A week in London with the English Tut course (12EL) in June 2024 

Kursbedingt ist dieser Bericht auf Englisch.

Monday was the official start of our class trip in London, after having spent several hours on train to get there on Sunday. We began at the Tower of London, exploring its past and admiring the royal jewels. After a lunch of delicious sandwiches, we started a three-hour rally organized by our teachers. Starting at Tower Hill and ending at the Tate Modern art gallery, we answered engaging questions and discovered London from a unique perspective. Although the rally was exhausting, it was an exhilarating way to learn about the city and its hidden stories. Finally, we enjoyed some free time to explore London and have unforgettable memories.

Today, on Tuesday, we went to the Buckingham Palace, a place known for being the residence of the monarchs of England, specifically King Charles III. Upon arrival, Asal and Sharipa informed the group about Buckingham Palace itself, shortly after that, Dewa explained the “Change of Guards.” After a short break, Shara gave a brief presentation on Piccadilly Circus, and Tracy spoke about Leicester Square. Following Mrs. Hinxlage’s final presentation of the day on Fortnum and Mason, we headed to Trafalgar Square and from there to Big Ben. The day concluded with an Evensong at Westminster Abbey and cooking dinner together.

Wednesday, the fourth day of the course trip, was one of the coolest days in my opinion! After we got up in the morning, we assembled in front of the hostel. London’s underground was as packed as always but it brought us to our desired destination, and it only took a quick walk next to the Thames until we arrived at The Globe – the museum and theatre that’s all about Shakespeare.

Our lovely guide showed us the rebuilt and unique theatre that looks like it was teleported right out to the Middle Ages. It is constructed in a very peculiar way so that the voices of the actors can be heard from any angle. Depending on the income and your social status one could acquire tickets for the different ranks of the theatre. The groundlings were the poorest out of them all and had to stand for the whole play. Such a ticket cost them one penny, which would be around eight pounds today. If one wanted to sit at the higher ranks, they also had to pay a lot more but the people with the highest social status – the royals – had special seats right behind the stage. Everyone had to look at them consequentially and they used this opportunity to show themselves and look down on their subjects. Our guide described it as their type of Instagram. If you are interested in history, I can definitely recommend this museum and this tour especially as there were so many little details and history facts that she mentioned.

We then moved on and walked to Borough Market, which was one of the highlights of the week for me. It was as if you had walked straight into a bazar, buzzing with life and mouthwatering smells. Almost every culture was present there, from starters, to mains or deserts! If you have ever struggled to elect the right movie to watch on Netflix, good luck with choosing your next meal on the Borough Market. But even if you’re not interested in eating something big, you still have the option to taste exotic and new fruits and veggies or buy herbs in all forms and sizes.

We then had some free time to spend before we had our tickets for Sky Garden. I spent my time with my friends to have a little break from walking so much and then some of us went to a charming little bookstore and a vintage shop. Needless to say, I spent a lot of my money that day.

Our last activity together was at Sky Garden, a rooftop bar and garden at the top of a skyscraper. It was the perfect picture spot, and my gallery was filled with stunning pictures of the view of London. A lot of them also landed on my Instagram because I was absolutely amazed by this beautiful place.

Half an hour later we were back at our hostel and spent the evening together eating dinner and chatting for hours on end. It was a worthy conclusion of our day.

Thursday started with a joint breakfast at the hostel, after which we made our way to the Museum of London Docklands. There we were able to learn a lot about trade in earlier times and look around the versatile museum on our own. From ordinary exhibitions, to interactive modules, to reconstructed old pubs, everything was available. After the visit to the museum, we set off in small groups to find a nice place to have lunch.

After all, we had to settle for unconvincing truffle pasta and poor service. Fortunately, we didn’t have too much time to get upset about it because we had booked tickets for the theatre in the evening. In the small, but very pretty St. Martins Theatre we were allowed to watch “The Mousetrap”. It was a nice and surprisingly entertaining play, even though the grandstand was so narrow and steep that you almost felt like you were tipping over at the front. In the end, we were able to end the rest of the evening individually.

On Friday we all went our separate ways, exploring London further, the teachers visiting the Summer Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (very recommendable), and met again for celebrating Dewa’s birthday a bit, having Cream Tea and watching the quarter finals of the EURO 24 – Germany vs. Spain, which the latter team won. The evening was free time for everyone again, which most of us used to have a last nice London dinner.

After we woke up early in the morning on Saturday, we cleaned our rooms and made them ready for the next guests. With our suitcases and stuffed shopping bags, we walked through the typical English weather to Paddington train station. Upon arriving at King’s Cross station, we went through border control before taking the Eurostar to Brussels. Since our train arrived late in Belgium, we hurried to catch our last train to Frankfurt. At around 6 pm, we finally stepped onto German ground again. 

Several students of course 13EL and Ms Hinxlage

Better late than never… For everyone who wonders why a report of a course trip in June is posted in January – it has taken a while to get his collaborative report together and now the teacher has taken a while to get it published…