As You Like It

Sorry for not posting yesterday, it was a very full and fabulous day. We left around 7:30 to begin our day trip to Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon. It was just Natalie, Kaitlin, and me, so it was really nice to have a small group to maneuver. We started out in Warwick, which is about 2 hours from London, so it wasn't a bad ride, especially because we had a luxury coach. I was immediately blown away by how beautiful Warwick was. I believe that it must rival some of the most beautiful places that I have ever been to. My pictures cannot even represent how amazing it was. The castle was extraordinary.. we walked along the walls and went up into the towers and saw the area that William the Conquerer built in the 11th century.. AMAZING! We also got to go into the castle and see the dungeon and the state rooms, which are where the parties were held. The castle is ran by Madame Toussades, which is the famous wax museum, so there are wax people throughout the buildings. After we finished exploring the castle and the gorgeous grounds, we went into the town center to have lunch. There was a really neat building that was built in the 14th century and we went into the tea room to have our lunch. It was so great.


After we left Warwick, we went to Stratford-upon-Avon, which is about 20 minutes away. It was so astonishing to see so many houses that have lasted all this time in the midst of such a commercial town. Apparently the shopping is great, but we were there just for Shakespeare yesterday. We went through the home where Shakespeare was born and raised. It was incredible to walk throught the rooms that he did over 400 years ago. We didn't have as much time here as we wanted, so we hurried across the town to see the church were Shakespeare was baptised and later buried. Amazing again. I was just so blown away by yesterday.. I have so much more to say, but so little time!

Today was another day in the school. It started out great and I got to see a couple different classes than last time. I was feeling great about today until I was put in the worst Year 7 and Year 9 classes on purpose to see how bad they actually were. I'm not sure if my teacher was trying to scare me or what, but I was shocked by some of the things that I saw and heard. I don't want to go on about it on here because I am trying to just take it in and be postive and believe that next week will be better. The day really did start out great though.. I had some nice conversations with some of the students and I thought that most of the classes were incredible. It is weird how just a few of the bad things throughout the day blur out all the great things that happened. It is definitely interesting to see this inner-city school function after being in the schools that I have been in throughout my life. I am really trying to take my experiences and learn from them and not complain about having a rough school. I really believe that next week will be better, and if it isn't, at least I'm going to Paris this weekend!!! :)