March 9

Well, it's my last day here... It's been so hard to say goodbye to everyone. I've met so many great people and learned so much.

On Wednesday we began the day by reading some poetry but it was cut short because we had swimming up at the high school. Following swimming was maths, where I worked with my group and did some check-ups that are required by the Scottish School Council. When they come to audit the school, each child should have a check-up done to show their progress in maths. None of the kids have any so we will be working on them for the rest of the week. For the last 15 minutes of class I let them have fun maths, where they did the Maths Masterpieces. I also worked with Dylan on his re-test of the Maths National Assessment. He hasn't finished it so we will continue that on Thursday as well. By the time maths was over it was lunch time. After lunch we carried on with Peru. I continued to work with one group creating the Andes Mountains. It's coming along good! On Thursday the P7s are going to be leading Shake til Break so the last 20 minutes of school was dedicated to coming up with a routine it. Thursday the day started with poetry again. We looked at the poem Eldorado by Edgar Allan Poe. I read it through once and then gave each of the students a copy of it to read on their own. We discussed how it's a poem that tells a story and then we tried to interpret it. After our discussion, I had each student divide a piece of paper in their jotter in 4's and had them illustrate each of the 4 stanzas in the poem. They seemed to have fun with this, but it also let me see if they really understood the poem. Following this we had maths, where we continued with our checkups and I worked with Dylan to finish up his Assessment. He did and he passed! We were all very excited for him. We cut maths short a couple minutes because our class was in charge of Shake til Break and we needed to practice. It went perfect and was so much fun for the whole school. After break we had music. This was a lot of fun as well because their music teacher told anyone who played an instrument to bring them in so we had a few guitars and even a didgeridoo. The kids showed us how they played them and even did a couple songs for us. Following music was lunch and then the afternoon was spent with Peru and then French. In French the students made lessons to share with the other P7 class. Today was a very crazy day. We started with Wake n' Shake and then the Rotary Club from Duns came and presented the school with a check for €10,100 pounds to go towards playground equipment. There was balloons and lots of music and pictures. It was great! After this the kids were given time to work on their poetry anthologies. Following this, we did our 10 questions quiz, this time on Duns, where they live. It was very interesting, especially for me, to learn more about this town. We didn't have maths today because there didn't seem to be enough time. During lunch on Fridays, the kids are allowed to walk down the street to buy something from any of the local shops. The kids have been begging me to go, so I decided that I would go with them today. After lunch was when it started to get really hard. The class gave me tons of cards and gifts and the teacher said really nice things about me. I got a card from everyone in the class, 4 of the boys bought me flowers, and I got chocolates from many of the girls. From the entire class I also got many gifts. I then had made some cookies and puppy chow for the entire class so we had that and then both P7 classes headed down to the hall (gym) and we played music and games, and had some more cake. It was also the last day of one of the girls in the class (Lucy) so we all wanted to say goodbye and good luck to her as well.

It was so hard leaving at the end of the day. Everyone was asking for my email address, home address, and phone number. They told me I shouldn't leave them and one boy even said that the kids in any class I teach will be the luckiest because he learned and had so much fun with me and they will too. That was one of the best things to hear! It was hard to get everyone out of the classroom at the end of the day because no one wanted to leave because we all knew I wouldn't be here anymore. Many of the girls even began to cry which made me cry. I would have never imagined it to be this hard to leave. I've had so much fun here and have learned more than I thought I ever could. It's been such a great experience and I know it's helped to make me a better teacher and all-around person. I don't regret coming here at all and if I had the chance to do it again I would in a second. I'm definitely going to miss being here everyday!

