Bye Bournemouth, bye UK, bye holidays

Hello and welcome again!
Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you enjoyed it (at least a little bit ;). It was a pleasure for me to write from time to time about my stay here. But it is always the same: There has to be a end. I've spent four weeks in Bournemouth and now it is time to say goodbye. Actually, I don't want to repeat all the things which happened again.

Therefore, this is my short summary:

B each, sea and sun

O nly toast and white bread - I haven't seen a real bakery here

U pper, central and lower gardens of Bournemouth

R ain became a foreign word - who told me to bring a rain jacket with me?!

N ever forget to lift your hand if you want to take a bus

E xplored a new country and culture

M emories about a beautiful summer

O h my god, I've really improved my English

U nforgettable atmosphere in the New Forest

T hink first and mind the left-hand driving

 H elpful, friendly and the best host family

With a smile in one eye and a tear in the other I look forward to meet you again in Switzerland and I say goodbye to England!
Yours, Junia

Jurassic Coast Cruise

Hello and welcome to today's post!

As you probably know I love sailing and therefore boats in general are my passion. This was the reason why I absolutely wanted to spend a day on the sea. Sailing was too expensive but there was another possibility. A company offers cruise tours in the area around the Poole harbour.

We decided to go on a tour called "Jurassic Coast Cruise". The tour lasted about three hours and was beautiful. We sailed from Poole through the harbour and along the coast passing Old Harry Rocks. Afterwards we passed Swanage Bay and followed the Jurassic Coast. Thanks to the sunny weather the tour was amazing. The feeling of beeing on a bout is undescribable. I enjoyed the waves, the wind and of course the sun.

Poole Harbour and ferry to Swanage:

Brownsea Island:

Old Harry Rocks:

Jurassic Coast:

Boat 'n tourist ;-)

 

Sandbanks

Hello, how are you?

Today, I am going to write about the Sandbanks.
One of our teachers, his name is Stuart, brought the topic "beautiful places to visit for less than £10 near Bournemouth" up in a lecture class.
The first place was Sandbanks. Maybe you've already heard about this place. According to wikipedia, Sandbanks has the fourth highest land value in the world. For those who want to know more about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbanks

There is a bus route from Poole to Sandbanks and luckily, it is a blue bus route. This means, that I don't have to pay again for my bus ticket. Hurray!
Anyway, the houses in this area are really impressive. Large and pompous villas hidden behind high fences. The high fences were no problem for us because the bus was a double floor bus. Most of the buildings have a beautiful sea view.

But the houses were not the only reason for us to visit Sandbanks. There is a beautiful beach. It is less crowded than Bournemouth beach and it is cleaner. Of course, the two beaches are connected to each other. The beach follows the whole coast line in this area. After spending some time on the beautiful Sandbanks beach, we walked back to Bournemouth along the coast line.

Here are some pictures - as usual ;)

It is time to finish this post now. Any ideas where I will spend my morning without school?
Yes, it is the Sandbanks beach...

Have a sunny day,
Junia

London

Heya!

Yes, I was in London. :-) This was the first time I've been in a city which is so hudge! But let me start at the beginning.

We booked a trip with UK studies to London and our coach left very early in the morning. First, everything was alright and we enjoyed the drive to London. We made a short stop in the services after the first half journey. After this break the problem appeard:
The air conditioning of the coach didn't work anymore! It became hotter and hotter inside and it was terrible. We had to make another stop after a while because it was so hot in this car. The driver tried to figure out what the problem was but couldn't solve it. The last part in the coach was a pain but we arrived in London. Our tour guide told us that we will have another coach for the travel back. We were all relieved.

Although, we were all tired, we were curious and we were looking forward to visit a few places in London. Our tour guide told us a lot about the places and statues we've seen and I enjoyed the tour.
Here are some pictures:

After the tour we had some free time and I went in some shops near the Picadilly Circus. My favourite was the M&M's shop. Definitely!

So enough about London and the places there. Maybe I wrote about the pedestrian crosses before. I've been here for so long but the fact that the cars drive on the left side is still confusing for me... Yesterday, I saw something really usefull to help such clumsy persons like me. Finally, I knew form which side the cars were coming. ;-)

Enjoy the weekend! Yours, Junia

Ps: We had a new coach on our way back - including a WORKING air conditioning.

South England vs. Aargau ;-)

Hello everyone!

I hope you are alright and enjoy our little home country.

Today, I am going to write about some differences, advantages/disadvantages between my home country/canton and here.

What I like here

• Get in/out of a bus goes faster because of the people who are standing in a line while waiting for the bus
• Sea & beach = enjoy free time at the beach, sailing, swimming, ... BEAUTIFUL!
• Bournemouth's beautiful gardens and the squirrels (this animals are everywhere!)

• There's no difference between "sie" and "du" in English
• Brick houses
• Price for bus ticket is for a larger area

What I like more in Switzerland

• The language ;-)
• Water from the water-tap is drinkable
• Some alcohol is allowed for people over 16
• Pedestrian crossing: The drivers have to stop for you

So, this were only a few things which came in my mind. Maybe I write about some more in another post.
Have a nice day!

New Forest

Heya!

This post is about my visit in the New Forest on Saturday. We took the train from Poole to Ashurst. The train organisation had a special offer for groups. We were 3 who wanted to travel together but we only paid for 2 tickets.

Once arrived in Ashurst we followed a little path in the direction to a campsite. We entered in the forest/heath and it was beautiful! We saw a lot of wild ponies and some cows. The nature was amazing!

After a while we found another campsite. There was a map of the New Forest and we could check were we were. We decided to walk to Brockenhurst. It was exciting to find the way through the forest. All in all we've been walking for about 5 hours.
When we arrived in Brockenhurst we were proud because we found the way alone and only with the help of the maps in the campsites we've seen. :-)

This trip to the New Forest was one of the best things I've experienced during my stay here in England. The silence and this peaceful atmosphere were amazing.

Have a good day! See you.

Christchurch

Hello, how are ya?

Today, I was in a small city near Bournemouth. It's called Christchurch and it is lovely!
To my mind Christchurch is the type of city which is real British style. :-) There are lots of the typical British houses (of course with the red bricks) and a few little shops.

But this is not the only reason why we went there. Christchurch has his name because of ...? Yes, because of a church. The Christchurch Priory is one of the largest here and it is well-known.
Our teacher told us a story how this priory was built.
The legend of is about a beam. This beam was found to have been cut too short when they wanted to put it in his place. This was embarrassing for the carpenter and he was very upset (wood was expensive...). But when he returned the next day he found the beam was in place and fitted. The legend tells that there was a mysterious other carpenter who had worked to fix the problem. The story came that this unknown carpenter was Jesus Christ.

Here are some pictures:

We visited the Christchurch Castle Ruins. There was a ruin of a large building and one of a tower. Both of them are built by the Normans.

So then, next one. Christchurch has a lovely, small harbour with lots of sailing boats. We spent some time there and I ate Fish and Chips (was my first time & I liked it). There were a lot of swans. They were a bit scarying because they followed us everywhere. I presume they hoped we would give them some food...

 

And last but not least:

Every place has its funny things...

See you! Best wishes, me.