Easter Days in England

The Days around Easter in England

 

This year I celebrated Easter a little different from how I would normally celebrate it. It started with the Holy Week in which I arrived. A service took place on every evening of this special week and I went to some. Easter sunday we went to chruch as well and the service was very nice. The chruch was decorated again with beautiful flowers and everybody was in a very good mood. The choir sang and I enjoyed the time. Afterwards we had coffee and biscuits as usual and afterwards J gave me the task to go for a walk with Patch. 

I went with him and when we came home we drove to Bethan who had invited us for lunch. J had already made the starter and the pudding and B. had prepared the rest. Her whole family was there including her daugther who studies in Wales, her son who is going to do his Master's degree in Oxford and her other daugther Lawrie. Two other friends were invited and as well and so we were 9 people in total. It was a lovely day and everybody chatted with each other.

We also watched the famous rowing race between Oxford and Cambridge. Because B and her husband went to Cambridge they wanted them to win and Hugh (B's son) cheered for Oxford. In the end Oxford won but it was really interesting to see this 20-minute race.

I got the expression (again) that studying in England is very different from studying in Germany. The universities here have a reputation, many traditions and everyone has it's own long history. There is always a kind of "competition" between the BIG Universities which belong to the so-called "Russell Group".

By the week Easter Egg hunting is also a traditional habit in England and Jackie gave me and J these traditional Easter Eggs from Cadburry! 

 

The next day (Easter Monday) was a little bit different. It was a Bank Holiday day so everyone had a day off and J decided to celebrate Gill's 80th birthday in her house.

She invited 20 guets and we prepared everything. Many people brought biscuits and cakes and so we had a nice "Coffee morning" which turned out to be rather a "Coffee day" because it went till the afternoon. But it was just lovely to be surrounded by all the nice people and friends from East Leake.

Here is a photograph from one cake a friend of her made for Gill and all the guests

 

G. has been sick so she did not want to make a fuss about her birthday. But J decided that we need to celebrate a round and important birthday and it was a success! So therefore one experiences again how important it is to have good friends:)

In the afternoon I met Nicola (the secondary school teacher) in the nearby Pub and we really enjoyed the time. We sat inside because it was quite chilly outside but talked for a longer while and it's really interesting to talk about being a teacher here in England in contrast to being one in Germany. She studies for 9 years because she first made a degree in German, then in Politics and on top of that she did a teaching degree. She is very clever and it was really delightful to talk to her.

I revised some Greek and then I watched a very good movie on iTV. It was called "Maigret" and Rowan Atkinson played the main role! It was thrilling because it was a crime series and he is a very good actor so I really enjoyed that.

I went to bed and today we went to the Garden Center for breakfast with Doreen, Gill and Pam.

This Garden Center not only sells plants and furniture, it also contains a nice restaurant which is always crowded because it is so good! We had a nice morning and in the afternoon I went to Loughborough because I'm looking for a part time job for the summer time.

They all said they want to see my CV so therefore I need to write it soon.

B. invited me to see Lawrie's school tomorrow. It is a special school for disabled children and I'm really curios to see what it's like!

I'll keep you informed.

XXX Love, Antonia