March 6

Well, it's the last week here. The time went by so fast. It seems like I just got here! We've started this week, busy as usual. Yesterday I started the day by giving some students their National Reading Assessments. They all passed which is really good. We then did some interpreting poems. I read the students some poems and they had to try and decide what it was about and make some connections. We then had snack and Shake til Break and then maths. For maths, we did Maths Masterpieces, which basically brings art into math in the form of a puzzle. They are given a famous painting, with the pieces mixed up, and they have to do various problems and put them in the right order in order to put the picture together properly. They seemed to really like this. I gave each student a different picture because I felt that they all have different things that they need to work on individually. During this time, I also worked with Dylan, the one who has to do a re-take of his Maths National Assessment. We just basically did some review problems and went over things that he still didn't feel confident with. I will be giving him his re-take tomorrow. After lunch, we focused on Peru. The students were given general information on Peru and they then were able to present it any way they felt was relevant to them. Some made mind maps while others wrote it in a report. If they had time before the end of the day they worked on their Peru art. Today we started out with P.E. and then following that I helped some students with their National Maths Assessments. We then went outside for Shake til Break (which was really a hard workout today!!) and then we came back worked on our pen pal letters and some worked on their own poetry books. We didn't finish all the letters so we'll probably be working on them tomorrow again. By the time we were through with that it was already lunchtime! I really don't know where the time goes! This afternoon we began our Peru artwork and it's going great!! The kids are really enjoying themselves and are making good progress. I really like how this project is going because we've put the responsibility on the kids to learn what they want to learn. They understand this responsibility and have been getting a lot out of it. Tomorrow will much of the same as today except we have swimming in the morning. This week is going by so fast!!

This weekend was a very relaxing one. Saturday we went to Berwick, Eyemouth, and Coldingham Sands. Here we went to see the North Sea and some beaches. It was beautiful. I was surprised to see so many surfers out though. We then went back to Berwick to do some grocery shopping for the tea that we made on Sunday. It didn't turn out as we would have liked but everyone said it was really good. To us, it tasted a lot like chili but no one else thought so. I don't think they have a lot of the same ingredients that we do back at home. We also made puppy chow and that was a huge success! Everyone loved it! This week is going to be spent planning the rest of my lessons and packing. I started packing this weekend and it's not going so well. I've packed one suitcase so far and it's so heavy. I've accumulated a lot of things in the short 2 months that I've been here. I'm not looking forward to packing my last suitcase.

March 2

Oh my gosh, I only have 1 more week here! I can't believe it's already almost over. I've had such a great time! As each week seems to do, this week just flew by. We've been continuing on our poetry, and the students have been given a lot of time to create their own poems. Wednesday we started the day off with swimming. When we got back I had them analyze any poem that they wanted to, and then they had to answer questions that I had given them, such as how many syllables in certain lines and finding examples of similes, metaphors, personifications, etc. in their poem that they chose. Wednesday there was an assembly for the P4-7s. Someone from the church in town came to talk about the various camps that they offer. After that we just worked on our Peru projects. Yesterday was another busy day. We did some poetry, had music class, and then worked more on Peru. For maths, we have moved on to volume. It's been a very tricky concept to learn but they are getting there. Because part of the focus with poetry is reciting it, I had them watch a video of poetry being recited and acted out. Many of the poems that were recited the kids knew so that made it interesting for them. During this, some students were chosen to write a letter to Heath Promoting Schools Newsletter in Scotland about our "Shake til Break." This morning it was "Wake 'n Shake" where we do it at the beginning of the day instead right before break. This lets many of the parents that are dropping their children off at school come and participate as well. It's been going great and is so much fun! With the music and the energy it really puts everyone in a good mood. Today everyone came walking into school doing the YMCA! It was great! Then all the P6 and 7's had an assembly for their Golden Time. It's a way that the school awards students for good behavior. Sadly, many of the students recieved red cards (punishments) and weren't recognized for their good behavior this month. After that we had maths. We continued to do volume for a litlte while and about 15 minutes before maths was done, they were given the opportunity to do some "fun" maths and many of them chose to do a symmetry activity. This afternoon was spent doing art and Peru. For Peru, we decided to transform the rest of the wall space with the rainforest, the Amazon River, the Andes Mountains, and various cities in Peru. It was the kids decision to do this and I know it will look great! I hope that most of it gets done before I have to leave because I'm anxious to see what it will look like. For the last half hour of school the kids had Golden Time. During this time, most of the students just continued to work on their Peru projects. 3 of the kids had brought in their guitars and played for us and then I went outside with some of my P7 class and most of the other P7 class and played football (soccer) with them. They've been wanting me to play for a while so I decided I'd try it. I wasn't so great but all the kids helped me out and I even scored a goal. After that, I was the coolest person out there! :) It was fun but I told them that next week for Golden Time we're going to play basketball so they're excited for that.

