Very British- A Journey to 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 lo...

My first week in East Leake The last days were full of activities. I already wrote something about the pudding party and it really was a big success. We served more than ten puddings and it was not a hard job, because I knew nearly every single guest from my last visit and therefore it was more like being surrounded by friends. I think the best puddinng was J's Pavlova and the Lemon Passot! Paul even got a cake in form of a car from one good friend!:D He loves all kinds of cars but his favorite car is, funnily enough, a German VW bus. I gave him a card (All people from England love cards and they display them in their living-room) and a little present and he was so happy about that. Here is one photo I took at the pudding party They day went over so quickly, I helped P&P to clean up their kitchen and then we went together to the 8 o'clock service. There is a service every day in the Holy week and these services are more like a mediation. The vicar plays a song ...

My first days being back in Middle England    You can not imagine how glad I am to be back in East Leake! It's great to be back. I really missed J and of course Patch. When I entered my room it really felt like I had never been away. I came (again) by Eurostar and the journey was easy and without any difficulties. It's the Holy week this week so everything is a little bit busy. I arrived on the late afternoon on Sunday and J welcomed me at the train station. We drove to her house and Jean and Max (Judith's closests neighbours came over to see us. We had a lovely meal: Oven baked potatoes, veggies and chicken wrapped in bacon and apple pie with ice cream for dessert. After the delicious meal we played Scrabble and J helped me so that I really won the game!:D It is not easy to be good at Scrabble because they are experts and they really know all the small words which score a lot! It is neccessary to play tactical but I think I'm improving. Here is one pic...

Back to reality  About a month ago I was still in England enjoying my time there and now I'm back home again. On the one hand it is nice to be back, to see all my friends again and to spend time with my family,boyfriend and my girls, but on the other hand it is also a little bit strange to continue life just as it was before I was away. It seems to me that time rushes even more and my time in England feels more like a dream in my mind than reality.  In three weeks time my university courses will start again and I am anxious to see if my english improved so much that my profs and colleagues hear a (hopefully big) difference. Yesterday I moved back to Coblence in my own room in a flat in the city centre and had a nice suprise: My flatmates decorated my room with flowers and balloons and they designed a big sign which said: "Welcome Back,Toni!". sky above Coblence    Just because my journey is over doesn't mean that I won't stay in contact with J., P...

My last week in England- spending time in the South   Time went so quickly! I left East Leake after nearly four months on Sunday. It was very sad but all the people said I should come back soon and that I am always welcome. Pam and Paul gave me a card and J invited all friends for a leaving-do lunch. I was a little bit sad but I'm sure I want to come back to visit them and J wants to come around christmas to Germany so we'll meet them as well. I travelled by megabus to London. It took 2:40 hours but it was an easy and comfy journey. My parents waited paitently and it was so great to see them again! We enjoyed our evening and went for a meal and drinks in Maxwell's. That's a restaurant/bar in the middle of London. I showed my parents Covent Garden by night and we listend to a singer on the street. We went to bed late and it was all in all a stirring and very exiting day! Covent Garden market On the next day we went to the city centre to see Covent G...

One day in Norwich  Yesterday was a fabulous day. After we have done some grocery shopping in the village we went to Norwich. Norwich was 50 minutes far away from our cottage and it was really worth driving for one hour to our destination. We drove to Norwich via Park and Ride and in my opinion the Park and Ride system is a very elaborate and useful sytsem. It makes life easier: you don't have to drive into the city, so you miss the busy traffic, you don't need to look for a parking space, and you get directly into the city centre. One our way to the Park and Ride we came across a dairy farm and had local ice-cream. That was really nice! They had all different kinds of sorts like for example: banana-toffee, wild strawberries or tiramisu. Dann's ice-cream-so tasty! Norwich  is so beautiful. The funny thing was: We wanted to go into the cathedral and look around and thought that dog's are not permitted there. But when we asked a lady if it is really the case she ...

Holiday time! We are at the moment in Snettisham which is a village in North Norfolk near the east coast. Our cottage is a typical gingerbread house. That kind of building is typical for the area. The houses are brownish red and look sometimes very tiny but nice. We are staying for one week here and half of the week is over now. The time is going so fast. Near to our village is Sandringham. That's the place were the royal family stays when they have holiday and want to spend their time together in a nice surrounding. William, Kate and Harry went to our village in the art gallery and in the pub. The pub here in our village is so posh and nice! We had a coffee outside and the garden is so lovely. When we visited Sandringham we had a guided tour around and saw all the places where the royal family spend their time. The rooms were really impressive and the pictures were just stunning! I really liked the pieces of art in the house. There was one very good and humerous painting...