient compensation. So, I relaxed in the sunshine and took some leave from the hustle and bustle of the city ...
As Evensong at St. Pauls had been a bit of a disappointment yesterday, I decided to pay Westminster Abbey another visit to take part in the service there. To my surprise, a special service was held to commemorate the murder of Martin Luther King 40 years ago. So I experienced another unusual Evensong as e.g. a rabbi was preaching, gospel choirs made the church reverberate with joy and sorrow and even the American embassador took part in the ceremony. I was deeply moved and it took me some time to get used to London's ordinary routine afterwards ...
In the evening many Luxemburgians met at our favourite pub for a jolly evening with a lot of chatting and lots of photographs. For two courses, this was their farewell evening, so we were very happy to stay for a bit longer ...

Friday in London

Hey folks!
Friday: our big day; finally we were given the chance to proof our breathtaking knowledge about Westminster Abbey, England’s coronation church since 1066 ^^.
Although we had seen loads of pictures of it, we were amazed by its huge size.
Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures from inside, which we would have appreciated, because the graves of all those famous people and especially Poet’s Corner were stunning.
And for the first time one sight remained the only planned activity; therefore everybody was now off to enjoy their free-time.
We ourselves decided to use parts of the time for our group task – interviewing Londoners.
Dori, Betty and us went to Green Park to relax and relish the lovely weather.
After we had worked up the courage to address somebody it was fun to talk to all those Englishmen.
Then we made a little tour crossing Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Covent Garden and as our feet needed to inform us about their presence again, we just took a short look into Harrods before we invaded Pret-a-manger.
In the evening we went to a pub with the Jörgeling-course and played cards and another exciting day ended…

Steph and Esther

THURSDAY- boring..

Hello again,
I´m really sorry but today nothing has happened at all. I was in school for exactly 60 minutes- to attend a maths lesson! Then I rode home- without getting wet because it didn´t rain!!!
Now my little sister is here with a friend of hers and they are somehow playing or trying to play, which seems rather difficult because they obviously can’t come to an agreement about what to play with.
"This is mine!"
"I want to play with it, too!"
And so on..
Well, the Jack the Ripper Walk sounds great!! I’ve always tried to imagine what it would be like to go there, and I can´t wait to see your pictures and listen to your stories:)
Have a nice day,
nice greetings to all of you,
Pia

Thursday - MAINLY in Oxford

Dear blog-reader,
so it was our big day, our chance to finally present a little town north of London called Oxford.

The hardest part of the day, as everyone will probably agree, was getting up in the morning.

With some of our course mates even skipping breakfast to sleep a few more minutes and still be on time at 9 o'clock am in the lobby, the one hour train ride was probably a good opportunity to catch up on sleep and the train went almost silent within a few minutes after leaving the station.

At around 10:30 am we arrived in Oxford and started guiding our sheep through the lovely town.
When one student answered affirmatively to the question whether her feet hurt after the tour we felt like we had done a good job showing the students around and impart the knowledge that we had gathered during hours of strenuous research.
Additionally a little bit of advice by Mr Umbrella (latterly also Mr Mind The Gap ^^) and some improvisation seemed to do the trick.

We released them at the Covered Market and, as Patricia already mentioned in her blog entry, we all decided to get something to eat.
Many chose Pizza Hut as their favorite place to have lunch or make up for their breakfast that they missed out or simply overslept.
As Patricia was praising smoothies she got at moo-moos, we, part of the Pizza Hut Company, will laud the extraordinary and phenomenal chocolate cake served at the pizza restaurant.

The group met again around 2:30 pm and we headed back to London with the other courses.
On our way to Oxford Train Station, Mr Umbrella got the chance to be a paparazzo taking photographs of a couple of a love story put on stage by a few students of the Joergeling course.

Back in London, after another relaxing train ride, we immediately went to London's cathedral.
Although we were disappointed by a not even sung Evensong, St Paul's still proved to be a beautiful place of worship.

After that everyone was free to enjoy the remainder of the day.
Some went to the Hard Rock Cafe, some got lost on the way and others spent their time getting drunk at the hotel or at Hyde Park. (xD)

Rumors are afloat that some students even met the bobbies... ;)




Doesn't it look delicious?

So long
Steven and Dori

Thursday- not only in Oxford

Hi to all those who came back and to the rest who never had the joy to see London!

I think thursday morning was the worst morning during our trip. We all were really tired and in a bad mood...
So the idea of taking the train to Oxford and sleep for another hour was very welcome (of course we had no really choice but that doesn't matter now). The guided tour there was very exhausting and especially the colleges supported this fact...we weren't allowed to go in, I would have liked to see the place where a part of the Harry Potter movie was set, but no chance... very exclusive clubs where nobody was allowed to enter...a dislike against German would explain this as well.

After that free time in Oxford was a little more successful:

First we surched for some food...some went to the expensive Pizza hut and others-like me-went again...surprise, surprise...to McDonald's!!!

Then we enjoyed the little town and changed our first opinion about it...the houses in the centre fit to each other and there were nice book and music stores (separated of course) which offered some nice souvenirs...it was definitely not like we thought at the first moment - a old and decayed city.

The most important thing of all was Moo Moo's... why don't we have Moo Moo's? the smoothie was soooooooo delicious!

When we came to the rest of the group after running from Moo Moo's -as fast as possible with a smoothie in your hand- to the meeting-place we found out that Mr Umbrella was still there and we all had another five minutes time...thank you very much^^

The trip back to London followed and there we went straight to St. Paul's Cathedral which was nearly as successful as Christ Church and other colleges in Oxford...the Evensong was more a Bible lesson than a song and even this we got after it was finished: another exclusive club- they sat in the choir and we didn't see them until they got out.

What followed were some more secretly hidden activities which I won't explain further...so Mr Umbrellas fantasy will not be bored...

Thursday in Oxford

Dear Pia, as you can see, we have not vanished from this planet but, unfortunately, our schedule was mostly so packed that I couldn't bring myself to writing the blog as well. Anyway, I promised to tell you about what the course looked like after the very strenuous first days and I can tell you they turned up with bright eyes and rosy cheeks, eager to continue our exploration of the British Isles ...
Today, we took a train to the City of the Dreaming Spires, Oxford. The journey was very pleasant and due to the very competent guides we had a nice stroll along the many colleges. Most of your fellows seemed to like what they saw - but everybody was, of course, disappointed that we could visit neither Christ Church nor any other college as all had their doors closed! So, my fascination with this beautiful was not shared by everybody.
We then took an afternoon train back to London and went straight to St. Paul's Cathedral to enjoy Evensong. But this turned out to be the second disappointment this day as for reasons unknown to us they didn't do a sung Evensong which, of course, took away much of the fascination of this otherwise most beautiful place. But as you know your fellows they simply decided to call it ady and went off for their many nightly activities secretly hidden from their teacher ( for good reason!). I myself decide that this day deserved an update, bought me a ticket and enjoyed the musical We will rock you - so at least I had a grand night out!