Monday, June 14, 2004 (First Day in School)

Three (or four) students and one bathroom, this would be the ceremony now every morning. We ate breakfast together with our host mother and spoke about the dinner and our plans for the evening program. Our host father left the house, normally earlier in the morning. JoeJoe liked his first training unit in the morning, which was fetching the ball in the garden and so we threw the ball again and again.

After having asked Miguel for a pound – I needed the exact change for the bus to school – I walked to the bus stop. I was telling myself again and again; just wait on the correct side because the traffic drives on the left. After a few minutes of standing in a queue, the red double decker bus arrived. Everywhere, I saw children in their school uniforms. Over and over again, I asked the other passengers where we were and how long it would take me to the station closest to school. After a 45 minutes bus ride and a small walk, I stood before the school building. Wow very special – the building had been a church before and the “gothic” windows gave it a special look.



Edinburgh School of English

A file with the basic information and a warm welcome gave us the first impression of the school. After a test and an interview it was time for the first break. With Jon and Pekka, I looked for a café close to school and we asked each other about the reasons for our stay. Back in school, we met our classemates and the hard work began. James was the name of our morning teacher and the other students in the class come from all over the world - China, Japan, Spain, Italy, Finland, Austria and Croatia. We met in the room called Skye; all rooms are named after an isle from Scotland. Our work book for the next two weeks was Inside Out, Macmillan ISBN 0-333-75764-8.

A strange smell, like fresh bread, was always in the air … it was the hops from the Edinburgh beer brewery. And also very special was the daily “laugh” of a sea gull, close to our school window. For lunch we met us again and I ate my first “wrapper” with chicken salsa. The time flew by and back in school again we met Kirsty, our afternoon teacher. She told us about nice places close to Edinburgh. After another break I met James again, but now in a smaller group. We had some tough lessons with him. First, we heard some criticism about our English … ups, sure but also some nice words about the good things … uff, but at the end a lot of homework … puhh. After school (at 5 pm) Suzanna went with Pekka and me to the bus station and helped us to buy a bus pass.

Now it was the first time, that I walked a part of the famous Royal Mile. It descends the rocky ridge from the castle to Holyrood Palace and it’s a mile long historic street in the Old Town. I took some photos and met some fascinating closes, wynds and courts. The names of some places were: Mercat Cross, Parliament House, Edinburgh City Chamber and the Heart of Midllothian … some people from Edinburgh spat in the centre of it!? This heart-shaped stone set marks the site of the entrance to the Tolbooth that stood here for 400 years. The Tolbooth served as a collection point for tolls and taxes, council chamber and courthouse, prison and place of execution.



St. Giles' Cathedral

The open-crown spire of St. Giles’ Cathedral dominates the Old Town’s skyline. Supporting the spire are four pillars dating from around 1120. These are part of an early church that was under the responsibility of the Lazarites, who cared for lepers, and this may be why the church is dedicated to St. Giles, patron saint of lepers. I tried to take some pictures of the very nice stained glass windows and the gorgeous Thistle Chapel (The Order of the Thistle – Scotland’s highest order of chivalry), but they were too dark without a tripod. www.stgilescathedral.org.uk

In the bus my new bus pass fell into the coin slot and the bus driver and I were very sorry about that. After dinner (with dessert), small talk, a lot of homework, writing in my German diary and labelling the pictures (with help from my host father Bill), I was too tired to look at the news on TV.



Home of my host family in Edinburgh