London Calling

Ritchie at the Cliffs of Dover

Tower of London

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

House of Commons

It's been a pretty full-on weekend and I'm exhausted but, my gosh, what fun! 5 countries in 24 hours - got to love Europe really. I went with school to London for the day! We left Germany at 3am, drove through the Netherlands, Belgium and France, caught the ferry at Calais, and arrived in England in beautiful sunshine to see the Cliffs of Dover. An hour and a half later and I was in London. I have to admit to being ridiculously pleased to see the sea and loved our calm crossing of the Channel. I also found it very strange to be back on the left side of the road and being surrounded by English speaking people! Driving through London and then walking through the centre was a crazy experience. The impact of seeing places that used to only exist in the T.V. was just amazing. Standing in front of the House of Commons, walking through Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace (cup of tea with the Queen perhaps??), Tower of London, I felt like I was in a dream!

London Eye

We let the students go shopping in Oxford and Regent streets and us teachers went looking for a pub and some food. Got asked how old I was by the security who wouldn't believe that I'm 22. Though according to my year 9 class I'm 35... London at night is SO beautiful, my camera doesn't do it justice and I can't wait to get back in June (still haven't seen The Globe). Bit of drama at the end of the day though. Bus was supposed to pick us up at 9pm but the drivers got lost, then got caught up in demonstrations in Hyde Park, then directed 10km out of London. We waited 2 hours for the them and made the ferry in Dover at the very last minute. Very tired students and teachers and we're all glad to have Sunday to sleep before school on Monday.

The weather is just incredible, I was walking around without a jacket and today I'm sitting outside in 20 degree sunshine to write this. Winter ain't coming, hello Spring!

St James' Park

Tower Bridge

Karneval in Köln

So Karneval is finally over and I seem to have been in shock through most of it. Köln was ridiculous! I went for the first day of Karneval which is a giant street parade. I may have started out feeling silly walking the streets in a penguin costume but not for long. It was pretty cool to have so many people out having fun and in crazy costumes too! Not just students but kids, families, grandparents and parents. But, naturally, also a lot of alcohol! I met up with Zsofi and some of her students from the polytech and we wandered the streets for most of the day. In all the squares all over the city there were parties with thousands of people, live bands, and, you guessed it, lots of alcohol! I was glad to see it but probably wouldn't want to do it again.

Looking out over the crowd

On Sunday I checked out the parade in one of our neighbouring villages. Think Christmas parade but without the Santa at the end and everyone in the parade drinking. Saw some of my students from school who found it rather embarrassing to see the teacher with her camera there! On Monday I went into Köln again for the Rosenmontag parade. The place to be on this particular day of Karneval. Over 1.4 million people watching, over 500 horses and 5 HOURS long!!!! The main goal? To collect as much candy as possible (young and old alike). I have so much chocolate, biscuits and lollies sitting in my room right now it will probably last until next year.

No school on Tuesday as it was also technically still Karneval but I went rock-climbing instead. Pretty fun 6 days really. But this is when Germans really let their hair down and go crazy (in this part of Germany anyway).

with some of the other language assistants

Steffen, Tiago and Vera

Plenty of music bands in crazy costume!

Loved this outfit

Check out our haul!