12th – Natural History + Science Museum + Shopping Ox St
13th - Brighton
14th - Doctors + Walking Tour + Boat disco
Today was a v.stressful day – I found out I had a kidney infection, then had to take 45 Serbians to London with Chiara. We accidentally went the wrong way on the tour (mistake no.1), then in Trafalgar Square there was a freak rain storm for 5 minutes – heavy ass rain! We suggested sheltering in the National Art Gallery, but the group leaders weren't interested. So instead we stayed under a few trees and got soaked through (mistake no2) The group then wanted to go back to the University – as they thought everyone was going to catch a cold – but we couldn't as the us wasn't coming to pick us up until 11pm. SO they huffed a bit, then decided we would spend the next 2 hours in the galleries toliets drying the students clothes using the hand dryers!?
Finally we made it ontime to the boat – but it was delayed and we has to wait 45minutes – this was the end of the straw for one of the group leaders – and she let rip at some of the Excursionists – not a pretty site!
So after 3 hours on the boat, feeling rather horrid at this stage and in pain, we mounted the bus once again and headed back to Royal Holloway. I got a phone call from the Excursions manager teling me they had been unable to pick up my medication, so I sulked on the bus. One of the group leaders (the one who had blown up before the boat disco) however seemed to sympathise wit me and offered me some pain killers – and oddy – socks too. So she wasn't such a bad egg after all.
15th – Sick
After no sleep I was given the day off as I wasn't fit to do an excursion today. My Dad went nuts that I hadn't received any medication and called up the Summer Camp's manager – and within an hour I had antibiotics! Legend!! And then I slept from about 9-8pm that day. The meds totally wacked me out of it! And Then I slept again from 10-8 am the next morning!
16th - Airport Transfers – Heathrow ( Chef in a box bomb scare)
Today was a loooong day! We had to take 800 students back to various airports, and bring back 1,100 more! You can imagine the confusion! I was given an easy transfer, we had to take 200 students to Heathrow on 4 coaches, so I was teamed with Tia and Elisa. We got them all their easily. But none of them wanted a packed lunch so we were left with 10 boxes full. Major dilemma – as bins aren't v.easy to find, and we had to get a couple of trains to Terminal 4 to meet another group getting picked up by another bus company. Our main worry was we may cause a bomb scare if we just dump them somewhere – you know wjat they're like in London....and the last thing we wanted was for 'Chef in a box' to hault all incoming / departing flights from Heathrow.
After thinking through various strategies of ridding ourselves of all these lunches without angering our managers. We decided to keep three boxes (one each to carry) – and try and offload the other 7 onto someone. We managed to give them to the Info point, who said they would give them to staff! Sorted!
So we successfully collected our new group of Italians, and also inherited a Turkish student too!
17th – On site – Tour to Egham / Face painting + party games
Ahhh – Egham. The gateway to the rest of the world. If it wasn't for Royal Holloway University - I doubt anyone would have any reason to visit this place!
Laura and I had the lovely task of taking 250 students into the minuscule town centre (or rather street) to let them have a look around. We gave them 2 hours to mooch – although 30minutes would have been easily enough, and got a coffee at a hidden away cafe.
Then I had to do tours of the campus all afternoon. And my final shift was Face Painting and Party Games. - I allowed the Italians to take over face painting themselves – due to v.limited resources. And I chose to play party games with the chinese (thinking of party games that help to expand your English isn't so easy). I settled on 'The Broke Telephone' (aka 'Chinese Whispers'), 'Shopping List', 'Charades' and 'Wink Murder' / Their version called 'The Killer'.
I also had 3 dinner duties that day – which are normally ok – slightly boring – but no too bad. But these three were hell on Earth. The canteen staff obviously weren't prepared to anoher 300 students, and there were so many complaints I lost track – although I couldn't do anything about any of them anyway....all were to do with the amount of time they had to wait to get into the canteen and that they had nowhere to sit- the two were interlinked.
18th – Cambridge + Drink at the Monkey's Forehead
Today I took my Serbian group (my 5th Exc with them!) to Cambridge. But due to how tired they were, and their determination to stay in bed – 2 of their students managed to hold up 3 coaches seating 298 people! (So they weren't so popular that day).
Cambridge was great! I loved it – very quiant and amazing architecture!
I was actually beginning to wonder if I had made the wrong choice in choosing Teach First over it – but I think I'd probably get bored of Cambridge's attraction pretty quickly. Plus it's in the middle of no where- and very hard to access from every angle!
19th - London – Tate/ Oxford Street – Skype in Mds
Today was my final excursion with my Serbain group as they leave on Friday and have 2 days of lessons before hand (Note : noone is usally assigned to a group unless requested – so they must have liked me, despite me nearly drowning their students ina freak rain storm).
