Friday morning bright and early at 5:30 AM, Laura and I packed up our stuff and left the hostel we had been staying in for the last three nights. We flew to London Luton from Dublin and then we took the bus into London for the afternoon. As soon as we hit the perimeter of the city I pretty much fell in love with London. The city is so beautiful, and I feel like it is impossible to truly capture the beauty in photographs. Laura and I didn't really have a plan so we took the bus to Victoria Station and from there just started walking. We ended up stumbling upon Westminster Cathedral. We went into Westminster Cathedral to look around and the interior was gorgeous, I was shocked by the amound of gold that decorated the building. They had buckets around the cathedral saying that it costs so much to operate the Cathedral daily and they were asking for donations, but I sort of felt like if they had the money to use that much gold in decoration, I am pretty sure they didn't need my two pounds for walking in and just looking around. The murals were so pretty though, and I was shocked at the number of people who were just sitting and praying. It was a very peaceful environment though. After seeing the cathedral we continued wandering some more towards buildings that looked pretty and fountains and then we ended up finding Buckingham Palace. I would not consider Buckingham Palace to be the most impressive building at all in London, but it was huge and the soliders guarding the palace were entertaining to watch. The moved very rigidly and every so often would switch arms in which they were holding their gun. Laura and I were just sitting by the fountain when people started to gather at the gates and we realized that the gates had opened and there were four motorcycles and a few cars. The woman sitting next to us noted that the senior royalty flag was flying on one of the cars, so all we know is we either saw the car of Queen Elizabeth or more likely Prince Charles. We hung around the fountain a while longer, because we were carrying our backpacks (which were quite heavy) and then we started off wandering towards Big Ben, which we could see in the distance. We wandered through some parks and found a contemporary art museum, which admission was free to get into so we saw some interesting art exhibits before continuing on our trek to Big Ben. We soon after found Parliament and Big Ben. Big Ben was definitely trumped by the splendor of the Parliament building. Parliament was so ornate and probably the most beautiful building I have ever seen in my entire life, all 21 years of it. I tried to take some pictures, but it is something that you just have to see in real life. Across the street from Parliament was Westminster Abbey, which was monstrous. We did not go in because they were charging an admission fee to enter, and I tried to take pictures of it, but I was unable to get the entire Abbey/church in one pic, so I have fragments of the church/abbey structure. In the same area is also Great Britain's supreme court and the British Methodist Center or something along those lines. It was definitely weird to see protestant churches, in France, at least where I am it is dominated by Catholic churches and I feel like a lot of people don't even realize that there is more to Christianity than Catholicism here. I forgot to mention that as we drove into London I saw a beautiful Mosque also. I really wish that I could see the inside of a Mosque, but I don't think that will ever happen. Anyways after checking out Parliament and Westminster Abbey we headed back towards the parks by Buckingham palace, because Laura needed to get a Hard Rock cafe pin for her dad, and that is near Buckingham Palace (go figure). Anyways on our way back we saw these men adourned in red cloaks and hats similar to those of the KKK, but red. I cannot remember what they are called but it is something ceremonial and they rode off past Buckingham Palace. After making it to the Hard Rock Cafe we had a little bit of time and we decided to try to head back towards the bus station in Victoria to catch our bus and pick up dinner at a supermarket along the way. But somehow we took some wrong turns and ended up in Chelsea, which by the way is gorgeous, but not Victoria. We continued on just wandering and found a road with probably the most expensive clothes in London and then continued before we finally decided we had no clue where we were so we stopped into a hotel to ask for directions. Luckily for us we had been wandering in the right direction and the bus stop was two blocks away! After carrying our backpacks all day and being lost for an hour that was probably the best news we had heard all day! Before boarding the bus we found a fast food restaurant called Pret (ready in French) and it was AMAZING!!!! The food in London is really good and veggie (vegetarian, or veggie as the brits say, friendly) I was pretty much in heaven. I also stopped into a store to get new leggings b/c I only brought one pair and by Friday if I pulled them away from my leg and released there would be a cloud of dirt, it was pretty gross. Anyways we caught a bus to Cambridge that night and stayed with some friends of Laura who were studying abroad there for the year. Small world one of her friends is from the Woodlands TX...
