The End

We're slowly coming towards the end of my British Log my friends...

Of course, my account, started a bit more than a year ago (yikes!) cannot be closed without a concluding article. I've done lots during these nine months as a Foreign Language Assistant, and I've learnt many things too. So here is the conclusion to my adventure!

My schools

As you already know, I worked in two schools: Soham Village College and City of Ely Community College. I mostly worked with Year 10 and 11 classes but had the chance to have some private lessons with Year 12 and 13 students.

Overall, the job was all right. It was quite often boring and very repetitive though, as I had to take small groups out in the corridor and make them talk for five or ten minutes. Basically, I had a list of questions and had to listen to and improve the pupils' answers, which were always the same and always learnt by heart. Sometimes I had to create games to make them practice. I was an assistant for 8 months and I had to deal with only two topics: holidays and health. I did talk about summer and part-time jobs and housing, but still... Pretty boring.

Before coming here, I thought I'd be able to talk about my country, its customs and culture, and have some more freedom. The problem is that the kids have to sit their GCSEs at the end of Year 11 and therefore only study for that purpose.

I was quite shocked by the pupils' level. Some basic stuff, such as grammar or fundamental spelling and pronunciation rules, are not acquired. Besides, they have a very poor notion of grammar in general, since the English grammar is not even studied any more... So it made it really difficult for me to explain things, when simple terms like “auxiliary”, “conjugated verb”, “direct” and “indirect objects” were not understood. It's also pretty damn impossible for them to understand a foreign grammar when they're not familiar with their own! I think there's room for concern here...

Fortunately, I had one really good class in Soham. It was a really small class; only five students. And they were really nice and motivated and also, I had the opportunity to actively participate in the lessons and did not merely have to repeat the same instructions and questions over and over.

Of course, I also had my private lessons with the Sixth Formers. I was looking forward to those, especially with my Year 13s, because I could spend more time with my students and had more freedom. It usually took my quite some time to prepare their lessons, but at the end of the day, it was a rewarding job! Their spoken level was pretty good (grammar-wise, it was not that great...) and I could talk about interesting issues and introduce them to the Swiss culture! Too bad I only taught them 3 lessons every other week...

In a nutshell, I'd have liked to work longer with the pupils, because I don't think that five or ten minutes is enough; actually, I think it's pretty worthless. What's more, I'd have liked to use all the magazines and DVDs and material I'd brought from Switzerland. But I barely used anything at all! So I'm a bit disappointed about my role as a language assistant. Fortunately, most of the kids were nice and I didn't have any serious discipline problems. And let's not forget about my colleagues! They were all really nice. All of them. They made me feel like a colleague and not like a mere assistant! =)

Host family

Of course you know that I lived with Kathy and her daughter Scarlett. At first, I was not really happy to live in Soham, because I wasn't keen on living in a small and boring town. But as soon as I met Kathy, I knew that I would stay there. She's so nice, kind, open-minded, generous, easy-going and she made me feel at home quite instantly. I could have my friends and family over and had total freedom. I'm really happy to have met her and I will stay in touch and try to visit her as often as possible. She said she'd be offended if I didn't haha.

What about Scarlett. The Little Monster, as I like to call her. She's one cheeky monkey. She sure has character! She hates going to bed at night, but it's almost impossible to drag her out of bed in the morning haha. But it was a pleasure to get to know her all the same. I enjoyed showing her my make-up and having my nails done – she's passionate about nails, see?

So yeah, I consider myself really lucky to have lived with Kathy and Scarlett. I'm gonna miss them, but as with Tatjana, I know that we'll see each other again if we really want to! England is an island all right, but it's not in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so we should be fine XD

Contacts

You'd think that after nine months in the UK, I'd have socialised, met loads of nice people and made some friends. Well, I didn't really. I tried to meet people; I attended some keeping-fit classes, but only older people went there... On the bus maybe? Old people... So no, I didn't really make any friends, apart from Tatjana, the schools' staff and my host family. I'm a bit disappointed, but on the other hand, it means I won't miss too many people haha.

