пятница, 4 мая 2012 г.

STUDENT`S CORNER. How I studied in London (by Natalie Brik)


And my story begins :)

 Yesterday I arrived in London in airport Heathrow. Taxi are black cars with yellow numbers and it is  more expensive than in others European countries. I decided to go by underground. In flight  I met an interesting young man. He lives in London but he got a job in Moscow. He helped to buy underground ticket. My hotel is located in zone 1 on Russell Square station. Station is called Holborn or Russell square. When I went to outside subway I felt fresh air and warm wind. At 4 p.m. night is coming on.
 So... When I came to hotel I spoke about directions with an elderly woman She didn't  wear any stoking, temperature was  +13C. After a few minutes I saw my hotel. I took a shower  and went to the city. It was the 31th of December, it was New Year. 
 In spite of the fact I was tired, I went to walk. On the Covent Garden square people saw different shows. I chose a nice restaurant and ordered hot  wine and pasta.
 I didn't wait for a salute, because I was tired and I went to the hotel to bed.

 The next day I saw a famous English breakfast. Nothing much: eggs, beans, tomatoes, fried mushrooms, bacon, sausage, and porridge, of course. My choice was porridge, cheese and honey. I decided to eat very well as I didn't know when I have lunch. After tea I was planning for the day. My choice was trip by tour bus around London. I asked about any tickets at the reception and I took a map. After 2 hours it began to rain and didn't stop all the day. In spite of my goal in London (to study English) I switched audio guide to Russian. In the evening I was tired and I went to hotel after dinner.

 Monday was my first day in the school . I forgot to say about facilities of my hotel.
 It has gym, swimming pool and sauna. Monday I began with shower and English breakfast, because gym opens at 8:00 a.m. every Monday. In my opinion breakfast was simple for European country: sausages, bacon, eggs and porridge, of course. I found my school easy. It is located not far from the hotel - about 5 minutes by foot. Class started at 8:30 a.m. every day and finished at 5:00 p.m.
 We had the first class about program and we met with other students.
 Timetable for the day included practice, grammar and pronounce. Also we got projects about new ideas, new creative products. The first day I didn't understand anything, because  teachers spoke very fast, but each new words they explained.

 On Tuesday early morning I was in gym, as usual and after breakfast I went to the school about 8:30. At 10:45 during a coffee break all students met and talked about last evening. In this day I didn't come back to the school after lunch, because I went to walk and I did shopping. Shops in London  are better than shops in Rome.  Harrods and Selfridges are famous shops in London. Very popular streets for shopping are Bond and Sloan street. There are many brand stores.

 On Wednesday we had lunch all together near the school. One girl was Russian, but we didn't speak Russian. It's true! During lunch I met with French and Japanese guys. They were jesting. We planned to go to the cinema. And we did it. We saw "Mission impossible". It was my second time, but in English - first! I understood about fifty percent. I have a nice photo called «GPS united and my friends» it was very funny.


 Thursday was as Tuesday, but every Thursday every group prepared presentation in the same subjective. Subjective is given on Tuesday. Every week we had new topic. Our first topic was about aliens and about five things which we wanted to send on other planet.

 Every Friday students must go to the pub with a teacher and to speak to  improve their English. English pub is a noisy place but when you drank beer you forgot about grammar and spoke free.

 Saturday I went around London by tour bus with students of school.

 Sunday I did shopping and after I wanted to see the London eye, but it was closed for repair.

 Every Monday groups change or add new students. To our group arrived a French old woman. She is fifty-three years old. But she began to study English! I respected her! On the third lesson she cried, because she didn't understand anything. Tomorrow she was moved to the other group. But we did presentation with her, she wanted so! Every week groups of students must do presentation on  new subjects . On the first week we spoke about aliens and five things which we wanted to send them. The second subject was about a new product. It's a new idea of Quick stick with butter, honey, jam, marmalade.

 Wednesday I went to the musical Chicago. But I left it after entr'acte.
 That time I thought only about my boyfriend, about Moscow and my dog Elli. I missed my life at home!

 On Tuesday after school I met my new friend. He lived in London more than 10 years and knew about it many stories and many interesting places. We went to store with famous tea and very aesthetic cafe. Evening was interesting, but we spoke Russian and my submersion stopped.

 Friday was my last day in the school and birthday of my new friend – a French woman. She is fifty three years old, but she began to study English. Early morning I went to the florist`s and I bought a bunch. We prepared a surprise when she came in the class. We sang: "Happy birthday" altogether. She cried for happiness.
  For lunch we went to the restaurant to celebrate birthday of Farida.

On Saturday I met Alexander and we walked in the Regent's Park and Baker Street. We visited museum of Sherlock Holmes. After walk we went to the pub and I drank Italian beer. London is not too big therefore - we went to the hotel by foot.
 I dream about tomorrow about my flight to Moscow.

STUDENT` S CORNER. My trip to Italy (by Irina Podolskaya)


I would like to tell you about my last journey, which I had two months ago. I traveled with my best friend Inna. She has fallen in love with Italy from the first sight. And she tried to go there together with me all the time.  Fortunately, I gave up very fast. 
We had 10 days journey and wanted to visit Rome and Bologna. We reserved the hotels there by internet.
The hotel in Rome was in the center of the city. It was very comfortable, because all historic places were near us. 
Rome has had an immense historic influence to the world and modern society over the ages. And we hiked around all historic places of the city.
The most interesting place for me was Vatican. It’s a state within a state, with its own goverment and policy.  There were a lot of famous masterpieces of architecture on Vatican’s territory. For example, Basilica di San Pietro, Cappella Sistin, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. The most beautiful is Cappella Sistin, which was created in 1473-1481. There were a lot of  beautiful paintings and mosaics along.
Especially, I liked Italian people, who smiled all the time, had a great sense of humor and could talk to you about everything, even if you didn’t know each other. I think it’s a great quality.
Certainly I should say about Italian food. The most strange meal, which I had - . It’s thin pieces of bacon with  pieces of melon. Very delicious!  
If I have an opportunity, I’ll go there one more time, because Rome is a very beautiful and interesting city.

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