This weekend is not too busy. Tomorrow I think we may go to Berwick for a couple of hours but then most of the day will be spent packing. I'm going to have my work cut out for me because I've accumulated so much! Sunday Kim and I are going to be making tea (supper) for our host families. We've decided to make Sloppy Joes because they've never heard of it. We're also going to make some puppy chow and let them taste that as well. It should be a good afternoon!

February 27

This week has started off pretty normal. Yesterday we started the day off with more poetry. They began looking at rhyming patterns and then began putting all the elements of a poem together. They were given 2 poems in which they had to find the rhyming pattern, personification, simile, metaphor, alliterations, and onomatopoeias. They then had to practice reciting the poem and for homework they were to practice it and we listened to some of them today. Following this, we had math in which we finished the review game. During this time, 2 of the students took their National Assessment test. I had a lot of confidence in these 2 boys that they would pass because they’ve been grasping all the topics and haven’t had any problems. However, after looking over the test, one of them has actually not passed. He will have the opportunity to take a re-test; however it’s very hard to take when one of the students you’ve been working with for so long fails. I know he is more than capable of passing this test, and after talking with my cooperating teacher, she believes that he, along with many of the other students panic under pressure. She was surprised that a lot of the students that she’s been working with have failed the test as well. It’s just very frustrating because I feel like I’ve done something wrong with my teaching but my cooperating teacher assures me that there’s nothing that I could have done because he knows what he’s doing when verbalizing it and when doing his daily work. It’s definitely made me reflect a lot on how I’ve been teaching and what I could have changed. In the afternoon, we went to the computer suite and I showed all the students pictures of their pen pals. Most of them enjoyed them, however there were a few that thought it would be alright to laugh at the pictures because of their appearance. The class had a big talk about it this morning and we incorporated the poem “Prepare a face to meet the face that you will meet” into the lesson. Some students even added some other proverbs such as “Beauty is only skin deep” and “Never judge a book by it’s cover” to our list. I truly think that this got through to the students and this afternoon they wanted to see the pictures again and were very excited and only had good things to say. After break, I did a lesson on T.S. Eliot and the “Cat” poems. What I had them do was first look at 4 lines of 3 of the poems. We then discussed them and then I had the class break into groups and I gave each group the full version of one of the poems. They were to work together to present their poem. They could either just recite it or present it in a different way. It was a lot of fun and I was surprised at how enthused they were about doing this. It was also fun to see how each group presented their poem. These poems have a lot of humor in them so the groups were able to have a lot of fun with them. Some just recited it, many of them recited it and acted it out, and one group even sang part of it. It was great! After lunch, they were very anxious to get their pen pal letters so I gave each group their letter and then we went to the computer suite to type out letters. When they were finished with their letters they worked on their independent Peru project. Along with this, we've got a new student in the class, Katy. She has been adjusting very well and seems to fit right in with everyone.

This week the school has also started a fitness program called “Shake til Break.” 15 minutes before their 11am break time, the whole school goes outside and someone from the community comes and does some fun warm-ups, routines, or exercises. There’s music and everything. Before and after the exercises everyone is dancing. It’s so fun and really enthuses the whole school. I think it’s a great way to promote a healthier, fit lifestyle.