I'm really happy with the people I got to know though. I already talked about Kathy and her daughter, but not really about Tatjana, who was the German assistant. We got along really well. We took some trips together, went out a couple of times and organised DVD parties. It was lovely. I'm happy that her and I became friends. I don't think I would have survived if I hadn't got along with the other assistant, as she was the only friend my age. I mean, of course I'd have survived, but it would certainly have been difficult.

And I hope I'll keep in touch with the teachers too! I think they enjoyed having us working with them! As I said before, I think Tatjana and I were lucky to have worked with them, because they were really friendly and open and they really made us feel like colleagues. I know that some assistants are ignored by the other teachers, because the latter don't have time and are too busy to deal with mere assistants. So yeah, I'm happy we got to work with such nice people! =)

Allowance

So we got a bit more than £800 per month. I had to pay some taxes in April and May but will hopefully get the money back. I also got some money from my lovely parents. But even without their help, I'd have been more than fine. I didn't go out on weekends so it left me plenty of money for travelling and shopping. Besides, living in the countryside helps: food and transports are not too expensive!

Trips

I really made the most of my year in the UK! I travelled a LOT! If you go back to my “Places I Have Visited, Want to Visit and Will Visit in the UK” list, you'll notice that almost every place is crossed out!

I went to London every month and to Cambridge almost every week (as I had predicted). I took the train to Norwich several times, went to Bury St. Edmunds a couple of times. I had days out in Nottingham, Oxford, Aldeburgh. Took a trip to the north of England, which included Lincoln, Leeds, York and Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Spent a weekend in Bristol and saw Bath and Cardiff, spent another weekend in Liverpool and Chester. Went to Scotland for a whole week and visited Edinburgh and Glasgow and even took a day trip to the Loch Ness and the Highlands. I visited Windsor Castle. And I even flew to Berlin for a weekend!

I didn't have the chance to go to the Lake District, the Cotswolds or Cornwall, but I will most certainly go back to the UK. Also, I'll go to Canterbury soon, since my brother will do an Erasmus exchange there, so I'll visit him for a couple of days =D

I'm so happy that I got to travel so much. I'm a really lucky person =D

My English

Well I *think* my English was already good before I went to England. Being a literature student, I had to (and still do) read a lot of different things, from novels to poems and through critical analysis. Likewise, I could understand films and series almost perfectly. Understanding English was not a problem at all. I also have to write a lot essays so I was and still am (hopefully) used to writing in English and I enjoy it very much, too! As for the speaking, well I've always thought it was my weakest point. My speaking skills really depend on the situation I'm in; who I'm talking with, whether I'm in a formal or informal context and of course, it also varies according to my mood. My English can astonish me some days or, on the other hand, disappoint and frustrate me. But then again, there are some days when I can't seem to speak French either, so...

It's really difficult for me to say if I've improved or not. Kathy told me that my English was already perfect when I arrived, but I don't believe her. When you're not a native speaker, I don't think it's possible to master the language like they do. Anyway. I have learnt a lot of everyday words and I also extended my household vocabulary. And I guess I've also become more fluent and improved my pronunciation. My regret is that I will never speak like an English woman, but hopefully, I've got a bit closer to sounding like one... Something that I have noticed is that if it was sometimes hard for me to understand some characters in EastEnders, I now don't have any problems at all! I've mastered Cockney, and that's the bloomin' truf mate!

And I haven't mentioned the most important thing! I studied for the CPE exam (Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English) and sat the exam at the end of my stay. I bought some books in December and self studied. I've learnt lots thanks to that! I decided to sit this exam because I felt like I wasn't really improving and I was thirsty for knowledge; I never seem to have enough of English learning in my life mwa ha ha.

Britain

Remember the long article I wrote about Britain, a while back? The one in which I tell you about the things I knew about Britain and the British? Well. Let me come back to that now. After nine months in a country, I guess you get a pretty good idea of its ways and customs. So let me take each point I previously made and comment on them.

I said that British people like to do thing topsy-turvy. Well, if seeing cars circulate on the left didn't surprise me much after nine months, I still struggled with drivers sitting on the right; whenever I had to enter a car, I wanted to open the wrong door. Gee. Never quite got used to it.

British doors are not all tricky. Kathy's got a pretty normal door, with a normal handle and a normal lock. And so do all her neighbours. So only some British doors are weird. Or maybe they've learnt. I don't know!

