FRIDAY IMPRESSIONS - Oliver and Michiel

 

JOURNEY HOME - Joël

In the morning, we received the marks of our tests and then we watched all the presentations. We then had an unusually long lunch break until the coach arrived.
After the bus journey, we arrived at Gatwick Airport in London. Because they weren't allowed to smoke, a lot of the smokers were really annoyed, even though it was the most inappropriate moment they could have chosen. 

We then checked in and after that we had to wait one more time, - with special thanks to Gatwick Airport, which is truly one of the worst organisated airports I've ever seen! 15 min before the gate closed, or officialy should have closed, the monitors informed us about our gate.

On top of everything, as we then boarded the plane, we realised that it hadn't been properly cleaned! But what else can you expect from these cheap and stingy discount airlines...

PROUDLY WRITTEN BY JOËL

FRIDAY 27th SEPTEMBER - Justine and Dominik

This was our last day in Eastbourne and when we came to school with our suitcases we had already said goodbye to our host families. Most of the families had been very friendly.
In the morning we got the results of our exams, which we had written a day before. During the school lessons we were all very tired because we had gone out the night before. Mr Bischofberger then showed us the videos with the presentations which he had filmed and we had clipped. The students could vote for the best video and the best liked one was the “Tower Bridge” presentation. The winners received some presents from Mrs Marolf. 
Afterwards Mr Bischofberger showed us some other videos and photos which he had taken during our stay.
After these impressions we gave Mike, our social organiser, some money and a card as a thank-you gift for what he had done for us. He was a really good social organiser and we all liked him.
Then Mike took some pictures of the whole two classes. After this we had a break. Many students ate in Mc Donalds because we didn't have much money after these two weeks. Some of us slept during this break. After that we all said goodbye to the team at Eastbourne School of English and we started our journey home. 

JUSTINE AND DOMINIK

THURSDAY 26th SEPTEMBER - Corinne

Today is the last whole day that we spend in England. I'm pretty sad that we already have to leave again - the two weeks have flown by. I met some very lovely people in our school like a girl from Korea. 

Today we had our final exams. We wrote a real Cambridge First Certificate Exam but it didn't count for real.
After the exams we had the chance to visit Beachy Head, the famous cliffs in Eastbourne. About 10 students from our classes went up there in a typical sightseeing-bus. When we stood by the cliffs the view took my breath. The sun was slowly disappearing in the sea and some seagulls were flying over us. The feeling was undescribable. If you ever get the chance to see these cliffs on a sunny day, take it! 

After the excursion to Beachy Head I went back home and had dinner. The school had organised a Goodbye-Party for our group in the evening and nearly everybody came. We had a good time and enjoyed our last night in Eastbourne. Hopefully I'll get the chance to go there again! 

CORINNE

SUNDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER - Jérôme

Today I went to Brighton with my friends for shopping. Brighton is a very lovely city next to the sea and there are so many friendly people. The shopping mall and the North Lane were very good for shopping and there were so many different restaurants, pubs and cafés where you could  drink or eat something.
In the morning we had breakfast in a very lovely restaurant and it was so good. After that we went to the North Lane for shopping. For me the shops and the people in the North Lane were a bit strange, but I think that's normal in Brighton and they were all very friendly and so everything was fine and we had no problems there.
For lunch, we stayed in a very good burger restaurant and in the afternoon we went to the shopping mall. After that we went to a shisha-bar near the mall.
In the evening we went to a pub to have a drink and then I went back home and slept very well after a very nice day in Brighton with my friends.

JÉRÔME

FRIDAY 20th SEPTEMBER - Jael

As usual we had classes in the morning. Afterwards, in the afternoon, we had some given free time, so we went into town to get some shopping done. (Because apparently we hadn't bought enough already;))
Later that day we all went home to eat the dinner the host families had prepared for us. As it was Friday night and we didn't want to waste the night, some of us decided to go to Brighton to check out the bars. And as we were waiting for everyone to come we met Mr. Bischofberger, who was just walking out of the train station. That was a funny coincidence.
It didn't take us that long to get to Brighton. Once we were there we walked towards the lovely pier to explore all the bars. We met some strange people walking down the street but we had a great time and we will never forget the time we spent together as a group.
We all went to bed with a smile on our faces.

