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!

Thursday

Hi guys, I hope you survived our first week after London! (for me it was rather hard to adapt to the school-life...)


Here is my diary for Thursday:

I guess on Thursday morning it was very hard for us to get out of bed: the day before with it's tour through the East End and the Jack the Ripper Walk might be the reasons for it.
But on Thursday was the Oxford-tour planned. To get to Oxford we had to go by train so we had a bit time to sleep.
In Oxford arrived Dori and Steve guided us through London and showed us among other sights some beautiful collages. Unfortunately we couldn't visit them because they were closed (I would have enjoyed it to see a collage from inside). But Mr. Umbrella told us a lot of these collages so a visit would have been totally unnecessary and we are now very well informed about studying in Oxford!

After we had finished our tour we had a bit less than two hours time to explore Oxford on our own. Of course our first stopp was at Mc Donald's because we were very hungry (and where do you can get cheaper something to eat?)!

Afterwards we noticed that not much time was left so our exploration must be shorten a bit and ended finally in a little shopping tour! Now I'm proud of having two new books, CDs and one DVD...
During our little trip we discovered a man playing a guitar with three-I don't know how it is called- necks?







Finally Nina, Patricia and I buyed some very DELICIOUS smoothies/milkshakes. (Why does Moo Moo's has no shops in Berlin???????) But it took more time to make these milkshakes than we thought so we had to run to our meeting point. When we arrived we were out of breath and found out that we were not too late and had another 5 minutes...no comment!

Back in London we went to St. Paul's Cathedral to take part at an evensong. Ten minutes after 5 o'clock we wondered why the evensong didn't started...until we found out that the monotone voice we heard did not come from a CD but was the voice of the priest! But it was too late. When we found out that the evensong did not take place where it usually was, the evensong was finished.

After this we went to Mr. Fish to eat a traditional Fish and Chips-Meal and I must say it was very tasty!

Our dinner followed some private activities which will not specified here...like Patricia said: Mr. Umbrellas phantasy will not be bored!

Wednesday in London

Dear Pia, having read your report, I was feeling very sorry for you! The weather was much better here, with only a light drizzle in the early morning, so nobody got soaked.Instead, we had a great day whose opener was a very stimulating and jolly workshop at The Globe, the reconstructed Shakespeare theatre. The man doing the workshop was a spitting image of one of our Math teachers which is why some of us were very confused first but he turned out to be very, very funny and entertaining so that we were learning and laughing at the same time. After that, we went to Tate Modern, one of the temples of Modern Art in London, which has a crack running through the floor of its gigantic hall - but we learned that this did not go back to any earthquake we had missed.After that, everybody went on his own, though I guess they could have gone together as the main destination was, of course, shopping paradise - Oxford Street!Later on, we met again for a stroll through a tiny part of the British Museum, then went to Bhanglatown were we explored exotic shops of many different kinds.And if that hadn't been enough, we met a jolly guy who taught us about Jack the Ripper on a walk which finally led us back into the East End. You should have seen what some of your coursemates looked like when the guide was giving them the details of the ripper had done to his victims! But I must admit that he was very graphic - and all this happened directly after tea ...So, coming back to your post, it was ca. 9.30 when this day's programme was finally over, and my feet ( + back + spine )ere telling me: Back to the hotel! But some students went on even then ...Tomorrow we'll be off to Oxford - I'll let you know what they looked like in the morning ...All the best,Mr Umbrella

WEDNESDAY in LONDON

7:30 a.m the alarm clock is ringing "nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo f**k!!!"

My first thoughts on this day!!XD After just a very few hours of sleep I awake from Anne´s alarm clock!! But this is not a normal alarm clock!! It´s a woman´s choice whisppering in our ears : "It´s a half past seven!! You have to wake up!!" I can tell you I was really scared of that!! The other girls didn´t even recognized the woman or were very good at ignoring it! When I tried to get up my legs hurt and seemed to scream: "No! Please Lisa keep laying in this wonderful warm and comfortable bed!!" But I had to hurry up, because we were five girls and only one bathroom and every body wants to shower!! But somehow we managed it every day ^^

I think now its time to thank Patricia and her MAGIC CONCEALER XD (for the boys: its a pencil with make-up in it. So you can cover the dark circles around your eyes ^^)

Later we decided to go down and check out the breakfast!! We already heard a lot about it! but i think it was okay. You could choose between cornflakes and toast with butter and some jam with one strawberry in it ^^

With the help of some coffee I finally woke up!

At 9 o´clock the course met in the hotel lobby to start a new and exciting day.

First aim was the Globe Theatre near the Thamse. The guy who taught us about former time on theatres reminded me of a caretaker. So I was pretty surprised who funny and entertaining he was.^^

After the visit in the Globe we went to Tate Modern and saw some interesting and awesome piece of arts. After that we had FREETIME :-D!! And guess where girls (and rob and martin^^) use to go when they have freetime?? Shopping in Oxford Street!! In my opinion this area is one of the busiest places i´ve ever been. There were so many people, stores and impression, I was totally overwhelmed. A few hours later we met again with the rest of the group in front of the British museum, another impressive building in London. I would have love to see the mummies but unfortunately we didn´t had enough time :-(

So I had to say goodtime to the mummies and we went on to see a totally diffrent part from London: the East End.