They haven't learnt about the usefulness of the single-tap system though. I had two taps at Kathy's and never managed to get tepid water when I wanted some! So annoying...

What about food. Well I cooked my own food so it was always tasty and perfect (=P). But I went out to restaurants and was never disappointed. And I stand by what I said about puddings; the British do know how to make good desserts =P I also tasted Kathy's food, which, while being a bit repetitive, was not bad at all! The lack of vegetables and green stuff is quite shocking though. Scarlett always made fun of me because I ate a lot of salad... Oh well...

The weather! I was really lucky! We did get horrible weather sometimes but we got a lot of sunshine as well! Winter was really cold but it didn't rain too much. It snowed though and because of that, I couldn't get back to Switzerland (for Christmas) quite when I'd planned to. Anyway. We had a lovely spring. Warm and sunny. So yeah, here again, I stand by what I previously said: it's NOT always raining in England. And that, my friends, is a true fact.

Well what can I say about British pounds? I still love them. I'm gonna miss them. Especially the fiver, which I find really useful (a fiver is a £5 note by the way).

Have I learnt any new and exciting idioms and expressions? Yes, I have! “A dog's dinner”, “bring home the bacon” or “sell like hotcakes”. But I have to say that I learnt most of them while studying for the CPE exam... And I've also learnt some interjections, such as “crikey”, which I really love! And I'm proud to say that by the end of my stay, I could say “cheers” to the bus driver without even thinking about it!

I won't really talk about literature because I didn't read much during my assistantship *ashamed*. I read some teen books and some Charlotte Brontë as well. Not much at all. Oh, and I read Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for the CPE exam too. I'd seen Shakespeare in Love before, so that was boring. As for the android thing, I hated it. It's science-fiction and it's really weird. Sci-fi's not my cup of tea anyway. But I guess it was interesting (…).

In Britain, people do drink tea all the time. Kathy has about ten cups a day. With milk and sugar, please!

Queue is indeed very much sacred. I sometimes had to queue to get in the bus.

And everybody was polite to me. Except for some pupils who pretended they didn't see me and ignored me when seeing me down town. But I don't think it's an English thing; rather, it's a teenage thing.

Pubs. I only went into pubs a couple of times. And they're always cosy. There are some drunkards sometimes, but nothing too serious. So I still like pubs. And I still hate beer haha. Cider's ok though, I like it =P

And I'm still a fan of shops here in the UK. I love Paperchase, although I have to say that they used to have more things. I love All Saints and Radley and Waterstones and a lot of great shops. The only bad thing about shopping in England is that you can find the same shops everywhere, so it can get a bit boring. I wish there was more variety sometimes...

I already talked about travelling. I got to see lots of places and apart from Leeds, I enjoyed everything that I visited! If Britain's not varied shopping-wise, it's varied visit-wise! You can go from towns like Cambridge, which are really old, to big and modern cities like Liverpool, through little charming villages like Chester. Let's not forget the lovely countryside! You can basically get everything. I like that!

Ok now I'm done reviewing what I already knew. What new things have I learnt?

The British like their traditions and they like to make every event a big thing. Bonfire Night, Christmas, Pancake Day, Easter, Mother's Day and Father's Day. If, by chance, you forget that Christmas or Easter is coming, don't worry! Here, you get reminded everywhere and all the time!

Food. They're obsessed with it. TV programs, TV adverts, street adverts, restaurant offers, more adverts. Food is everywhere! Everybody's talking about eating and dieting. I got obsessed with it myself. I felt guilty when I bought red-marked products. Yeah, not only do you know how many calories there are in every single thing, but they also tell you if the food you're about to buy is high or low in sugar, fat, saturated fat and salt, thanks to a very clever colour system: green for ok, orange for medium and red for bad. It's good in a way, because it allows you to make the right choices, but it also ends up driving you nuts (which are high in fat, but it's the good kind of fat. They don't tell you THAT on the package though!!).

Well I guess that's about it really! I like Britain and I guess that now I can say I know the country pretty well, given all the travelling I did and the time I spent there!

Personal development

What about me? Huh? Have I changed? Have I learnt things about myself? Have I become fully independent and full of self-confidence?

Well I guess my family and friends are the ones who will be able to tell. But I still noticed some changes.