JAEL

WINDSURFING - or rather paddling..

BEACHY HEAD

 

ENTERTAINMENT IN THE COMMON ROOM - Janis

Press here to listen to Janis 

Well done, Janis!!

WEDNESDAY 25th SEPTEMBER - Fabienne

Today we went to Brighton, the capital gay town in Europe! After some lessons in the morning to prepare for our final exams tomorrow, we all took the train to Brighton. First we did some Sightseeing and visited the Royal Pavillon and the Pier. Then we had freetime :)) Some of us went to the big shopping-center to spend their last money and some of us went on the pier to ride on rollercoasters and gamble in the casinos. Finally we took the train back to Eastbourne to enjoy one of our last evenings. Two beautiful weeks are nearly over :(


FABIENNE

TRIP TO BRIGHTON - Natascha

THE ROYAL PAVILLION

The first part of this day was quiet normal. The school began at 9 o'clock as always and lasted until 12.30. But today was our last 'normal' school day.
We are going to write our final exams the whole day tomorrow and on Friday we will first round up everything and at school and also finish our London project and then travel back to Switzerland.

After school today we met at the railway at 13.15 and then we went on a short sightseeing tour to Brighton. As we arrived at Brighton railway station Mr Bischofberger had to talk to Joël. Joël was surprised but he went with him. Suddendly his sister jumped out from a corner. Tomorrow is Joël's 18th birthday and this was a lovely "birthday present".
Because of this, a small group of us (including our two teachers) lost the tour guide... Mrs Marolf phoned our tour guide twice and after ten minutes we all met at a small palace, - The Royal Pavillion.

YES, FOUND EACH OTHER ;)

'BEAUTIFUL' PIER... :)

Anyway, we continued our tour and walked to the pier. Unfortunately, the fog was so thick that we couldn't see the beach...
By the way; - this is what the pier normally looks like:

Then we had free time to do whatever we wanted to, - naturally most of us went shopping.

Afterwards we had to meet at the railway station at 17.45. My group was a little bit late and our teachers were waiting for us, but to our horror we missed the train :-(
The next train was about half an hour later. What a pity! While we were waiting some people managed to lose their train tickets and so they had to buy a new one. Luckily, though, we finally arrived untouched in Eastbourne... ;-)

NATASCHA

TUESDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER - Katharina and Simon

Today we stayed at school the whole day. In the afternoon we had to do a presentation about our host families. It was very interesting to hear about all the other hostfamilies. We all really like our families. 
After school we went to a little restaurant. There we drunk coffee and ate some cakes. In the evening we met our friends in a shisha bar. It was a very lovely evening.

Best wishes
SIMON & KATHARINA

MONDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER - Vanessa

It was a really beautiful day here in Eastbourne. We woke up early in the morning and the sky was cloudy. But a little later the sun was shining and the whole day was beautiful here in Eastbourne.

We had to spend the whole day at school. The morning was the same as the past few days here in England. But in the afternoon we finished our London projects. Unfortunately, though, the programme Movie Maker didn't work as it should... :-)
The social programme you could choose for today was Cream Tea in the afternoon and "The Duke and Cameo" in the evening. But I prefered to go shopping and spent a lot of money. After the shopping we had to go home because the shops unfortunately closed. I was happy to arrive at the home of my hostfamily, tired and with a lot of shopping bags.

