But before we were able to meet our host families, we had to make a long trip from Völkermarkt to Brighton. At 9 a.m. in the morning we met at the parking lot of our school. We briefly checked that everyone had brought their passports, and then we departed from Völkermarkt to Vienna. Arriving in the capital city of Austria, we quickly checked in and waited for our plane to get ready. After a short period of time, we successfully managed to get the plane to London Heathrow. Afterwards, we took a bus to Brighton. We drove for about one hour, finally arriving at the language school. After a quick discussion about tomorrow, we were picked up by taxis and driven to our host families.The next day was probably the most interesting of the week, because we went on a full-day trip to London. Everyone was excited, as we were taking the train to England’s capital. In London, we did a lot of sightseeing, like visiting Buckingham Palace or Tower Bridge. Our personal highlight was seeing Big Ben. Unfortunately, this day ended too quickly, and we headed back to Brighton station by train. On Monday, we did an orientation tour through Brighton. Our guide, called Sam, showed us the famous pier of Brighton and other memorable sights such as the Royal Pavilion. After the tour we had time to explore the city on our own. Some of our classmates went back to the sights, to see them one more time, whereas we went out to eat some local food. On the fourth day, we firstly were able to experience a real English language school from ten in the morning to one p.m. We did a lot of speaking exercises and got to know each other better. We were a little shocked when we first heard our teacher Saul speaking, because he sounded like someone from our English listening tasks. On Wednesday, the language school continued and a trip to the Seven Sisters was planned. We got to the famous cliffs by bus and a guide showed us the sight. After a long march, we finally arrived on top of the cliffs. Everything was covered in fog, but nevertheless, we were able to see a little bit of the ocean. Exhausted and sleepy, we returned to our host families.
The next day we had four lessons in the morning, followed by a trip to Lewes Castle. The castle was enormous and if you were on top of it, you were able to see the village surrounding it. The sightseeing ended and we went to the museum nearby. Inside we watched a short film and went through the exhibition. On Friday, 12th of May, we had four English classes and after a short lunch break, we went to the Royal Pavilion by bus. This time we went inside and saw all the different rooms. Seeing the building from inside was totally different than from outside. We underestimated its size and where shocked when we entered it. This trip came to an end, and we returned to our host families. Friday was our last day and honestly, we were all sad that we had to leave Brighton the next day. We used the time left and went into the city centre one more time, using up our last pounds. At our host families’ houses we gave them our presents (Mozartkugel, Mannerschnitten) from Austria. In our case they were happy that we had had a nice time together and we even managed to get into their famous book, where all foreign students can write about their stay. On Saturday we departed from London Heathrow to Vienna. The week was over, but still we were happy to see our families again.
Peter Mießl, Rosa Trinkl