February 23

What a week! It's been so busy in this P7 classroom. Wednesday we started the day off with swimming at the high school followed by maths. The kids are continuing working on perimeter and I introduced area to them. They are catching on great. We then started working on haikus. For the lesson, we had the kids watch a short clip of the movie Robin Hood, and had them focus on the arrow that was in the scene. They all came up with some great haikus. The afternoon was spent at an all-school assembly and then the kids had french. Thursday morning the kids had an opportunity to go to the computer suite to work on either poetry or their Peru project that they started. Following that we had maths. For the lesson, I had the kids go around the room and find various objects, such as the whiteboard, desks, or books, and measure the perimeter and area. They loved this! I only had about 5 students for maths because most of them were at the net ball tournament that was taking place. After break, we continued working on haikus. I had them watch another clip from Robin Hood. I had them focus on Robin Hood's face and eyes. I then switched gears a little bit from action to something a little bit more mellow. I put on the very beginning part of Pride and Prejudice when the sun is first coming up. I wanted them to use their own experiences of sunrises they have seen. The next part I showed them was right after that when the girl is walking and reading. I had them come up with various words that could describe her and then had them write their haikus. After, I gave each student a piece of paper and they were able to pick one of their 3 haikus and illustrate it. For this lesson, I was being observed by Neville. I was very nervous but he said it went very well. There were a few things he said I should have done different, such as when we came up with a list of words I should have written them on the board. He also said that I should have had each table come up separately to get the paper instead of having them all come up at once. But overall he said I had good authority in the classroom and that he feels I will succeed when I get my own classroom. I was so relieved and excited when he told me this! The afternoon was spent at Street Jam where each class gets a chance to learn a dance with a professional dance teacher. It was a lot of fun and I even got to join in with them! Today, we began the day by looking at another movie clip from North and South. I had them focus on the face expression of the main character. We then had maths where we did a review game. I set it up kind of like Jeopardy and they absolutely loved it! Neville came in and watched this lesson as well and he said it was an excellent lesson that got all the kids excited and involved. He was also very impressed that the students asked if we could continue it on Monday. This afternoon we began observational drawings in art and went for some more Street Jams.

I'm very happy with the outcome of this week! It was very reassuring to hear Neville tell me that I will become a great teacher and that he would put me on his staff anyday. He also said that I had a lot of confidence in the classroom.

February 20

This week has started off with a couple new topics in which the students have started and are enjoying. In language, we've moved from creative writing to poetry. My cooperating teacher and I didn't know how well the students in this class would grasp the idea of poetry but surprisingly they are loving it and couldn't get enough time to read and look for poems. Many of the students were in the mindset that poetry needs to rhyme but once they realized that a lot of it is just words and doesn't have to rhyme they had a better attitude towards it. I began the lesson today by looking at personification and had the kids come up with some sentences of their own. I was very impressed with many of them, especially when one of the more quiet boys made one up that read "My hair danced as the wind blew through it." I thought that was quite impressive. We then went to the computer suite and I introduced them to the story The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. They had never heard of the book and I used that to show various examples of personification. I then had them work in partners and they were to write their own stories using personification. Once the story was written they were able to either draw illustrations or use computer generated pictures that were really exaggerated and showed the personification. Following that, we began looking at actual poetry and I was introduced to the poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll. It was great and the children loved it! I think they were able to see that poetry can be fun and silly, making it more appealing to them. What we're going to be doing with this unit is having the kids make their own anthology of poetry. They will have to have a minimum of 10 poems, 4 they have to write on their own and the other 6 can be poems that they found that they really like. Each week we will be introducing different types and styles of poetry. For the rest of this week, we will be looking at the haiku along with the tanka, which is actually just a response to a haiku. Along with poetry, we started our Peru unit. Yesterday we brainstormed what we already knew about Peru and how we wanted to go about the unit. The students decided that they wanted to do individual projects, some making fact files, some making posters, and others compiling information and putting it in their jotters. Each child then came up with a list of various things about Peru that they wanted to find out. Throughout this unit, they will have opportunities to find out what they want to know about Peru and they will be assessed according to what information they chose to research and present. After that, we looked at the flag of Peru and the students were able to create their own flags and use them in their projects. Today, we talked about where Peru was in South America, what countries border it, what rivers run through it, and where the rainforest and mountains are located. We also looked at the capital city and other major cities. I then gave each child a blank map of Peru and they were to locate these things using atlases and other books that were provided. We are continuing doing perimeter and area in maths, and they are really coming along with that. Because they will be doing National Assessments soon, sometime next week I want to create a review game for them to play to get more practice on concepts before these tests. Along with this, we are still patiently awaiting replies from our pen pals back in Wisconsin. Neville is going to be coming this Thursday and Friday to observe me. I'm kind of nervous about it but I know it will go well. Thursday will also be hectic because half the girls are in a netball tournament in Galashiels and won't be back until the afternoon when they will be going to Street Jam. It's going to be a crazy, but fun end of the week!