On our way from London Bridge Tube station to the Tate Modern, we sttopped off on london Bridge itself for a few photos. In the photo spirit I decided to join in and placed my excursion folder on the ledge of the bridge......onyl for it to be stolen by the wind 15 seconds later. There was nothing I could do but watch my bright yellow folder, risk assessmenrt forms, maps, and unexpected trip papers be eaten by the Thames. Tehe students found the whole ordeal hilarious – and so did I tbh, it was a rather clumsy decision on my part. But luckily for everyone I make a habbit of keeping the train tickets in my pocket for easy access instead of in the pack (otherwise that could have been an awfully expensive excursion for me).
The Tate doesn't appear to have changed much at all in 3 years, and the new exhibits with enrtance fees didn't take my fancy, so I wandered around a bit aimlessly, then went to enjoy the sun and the south bank while I awaited everyone else.
Then I too them to Oxford Street – it appears this never gets old?! And went hunting for a wifi spot. Sadly all the cafes I tried didn't have it, hence why I ended up in Maccy D's with an orange juice.
That evening I skyped with Laura Crane and Steph & Carl. Finally everyone is getting round to using skype!
20th - Brighton
Today I was destined for Brighton, along with 3 Italian groups; Lo Studiamondo Anna, Lo Studiamondo Gheri, and Prima Viaggi. On the bus journey there I caught up on my missing blogs ;)
Brighton was a success today – I finally ventured into Scoop and Crumb – a sundae parlour I'd spotted on my previous excursion, but had not been able to try out. AMAZING!! The icecream was so GOOOD! Great flavours, and quaint outlet! This beat the icecream venue in Oxford a zillion times over!
21st – Onsite (dull day!) But I had dinner at Laura's house – and met her family properly – all very lovely! And her house is unbelivably tidy (but they have a cleaner – so I believe he/she to be behind each spotless room!)
22nd – We set off early (7am) to Leeds for graduation today! It was a loooong 4 hours drive upwards, but it went pretty fast! We stopped off for some coffee – but it made Laura and I pretty shakey – I'm not sure if it was nerves or an ovedose of caffeine!?
We arrived and had lunch at Salvos with both our familes and my wives – it's amazing there! It won a big competition on Gordan Ramsey's 'F-Word' Tv show!
The we rushed to the Uni to collect our gowns, tickets and take some pics!
It was great to see all my Uni comrades again – and such a relief for all our efforts to finally of climaxed!
The ceremony whizzed through luckily, it got a bit boring watching everyone just walk on stage then walk straight off, so Laura and I decided to be a wee bit different. Instead we shook the hand of the chancellor, then I curtseyed and Laura bowed to the audience – we got some extra clapping and woo's at least! Haha!
Then we had a reception in the Grass Studio in our school with wine and strawberries & cream.
It was sad to say bye to a lot of people, and we had to leave pretty early, as we had to drive 4 hours back down to Beaconsfield.
But overall – the day topped my expectations!
23rd – Laura and I had the morning off, so we ventured into Windsor and had lunch & icecream there, then had to work in the evening. We had to host a karaoke night – rather amusing...although we had a lot of arguments over Aqua's 'Barbie Girl' – which we had to play 3 times (groaaan!) and Lady Gaga's 'Poke Face' – which we played twice.
We had another staff party tonight – at Anthony's house, a BBQ and lots of free alcohol. I got a weee bit tipsy. It was 'June the Spoon's' birthday! (a spoon we created as an honorary mascot) to the ISIS activity leaders)
24th – Worked on site (Dull day)
25th – I went to Greenwich today with a Polish Teacher named Gosia. Along with 60 Italians Easy trip!
26th – Yet another trip to Brighton, which I fought for a place for – I simply had to introduce everyone to the delights of Scoop and Crumb!!! Can't describe how tasty it is!!
I got back and felt like a run so I did some swapping with my dinner shift so I could have the night off. I attempted to find the 'park' I'd been told of, but ended up in a random field!? And got nettled rather a lot – but got rid of my energy at least!
27th – Today I had a morning/afternoon off. So I met another acitivty leader, Hannah, in London. We went to Camden Town and Notting hill, and met up with my mate Ben from my course. We had a good saunter through the shops and markets, chilled in Starbucks. Then wandered around Kensington Park and Hyde Park for a while before heading back for my horrid evening of dinner duty followed by internet duty, followed by night duty. And finally at midnight I crawled into bed exhausted! (sexy pics will be taken tomorrow morning me thinks!)
28th – Worked 9-12.30, dinner duty 12.30-1pm, then 2pm I headed out for my final London Tour, and the boat disco. Arrived back at midnight – exhausted doesn't even begin to describe....!
29th –
30th – My final excursion - Trip to Stone Henge & Salisbury with the Chinese, Israelis and Italians! Interesting indeed.
31st – Travelled home and went out for a night on the town with my homies! A fun night saying how dull it is normally.