I'm not panic-stricken at the idea of giving a phone call any more. I don't stress over insignificant little things; I'm way more relaxed than I used to be! Example: before going to England, if I had a trip organised, I'd plan everything well in advance and pack days before departure. By the end of my stay, after a few trips, I just didn't care and packed the evening before haha. I'm still a bit of a planning freak though. I couldn't possibly leave without a minimum of organisation! But that's my nature, I can't change that. I hope that my new stress-free attitude won't fade away once I get back to uni...

Also, I guess I've become more independent! I know how to cook – even though my cooking skills are still pretty basic – I can do my own laundry and I can manage my own money. I think I've gained some self-confidence too. And that was not unwanted. I needed some badly. I travelled around Great Britain. Never got lost. Never had any problems. I had to sort out so much paperwork, think about so many things (especially at the beginning). Yep. I think I grew up quite a bit during these nine months! I hope I did at least!

Finally, I've realised how much I love my country. I'm happy to be Swiss and I now know I want to live and work in Switzerland. I love England, don't get me wrong, but from what I've seen, I'll be better off here. Teaching in the UK is not paradise-like. Ok, it's not perfect in Switzerland either, but teaching here is, in my opinion, a more rewarding, fulfilling and satisfying job than it is across the Channel. The Swiss school system just suits me better I suppose!

To conclude...

My year abroad was a positive experience. My work as a language assistant was a bit disappointing; I was honestly expecting more. My advise to future assistants would be not to set their expectations too high.

However, I did have loads of fun sometimes and besides, assistantship is not just about being a language assistant! I only worked 12 hours a week, so that left me plenty of free time to do other things, such as... travelling and shopping hehehehe. Back to being serious: going abroad for a long period of time teaches you a lot about another country, its language and culture, but it also teaches important things about yourself and life in general.

I would recommend this experience to everyone. And I would do it again too. I don't regret it AT ALL!

Thank you for reading my British Log! I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. It's been a pleasure to share my experience with you, my dear and faithful readers, who were brave enough to keep up with my crazy writing!

My Last Weekend in England

Hello everybody!

Well, I'm now back in Switzerland and it feels like I never left really. It's strange. I hadn't seen my brother in almost 6 months and when I saw him waiting on the railway platform, it felt like I'd left him the day before or something! But before telling you about homecoming, I have to tell you about my last weekend in England!

On Friday morning, I packed. Well, tried to rather... It was a nightmare. I thought I'd be able to pack everything, that it'd  be a piece of cake and that my big suitcases would weigh no more than 20kg each. Boy was I wrong! Soon after I started, I realised the task was impossible and doomed to failure. I weighed my big red bag and it was already 26kg (and I wasn't finished yet then!). So well, I told my mum and said we'd have to send some things by mail. She said ok and told me to just wait for her. My mum is the suitcase fairy. I don't know how she does it, but she can pack a whole room into a tiny suitcase. My hopes were not up in the blue sky, but they were not crashed down into the basement either.

My mum arrived on Friday night. Well I had four suitcases to go to England and I still had those four suitcases to come back in Switzerland, so I still needed my mum to help me out with that. And she was happy to spend the weekend with me. I was too of course! We wanted to have dinner at Jamie's Italian in Cambridge, so I told my mum to stop at Cambridge and not Ely. We met at the station and went straight to Jamie's. It was about 8 o'clock when we arrived and we still had to wait for about one hour before being shown our table. But it was ok, because we always have something to chat about with my mum, and it was a good opportunity to enjoy a tasty glass of Prosecco =P

The food was superb, like always! And I had my nice lemon curd tart for dessert as well. Yum. I love it so much! But don't worry! I'm still a chocoholic! My mum enjoyed her meal too. And she also had the lemon thingy hihi.

Good thing we had a good meal because as soon as we arrived in Soham, we started packing again. Well, my mum unpacked everything, just to repack everything again. It was 2am when we stopped, and we were not even finished yet!! But being the suitcase fairy, she managed to pack more things than I had. Still. We had to put almost all my books in boxes, ready to be posted the following day... And we also paid for 12 extra kilos on Easyjet.com, because it's cheaper than paying at the airport...