This past weekend was spent in Edinburgh and Loch Ness. It is such a beautiful part of the country, however I didn't get a glimpse at Nessie. :) This coming weekend we will be travelling to Glasgow again. Because the weather was so rainy last time we went we didn't get to see a lot so hopefully it cooperates this weekend. I was thinking last night that I will be here for only 3 more weeks. Where has the time gone? I can't believe how fast it's gone. It's been a great time and I've learned and been challenged so much. I know the last 3 weeks will go as well as the first 6 weeks have!

February 20

This week has started off with a couple new topics in which the students have started and are enjoying. In language, we've moved from creative writing to poetry. My cooperating teacher and I didn't know how well the students in this class would grasp the idea of poetry but surprisingly they are loving it and couldn't get enough time to read and look for poems. Many of the students were in the mindset that poetry needs to rhyme but once they realized that a lot of it is just words and doesn't have to rhyme they had a better attitude towards it. I began the lesson today by looking at personification and had the kids come up with some sentences of their own. I was very impressed with many of them, especially when one of the more quiet boys made one up that read "My hair danced as the wind blew through it." I thought that was quite impressive. We then went to the computer suite and I introduced them to the story The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. They had never heard of the book and I used that to show various examples of personification. I then had them work in partners and they were to write their own stories using personification. Once the story was written they were able to either draw illustrations or use computer generated pictures that were really exaggerated and showed the personification. Following that, we began looking at actual poetry and I was introduced to the poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll. It was great and the children loved it! I think they were able to see that poetry can be fun and silly, making it more appealing to them. What we're going to be doing with this unit is having the kids make their own anthology of poetry. They will have to have a minimum of 10 poems, 4 they have to write on their own and the other 6 can be poems that they found that they really like. Each week we will be introducing different types and styles of poetry. For the rest of this week, we will be looking at the haiku along with the tanka, which is actually just a response to a haiku. Along with poetry, we started our Peru unit. Yesterday we brainstormed what we already knew about Peru and how we wanted to go about the unit. The students decided that they wanted to do individual projects, some making fact files, some making posters, and others compiling information and putting it in their jotters. Each child then came up with a list of various things about Peru that they wanted to find out. Throughout this unit, they will have opportunities to find out what they want to know about Peru and they will be assessed according to what information they chose to research and present. After that, we looked at the flag of Peru and the students were able to create their own flags and use them in their projects. Today, we talked about where Peru was in South America, what countries border it, what rivers run through it, and where the rainforest and mountains are located. We also looked at the capital city and other major cities. I then gave each child a blank map of Peru and they were to locate these things using atlases and other books that were provided. We are continuing doing perimeter and area in maths, and they are really coming along with that. Because they will be doing National Assessments soon, sometime next week I want to create a review game for them to play to get more practice on concepts before these tests. Along with this, we are still patiently awaiting replies from our pen pals back in Wisconsin. Neville is going to be coming this Thursday and Friday to observe me. I'm kind of nervous about it but I know it will go well. Thursday will also be hectic because half the girls are in a netball tournament in Galashiels and won't be back until the afternoon when they will be going to Street Jam. It's going to be a crazy, but fun end of the week!

This past weekend was spent in Edinburgh and Loch Ness. It is such a beautiful part of the country, however I didn't get a glimpse at Nessie. :) This coming weekend we will be travelling to Glasgow again. Because the weather was so rainy last time we went we didn't get to see a lot so hopefully it cooperates this weekend. I was thinking last night that I will be here for only 3 more weeks. Where has the time gone? I can't believe how fast it's gone. It's been a great time and I've learned and been challenged so much. I know the last 3 weeks will go as well as the first 6 weeks have!