VANESSA

MONDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER - Anduena

The weather on this Monday was just wonderful! As we came to Eastbourne, we all thought it would rain for the whole 2 weeks. But no that's not true! The sun was shining today and it was about 20 degrees :-)
In the morning we all were tired because of the weekend. We did and saw so much. So our teacher had compassion with us in the morning. But in the afternoon we had to do a speaking exam, which was similar to the FCE Exam. To be honest I think we were all a bit nervous, but I believe that we were all good.

ANDUENA

SUNDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER - Ilona

Just a chilling day for Sven, Jael, Lea, Stefi, Fabienne and Ilona.
It was very quiet and we enjoyed having a free day in Eastbourne. The weather was perfect and therefore we relaxed at the pier.
Before we relaxed at the Pier, we went to Marks & Spencer for food. After that we just enjoyed the nice weather at the beach. At 6 o'clock we all went home for dinner. 
Although we hadn't done that much, we just chilled at home in the evening ;)

ILONA

ON THE BEACH IN EASTBOURNE - Michiel

LONDON IMPRESSIONS - Nina

Today we were in London and we definitely weren't alone!
It was so overcrowded that we needed nearly half an hour just to cross the street.
The weather was a bit better than the days before, but still not perfect.
We went on a little sightseeing, which wasn't as easy as it sounds, because we were nearly 40 students and we had to stay together... or we had to try to.
Although we were a little bit stressed it was a nice morning and we saw lots of squirrels and some pelicans. 
We all had to prepare presentations in small groups and talk about some of the special buildings in London.
My group talked about the Tower Bridge. Other groups talked about big ben, London eye and many other sights.

Mr Bischofberger enjoyed recording us while we were talking, however we didn't.
After we had spent the morning all together we split up in small or bigger groups.
My brother has been in London for 2 months because he is working for tony&guy a very famous hairstylist. So I went to visit him with a good friend of mine. My brothe's girlfriend also visited him and so the 4 of us spent the afternoon together and we went to Shoreditch high street - the real London. We didn't see any tourists and went to some street- and backyard sales. It was really amazing, also because I hadn't seen my brother for a long time and I missed him.

At half past six we all met at the London Victoria station and we went back to Eastbourne together. Most of us had lots of shopping bags with them, me included.
It was a very nice day, however we were really tired afterwards.

NINA

KEEPING FIT - made by Michiel

SUNDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER - Michiel

Yeah - finally we could sleep as long as we wanted!
First we wanted to go to London at 12 o'clock, but then we realised that nobody was ready. So we only went to London very late; - we arrived at London Bridge at 4 o'clock.
Then we went by underground to Oxford street. We bought some clothes, but the shops closed very early. So after our shopping trip, we searched for a good location to eat something. Eventually, we found a Thai restaurant with a "restaurant of the year" certificate. It was delicious and very luxurious.
At 8 o'clock we decided to go home. We were on time at the platform for the train, which leaves at half past eight to East Croydon. There we would have to change to another train which goes directly to Eastbourne. The train came 20 minutes too late, so unfortunately we missed our next train to Eastbourne. In East Croydon we then had to wait 40 minutes for the next train. Because of this fact we didn't know if we should stay in the train or leave the train. Finally we decided to go out. Wrong decision! While Thomas, Ruhi and me could get out, Larissa was closed in the train. So the train left the station with a lonley Larissa. We took the next train to meet her at the Gatwick Airport. After meeting her there we took the next train to Eastbourne together. Again with 20 minutes delay! At half past ten we finally arrived in Eastbourne tired from the long day and an even longer journey.

MICHIEL

SUNDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER - Leo and Oliver

Leo and Oliver went to see the football match at the Emirates Stadion in London where Arsenal played Stoke City. Great fun!

WONDERFUL EASTBOURNE

TRIP TO LONDON - Oliver

Early in the morning we met at the train station in Eastbourne. The target of our journey was England's capital city - London.
 