On Saturday, we went to Cambridge, to do a little bit of shopping. Window shopping. It was hard to resist but we just couldn't buy too many things! So yeah, we did buy some things. Little things XD It was a lovely day anyway. I like Cambridge and so does my mum so we had fun! And for lunch, we had a sandwich and a scone with jam and cream =P That was yummy. My last cream tea for a while I guess =(

And in the evening, we went to Sergio's, the Italian restaurant in Soham. Kathy invited us. Scarlett came too. We had a really good time! And for dessert, I had a yummy yumm Irish coffee. I had never tasted one before and it will definitely NOT be my last one hehehehe =P And I gave Kathy and Scarlett their presents. I got Kathy a leopard-print wine glass (I said it would make up for all the glasses and spoons I'd broken haha). She reacted just as I'd expected. She laughed and couldn't believe it! She said she'd drink her wine in that glass from now on hehe. And Scarlett got a tattoo set from Urban Decay. It's a really cool set and she was over the moon I think. She wanted to try them right away, but her mum convinced her to wait until the next morning. They're really good false tattoos, and you need to concentrate to apply them, otherwise it gets messy!

We all had a good time, and I'm happy that we got to spend my last night in England like that. It was a nice and relaxed evening!

On Sunday morning, my mum and I finished packing. And after that, I cooked an English breakfast. Without beans, because my mum hates them (why??). It was tasty and also, we needed some energy for the long day that was ahead of us! Eventually, it was time to say goodbye =( Kathy and Scarlett left to spend the day with Scarlett's dad (it was Father's Day on Sunday). It was actually quite strange to say goodbye and stay in the house, while my host family were the ones to leave haha. We said goodbye and hugged and they were gone. It didn't take long. Kathy hates goodbyes. So do I. Why make them last forever huh? I shed some tears though. I couldn't help it. Kathy almost did but she could hold hers back. Scarlett was all right I think!

Later on, Kathy texted me to tell me that they'd voted me the best lodger ever. How cool hihi. I will see them again. I'm not too sad I guess... I still feel a pinch in the heart when I think about them, but it's normal I guess; I spent nine months with them!

Then we just had to wait for the taxi... Which arrived at 2pm sharp, just like it was supposed to! Yay! We put all the suitcases in the boot and off we went! The journey lasted for about 1h30-2h. It went smoothly, until we reached the airport. There was a traffic jam where people were picked up and dropped off so we had to wait for quite a while... But we had plenty of time, so we didn't panic or anything! At one point, another car wanted to overtake us, so our taxi driver gave them the finger. And they gave gave us the finger too. Seconds later, a police car arrived and so, all the other cars had to give way to them. So my mum told the taxi driver he should get a blue light so he wouldn't have any problems any more. And you know what his answer was?? He said he should get a giant blue f*ck flashing light. My mum and I burst out laughing and he joined us. It was SO funny and the way he said it was so spontaneous and so... British I guess? Mwa ha ha ha ha!

Well, then we arrived at the airport and we checked in. We had 12 extra kilos. My dodgy scale was right! How cool? Well it'd still have been better not to have any extra kilos... Anyway... Then we had time to buy some things in the duty-free area and it was great because we then had some plastic bags, where we put some stuff from our handbags and we ended up having ONE handbag each (you know, Easyjet restrictions, blah blah blah). Everything went smoothly and the plane was even on time!

In fact, we arrived 25 minutes before schedule! Which means we had time to catch the train we really wanted to catch but thought we wouldn't be able to! Yay! Unfortunately, there was some work being done to the railway track... So my dad picked us up in Biel/Bienne (we'd have had to take several buses to get home otherwise, which wouldn't have been a piece of cake with all our stuff!). My brother was with him on the platform when we arrived. And as I said before, it was like I'd seen them the day before!! So weird...

Then we walked to the car, put all the bags in the boot (again) and my dad said I had to sit at the front. I was a bit puzzled but really curious haha. We drove and drove and still, I didn't know why my dad had made me sit there! Only when we arrived home did I find out. My dad and brother had put up a HUGE sign at the garage entrance, saying "Welcome back home, Emilie!". I was so surprised and pleased! What a good idea! It felt like an American movie! I felt a bit like when I got the orchid for my birthday actually!

