The 6th September was the beginning of an unforgettable journey. 23 students of the 4th grade and 2 teachers, Ms Schelmbauer and Ms Stummer, travelled to London. London is a big city with 8 million inhabitants, almost as many as Austria has. London is multicultural, as the names of our host families indicate: Mr Andreou, Ms Rahman, ....
We visited all famous sights of London, and every day some of us were the guides with programmes they had prepared in advance. The first day we visited the Borough Market, a fantastic food market selling delicacies one does not normally associate with England. In the afternoon we walked down South Bank, where we visited Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Oxo Tower, the Shard - the highest building in Europe - , the Golden Hind, Sir Francis Drake’s ship, and Tate Modern. On Sunday we visited the heart of the British monarchy, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, where the coronation of British kings and queens takes place, Whitehall with its government offices, and Buckingham Palace. From there we went to Camden Lock Market, a busy street market offering everything from souvenirs, bric-a-brac, clothes, shoes and crazy accessories.
On Monday was our first day at a British school, the Centre of English Studies in Wimbledon, where we learned a lot about tourism, British culture and the English language from our pleasant teachers. After school we always travelled to the city and some also had a special program like a visit to Madame Tussauds, London Dungeon or Stamford Bridge, the football stadium of Chelsea FC. But we also had a cultural programme, with the British Museum and the Science Museum as the highlights.
On Wednesday we went to Canary Wharf, the business district of London, with its amazing skyscrapers and the Docklands Light Railway, which is fully automatic. From there we travelled to Greenwich to visit the Cutty Sark (an old clipper) and Greenwich Park which is famous for the Royal Observatory with the Greenwich Meridian. Thursday was shopping day. After a presentation of the main shopping streets of London we could all choose our favourite one and spend the remaining pounds and pence on souvenirs.
Friday came all too quickly - or not so because we had spent all our money anyway. We took the plane from London Stansted back home to Austria.
All in all it was a wonderful trip we all enjoyed. We gained new insights into life in a metropolis, learned about the British way of life - and some can even say that the British cuisine is not quite as bad as its reputation! And thanks to the certificates we all got we can proudly say that our English is B2 level.