London is the third largest city of Europe. It's known for its numerous tourist attractions such as Big Ben, Buckhingham Palace or Westminster Abbey. 
We started our sightseeing tour at Victoria train station. After a 10-minute walk, we were standing in front of Buckhingham Palace, - in congestion! The Queen's guards were presenting themselves in a parade, watched by thousands of tourists. With a delay of several minutes we then walked to Big Ben. The great bell of the clock next to the Houses of Parliament was a popular subject for memorable photos.
Via a short walk onto Westminster Bridge and a view on the river Thames we walked to Trafalgar Square. The statue of Admiral Nelson was the final stop of our short sightseeing tour in London. The planned 15 sights to watch in London were reduced by the long waiting time at Buckingham Palace.

Trafalgar Square did not only mark the end of our sightseeing tour but also the start of our free time in London; - free time to visit more sights, go shopping or go somewhere to sleep, as the organiser of our trip did. :) I enjoyed the free time shopping in the famous Oxford and Regent's streets.

TRIP TO LONDON - Corinne

SOURCE: http://www.london-attractions.info/oxford-street.htm

On Saturday we wanted to discover London. In the morning we visited several sights with Mike as our tour guide. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to visit all the sights, because the time was running so fast. Afterwards most of us spent the rest of the day shopping.
 
We went to Oxford Street to buy a lot of clothes, jewelery and shoes. Oxford Street is the most famous shopping street in the whole of Europe. All the major brands have their own shops there; e.g brands like Nike, Abercrombie, Superdry, Hollister, Victoria Secrets, Burberry, Longchamp...

It's really nice to shop there. And I would recommend everyone to go there once.

After the shopping we were so tired, we could have fallen asleep. 

CORINNE

THURSDAY 19th SEPTEMBER - Stefanie

It was a typical, rainy English day and we had to spend the whole day in school. Most of us were a little bit tired because of the football game & musical in London the night before! It was okay, though, because we can already smell the weekend! :)

STEFANIE

SUNDAY 22nd SEPTEMBER

IMPRESSIONS FROM EASTBOURNE - Corinne

THURSDAY 19th SEPTEMBER - Livia

Designed by Livia

On Thursday we had school just like on any other day.
The social programme for the afternoon was playing tennis. But unfortunately it was raining too much, so the tennis had to be cancelled. Some people were very sad about that.. But we didn‘t mind too much and decided to go shopping instead. I think there are enough stores in Eastborne to spend a lot of money. :-) After some time of shopping, the stores suddently closed and we had to go home, with a heavy bag and a bit less money. Unhappily it was still raining then, so I got a bit wet. So I was very happy to arrive home at the house of my hostfamily and to have dinner with them.

LIVIA

THE SEAGULL ATTACK - Nina

SOURCE: http://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/public/assets/news_articles/2013/07/1373957050_seagulls.jpg

Today I found out that it's better to listen to other people when they give important information.
 
On Monday afternoon, Mike told us that seagulls were very cheeky birds and we should be aware of them. I thought, - what did he say? They are just birds so what can they do to us?

4 days later I got to know the answer to  my question; 

Anduena and me were walking on the street to meet our friends in Mc Donalds. We had bought a sandwich for lunch and Anduena had decided to eat hers while we were walking to the others. When we were walking we heard a strange and loud noise on the top of a shop. It was a big white seagull which made this strange sound. Anduena watched the big bird and said to it: "Shut up!" I laughed and we went ahead. A few seconds later we both screamed so loud that a lot of the people looked at us. What was happening?! Well, the stupid seagull flew between Anduena and me, caught her sandwich, landed on the street and ate it! We couldn't believe that this was happening! After that we began to laugh out loud and thought that we had better believe people when they tell us something like that.:)

NINA 

SOURCE: http://www.bcusedoil.com/sites/files/IMG_3949.JPG

FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL - Serena

On my first day of school I was very positive that it would be good. We were sitting in the homelike room and waiting for the responsible teachers to appear. We were warmly welcomed by the managers of the Eastbourne School of English and given our school material for the following two weeks. I then got to known our class which – in the morning – only included me and three other students. Since I am in a class which also includes other students from different countries, it was very interesting to hear the special things about their country. I must say I was very surprised that on this school there are actually quite a few Swiss students.

