Nurmo-Brighton 14.5. – 18.5.2017

Nurmo-Brighton 14.5. – 18.5.2017

Sunday

Our trip started from our school yard on Sunday night at 01.00. The bus trip was okay though we didn't get much sleep. When we got to the airport at Helsinki, we had breakfast. On the airplane some of us slept but not all.

Some of us had never been on board of an airplane before. It was exciting but everything went well. From Gatwick Airport we took the train to Brighton, where we arrived at 12.45. Then we went to our hostfamilies and made ourselves comfortable. We were supposed to meet at Brighton Pier at 6, but we couldn’t because there was a big celebration in the town since the local football team had risen to the upper division and they were celebrating with a big parade in the city center. Many bus routes were changed or didn’t ride at all. So we didn’t meet with the whole group but some of us went to the town and saw the football parade and the celebrating.

Monday

On Monday we went to Brighton Language college in the morning. There we were divided into three groups and we studied English for three hours. After the lessons we had lunch break. After eating we went shopping to Churchill square center. We had some trouble finding the shopping center at first, but after asking directions, we got to our destination. We shopped at H&M, Urban outfitters and Bershka.  After that we played Treasure Hunt. We had to walk around in Brighton in our groups, follow a map and answer the questions. It was really hard to find the right answers but it was a good way to learn about the city of Brighton.  The group that won got tickets for free rides in the amusement park of Brighton Pier. 

Before taking a bus and heading home, we still did some shopping at Superdrug, Game, Lush, Primark and Tesco superstore.

Tuesday

On Tuesday we went to London. We took a coach from school at 8. The trip took more than 2 hours. First we went to visit the Tower of London. 

Our local leader Aid told us about the history of it and during our visit we did a quiz. Tower of London was very interesting and we were lucky because there weren’t too many visitors at the same time. We saw all the main attractions there, for example the White tower and the Crown jewels. We had lunch in a pub called The Minories which was near the Tower. According to our leader Aid, the pub is a former railway station. Even now it was situated under the rails and we could hear the trains go above us while eating. After the lunch we could decide if we wanted to go shopping to Oxford Street or do sightseeing. All of us picked shopping instead of seeing for example the Buckingham Palace. It took a long time to ride to Westminster from the Tower so we had to hurry to see at least some important sights of London and still have some free time for shopping on Oxford street.

Driving and parking in London, which is a metropol with almost 10 million inhabitants and millions of tourists every year, is very challenging and it’s impossible to just drive and park anywhere. That’s why walking is often the only reasonable option.  The bus ride back to Brighton took almost 3 hours because of the traffic. The traffic jams in London are terrible and our driver Tony said that we were actually quite lucky and the traffic wasn’t that bad this time. The day was really exhausting because of a lot of walking but the weather was pretty good for our luck.

Liikennettä Lontoon esikaupunkialueella

Wednesday

On Wednesday we went to the Royal Pavilion but first we did a little quiz about the UK. After some freetime we went back to the Royal Pavilion for a guided tour. The Royal Pavilion is the only royal palace in Britain that Queen Elizabeth doesn’t own. It looks like an Indian palace from outside but the interior is Chinese. It was designed by a famous architect John Nash. 

The tour was very good and the place was interesting. The tour took one hour. Then we had again freetime about 2 hours. After that we had some games on the beach. 

It was our last day in Brighton and we had to go to the hostfamilies and pack.

Some comments on the British culture and the differences between Finnish and British culture

The traffic here in England is different from our traffic. People here are kind and helpful. The public transportation is easy and the buses are tidy. Houses are smaller than in Finland. The prices are almost the same in both countries. The buildings in the cities are old and beautiful. There is a lot to see in England.

Differences:

showers, traffic, everywhere is greener, money, weather, buses, buildings, more polite people.

People are nicer here and there is a lot of population here.

We have had a really nice trip.

Flats are smaller but higher here. There are usually 2 or 3 floors.

UK: People wear shoes indoors. There are fitted carpets in the rooms.

People are nicer here.

Food is really good.

Weather is good.

Boys are better looking here.

People here are very polite, nice, helpful and outgoing. It’s a cultural shock. If you look for help, people will help you. Some people will greet you, even if they don’t know you. Sceneries are very different here. There are more deciduous trees and hills.

The guys are hotter here. It doesn’t snow here and it’s sunny and warm here almost all the time. Everything is better here.

I have learned some new words here and how to say words properly. It has been fun to go shopping and here are lots of shops that don’t exist in Finland. Personally I loved going to HMV because I got some fun stuff. I didn’t like it that I could not get to Baker Street but it’s OK, I can come here again.