And that's it! I'm here now and my adventure is over. I'm happy to be home. I have so much to do now! Unpack, tidy up, sort things out, get appointments and so on and so forth... Not cool...

Certificate of Proficiency in English

Dearest readers of mine.

Good day to you!

I know I haven't mentioned this exam before and that's because I was afraid it'd bring me bad luck if I did. So yeah, a while ago, back in December actually, I decided to take the Certificate of Proficiency in English, Cambridge ESOL's highest examination (level C2 on the European Framework). Here is a diagram that shows you the different levels and exams you can take:

I don't really need this certificate, but I thought it was a good way to end my stay abroad and to show some kind of achievement. I would be really, really proud if I pass it! Also, the CAE (Certificate of Advanced English) is a requirement for the teacher training school I will attend in two years or so and therefore I thought: “why not try the highest level?”. If I fail, I'll take the CAE... But I won't fail *fingers crossed*.

The proficiency test consists of 5 papers: Reading (1h30), Writing (2h), Use of English (1h30), Listening (40min) and Speaking (19min). Each paper is worth 20% of the whole mark. The pass grades are A, B and C. In order to get a C grade (and hence get a certificate), you need to achieve the score of at least 60%.

The CPE is not only about the language though. You have to be able to express your opinions, structure your thoughts and show confidence in all kinds of situations and contexts. Some people say that at C2 level, you speak like, or even better than a native speaker. Well I think that's going a bit too far. I don't think any learner, as advanced as they may be, will ever be able to master a language as well as, let alone outdo a native speaker!

So as you can guess, this test is not a piece of cake. Far from it actually!

I tried to find classes, you know, to prepare myself. But I could only find intensive courses (20 or 25 lessons a week). I had nor the time nor the money to register for those. Besides, they all took place in Cambridge, so it would have been a problem for me... (cf freakin' buses).

So what did I do? Well I asked around and saw whether it was possible to self study. And indeed it was! So I bought a self-study text book, Objective Proficiency, a grammar book for advanced learners, a little book called Common Mistakes at Proficiency... And How to Avoid Them (really useful!) and some practice tests (like mocks).

And then it was time to study! It was not easy at first, because it takes some time to get used to the different papers, especially the Use of English one, which is tricky and tough in my opinion. What's more, as easy as it was to check my grammar, listening and reading exercises, it wasn't so easy to judge my own writing. Fortunately, my mentor offered to read and mark my pieces of writing. That was very kind of him and it helped me a whole lot!

I forgot to give you the reason why I decided to take the CPE here and not in Switzerland. Well it's simple: sitting the exam costs about £120 here. Almost £300 in Switzerland. So the choice was not really difficult to make. Also, I think it's cool to be able to say that you sat the CPE in Cambridge, you know? Haha.

Anyway. My speaking exam took place on the 11^th of June. I had to go to Eurocentres in Cambridge. I knew where it was, no problemo! I arrived way too early. I had to be there 30 minutes before my exam, which was scheduled at 16:05 and I arrived there at about 14:50. Crazy, I know. But I was so freaking nervous. And well, I can't help being Swiss can I? I hate being late. Which is why I tend to be too early most of the time!

I waited outside and sat on a wall and tried to talk to myself, to warm up. I felt a bit silly. Then, 30 minutes before the exam, I went in again and gave my candidate sheet to the supervisor and was later told to sit with the other candidates. I was glad because I could get to know them a bit and, more importantly, I could warm up without feeling silly haha. I was really surprised to see that on the fifteen-odd candidates, more than half of them were Swiss! Switzerland rules baby! It was nice to be able to chat with them. It made me feel less nervous too, as I noticed that none of them spoke an incredibly astonishing English. I was reassured. Phew!

After a while, half of the group was called out to go upstairs and five or ten minutes later, it was our turn. Strangely, I felt quite relaxed at that point. I felt really comfortable with the other candidates so I knew that that wouldn't be a problem. We could basically chose who we wanted to sit the exam with. Yeah. Because you do it with another candidate. So I was with a really nice girl, from Zurich.

We entered Room 3 and greeted the two examiners (one of which was only there to mark us while the other asked – or rather read out – the questions). And it started. During the first part of the test, we had to answer questions about ourselves, about where we lived etc. I had to tell why my region was interesting and whether I thought Switzerland was an interesting country to visit and why. Easy peasy.

