half way there :(

This week seems like it might now be as eventful as last week. The kids have been working on a science assessment (which takes a couple hours each day) and swimming. It's an experiment with jelly (jello) in which they have to figure out the best method to dissolve it in water. They also have an all-day field trip on Friday to Mepal (which I'm REALLY excited about!). Anyways, the only lesson I'm doing this week is a "maths" lesson, "Theme Park Challenge" on Thursday afternoon with Year 6!!! Right now I'm waiting for seminar to begin, but I'll definitely be planning it tonight. Basically, the kids will have 2 hours to think up, plan, and design their own theme park using a budget of 500,000 pounds. This is also going to be my 2nd professor observation...so let's just hope it goes well. I'm going to throw in a couple management tricks because the kids tend to get ridiculously noisy and it's starting to drive me crazy!! ;)


I feel so dumb for NOT packing a swim suit or shorts seeing that we're going to Mepal on Friday. From what I've heard, it's pretty much a big lake where the kids will get to do all sorts of water sports and activities. So....I think I might have to painfully spend a few pounds downtown going shopping for a bathing suit. I guess I packed too lightly....but when I thought of England, I never thought of sunny weather. And this week has been HOT! Like mid 80s and SUNNY! I could have stayed in FL for that kinda weather. :/ Anyways, it's getting late and I have to get to planning for my big lesson on Thursday!

i love the weekends!

I love the weekends!! Since my teacher doesn't do planning on her weekends, that means that she doesn't give me anything to do either. With the exception of ESOL or PE homework, I'M FREE!! On Saturday, I was really disappointed that I didn't get to go to Stonehenge...the Saturday trip was fully booked!! :( Maybe if I'm feeling adventurous next weekend, I might be able to squeeze in a Sunday trip. So on Saturday, I moseyed around Cambridge. They had an art and craft fair going on and we passed by the open air market and then around to King's College.

My favourite thing we did was eating at "The Eagle". It's supposedly the most famous pub in Cambridge. Actually, Watson and Crick used to hang out there a lot back in the day after studying at their labs. This was also where they first announced their discovery of DNA! I thought that was pretty cool. A lot of the WW2 soldiers would spend time there also. The ceiling is covered with writing and signatures from the soldiers written with candle light and lipstick...so cool!


I crashed early Saturday night to get ready for Sunday adventures! Tammy, Catie, Diedre, and I were feeling up to exploring the coast! We heard about this random lavender farm about 45 mins away. Also, Tammy's teacher told her about a beach town, "Sunny Hunny," which just sounded like it would be fun to visit. We took the train to Heacham for 4 pounds! We were already starting our trip off with a great deal. After getting to the Lavender Farm, we had dinner from the kitchen. It was beef, roast potatoes, and veggies. I couldn't resist getting a lavender scone too! It was quite good. After eating, we were pretty much ready to leave for the beach....the only problem was that we weren't really sure of the bus system. To give some background info, we were kind of in the middle of nowhere. Think country backwoods. There were signs that said, "Beware of horse and carriages." SO....that being said...the buses only run by the hour so we sat in the grass for what felt like an hour waiting for the bus! Oh and to add to it, we brilliantly chose to make this trip on England's hottest day of the year.











Miraculously, the bus came!! Just when we were about to give up and walk back to the farm for directions. We took a 5 minute ride to Hunstanton aka Sunny Hunny. They were also having a carnival, so it was really crowded. And hot. The "beach" was kind of muddy and there were a lot of weird creatures. Even though we just walked the coastline, there were jellyfish laying around in the sand and other things that were unidentifiable. In the morning, the tide goes back probably about 1 kilometer...and then slowly goes back in as the sun sets. It was coming in pretty quickly though when we were there. It was a really laid back day...and for a 30 pound trip to the beach, it was well worth it. Once again, I give all the credit to the others for being able to navigate and successfully switch trains and buses. Well tomorrow begins another early morning! 5pm in Tampa means that it's 10pm here...which also means it's off to bed for me!

and.....GO!

Well, if I said that last week was slow -- this week has been crazy! I've been teaching every day this week so far. On Monday, it started with a surprise. I walked in the door (expecting to do more observations) and my teacher told me I was covering the "Morning News" for 30 minutes and doing the "register" (roll call). I like to do roll, because for each of the 30 odd names on the list, you say, "Good morning, _____" and the student responds, "Good morning, Miss Thomas". I could get used to that! Also, I led the discussion and then led the PE lesson that day - kickball! There's a lot more thinking behind it than I would have thought. Anyways, the kids loved the assembly I did on Florida on Wednesday. It was really cool because I used Google Earth to show them where USF was as they "oohed" and "ahhhed". Today, I taught for the whole afternoon with a little bit of help from my teacher. We're studying Argentina, so they are making travel brochures. Tomorrow....the lesson continues...for 2 more hours. It's great because my teacher always gives me lots of feedback after I do a lesson. The hardest part is trying to remember/apply it all the next time!! Comes with practice I guess. Anyways, there are a few very rowdy boys in the class who don't always act very 'sensibly'.

