“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

I thought that London couldn’t give me anything. Nothing new, nothing special, no experience at all. I’ve been there before and I like the city but I thought that there’s nothing more to see for me. But I was wrong. In the end I saw something really new, really special. I saw that on a journey the point is not seeing sights, seeing buildings that are different from the ones at home. The point is spending time with people. When I realized this, I saw what our trip to London really was: New, special and an interesting experience. Spending time with people is always a new experience. Drinking tea with your classmates in a Chinese restaurant can become a wonderful experience. Eating in an Indian restaurant for the first time can become a wonderful experience. Walking through Camden market with a boy you’ve known nearly all your life but you’ve never really KNOWN. That can also be a wonderful experience. Even chasing squirrels to get a good picture can become a wonderful experience. And running away from those squirrels can become one. It’s strange. I didn’t meet new people in London. But I saw the ones I thought I’d know in another way. Travelling is an excellent chance to get a new way of seeing things. Or in my case: seeing people.

Quote (Title): Henry Miller

“Southbourne School of English”

“Southbourne School of English”

Group Nr. 2

 

When we travelled to England it was naturally that we had to go to school. In the beginning we all were not that amused about it, but it turned out to be quite funny in the end.

We went to the “Southbourne School of English”, which was very nice. The school itself was big, clean, and beautiful. All the rooms were spacious, but not the one my group (group number 2) used to stay in. All the time someone wanted to leave the room you firstly had to conquer the challenge to stand up of your chair. It was so tight that you could not move back with your chair far enough to stand up normally, so you had to climb over it. When you managed to stand up, everybody in your row had to stand up as well to let you pass behind them.

Although the room was not very comfortable to stay in, the teacher, whose name was Lindsey, made up the situation. Lindsey was really nice and friendly and always complaint if someone was speaking German, which was great, because than we really had to speak English all along. She even asked us what we wanted to learn about during our stay, although our teachers had already made a list of topics, which we usually had to go through.

The lessons themselves were interesting. We talked a lot about different topics like sports, music, types of houses etc. However, the funniest part was definitely the one when we were just singing songs for two hours.

To sum up it is to that the days at the “Southbourne School of English” were really ok for school days. Sometimes it was a bit boring but it was good that we had to talk English all the time and that we had such a cool teacher.

School of English

In the course of our trip to England we attended a language-school, which has a really good reputation. Our form was divided in 4 groups, each with 14 pupils. Our teachers were, of course, native speakers. The teacher in my group was called Shwanee, a 38 year-old women from Bermuda.

The atmosphere in the classroom was really friendly and open because we all knew each other from school. Shwanee’s main aim was to make us speak constantly. I had a lot of conversations with pupils I’ve never really talked to before, even if we were in the same school for ages.

Each day we started to cover a new vocabulary topic. Shwanee wrote some statements down on the blackboard and then handed out loads of sheets with different tasks on them. Usually, we started with a discussion with our partner, who was the person sitting next to us. Sometimes both of us had so much to say, that not even one could finish talking about the first statement when Shawnee asked us to stop and concentrate on the work sheets. Those I think were really difficult. There was a box with some new words to which we had to find the definition or synonyms. Then we had to fill in clozes. Most of the time I could not finish the exercises due to the speed of my colleagues who were, in my point of view, extremely fast.

All in all I think these lessons absolutely enlarged and improved my range of vocabulary. What is more is I now have much better relations to those students, which I am really happy about.

What Really Took My Breath Away

 “In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away.”  -Shing Xiong

England is one of the most beautiful countries, I have ever been to. There I got to known new people, new experiences and new impressions. These are experiences, which will stay for me for the rest of my life and nobody can take them away from me. This trip was completely new for me: far away from my family, far away from my friends and far away from my home.
In retrospect the most amazing thing about the trip for me were the two different parts: five days in Bournemouth and three days in London. They both opened my eyes to new aspects of life, culture and myself. Apart from the many interesting excursions and organised activities like the day-trip to Portsmouth, the film night and the lessons at the language school, what impressed me most was the friendliness and openness of the people and the fact that all the red bricked houses looked the same!
There was not a lot to do in Bournemouth, where our host family live, which was an amazing contrast to what we experienced in London. Of course, I was fascinated by the sights that we visited: Big Ben, the London Eye, Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace. However, what really took my breath away was the unique flair and feeling of freedom. London is famous for its multicultural lifestyle and individualism. Now I can understand why so many people want to move away from the red bricked houses in the suburbs to this vibrant city.