For part two, I had to talk with the other candidates and we had to discuss pictures. The theme was “children and education”. So it was quite easy I think. But we ran out of time and couldn't talk about all the pictures (there were 5 or 6 of them I think). So I hope we won't lose marks for that =S

As for the last part, which is, in my opinion, the toughest, we were presented with a prompt card, on which a question was written, followed by three bullet points. We had to talk about the topic of 2 minutes and we could include the bullet points in our discussion – or not, it was up to us. We were SO lucky with the topic, which was “travel and experience”. How suitable was that? Haha! After the individual “long turn” presentation, there followed a general discussion about travel and experience, in which we both had to participate.

And that was it! I think I did quite well. I didn't really stop talking and I didn't have to search too much for words either, which was good. I guess I said some stupid things but all in all, I wasn't too irrelevant haha. My partner said I did brilliantly. May she be right! She did pretty good by the way! I think we both passed anyway. Yeah we did *positive thinking* hihi.

After my exam I was soooo relieved! I utterly hate oral exams, but I love this feeling you have when it's all over! Actually, I felt so light that I treated myself with a chocolate and orange cheesecake =P

I took the other exams on the 16^th of June, namely, Reading, Writing, Use of English and Listening. I woke up at 5:30am because I had to take the 6:30 bus. I felt quite nervous... and I wasn't looking forward to what was waiting for me!

The first exam started at 9am and we finished at about 4pm. Boy it was a long day. It was really tough. Almost six hours of exams. And we barely had enough time to go to the loo in-between papers! The supervisor was a cruel and heartless woman; I wonder whether she's even a human being (maybe she's an android mwa ha ha (cf what I say later about one of the set texts))!! I have mixed feelings about the whole thing... Some things went well, others, not so well... Let me tell you about it all.

First we had the Reading. Which was really hard in my opinion (and I wasn't the only one to think so). It was quite twisted and full of details and subtlety. After a while, I just start doubting about everything and it was really frustrating. I don't know whether I did well or not to be honest, but I did try my best and hope it'll be enough!

Then we had the Writing. I think it went quite well in fact! For the first part, we had to write an article about competition and it inspired me. I had a lot of things to say and didn't struggle to express my thoughts so I guess it's a good sign? I did write too many words though... But I didn't go too much over the limit, so it should be fine. As for the second part, I chose to talk about relationships in Shakespeare in Love, one of the two set texts (the second one being Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?). We had a choice between a letter about recycling, an article about names (how odd?), a proposal and two questions about the set texts. I didn't even look at the proposal, as I hate them, and as soon as I saw the word android, I crossed the question out, because I absolutely hated that book. Ugh. At first, I wanted to write about recycling, but after five minutes, I realised I didn't really want to talk about that, nor had interesting things to say. So I picked the literary question instead and it was a good idea. I was really inspired and I'm quite satisfied with what I wrote =) I AM a literature student after all!

After lunch came the Use of English paper. There you need to fill in some gaps in a text, transform words, rewrite sentences and answer questions about a text (why is that part not in the Reading paper, I do not know!). Not easy. But I think it went ok actually! I don't think I got all the answers right, but then again, neither did I when practising... I'm quite happy with that one. I should have done ok. Hopefully...

Finally, we had the Listening. Oh god. I was tired and I had a headache. I just couldn't focus. I had lost my concentration and my mind kept wandering. Hearing people breathing, tapping their feet and playing with their pencils didn't help. I think I messed that one up =S And it makes me really angry because I always got about 90% when I did the practice tests!! Well, the other candidates I talked with at the end of the test were not happy with the Listening either so it's reassuring in a way I guess?

Anyway. I'm really happy it's over now. I am absolutely shattered. I went to Zumba afterwards and it was exactly what I needed; an opportunity to release the pressure and just get rid of the stress and invasive thoughts.

I will get the results on the 26^th of July. I really hope I pass. I'll be really disappointed if I don't. But now there's nothing left to do but wait and see!

