"Good evening." Mrs. Rüssel welcomed us on board our coach at 10:30 on a lovely Friday night on April 6th, 2018. The mood was mixed: some were very tired, others could not calm down in anticipation of their trip to England.

After 17 hours of travelling through Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and France, we reached Dunkirk harbour, where the ferry across the English Channel took us to England’s ‘left-hand-traffic’. During the crossing many of us not only enjoyed their first typically English dish - fish and chips- , but also the breath-taking view of the White Cliffs of Dover coming nearer and nearer. We reached Dover harbour after about two hours and continued by coach to Hastings, our destination, where we climbed up East Hillcliff step by step. On top of there we enjoyed an unforgettable view of Hastings. Afterwards, in the old town, many of us visited an ice cream shop, or looked round small old shops in their spare time. It was Saturday evening when we were assigned to our host families and spent the second night of our trip to England in real English homes! Cornflakes & toast kicked off the next day on which we visited London. With the help of a charming and sympathetic tour guide, we learned quite a few interesting things about various sights of England's largest city: The ‘London Eye’, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Elisabeth II Tower, Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge, the Thames, Marble Arch, Westminster Abbey, ‘The Shard’, Waterloo Bridge are some of London's many special features. Another highlight of the day was a visit to The Globe Theater, where we historically travelled back into Shakespeare's time. We had a cool guided tour as well as insights into "Elisabethan dressing" and a performance of classical on-stage Sword Fighting. Next day, Monday, despite moderately nice weather, we visited the battlefield of the Battle of Hastings in1066 on Senlac Hill in Battle., where its paths were characterized by mud & puddles. Unfortunately, the rain and dense fog forced us to change our plans for the afternoon. So we swopped them with those for Wednesday as the weather forecast had promised better weather then and went to Brighton. There we spent some time strolling through The Lanes, to the Royal Pavilion and the famous pier in our groups, and let the day end in that beautiful city. Into Tuesday we started with the exciting anticipation of going shopping in London. The city enchanted us, and as we walked along Oxford Street, we even felt a bit 'English'! Some returned with empty purses and crammed shopping bags, others with full bellies. But definitely everbody with new experiences! The journey was about to end and we started into the last day with a visit to Hever Castle - its gardens dotted with daffodils: “And then my heart with pleasure fills and dances with the daffodils!”, as famous English poet of Romanticism William Wordsworth already wrote a little more than 200 years ago. Entering the castle feels like a time travel back into Ann Bullen's 

Franziska Tremmel und Marie Grabmann, 9a