London
20 Dec 08.
First up, London with the high school. The 5am bus was killer. As was the ferry ride. Let's just say that I probably looked very green. Luckily, I never actually was sick. Also, before we crossed over, Claude told the border police that everyone was French. Of course, when they checked passports, they found that it was not true. They were like "This one's American!", so I had to get off the bus to have my passport stamped. Not a problem as it took like two minutes, but then, I walked back out, saw all the buses, and couldn't remember what bus I had been on! I had no idea what it looked like! Luckily, I saw Claude, so I figured it out. Once in London, Carole and I spent the day wandering around seeing the sites. And of course, the shops! I bought two books (believe me, that took some self control). I got "A Lion Among Men" which is the new book in the Wicked series and JK Rowling's Tales of Beetle the Bard. I also got a cute little Eeyore beenie which was half price at the Disney store! We went to Starbucks, which made her feel like she was in the movies because she could drink her coffee from a paper cup in the streets. LOL.
The best part of the day was meeting up with Ellie! She showed us some cool side streets with interesting shops, and we had delicious coffee. I missed her so much, so it was great to catch up. She went with us to the bus meeting point. Then came the major cultural difference. All the teachers were already intrigued by the very loud and outgoing British girl who was with me. But when she hugged me goodbye, I swear, they all turned and stared at us. Hugging just doesn't really happen here in France outside of romantic relationships. I'm sure we gave them quite the shock.
21 Dec 08
A bunch of us went to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Of course, they didn't believe me on where we should stand, so we didn't have a very good view, but it was still good to see what we could see. Then, Carole and I went to the Natural History Museum, because I wanted to see the dinosaur bones! Yes, I am five. Carole had never been to a natural history museum (we have one in Cleveland and I've been to the one in DC), so she didn't know what to expect, but she really did end up loving it. The museum also has a lifelike T-Rex which is so cool!
After the museums, we went into some shops and did some serious damage. I bought a pair of leather cowboy boots. I've been wanting a pair for years now, and these were half-off and in my size! It was a sign! Carole said that she normally doesn't like those kinds of boots, but they suited me. Could the stereotype fit anymore than this? The American and cowboy boots. We also went to Marks & Spencers and stocked up on British goods. I bought lots of tea and digestives, so I can stop stealing Natasha's.
Soon, we were back on the bus and headed back to France after a quick tour of the sites of London. The ferry ride back was much better (I prepared myself with Dramamine). I also saw a building with "Franglais wins!" painted on the side of it once we were back in France. It cracked me up. Oh, and once again I was French! But unlike the British border control, the French don't actually get on the bus, so I could be "French". We finally arrived back at the school at 2am!
Scotland
22 Dec 08
I got up bright and early (so next to no sleep) so I could catch the train to Beauvais to meet up with Emily. She gave me a corkscrew for Christmas, which was of course confiscated by security at the airport. We arrived to a pitch black Glasgow. I'm not kidding, but it's completely dark by 4pm (I took a picture to prove it!). Someone near us even made a joke once saying that it was a sad day when your flash goes off when taking a picture at 3pm. We found our hostel where we had been upgraded to a two-person private room and then wandered the streets some. We had a lovely dinner. We shared started of fried mozzarella cubes and loaded nachos and then we each had a pizza.
23 Dec 08
We took the bus to Edinburgh. We saw the castle and went in (courtesy of Emily's parents) which was really cool. We got to see the crown jewels of Scotland and such. We wandered the streets and found The Elephant House which is where JK Rowling did a lot of her writing of Harry Potter! How cool is that? We also had lunch at a place called Frankenstein which had such a great atmosphere. It was fun! We then did some shopping and wandering the streets of Edinburgh as well as went to the Christmas Village. There was tons of great looking food there! Loved it! And I bought a cheep black cardigan from H&M. It really came in handy! And I found a plush Eeyore on sale at the Disney store! He's so cute!
24 Dec 08
We went to see the cathedral which is also next to the Necropolis which is a really creepy cemetery. The Royal Infirmary is there as well. So basically, all you could ever need was in one place! You spent your final days in the infirmary, then went next door for your funeral, and then to your final resting place behind the cathedral. After, we met up with Paul and had a coffee at Starbucks. That evening, we went to see Madagascar 2 which was hilarious! There was a line about man purses, and Emily and I cracked up. We were the only people laughing, and that's because they are so popular in France, and we just don't get it. (Also, Glasgow's cinema is the tallest in Europe.)
25 Dec 08
We walked along the river to see the sites there before walking all the way to Glasgow University. It was quite a long walk. We walked nonstop for over two hours to and from the university that day. We also watched some Christmas films on Emily's laptop and then had dinner at a Chinese buffet. Yes, classy, I know. But we were stuffed!
26 Dec 08
We met up with Paul and went to some shops. Soon, Emily had to leave to catch her flight, so Paul and I did more shops on our own. We got a coffee at Starbucks and then I was left on my own for the rest of the night, but it wasn't too bad. And the following day, I was off to Gloucester, England!
Gloucester, England
I'm not going to divide this part into days, because this was the part of the vacation that was more about relaxing then being a tourist.
Natasha and her mom met me at the airport which was super nice of them! We spent the afternoon in Gloucester. Guess what! Part of Harry Potter was filmed at the cathedral there as well as this year's Doctor Who Christmas special. While at Natasha's, I also got to go to the towns of Cirencester and Cheltenham, which were both really cute towns. I really liked them. I met a lot of Natasha's family, and they were all super nice. Natasha's mom kept me very well fed. It was so nice. We also saw the film Twilight! So good! I enjoyed it. Natasha and I went out with her friends for New Year's Eve. It was such a fun time and such a change from last year where I did nothing. It was a really cool bar/nightclub that had chocolate fountains and great music! And her friends were super nice.
The rest of the week was spent eating (we went to an "American" style restaurant called Frankie and Bennie's where we had a three course meal for £8!), watching TV (including the Doctor Who Christmas episode!), spending time with Natasha's family, and playing Playstation games with her brother. And I was the token American (and that is apparently how we got a ride home on New Year's Day). All in all such a good week. And Natasha's family totally rocks.
We arrived back in France on Saturday and decided to spend the day in Paris before heading back to Chauny. We had breakfast/lunch at Breakfast in America. I had French toast! My favorite breakfast food!! Yummy!!! We then went to Shakespeare and Company where we bought some used English novels. Feeling exhausted since we had an early flight, we decided to see a movie instead of wandering the streets all day. We saw Australia which was surprisingly good!
So yep. The holiday is over, and it was a good one at that! The right combination of excitement and relaxation. I loved it! Today was back to the grind. But it wasn't even that bad. I only had one class! The school closed down during the afternoon because of the snow! Okay, so there's only like an inch or two on the ground, but everyone totally freaked out over it. This is so not normal for this region! But in case anyone was wondering, schools will close in France because of snow. Although it all just meant that I was slipping and sliding around town! And my oh so mature students were having snowball fights in the parking lot. And let's not forget to mention the guys outside the cafe. Some guy tried to hide behind me so his friend wouldn't hit him with a massively big chunk of snow. I was like I don't think so! And ran into the cafe.
And now that I've sufficiently bore you all (if anyone actually read all of this), I've posted my pictures on Facebook.
London
Glasgow and Edinburgh
Glasgow, Cirencester, and Cheltenham
And my favorite picture from the trip:
Look! I found the TARDIS! Is the Doctor around?
No comments:
Post a Comment