Larina in Brighton

On Tuesday my friends and I had a little “farewell BBQ” at the beach. We tried to grill some chicken on a one way grill, which was quite challenging but in the end we could eat it at least. I enjoyed this last time with my friend a lot.

I spent my last evening in Brighton with my host family. My host mum made burgers and we watched a documentation about the moon landing. I really enjoyed living with them for the past four weeks. I’m very thankful for what they did for me. And I was sad when I had to say goodbye to them. My host mum sad: “Your parents should be proud to have a daughter like you.” Hearing something like this made me very happy.
On Friday I brought my luggage to school so that I could go to the train station right after school. I got my certificate, which showed me that I improved my English from a B2+ level to a C1 level. I took the train to London Bridge and then the tube to go to the airport. Everything went well until I wanted to check in… The women at the desk told me my flight was canceled. At first I thought this is a joke. Then I was a little scared because I thought I might not get home today. But fortunately it was very easy for them to change my flight. My parents came to pick me up at the airport in Zürich and I was exuberantly happy to see them again.

I’m so happy to look back on four amazing weeks. Just like I hoped I didn’t only improve my English put also learned a lot about life and got to meet great people from all over the world. I’m really proud of myself and thankful to my parents for enabling this language stay. The past four week were one of the best times in my life and I’m definitely going to do something like this again.

I finally went on the rollercoster on Brighton Pier! Brightion is famous for it’s Pier but it took me three weeks to finally find time to go there. It was crazy and it looked like the ocean was upside down while I was on the ride but it was great fun.

On Saturday I went to Windsor and Oxford with Alexandra and Malu, who is a brasilian girl I met in my class. The castle inWindsor was very impressive because it was so big and beautiful although it was built in 1070 when people didn’t have any machines. The queen was there too. I know that because her personal flag was flying.

From Windsor it is about a 40min drive to Oxford. Oxford is an amazing city and I’m really jelous on people who are able to study there. Every single building in Oxford has amazing architecture and a lot of spires. This is why Oxford is also called “The City Of Dreaming Spires”.

I really enjoed the tour but I was very tired too. The time here in Brighton is just so exciting and there is so much to do, that I hardly ever get time to rest. It’s sad that I only have five days left here but I’m also really looking forward to see my family again. I hope my trip back to Switzerland is going to be just as smooth as my trip was, when I came here .

As I’m writing this blog post I’ve already spent half of my time here. I can’t believe it. I couldn’t be happier with my host family. They are so kind and every single meal my host mother cooks is just amazing.
This week on Tuesday I went to an under 18s party. First, I thought it might be boring but Alexandra and I thought we needed to try it. It turned out to be a fun evening. Everyone was dancing and the music was good too. We met some people from different countries which is always very interesting. I’m very happy I went there even though I didn’t know what to expect. These partys take place on the beach every Tuesday and Friday . And because I liked it so much I went there again on Friday. After the party, at about 11pm, we all went to the beach and hopped into the water. I will never forget this moment.

This week, when I walked through the streets I walked past this sign saying “hot yoga”. I thought it sounds interesting so why not try it. So I went to the yoga center and I had my first lesson. I really enjoyed it and signed up for subscribtion, allowing me to take as many lessons as I want to for the time I’m here.

On Friday I went to London again, to see the Pride Parade. There were 1.5 million people and once we had to stand still for 15 minutes because it was just to crowded to move. I loved seeing so many different personalities celebrating together and each other.

My first week in Brighton went past so fast. But let’s start form the beginning. My parents and my brother brought me to the airport in Zürich and I was sad when I had to say bye to them, but as soon as I was on the plane I was just looking forward to spend 4 weeks in a foreign country. And traveling on my own turned out much easier than I thought. But when I arrived at London City airport my transfer wasn’t there… So I had to call the emergency number of my school and a very kind lady helped my to find a taxi which brought me to Peacehaven, where I’m staying for these 4 weeks. On the way to Peacehaven I talked to the taxi driver who lives in London and wondered what my host family is going to be like. I got a little nervous when I rang the bell but Sahra, my hostmum, and John, my hostdad, where really kind and showed me around the house and they also showed me how to take the bus to school. They have a daughter, Anya who is also really nice and we went for a walk at the beach on my first evening. At dinner I also met the other two students who live in this house, they are both from Saudi Arabia.
The first day at EC was really interesting, we talked about Brighton, what it takes to learn a new language and of course how the school is organised. Every teacher I have at EC is really kind and funny it doesn’t really feel like school at all, although I’ve learned a lot already.
The next few days where a great mixture between going to school having time for myself and meeting my friends. Since I life so close to the beach I often go for a run along the beach and have a quick swim in the ocean.

On Friday Alex and I decided we would like to go to London. And it was so easy to book this trip because EC helped us. So we spent Saturday in London where we did some sightseeing, a boat tour on the river Thames and of course a lot of shopping. And when we took the tube for the first time this happened…