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.

Weekend vs school

Hello everybody!

Weekend
Finally, I had two days without school and I enjoyed it. :-)
On Saturday, I was in Bournemouth together with some friends from the school. We spent almost the whole day at the beach. It was a lovely, sunny day and it was warm enough to go swimming. Altough the water was cold I was in the water for a short time.

Afterwards, we went to a cinema to watch Despicable Me 2. The movie was very funny! First, we thought we could go in a Pizza restaurant after the movie but we ate so much popcorn that we weren't hungry at all. We decided to go in a nice Cocktail bar near the Bournemouth Pier. There was even some live music.

Sunday was a calmer day. In the morning I went to a church (only a 3min walk away from my host family's house). The people were very friendly and welcoming. I enjoyed it.
I spent the afternoon together with two girls in Poole. Poole has a large harbour and it was so exciting to see all this sailing boats. As you maybe know, I love sailing!
Unfortunately, the water near the harbour was too dirty to go swimming.

School
Perhaps, you are interested in how the school is? I have a lot of lessons each day and every day is different. We receive a new timetable for every week and in the following picture you can see my current timetable.

 

Sorry, I couldn't rotate the picture. Too little patience...

We are about 15 students in my class and everyone is from a different country. This is interesting and we talk a lot about the differences in our countries. I learn a lot of new words and expressions in English and I am improving my pronounciation. Luckily, we don't have too much Grammar. :-)

I have to finish this post now. Hope you enjoyed reading it and wish you a pleasant day!

Public transport, cash points in shops and food

Hello everybody!

I've been here for almost a week and finally I know which bus stops are the right ones. :-) It was difficult to remember the places because every house looks the same way. In Bournemouth and in the surrounding area are two buses common. The blue and the yellow ones.
To be honest, I don't understand why there are two different buses because they stop on the same bus stops and go to the same places. If you ask me, it is a bit strange...
Anyway, there are several things which are different to Switzerland.

First: If you are waiting and the bus is arriving you have to show the bus driver that you want to take his bus. You have to lift your arm and point to the road. Otherwise he won't stop.

Second: The people here always stand in a line to get in the bus. I think this is good because it is faster. In the bus you show your ticket or buy one. There is no possibility to get in the bus without a ticket.

After all the public transport near Bournemouth and Poole is good. I have a lot of buses and don't have to wait longer than 20 minutes. It's comfortable.

As you have probably read in the headline the cash points in the bigger shops are well-organized. There is only one line to wait and you see on a screen to which number you have to go for paying.
You even get a ticket to go into a fitting room to try on your clothes! I was astonished.

My last topic for today is food. First, I have to say that my host mum is a good cook! We always have enought to eat and even more. We can choose between different sorts of cereal for breakfast and there is even a dessert after dinner! I am happy.
But in general the British food isn't so good. I prefer to go to an Italian or Spanish restaurant. Yesterday, we had Pizza in an Italian restaurant and it was delicious. The food at school is eatable but not better.

I hope I could tell you something new about the UK.
Have a nice day!

New host family

Hello everybody!

On Tuesday my flatmate and I had to move to our new host family. They live in Canford Heath (belongs to the city Poole near Bournemouth). Unfortunately, the way to the school is longer than before. We have almost an hour. But I am happy anyway because the new family is lovely. It is an older couple and they are very friendly to us. Our room is bigger than the last one and we have more space for our stuff.

I gave them some Swiss chocolate (Toblerone and an Ovomaltine spread) because I wanted to say thank you to them. First, I thought they don’t like chocolate so I told them they could give it to their grandchildren. But they almost shouted NO and said they will keep it for themselves. I suppose they love chocolate… ;-)

After the dinner Cécile and I went into a forest near our home. We found out that it was a Nature Reserve and it was large and beautiful. We spend some time there and walked along all this paths. Afterwards, we had problems to find the way back… We had to try out every little path on one road because we were not sure which one was the right one. Finally, the 5^th or 6^th one was the correct path and we found our way back home. We were relieved! 

I think this beautiful houses with the bricks have at least one disadvantage: Every road and every house looks like the others. Difficult to find out the way back home…

I discovered a difference between Switzerland and the UK:

In the UK the people wear their shoes everywhere in their house. It doesn’t matter if this is in the living room, bedroom or even the bathroom! I was really astonished.

In the morning I was at the beach. A taxi driver told me that this beach isn't natural. They took sand from South Arabia and made the beach by themselves. However, I like the beach and I like the sea. The water is cold and the weather is too cold so we didn't went to swimming. We were just sitting in the sand, chatted and made some pictures. 

So, this is enough for today. Thank you for reading this and I wish you a pleasant day. By the way my first real school day was good. Not kind of very special but interesting. But to be honest, I prefer to write about my spare time than school. I think you understand that.

Yours, Junia