February 16

It seems like such a long time since I’ve last written a blog! Well, half-term break is over and we’re back to school. We began the short week with some writing, in which we continued with creative and imaginative writing. I told the students about an incident that happened to me at the airport over the break and they then used the setting of an airport to begin their writing piece. They have come such a long way with their writing and each piece seems to be getting better and better. Because in the next week or two we will be moving on to look at poetry I did a grammar lesson on similes and metaphors and how and why writers and poets use them in their writing. The students seemed to grasp it all and were even able to come up with many of their own similes and metaphors. Before break I had done an REM lesson on respect and was very surprised by the results. Yesterday Mrs. Higson and I actually went to the other P7 class and taught this same lesson together. It was very interesting because even though the classes are the same age group, the answers were completely different and the maturity levels of the class were definitely shown. In maths we moved on to using centimeters and meters in calculations. We began on Wednesday with basic conversions from centimeters to meters and then meters to centimeters. Yesterday we moved on a bit to begin measuring the perimeter of objects and today some of the students continued to look at perimeter while some that have picked up on it quickly have gone on to area. Wednesday and Thursday we have also been finishing up and practicing for our Shakespeare productions and I have actually already videotaped two groups already and they both were great. Today we started off the day with more Shakespeare and then went into some more writing. We finished off the day and the week by doing some observational drawings and then having a work time where some groups were able to finish their Chaucer characters and others were able to practice their Shakespeare plays.
Now, I wish the week could have been that easy. Kim and I had a great time in London and Paris. It was everything I thought and more. One of my favorite things that I saw was the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace in London. I had heard so much about it and was so happy that we were able to see it. We took the Big Bus Tour and was able to see all the great sites throughout London. We stayed in Kensington where there seems to always be something going on. From London we went to Paris and had a fabulous time as well. The first day was spent at the Eiffel Tower and other sites in Paris. I was even able to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing. The second day we went to EuroDisney and that was a lot of fun too. It was a great time and everything was flawless until coming back to Scotland. In London, right before getting on the plane, we had to go through immigration. While Kim was able to get through immigration, they wouldn’t let me through. They wanted me to show them my return ticket to go back home to the states. I had none of this with me as it was back in Scotland because I didn’t think I needed it to get back in Scotland once I was allowed in. The immigration officer that I was dealing with was very rude and basically told me that it was my problem and I needed to show him that information and until I did that I wouldn’t be let through. He began yelling at me and Kim, who was two desks away from me, was able to hear everything he was saying to me. He told me to find a Delta Airlines desk and have them print me off an itinerary of my flight. He also said that it worried him that I was in Scotland since the beginning of January. I had no idea what to do since Delta doesn’t fly out of Heathrow so there would be no desk to go to. I ended up asking someone at British Airways and she was very helpful with everything. If it wasn’t for her I really don’t know what I would have done. The only phone number I had with me was my host families and when I tried calling I couldn’t get through. The lady helping me then went to find Kim to see if she had any numbers and she was able to give me her host families number which I got through. I also tried calling home to try and get the information faxed to me, however, my dad had it and he was out of town at the time. Kim’s host family was able to get in contact with my family and they were finally able to fax the information over. When I finally went back to immigration to show them all my information, the guy that had let Kim through now was helping me. He didn’t even look at the information! After missing my flight and going through all the hassle he wouldn’t even look at it and he knew everything that I had gone through because he asked if I was with Kim. After finally getting through I was met by Kim who had cancelled her spot on our previous flight and we were able to fly back to Edinburgh together and I was never happier to be back in Scotland than I was then. That was probably one of the worst experiences I’ve had in traveling and I hope I never have to go through something like that again. It will definitely be something I will remember forever and hopefully in the future actually be able to laugh about it. Hopefully we have better luck this weekend. Kim and I are meeting up with Kim’s family in Edinburgh for the weekend. On Saturday we will be taking a bus tour to Loch Ness and spending the day there. I’m very excited for this and know it will be a good weekend.