The next day (Saturday) I had another traditional English Breakfest, eggs, bacon (more like ham in the states), sausage, mushrooms, hashbrowns, and baked beans. Then we went out with her friends to explore Cambridge. We had a pretty long walk into Cambridge b/c her friends are studying at Homerton College which is on the outskirts of Cambridge and the newest member college of Cambridge. We saw the big colleges of Cambridge (all I remember is Christ College, Trinity, and St. Johns). They were all so pretty, but I don't think I could deal with the rigidness of the schools; you are not even allowed to walk on the grass...that sometimes is the most direct route. Also its weird with the number of visiters on your campus all the time, but the buildings are absolutely gorgeous. Random fact I learned St. John's was one of the only large buildings the English knew was safe during WWII because Hitler's plan was to more into the university once he conquered England. Basically the University buildings are like castles. There was also an open air market that we stopped by, and I bought dried fruit to snack on :) We wandering towards the river on the way back and watched people attempting the sport of punting (you are on the river and you have a stick to push off the bed of the river and steer the boat with) and we also stumbled upon a percussion Amnesty International group that was playing alongside the river. After we ended up returning to Homerton and hanging around Homerton the rest of the evening, because Laura and I had to catch a bus at 3:40 in the morning. Unfortunately Laura fell ill that night, and I ended up catching the bus alone. I was pretty proud of myself because I got myself from Cambridge England to London England to Paris France and then finally to Nantes, all by myself! It only took 3 buses, one ferry, two metro lines, one TGV ride, and a tram ride to get home! I was more than happy to be back in Nantes though, after having been back a week I realized how much I like Nantes. Plus I really was ready to have multiple pairs of shoes to wear, I had been wearing the same boots for a week and my feet were blistered.
Finally today I had my teaching internship, which I absolutely love. I teach 5, 6, and 7 year olds and they are so cute. Today I worked with the 5 year olds and 6 year olds. It is difficult the 6 year old pick up on things and can remember the word I just said a minute later, but the fire year olds cannot remember anything for the life of them, but they are so cute still and it is so cool when one of them actually does remember, because I realize that someone understands! At the end of my final class today though a lot of the kids as I was saying bye gave me a kiss on the cheek. Its weird you don't think about that being part of a teacher student relationship, but here at that age students apparently give their teachers a kiss on the cheek to say bye. One boy was really cute because after he gave me a kiss he demanded that he receive a kiss too, I didn't quite know of to respond to that though. Its weird though because teachers also are able to physically grab their students and put them in the corner if they are misbehaving. I don't know why, probably all the liability, but I never remembe a teacher grabbing a student or really touching students in the states. And then also teacher here will just yell at a student in front of the class if they are misbehaving, in the states discipline is always done in private. I don't know if it is good, but we were warned that teachers will and can just rip a student apart in front of the class if they do something that warrants that, and we were tolding that praises don't come as easily in French classrooms. I however and not teaching by the French system, and am definitely more of an American teacher when I give lessons (which we were told is fine and our teacher, who gives my teaching intership class with IES, told us it is fine to use the teaching and discpline methods of the states instead of the French ways).
I am so happy though to be back in Nantes, though I have spent this last week truly exhausted from traveling all of last week. It weird because in just over a month we have another vacation, which is two weeks long. I don't know what to do for it, I really would like to go to Hungary, the Czech Republic, and maybe Italy or Austria, because I feel like I cannot just hang around my host families house, we are pretty much expected to leave during breaks, but my funds are pretty much gone, so we will see. And train tickets are not nearly as cheap as I expected. They are pretty much the equivalent or more expensive than cheap plane tickets. I discovered couch surfing over the last break though, and that is pretty much the greatest invention to travel. Hopefully on the next break I will be able to do that again, because you get to meet people from the area where you are traveling and you get to stay in the city for very cheap!
That is pretty much everything for now, Midterms are coming up this next week, but this weekend I am eating dinner with some friends Friday, exploring Saturday, and on Sunday going to a birthday party for my host parents grand son who is turning one I believe.