Luckily, most of the lessons are already planned so I don't have to reinvent the wheel every night. It's getting rough keeping up with online class and planning at night, so it's been quite an uneventful week. The coolest thing I've seen this week were these ducks on my walk home from school today! This weekend will be better though -- possibly STONEHENGE, Oxford, and Windsor. We'll see....thanks for reading!!

First Week Teaching

This week has been very slow at school, in terms of the internship. I had my first observation by one of my professors and it went really well. I did a mini lesson on a Shakespeare reading that the kids had to do. I thought the reading was really advanced! (Want to know a secret? I had to look up the meaning of the thing online because I was clueless myself!) Anyways, the lesson went really well. Speaking of lessons, Miss W asked me to do a Florida lesson for the Year 5 and 6 assembly on Wednesday morning. Thinking about having almost 200 pairs of eyes listening to me makes me a little nervous, but I'm really excited because all of the kids are so interested in the US. They ask me things about it all the time. My favorite question yet was from some of the Year 5 girls. They asked, "Miss Thomas, how does it feel to live in a holiday destination?!" In the UK, holiday is just another word for vacation. That made me laugh.

My favorite thing that we did this week was punting on the River Cam! After seminar on Thursday, some of us did the ever-so-quintessentially Cambridge thing to do. Punting is similar to an Italian gondola ride, but better if you ask me! It was very relaxing going through the Backs of the river after a long day at school.

Today, Saturday, was yet another long day! A few of the girls and I took the hour-long train to London this afternoon. We were so overwhelmed with so many things to see and do! We had a hop-on, hop-off bus tour so we got to see everything...but didn't get to go inside many places. The first stop was at the British Museum. That place was so immense, I could have probably spent the whole day there. There were collections from Ancient Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Mexico - you name it, they had it! The coolest thing was seeing the real Rosetta stone. We only got to spend about an hour in there and then headed back on the bus to ride through the West side of London Center. I learned a lot about the history of the city and saw the Tower of London, BIG BEN, drove past the House of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace and Trafalgar Square. Hopefully, we will have another chance to go back and fill in the areas we've missed. :)

Kelly, Catie and I also got a little lost trying to find our bus stop in the cold. Good thing those two have great map-reading skills to be able to navigate in that city because who knows where we'd end up if it were up to me!

^ @ Platform 9 and 3/4!!!!!

We had dinner in the Victoria area at a place called "The Shakespeare"...after eating at several places here, I'm starting to realize that people really aren't joking when they say that food in Great Britain is bad. Every menu basically consists of "bangers and mash" (sausages), some sort of soup of the day (to be on the safe side), and fish n chips (french fries). Needless to say I had subway three times this week for dinner...for £1.99 for the sub of the day, I figured I couldn't go wrong. That, and also everything here closes at 5 pm -- restaurants, stores, just about everything (except subway).


^ riding on the double decker bus

Can I Transfer to King's College?

So I survived my first day at Cottenham today. My mentor, Miss Wilkinson, is very nice, helpful, and welcoming. Since I'm working with Year 5 and 6 students, they swap rooms throughout the day. I probably work with about 80 students each day. The system is a little confusing, but I should figure it out soon enough. It's a little overwhelming/chaotic because the teachers here are very laid back and don't seem to mind noise in the classroom. They let them get very creative and build, create, and paint all the time. I had to do a read aloud for a long story today and it went pretty well! I was worried, though, that they would be distracted by my "accent" (yes). Honestly though, I think I'm beginning to think in a British accent. It's becoming more normal! As a side note, my favorite part of the day is tea time. While the kids are playing outside on morning break, the teachers drink tea and eat pastries in the lounge. It's "brilliant."



This weekend, I went to the Town and Country festival at the huge park across from our house, Parker's Piece. It wasn't much different from a state fair or carnival, but it was free and there was a lot of food for sale and a petting zoo. We also took the opportunity to explore Cambridge more. We got up close and personal with King's College -- the main school that's a part of the University of Cambridge. The area is definitely a college town and with graduation weekend being this week, there were graduates all over the streets. I really think that our group (in small groups) blend in with the local students! On the way home from school today, someone asked me for directions. Not that I could point them in the right direction or anything. We also found a really cool open-air market near the university. Well, I have a lot of work to catch up with!!! No more blogging for a couple days!