SERENA

WALKING TOUR of Eastbourne

The new BOY GROUP - Ruhi, Michiel and Oliver

... and a sneak peek on their new album: WIND

Oliver, Ruhi and Michiel

RUHI, MICHIEL and Union Jack Man :-)

Oliver, Ruhi and Michiel

WEDNESDAY 18th September - Laura

I woke up on a sunny Wednesday. The morning in school was the same as the past few days in England. 

Then after the lunch Mike and Ms Marolf told us something about London. Then we started on our London project in different groups. Each group could choose another sight. After our work we had free time. 

In the evening some of us went to London by train. Most of them were there to see the football match between Chelsea and Basel. The others went to see the musical Lion King. I was very excited to see the football game. 

The atmosphere in the stadium was amazing! :-) It was a very interesting match and finally Basel won the game with 2:1. 

Then we went back to Eastbourne, happy and tired.

LAURA

WEDNESDAY 18th September - Janis

What a start to the Champions League season 2013/2014 for FC Basel 1893!

For some people, it was probably one of the highlights of our language stay here in Eastbourne. 

At about 5 o'clock we had to take the train to go to London to watch the Champions League game Basel vs. Chelsea. After 1,5 hours and a short trip with the typical red bus we finally arrived at the famous Stamford Bridge. Most of the students had bought a ticket for the Visiting Supporters Gate, so it was an incredible atmosphere. And of course we supported the Swiss Team, even Mike ;).
Unfourtunately, Chelsea hit the first goal in minute 45. But in the second half time, FC Basel had it all. After the attempted goal in the 71th minute, Streller hits the winning goal 10 minutes later! So Basel has won 2:1 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and all of us were extremely happy, while thousands of Chelsea supporters left the Stadium with a sad face.

JANIS

FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL - Thomas

The whole class had to be at school at 8.45 a.m. After a short introduction we were separated into 4 different classes. Then we could go to our classroom.
At the Eastbourne School of English (short ESOE) one lesson takes one hour. Then we can relax in a short break. 
After lunchtime, in the afternoon, we had lessons until 3.45 p.m. Then we went on a short tour through Eastbourne with Mike. In the evening we all met at school at 8 p.m. and we could drink some welcome-drinks. After that we went to a pub.

THOMAS

HAVING FUN in Eastbourne

Some people are enjoying themselves :-)

  

From: Jérôme, Natascha, Jöel, Simon, Corinne and Katharina

EASTBOURNE WALKING TOUR

On the first day we were taken on a short sightseeing tour by Mike, our brilliant activity leader. Here are some impressions from the students. Thanks again, Michiel, for sharing your photos!

 Fantastic beach!!

Acting camera 'person' .... Oh yeah, - the film is to follow shortly .. (hopefully :-))

Photos: Michiel

FIRST IMPRESSIONS - Leonard

My first impression about Eastbourne was quite good. The family seemed to be really nice. When we drove to my house I was surprised that all the houses looked similar. They only have different house numbers ;) 
In Switzerland I had heard that English food is supposed to be rubbish, but on the first evening they cooked a good meal for me.
So I had a good first impression about England, Eastbourne and my host family. I don't think that I will have any troubles with here.

LEONARD
 

JOURNEY - Larissa

Our first meeting was at the airport in Zurich. We checked in and took off at 16:45. We flew about one and a half hour and landed in London Gatwick on time. We drove to our School "Eastbourne School of English" by coach, where all the host families were waiting. All the students were looking forward to seeing our host families, but we were a little bit nervous.
The journey was quite comfortable without any troubles.

