Friday, June 18, 2004 (Test and My Performance)

In the morning I got up a little bit earlier and wrote in my diary and labelled my photos. When I arrived at school, we had a lot to tell each other. With James we used the computers to open our web blogs on the Internet. It needed a lot of time and sadly, Luise didn't make her own site. After that, we filled in a little bit of text in our blogs …

l have a test in James' class; we hope it isn’t too easy ... :-)

Now we are sitting in the computer room and it was raining outside just a minute ago. But how my host mother says "just wait a minute and the weather will be changing" - and now the sun is shining again.

In the test we had to wrote a composition describing a story how we wished our lives were different, at least 200 words and we were to use combinations with wish and a mixture of conditionals. *ufff
After the test we ate the chocolate from Croatia that was from Suzana and she gave us some information about her country. We exchanged addresses and then Luise and Suzana received their diplomas.

We decided to skip the lessons with Kirsty and visit the National Gallery of Scotland. It was designed by William Playfair.This imposing classical building with its Ionic porticoes dates from the 1850s. It houses an important collection of European art from Renaissance to post-impressionism. There are paintings by Verrocchio (Leonardo da Vinci’s teacher), Tintoretto, Titian, Holbein, Rubens, van Dyck, Vermeer, El Greco, Poussin, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Turner, Constable, Monet, Pissaro, Gauguin, Cezanne and a lot more.
Another section, dedicated to Scottish art, includes portraits by Allan Ramsay and Sir Henry Reaburn, rural scenes by Sir David Wilkie and impressionistic landscapes by William MacTaggart. For me this was the most interesting part of this beautiful gallery. We laughed that we all would like to have one of these nice pictures at home over the fireside … but the sizes and the very big frames were holding us back. ;-)
www.natgalscot.ac.uk

The weather changed very fast and after the sunshine, we came back to school very wet. I then had my speech about Switzerland in James' class. I hope it wasn’t too bad! But James asked some interesting questions, Krista is also from Switzerland, Suzana from Croatia and Siv from Sweden didn't say anything terrible about it. I learned a lot from the information about Croatia and I think sometimes I would like to visit this land – Suzana invited us to stay with here.

After school I didn't go back home I just walked up and down the High Street. I talked with some technical students and other people on the street; it was very communicative. I sat on a park bench and just watched the people passing by. But the weather changed again and I needed a coffee and a muffin to warm up. In Starbuck's there was a singer with his guitar and his live music was really good.



John Knox House

The John Knox House is the oldest surviving tenement in Edinburgh, dating from around 1490, and the outside staircase, overhanging upper floors and crow-stepped gables are all typical of a 15th-century town house. John Knox is thought to have occupied the 2nd floor from 1561 to 1572. The labyrinthine interior has some beautifully painted timber ceilings and an interesting display on Knox’s life and work.



Telephone cabins and taxi

I liked the red telephone cabins and the taxis – or “fast blacks”, as they are called locally.



The World's End - Pub

The World’s End, so named because this part of High Street once lay next to the Old Town limit – part of the 16th-century Flodden Wall can still be seen in the basement.

We met in the pub by the Bank Hotel. It’s an imposing, neoclassical building dating from 1923, formerly a bank (surprise, surprise). While waiting, the football match Italy against Sweden was on TV and there were some fans from Sweden sitting in this pub. Then we looked for another pub and wandered around. Now, in front of every pub there is a security guard. Before us, some girls under 18 tried to get in but the guards were very rude to them. We found a nice place with enough space for all on the Grassmarket. Like I read “Indulge in Scottish fare and wash it down with a wee dram of whisky at once of Grassmarket’s pubs”.

The address of the blogs from the other students:
Suzana www.suzanabrenko.blogspot.com
Aya www.ayakawai.blogspot.com
Judith www.judith58.blogspot.com
Luisa www.italianluisadiary.blogspot.com
Pekka www.pekkadaukydiary.blogspot.com
David www.d_arias.blogspot.com/
Therese www.thereseedinburgh.blogspot.com
Elsa www.elsa-larreur.blogspot.com
and our teacher James www.rjkewing.blogspot.com