Portsmouth

We entered a bus that brought us to Portsmouth and walked to the Mary Rose Museum. The Mary Rose was (I use past tense because nowadays it’s not a ship anymore but a nicely arranged pile of wood) a ship that sank about 500 years ago in a battle against France.

Today you can see it in the middle of the museum where it left to dry.The Museum itself was very interesting. It’s amazing to see how long things can survive in such a hostile environment such as salt water. What I found most interesting was how wounds were treated in those times. I think everybody remembered how lucky we are to live in times of modern medicine. The Museum was huge, much bigger than anybody had expected, so there was not enough time to see everything.

We had to hurry to catch the boat for our harbour tour. The tour gave us the chance to look at many modern battle ships. It was amazing to see how naval warfare has changed during the centuries: while the old ships looked liked right out of a postcard, the modern ones were painted in light grey and didn’t look appealing at all. Also, Mary Rose sounds much nicer than Destroyer 72.

Who listened carefully could also hear the tour guide tell amazing stories about the harbour, the navy and battles . What I liked best was the story about how Lord Nelson died and was buried. When we returned from the harbour tour, there was still some time left, so we were allowed to stroll around in groups. Soon after that, we again entered the bus and drove back to Bournemouth.

Second Day in London

After the breakfast we went to the underground station and drove to the Palace of Westminster. Some of us were a little bit sleepy, so they had a snooze during the drive. We were fascinated by the Big Ben and the London Eye and took many photos. Then we went for a walk along the Thames among others we crossed the Millennium Bridge, which is well-know from the movie Harry Potter and the half-blood Prince.  Next we went on a guided tour through the spectacular Globe Theatre. Subsequently, we visit the Tate Museum, which exhibits collection of British art from 1500 and also of international modern art.  At lunchtime we divided into two groups; one went to the cinema and the other to the theatre. I decided to go to the theatre and we drove there by a typical British red double decker bus. After that we had time to buy a snack and we watched one of the world’s biggest pillow fights (yes, you heard right!). There were feathers everywhere! Finally we arrived at The Criterion Theatre. At first we thought that the play would be boring because there were only elderly people watching. But we were wrong - it was one of the most hilarious plays I have ever seen! At the end of the day we went to China Town, where we had dinner, and afterwards we took  a walk and then we drove back to the hotel by the underground. Saturday was an eventful, interesting but also strenuous day and I think that we all enjoyed the metropolitan life style.

 

Lost in Place

"Lost in Place" is about a man named Garrett Hongo. He is an Asian American who grew uo among different people in Hawaii and Los Angeles. One day he is watching his son playing in the garden with other boys, whan he realizes that all the boys are blond except for his son who has black hair. He starts to remember his own chidhood. He thinks about the places ha has gone to and the people ha has met. He thinks that ha hight have made a mistake when ha moved to Eugene. He feels wrong in the townand starts to hate it. One day during the last winter ha met a boy from Hawaii on his trip to Los Angeles. They started to talk to each other. When Garrett heard the boy talking in a typical Eugene Accent, he decided that he wants his son to learn more about his culture.

I had no problems when reading the story. I knew most of the words, the others I could guess out of the context. The story is written in first Person Narration. You know this because you often read: "I think.....; I did...", which are indicators for a first Person narrator. There are many flashbacks, but it is not confusing and you can follow the storyline. The story is well written. Garrett Hongo, the main character, is a round character, with a lot of different aspects. However, I find the story a bit boring. Nothing really happens.