The next day (Saturday) I had another traditional English Breakfest, eggs, bacon (more like ham in the states), sausage, mushrooms, hashbrowns, and baked beans. Then we went out with her friends to explore Cambridge. We had a pretty long walk into Cambridge b/c her friends are studying at Homerton College which is on the outskirts of Cambridge and the newest member college of Cambridge. We saw the big colleges of Cambridge (all I remember is Christ College, Trinity, and St. Johns). They were all so pretty, but I don't think I could deal with the rigidness of the schools; you are not even allowed to walk on the grass...that sometimes is the most direct route. Also its weird with the number of visiters on your campus all the time, but the buildings are absolutely gorgeous. Random fact I learned St. John's was one of the only large buildings the English knew was safe during WWII because Hitler's plan was to more into the university once he conquered England. Basically the University buildings are like castles. There was also an open air market that we stopped by, and I bought dried fruit to snack on :) We wandering towards the river on the way back and watched people attempting the sport of punting (you are on the river and you have a stick to push off the bed of the river and steer the boat with) and we also stumbled upon a percussion Amnesty International group that was playing alongside the river. After we ended up returning to Homerton and hanging around Homerton the rest of the evening, because Laura and I had to catch a bus at 3:40 in the morning. Unfortunately Laura fell ill that night, and I ended up catching the bus alone. I was pretty proud of myself because I got myself from Cambridge England to London England to Paris France and then finally to Nantes, all by myself! It only took 3 buses, one ferry, two metro lines, one TGV ride, and a tram ride to get home! I was more than happy to be back in Nantes though, after having been back a week I realized how much I like Nantes. Plus I really was ready to have multiple pairs of shoes to wear, I had been wearing the same boots for a week and my feet were blistered.
Finally today I had my teaching internship, which I absolutely love. I teach 5, 6, and 7 year olds and they are so cute. Today I worked with the 5 year olds and 6 year olds. It is difficult the 6 year old pick up on things and can remember the word I just said a minute later, but the fire year olds cannot remember anything for the life of them, but they are so cute still and it is so cool when one of them actually does remember, because I realize that someone understands! At the end of my final class today though a lot of the kids as I was saying bye gave me a kiss on the cheek. Its weird you don't think about that being part of a teacher student relationship, but here at that age students apparently give their teachers a kiss on the cheek to say bye. One boy was really cute because after he gave me a kiss he demanded that he receive a kiss too, I didn't quite know of to respond to that though. Its weird though because teachers also are able to physically grab their students and put them in the corner if they are misbehaving. I don't know why, probably all the liability, but I never remembe a teacher grabbing a student or really touching students in the states. And then also teacher here will just yell at a student in front of the class if they are misbehaving, in the states discipline is always done in private. I don't know if it is good, but we were warned that teachers will and can just rip a student apart in front of the class if they do something that warrants that, and we were tolding that praises don't come as easily in French classrooms. I however and not teaching by the French system, and am definitely more of an American teacher when I give lessons (which we were told is fine and our teacher, who gives my teaching intership class with IES, told us it is fine to use the teaching and discpline methods of the states instead of the French ways).
I am so happy though to be back in Nantes, though I have spent this last week truly exhausted from traveling all of last week. It weird because in just over a month we have another vacation, which is two weeks long. I don't know what to do for it, I really would like to go to Hungary, the Czech Republic, and maybe Italy or Austria, because I feel like I cannot just hang around my host families house, we are pretty much expected to leave during breaks, but my funds are pretty much gone, so we will see. And train tickets are not nearly as cheap as I expected. They are pretty much the equivalent or more expensive than cheap plane tickets. I discovered couch surfing over the last break though, and that is pretty much the greatest invention to travel. Hopefully on the next break I will be able to do that again, because you get to meet people from the area where you are traveling and you get to stay in the city for very cheap!
That is pretty much everything for now, Midterms are coming up this next week, but this weekend I am eating dinner with some friends Friday, exploring Saturday, and on Sunday going to a birthday party for my host parents grand son who is turning one I believe.
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