*UPDATE*

I did it! I passed the Certificate of Proficiency in English! I got 82/100, which earned me an A grade =D I was "exceptional" at Reading, Writing, Use of English and Speaking and "good" at Listening (man I was so sure I'd failed that one!). I am SO happy and proud! All the hard work paid off =)

The Cream Cracker, Mars Bar and Pint of Coke Challenge

Hello dear friends!

It's been a long time since I wrote a silly and useless article. It's about time I published another one. Don't you think?

So. This silly and useless (yet utterly funny, I hope) article is about a really tough challenge I was issued on Friday night, by a friend of Kathy's. He told me I HAD to try it before I left. So Kathy said "let's do it tomorrow evening". And so we did.

What did the challenge consist of, you might be asking yourselves? Well it's a stupid, disgusting and absolutely pointless food challenge.

You have to:

1° Eat a whole cream cracker (which sticks to your gums).

2° Once you've finished the cracker, wolf down a whole Mars bar (which sticks to your teeth).

 

3° Last but not least (...), after the cracker and the Mars bar, swallow a whole pint of Coke (the more gas it contains, the better).

The whole thing has to be done within 5 minutes or less.

And I did it! I succeeded! In 4:30 minutes hehe. Kathy didn't. She didn't manage the Coke. It was too much. I have to say that I didn't know if I would survive the challenge. Drinking a pint of Coke in one minute is a really painful experience, trust me! I felt like throwing up at one point. And the only thing that made us feel better was burping haha. Disgusting. But really funny hahaha. I was really surprised, because while Kathy struggled through the whole thing because she couldn't stop giggling, I was able to keep a straight face throughout!

So that's it guys. Now you know everything there is to know about THE ultimate challenge! Although, I guess the pint of Coke alone is a challenge in itself... Ew. Never again!

Windsor

Hello guys!

Before leaving the UK, I thought there was something I really needed to do: visit Windsor Castle. I saw Buckingham Palace, I visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse, so I felt I HAD to see this royal residence! And I wasn't disappointed!

It was quite tricky to get there: first, I had to take the bus to Ely, then the train to London King's Cross, then the tube to London Paddington, then the train to Windsor with a change at Slough. I arrived there at about 11:45.

It was really easy to find the castle, as it's literally standing in front of the train station, massive and impressive. What a sight!

Then I saw something else that was massive and impressive: the queue. Maaaan, I thought, I'm not out of the woods yet! I knew there would be many people, as the weather was really nice and warm and also because it's the school holidays... But I wasn't expecting this! So I joined the queue and had my lunch there, you know, to keep myself busy XD But I was pleased to see that people were moving quite quickly and after about twenty minutes, I had my ticket and my audio-guide!

I was a bit afraid the castle would be really packed but actually, it was not too bad! I even managed to take some tourist-free pictures hehehe.

I was happy to have an audio-guide because it makes the visit really easy. You don't have to worry about where to go next or whether you've missed something on the map. You just have to follow the voice and enjoy! First, I had a look around. The castle is like a fortified village. It's really big!

Then I decided to visit the State Apartments. And what a surprise when I saw there was a queue at the entrance! So yeah, I had to queue for another twenty minutes or so. I'm afraid pictures were not allowed inside, so you'll have to make do with a written account here!

I began by admiring the amazing Queen Mary's Dolls' House. Miniature bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, bathrooms, gardens, studies, kitchens, dogs, cats and even snails I heard, but I couldn't spot any! It was definitively worth the long wait!

Then I walked through the Apartments and what a splendour! Golden and shiny embellishments, fine and delicate furniture. I even saw some Rembrandt's paintings! That was a lovely surprise! Wow. The whole thing reminded me a lot of Versailles Castle. I enjoyed it a lot!

After that, I made my way to St George's Chapel and the Horseshoe Cloister. Again, I wasn't allowed to use my camera inside the chapel, but here are some pictures of the building and of the cloister!

A unicorn gargoyle! I found it cool hehe:

I also saw a royal guard with a fluffy hat!

And that was the end of my visit! As it was quite early still, I decided to go to the riverside and have a look around. I saw the river (Thames!) from the train and it looked lovely. And it was lovely indeed! People licking ice creams, feeding swans and going on boat cruises. Yeah. Lovely!

Here are some pictures:

This is it! I really enjoyed my day out in Windsor. The weather was perfect and the castle is well worth both the wait and the price! =D