This has been an incredibly busy week and yet it has been enjoyable. The bus ride to London was long but somehow the time was able to pass rather quickly. We left in the middle of the night and arrived in the middle of the afternoon Monday. The most exciting part of the trip was crossing the English Channel (La Manche), where the bus literally boarded a train car that would take us in the Chunnel (a trip that took about 35 minutes). It was one of those Mission Impossible moments where I recalled the chase on top of the Eurostar train. Pretty sweet stuff.
Day 1: Honestly, when it came to London, I really had no idea what to expect. I had seen the sites in movies, but I was not that excited about going. Not to say I didn't want to be there, it's just I wanted the adventure. And the entire week was a fascinating adventure.
When we arrived in London, we went to a large department store called Harrolds, which sort of reminded me of Macy's in New York. Everything, of course, was out of my price range. And it felt more like a museum for la mode than a store that the middle class person could see. Then again, there are people who indeed do their shopping there, namely the aristocracy of London.
After looking through Harrolds with the students, we went to the Museum of Natural History, which had dinoasaur bones and sculptures and other cool artifacts. This museum seemed to be designed for the kids. Little kids strolling with their mommies looking at a big Tyrannasaurus Rex, amusing. This museum reminded me of the pictures I had seen of collections in my science text books from the Dark Ages (fourth and fifth grade).
Later, we checked in to the hostel, which was located in a residential area of town close to Hyde Park. It was a charming area to be in. Some of the houses lining the streets reminded me of the most recent version of the "Parent Trap," or Natasha Richardson's home in London. Interesting to think about all the representations of London in film, novel, etc. and to actually be there. The hostel was well positioned and while, it had some shortcomings as far as cleanliness and the like, it was livable for the week we were there.
At the end of the day, we went to the Pizza Factory, which turned out to be the place where we would be eating the entire time. It was incredibly funny to me when we, to our surprise, found out that we would be eating pizza, pasta, and fries (with salad)the whole time. I was with French people. The French love to eat balanced meals with bread, cheese, meat, salad, and yogurt for dessert. Unfortunately, we did not get all those things with our meal plan. What was even more funny was the fact that I sort of wanted to complain as well, seeing as I have eaten these foods for seven months and like the French diet. We survived in the end, which was good.
Planning for the next day's scavenger hunt,then we went to bed.
Day 2
Day 2 was perhaps my most stressful day, given that I would have to take a group around London all by myself and try to get my bearings on a city that is enormous. My group was all girls, who were nice and kind. The scavenger hunt turned out not to be a race but rather one in which we would see the various sites around Central London. We saw Big Ben, Parliament Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, the famous toy store in Piccadilly Circus, and a few other spots that were interesting. I have some good pictures of these areas as well. We ended up getting lost trying to get back to the Auberge (hostel). And thanks to my bad navigation skills, our treasure hunt forced us in the end to cross the entire city to get back to our hostel. However, it was good even though a little tense at times, and I had to apologize to the girls who were completely worn out by the end of the day.
Things got better, however...
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