England trip 2023 of Year 10

England, a country known for very polite people, tea, and its beautiful architecture. A country that has much to offer, so Year 10 went to visit it for four days after it had been cancelled for the last four years. Maidstone, Cambridge, Canterbury, and London were the stops on our agenda. After the time we spent there, we can all confirm that our expectations were exceeded. An extraordinary experience that deserves to be talked about.

After 14 hours ride on the bus, we arrived at Calais and had to take the ferry to Dover, but before reaching England, we had to go through the passport control. It was kind of interesting since it was the first time we came in touch with native speakers.

On the same day, we also went to Dover Castle, which is also known as the “key to England” and we drove directly to Maidstone, the city where we were staying. A few hours after exploring the city in our free time, we met our host families, who were so kind and loving. And already there, we all noticed how nice everyone was. Small talk, compliments, and words like “Sorry” and “Please” were provided.

On the third day, we went to visit one of the most popular university cities, Cambridge. We took a 50 minutes boat tour, which is also called a “punting tour”, on the river Cam. During our trip, we could see seven of the 31 colleges of the University of Cambridge, and some of us visited King’s College, where we could admire one of the most beautiful cathedrals. Right after that, we had free time to explore the city on our own and get familiar with the way people spoke there.

The third city on the plan was Canterbury. The day started with a quiz which led us through the city so that we could see the most important sights such as the West Gate or the Canterbury Cathedral. Our teachers added a surprising and spontaneous stop to our trip and brought us to the beach of Whitstable. We stayed there for a while before we drove to Leeds Castle, one of the most beautiful and visited historical buildings in Britain. The Castle was extraordinary and had a maze. How extravagant is that?

The last day, and for most students the highlight of this trip, was in London. The day started with saying goodbye to our host families. For some, it was sad because they were so loving and did everything to make this trip even better. As we had arrived in London, we took the Tube to get to central London. We started with the Tower of London, which is known for the Crown Jewels that are exhibited there but also for being the most secure castle in the United Kingdom.

After one hour, we started our walking tour at Tower Bridge, where we walked along the river Thames seeing numerous skyscrapers and Shakespeare’s Globe until we reached our destination, the London Eye. It was breathtaking seeing London and its sights from above. After the ride, which took us 30 minutes, we had free time for the rest of the day. Some went to see the Buckingham Palace or Big Ben, others were just walking around and enjoyed being in this city full of beautiful places and culture. The day and this trip ended with a long bus drive until we finally reached Eisenach the next day.

We all collected different memories and had different experiences, but I think that everyone would agree on how kind and loving the British were and how beautiful England is. In these four days, everyone could test their English-speaking skills and learn some words or phrases because in the end, spoken English is different than the English in our textbooks. Some accents and sayings are just learnable by speaking to a native speaker, which is why the trip to England helped many of us. Many thanks to our teachers, our school and of course Senlac for making this all possible.

(Sadeel A. and Linh N. class 10a)