When we arrived at Whitechapel Station I was pretty confused and it was hard to orient myself.

But finally we found one of the famoust street of London, the Bricklane. Here you could find many many influences from diffrent parts of the world. Moreover we saw the "hip East End" with all this clubs and fashion stores. But the best for rest! Now it was time for Jack the Ripper!!

Again we had to hurry up, because of our "date" with the guide^^. He directed us through the East End and showed us the important places of the "Jack the Ripper" story! I don´t know how the others felt but I was really shocked about the stories he told us. Some students return back to the hotel but some of us were brave enough to go on walking through the dark night^^

We caught the bus, which brought us directly to Tower Brigde and I really feel sorry for them who missed that beautiful building, especially at night! But then the feets hurt again and we decided to return to the hotel as well. After 15! hours walking I was soooooo happy laying on my bed and watch TV :-D

Lisa

WEDNESDAY- April showers!

Hi to everyone in London,
today I was in a very bad mood, and it was the weather that was to be blamed. When I woke up the sun was shining and I thought it won´t be raining in the next ten minutes- but I was wrong, and when I rode my bike to school I got soaked to the skin- what a wonderful start for today!
Then I had a lesson off. Yesterday I would have been sitting in front of our villa enjoying the sun - today I was sitting inside and I was freezing.
After my last lesson the sun was shining brightly- I got on my bike and after two minutes it started raining and before I arrived home I was soaked again!!! It was a really bad day and I wish and hope yours was better.
The rest of the day until now was quite boring, but at 8.15 pm I'll start watching some serials on Pro7...my personal highlight for today:D
Well, now I will put on some warm clothes, drink some tea...just like the guys in London... and hope I will stop freezing.
Your report on Tuesday sounds great, however, you must have been rather exhausted!! Respect to everyone who still went to a pub after that! I hope the following days will be as interesting as yesterday and you will have a lot of fun:) I'm looking forward to reading about it tomorrow.
Best wishes,
Pia

TUESDAY- spring time 8-)

Hi umberellaclan,
today was the time of sunglasses. There were about 20 degrees and it was wonderful! Our school's junior girls were sitting on the ground showing what they´ve got. But in front of our nice villa were most of the senior students and everyone had fun, I think. The sun was the only thing worth mentioning today- but there were a lot of rumours just like every day. Now it´s raining and I´m tired and I see a monkey on television- how interesting. I hope all of you had a nice first day and I wish you the very best for tomorrow- here it will be raining, the weather forecast says!
Best wishes, Pia

Tuesday in London

Dear Pia, kindest regards from one of the greatest cities of this planet! The morning of our first day was really boring - everybody was on time, though perhaps not really awake! -, and the journey went smoothly, apart from heavy traffic on the way into London. After having got rid of our luggage, we then took a tube to Westminster, enjoying the beautiful view of the Houses of Parliament there. After that, we wanted to enter a boat to Greenwich and thanks to a a very grateful lady we could "shrink" us and got away as 14-year-olds which meant a considerate saving! The journey was pure joy, especially as the sun had come out and made us, tired as we were, leave the vessel with a slight tan. And although we had been going for quite some time everybody was brave enough to not only visit the Painted Hall but also climb the steep access to The Royal Observatory! But here we were rewarded with a stunning view of London!!! After that, the group insisted on walking below the Thames to the south bank and from there we went to the Docklands. The tour there left many speechless and all of us deeply impressed - what impressive buildings!!! Nonetheless, now it was time to go bakc to the hotel where we got into our rooms and some fell asleep immediately. But, hey, guess who went to one of the local pubs in the evening to watch Rome vs. ManU - all those who had got up at about 4.30am and had already managed the proramme described! Amazing, is it not? Let us see what they will look like tomorrow morning ...

Cheers,

Mr Umbrella

Preparations

It's only 3 more days until I will go to LONDON with my advanced course English! Fortunately, the preparations - presentations of the most important sights we'll come across, talking about the strange habits of the 'natives', changing tons of Euros into a few Pounds Sterling or trying to get hold of weekly travelcards already here in Berlin ( many thanks again, Mrs Goschew! ) to save our most precious time in London for more enjoyable activities, have been done. Or so I hope.
What' different to former trips is the amount of money the course (or most of them) made during the last months: It's 33 Pounds Sterling each! Amazing, isn't it? So there's no excuse for not buying the teacher a lot of presents ...
The only thing troubling me at the moment is the simple fact that we're expected to be at the airport at 5.30 in the morning - conscious of who we are, fully dressed and everybody with his survival pack, including individual toothbrushes! But let's be positive - as we've been doing such trips for more than 10 years now, this one will work as well. What's even more promising is the friendly weather forecast as well as the fact that we won't need to go through Terminal 5 at Heathrow.