February 16

It seems like such a long time since I’ve last written a blog! Well, half-term break is over and we’re back to school. We began the short week with some writing, in which we continued with creative and imaginative writing. I told the students about an incident that happened to me at the airport over the break and they then used the setting of an airport to begin their writing piece. They have come such a long way with their writing and each piece seems to be getting better and better. Because in the next week or two we will be moving on to look at poetry I did a grammar lesson on similes and metaphors and how and why writers and poets use them in their writing. The students seemed to grasp it all and were even able to come up with many of their own similes and metaphors. Before break I had done an REM lesson on respect and was very surprised by the results. Yesterday Mrs. Higson and I actually went to the other P7 class and taught this same lesson together. It was very interesting because even though the classes are the same age group, the answers were completely different and the maturity levels of the class were definitely shown. In maths we moved on to using centimeters and meters in calculations. We began on Wednesday with basic conversions from centimeters to meters and then meters to centimeters. Yesterday we moved on a bit to begin measuring the perimeter of objects and today some of the students continued to look at perimeter while some that have picked up on it quickly have gone on to area. Wednesday and Thursday we have also been finishing up and practicing for our Shakespeare productions and I have actually already videotaped two groups already and they both were great. Today we started off the day with more Shakespeare and then went into some more writing. We finished off the day and the week by doing some observational drawings and then having a work time where some groups were able to finish their Chaucer characters and others were able to practice their Shakespeare plays.
Now, I wish the week could have been that easy. Kim and I had a great time in London and Paris. It was everything I thought and more. One of my favorite things that I saw was the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace in London. I had heard so much about it and was so happy that we were able to see it. We took the Big Bus Tour and was able to see all the great sites throughout London. We stayed in Kensington where there seems to always be something going on. From London we went to Paris and had a fabulous time as well. The first day was spent at the Eiffel Tower and other sites in Paris. I was even able to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing. The second day we went to EuroDisney and that was a lot of fun too. It was a great time and everything was flawless until coming back to Scotland. In London, right before getting on the plane, we had to go through immigration. While Kim was able to get through immigration, they wouldn’t let me through. They wanted me to show them my return ticket to go back home to the states. I had none of this with me as it was back in Scotland because I didn’t think I needed it to get back in Scotland once I was allowed in. The immigration officer that I was dealing with was very rude and basically told me that it was my problem and I needed to show him that information and until I did that I wouldn’t be let through. He began yelling at me and Kim, who was two desks away from me, was able to hear everything he was saying to me. He told me to find a Delta Airlines desk and have them print me off an itinerary of my flight. He also said that it worried him that I was in Scotland since the beginning of January. I had no idea what to do since Delta doesn’t fly out of Heathrow so there would be no desk to go to. I ended up asking someone at British Airways and she was very helpful with everything. If it wasn’t for her I really don’t know what I would have done. The only phone number I had with me was my host families and when I tried calling I couldn’t get through. The lady helping me then went to find Kim to see if she had any numbers and she was able to give me her host families number which I got through. I also tried calling home to try and get the information faxed to me, however, my dad had it and he was out of town at the time. Kim’s host family was able to get in contact with my family and they were finally able to fax the information over. When I finally went back to immigration to show them all my information, the guy that had let Kim through now was helping me. He didn’t even look at the information! After missing my flight and going through all the hassle he wouldn’t even look at it and he knew everything that I had gone through because he asked if I was with Kim. After finally getting through I was met by Kim who had cancelled her spot on our previous flight and we were able to fly back to Edinburgh together and I was never happier to be back in Scotland than I was then. That was probably one of the worst experiences I’ve had in traveling and I hope I never have to go through something like that again. It will definitely be something I will remember forever and hopefully in the future actually be able to laugh about it. Hopefully we have better luck this weekend. Kim and I are meeting up with Kim’s family in Edinburgh for the weekend. On Saturday we will be taking a bus tour to Loch Ness and spending the day there. I’m very excited for this and know it will be a good weekend.