LARISSA

LION KING and FOOTBALL in London

Some of us took full advantage of the fact that Eastbourne is situated so close to London and went up there to see a musical on Wednesday night.
We saw LION KING, a fantastic experience with wonderful performers, amazing costumes and props and magic moments of song and dance. 

Others went to the football match, Chelsea - Basel, and BASEL won 2-1(!!) so it must have been a brilliant match, too!

Here's a short film sequence from the match, - the anthem of the Champions League. Thank you so much for sharing, Michiel :-)

 

And here's another sequence from Michiel: - the winning BASEL goal :-))

 

TUESDAY 17th September - Ruhi

The day started at 9 o 'clock in the school. In spite of the exciting evening last night, the students were very active during their lessons.

In the morning Mark showed us the different ways to use the phrasal verb 'come', how to build and use the passive and the most important thing we learnt tday was the correct pronunciation of the English language.

In the afternoon we practised the sepaking part of the FCE exam with Mitch.

In the evening there were two possibilities for what we could do. One of them was to play bowling, the other one was to play laser quest. Anyway, we all went together by train to the Lloyds Lanes in Hampdon Park. We were free to do whatever we wanted and enjoyed the evening. We had a lot of fun.

RUHI

FIRST IMPRESSIONS - Sven

Source: http://www.askthefitnessdude.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/messy-fast-food-hamburger.jpg

My first impression was very good. I think all the families are very friendly. The town is very big and I had problems to find the school.
The teachers are very friendly too and they can explain the things well. But I think we have too much school. Our free time is too short and at lunch time we have always very littel time to eat.

SVEN

JOURNEY TO EASTBOURNE - Elise

Source: http://inserbia.info/news/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/easyjet.jpg

We all met at 2 o'clock in the afternoon at the check-in at the airport in Zurich. We were quite excited for the trip. After we had passed the security check we boarded the airplane.
We flew with easyjet an that was really funny because we didn't get any food. That wasn't included, so we had to buy food ourselves if we were hungry. The flight itself was quite turbulent, what caused a little fear but we survived :)
After we had landed a chauffeur drove us to Eastbourne in a huge coach. The entire time it was raining cats and dogs. Nevertheless it didn't take our good mood and our excitement away :)
Then we arrived in Estbourne and all the families were waiting, so that was the time where our ways parted. We all went with our various families and hoped it would be good (which it was!).

ELISE

TUESDAY 17th September - Silvia

Tuesday in the morning, I woke up at 7.30 and after breakfast with my lovely host family I went to school.  Yesterday, which was the first morning of this language stay, Ms Biss drove me to school, but today I took the bus with Michaela. We met at the bus station at 8.30.
The school wasn't very special. I think it’s a normal English school.
We ate lunch in a restaurant and had the typical English food, fish and chips. After school we went to Primark, which we had been looking forward to since the day before. We bought some clothes there :-). In the evening bowling and laser quest was on the programme.

SILVIA

FIRST IMPRESSIONS - Larissa

As soon as we came to England the popular rain started. From the London Gatwick Airport we had to drive in a bus for about an hour to get to Eastbourne. 
At the school the first host families were waiting for us. My host family is a couple in their 60s. They are very friendly, cooking well and explaining everything to me. My room is small but nice. I've got my own lavatory in my room..
They live in a small house, but it's far away from the center. In the mornings they drive me to school. But in the afternoon it takes me about half an hour to get home on foot. It's possible to take a bus, though.
Today we spent the first day at school. The teachers are very kind and I think we will learn a lot.

Kind wishes
LARISSA

OUR SCHOOL - the Eastbourne School of English

 

 We have a fanstastic school: - a very comfortable common room where you can play table tennis, look at useful information material, borrow DVDs, sit and chat in comfy chairs, have lunch, play the piano, meet people from all over the world -  or from Switzerland.. Hmm.. There is also a refreshing green garden with trees and flowers. Lovely for recreation! The classrooms are all excellently equipped and the study centre with computers and WiFi is lovely and cherished by teachers and students alike :-))