This is old, but....Dublin and Belfast

I know that this is a few days old -- but better late than never! I will make this one brief, but still try to remember the highlights. We first got to Dublin on Saturday am after taking the overnight flight out of Philly. The four of us -- Tammy, Kelly, Amber and I flew together and met up with the other 3 girls at the hostel in Dublin. At the Dublin airport, the signs were in English and another language that kind of looked like Icelandic -- but we were too embarrassed to ask what it was at the airport. I googled it. It's Irish Gaelic =/ Well, let me begin with the hostel......it was great! Walking there from the bus station with our rolling suitcases, we clearly stuck out as tourists. To my surprise, Dublin city centre was pretty bustling! It kind of reminded me of New York, except for the heavy Irish accents. After hearing many horror stories, I was so afraid of getting pickpocketed! Luckily, that didn't happen. :)

After 9 hours of flying, we went straight to the Guinness factory. I guess it's something that you have to do if you go to Dublin. It was pretty interesting and I even learned to pour "the perfect pint" of Guinness and was awarded a certificate to prove it! It was probably the most bitter thing I've ever tasted.

The highlight of the Ireland trip would definitely be seeing the Cliffs of Moher. We took a tourbus, Paddywagon Tours, and they brought us to different castles and historic sites and restaurants along the way. We passed through Tipperary, the home of Barrack Obama's great-great-great grandfather. At the Cliffs, there was (of course...) an "Extreme Danger" sign and a wall hindering our ability to get onto the Cliffs. So we jumped it, along with everyone else, and came across a 2nd danger sign, and passed that as well. Go big or go home, right? (It was safe, Mommy.) We got to walk as far out as we wanted and it felt like standing right on the edge of the world. God is cool!

On the last day in Dublin, it was so rainy! My umbrella broke and my shoes were soaked. We still tried to tour Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells. The coolest thing, though, was going to the Kilmainham Jail. The jail is closed now, but open for tours. I got sick from the bad/cold weather, though, and went to bed early. :(

The next day......we took a 2-hour train to Belfast in Northern Ireland to stay for 2 days. The hostel was...weird. It smelled like an old hospital (which we all agreed that it used to be) but seemed pretty legitimate. It's weird because the northern province is still under British rule and they use pounds. There is also a lot of political/cultural instability with a history of wars between the Protestants and Catholics. To get more info about that, we took a black taxi tour and stopped at a lot of the historic murals in the city. My favorite part was going to sign the Peace Wall :)

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, we also took a day trip to the Giant's Causeway, which I had never heard of. Apparently, there is a Gaelic myth that goes along with it...but I don't really remember it! Something about two giants building a bridge from Ireland to Scotland? Well, it was amazing to see, anyways. Oh well for keeping this post short! Overall, I am incredibly grateful to have shared this experience with such wonderful people.

First Day at Cottenham

Wow! Today was my first day at Cottenham Primary. Amanda, Traci, and I headed out after having an amazing breakfast at Warkworth. Of course, we got lost among the lineup of buses on Drummer Street, which is about a 5 minute walk from our house. After standing at the wrong stop for about 30 minutes, we finally realized that we had to go down a few more blocks. We rode the bus for about half an hour to get to the little village school.

Well first of all, the school was not small -- at all! There was about 580 students and I was so surprised to find out how polite the school staff was! Mrs. Wright, the head (or principal as we call them) was soo nice. She gave us a tour of the school. Even though I was only at the school for about 2 hours today (just visiting), I was still really impressed to see how involved the kids are. All of the classrooms were colorfully decorated with student art work and they were all so cute with their British accents! I'm excited (and also very nervous) for my first official day on Monday.

After school, we had seminar at the house and then Dr. Schnieder and Dr. Parker set up a scavenger hunt throughout Cambridge! It was soo much fun! We all met up at the park and were split up into teams of 3 or 4 and given a list of 15 things we had to find and take pictures of! Some of my favorites were: Take a picture with someone wearing a football (soccer) jersey, make a five-person pyramid (with only 3 people in our group, that meant we had to ask strangers!), get locals to make a Bulls sign, and to find the place where DNA was first announced. Altogether, we probably trekked about 3 miles! This is a picture of our street, Warkworth Terrace, and house.

I'm excited for this weekend ---- the WORLD CUP! And tomorrow, the USA plays England. Needless to say, most of us will not be going into London for our own safety! Luckily, we found a small pub nearby who welcomed our group to come over to watch the big game.

LAST THING - Catie, Danielle, Tammy and I went grocery shopping at Sainsbury :) There were so many organic options and it wasn't higher priced like it is in the US. Most of the shops and restaurants offer fair trade, free range, or organic foods -- I love it!