more photos from VALENCIA

la plaza de la virgen

huuuuge whale at the aquarium

cute sculptures outside the science museum

giant diplodocus outside the science museum that moved!! 

superhero exhibition at the science museum hehe

down at the harbor, TEAM NEW ZEALAND!!

amazing beach

beach again, which we actually fell asleep on for an hour on our last day, soooo nice in the sunshine

el mercado central, where we got fresh strawberries and pastries for breakfast each morning

cute street

xoxox 

love you all

VALENCIA

big post this time round!
i just got back from my first half term break, where I went to VALENCIA for 5 day!!
i went with Emma, a friend from st cuths who is working at a school in greenwich for the year, and it was amazing to finally get some vitamin d again after not seeing the sun for a solid month. it got to 26 degrees one day, so i am coming back to school with some really cute tan lines from my sunglasses :) we stayed in an amazing hostel that was opposite el mercado central, and a 5min walk from two of the main squares in the city. The city is beautiful, and we spent the whole first day getting lost down the tiny alleyways and side streets, we were also very touristy, and went to the zoo, the hemisferic, aquarium and the science museum on a great tourist bus, even managed to do a bit of shopping. While it wasn't a very relaxing break it was heaps of fun and definitely worth it just to get some sunlight.
Emma and I are already making plans for our next half term break in may!!!
here are some of the 322 photos we took in 5 days haha...

this was the view from the balcony outside out hostel room

the music hall

the hemisferic and science museum, which are next to the music hall and aquarium

outside the hemisferic

outside of the science museum

dolphin show at the aquarium

giraffe at the biopark

one of the many beautiful parks in the city

plaza de torros

outside the science museum

xxxx

School

i thought you might like some photos of the school :)

                                          the furthest top window is from my bedroom

                                          where the kids play at morning tea and lunch, the courts and
                                          rockery are to the left and there are more fields past the trees

                           upper school building, red door leads to the dining room, kitchen is to
                          the right and through the door and up the stairs is my room
                                            

                                  car park, trees are in the rockery/field/courts area, to the left is
                                 IT room and middle school, and to the right is the picture above

                                            front of the school, upper school building

view from the dinning room

other view from the dinning room

xx

London

In the weekend I took my first trip into London. I managed to get myself to the right station and on to the right train heading to Euston, which I was quite proud of, the trip takes about 35mins but its a good chance to see some more of the country. I met up with another gappie and we spent the day walking, bussing, and tubing around the city. We basically worked our way round the monopoly board, visiting trafalgar square, piccadilly, oxford st, regent st... The city is amazing, and we only saw a fraction of what we wanted to, but I will definitely be spending more time there. On sunday, Teresa Harris, another one of the lovely teachers, took me out to lunch, with her daughter and Claire, who was a gappie at WBH last year. We went to a french place in Berkhamstead, a village 10mins away, then Claire and I went back to Teresa's for tea. Great  weekend overall :)

Just a couple of photos...

                                                               London Eye during the day

                                                                     London Eye at night
                                                                

                                                                        Tower Bridge

                                                                              Parliament

Hyde Park

xxxxx

Week 1

So far this week has been pretty good, little bit homesick, but I'm sure that you all know that, thanks mum. The teachers here are really friendly, on Friday night we went to Lucy Woods house for dinner, she is an english teacher and has some kids our age. Unfortunately Val and I were so tired that we basically fell asleep on her couch after dinner. Then on saturday another teacher took us into Hemel for the afternoon, we had a wander around and got our phones, then that night another teacher picked us up and took us out for indian. She was lovely and said that there was always a spare bed at her place for us if we wanted it. Sunday morning we had a bit of a sleep in, then Andrew Grundy picked us up and took us out to lunch at a French cafe in one of the nearby towns, yay veges!!
Monday we started our timetable that we will be following all year. Its looking pretty good so far, I have at least 2 hours break every day and the rest of the time I'm helping out with PE or photocopying. The boarding at the school is, like many other things, different from back home, there are a max of 14 boarders at a time and nobody boards permanently, also it switches each week from boys to girls. This week we had boys boarding so on wednesday night we got to take them go-carting, next week with the girls we are going tenpin bowling and iceskating.
The weather here is freeeeezing, five layers of merino and I am still shivering, but luckily my room has a huge heater, so at night I'm able to curl up and watch TV.
Planning on going into London this saturday for a bit of sightseeing, so I will have some photos in my next post, sorry there aren't any for this one.
Anyway I'm off on a geo trip to this crazy roundabout in Hemel that has 6 exits, and cars that are allowed to go around it both ways. I'll post again after the weekend
xxxx

Arrival

This blog is going to be pretty basic, I don't really have a talent for writing sorry, but I'll definitely put heaps of photos up for you all...

So after a ridiculously long flight, with a 2hour stop over in LA, all 70 of us gappies arrived at Heathrow at  10ish in the morning very tired and very hungry, plan food is really gross! We soon hopped on some busses which took us all to Reeding University, where we met all the Aussie gappies as well. Everyone was split into groups depending on the area that their placement was in, so i was with people going to Home Counties North, we talked a bit about traveling, saving and things to do and see. I also got the chance to meet Vallance (not Vladamir) the guy who is also at WBH for the year, he's pretty cool so far, really chill and friendly. After dinner (luckily i knew some people from Auckland and the orientation so I didn't have to sit by myself and yes mum I was friendly and did talk to people) a pub quiz was organised but I was so tired from the flight that I bailed early and was in bed by 7:30. The next day Vallance and I got picked up by Keith, principal of WBH, who drove us to the school. The speed limit is clearly not followed much over here and the traffic lights are weird. The drive was about 40min, so we got to see a bit of the countryside, we also drove past Windsor Castle which was cool. We arrived at WBH and were given some time to unpack our bags, Vallance was really nice and gave me the bigger bedroom, then we went to lunch in the dinning room, and after we got straight into it helping out with PE, I helped out year 5 & 6 with hockey, not that I have ever playing in my life. We were given a bit more free time so I just chilled in my room and watched TV, then Andrew Grundy, who looks after us gappies, took us down to the local pub for dinner. It was so cute and totally different to what we have in NZ, I got fish and chips though so it felt a bit like being back home :) The weather over here is pretty miserable, but not as cold as I expected, the time difference, however, means that I am nacked by 5pm and wide awake at 3am. Its going to take a while to get used to things over here but so far I'm really excited for what is to come. Love you and miss you all xxx

                                                            just a few pictures of my room...