English in London and English in Scotland!

I've been studying English in London since July 21st, at Twin English Centre, where I meet people from the entire globe - it's really a international English School in London, the most cosmopolitan city in the world. From London, it’s very easy to travel to other cities and countries. My first choice was Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

I went to Edinburgh on 18th of September with a Brazilian friend, João Victor, to spend the weekend and get to know the Scottish accent, which we were looking forward to hear since we arrived from Brazil. Edinburgh is a small city, which you can enjoy by walk, through it's historic buildings, castles, volcanoes, secrets and mysteries, their culture, cold weather, nature around the city, the street where it never rains, a warren of hidden ‘closes’ where real people lived and worked, factories of whiskies…

If you are studying in London or just enjoying the city, you should go and enjoy the Scotland's capital, just 322 miles from London! Scottish are very friendly and happy for being hosts. Start with the Tourist Information Centre, and they’ll tell you the best things you can see in your time there. 4 whole days are enough to enjoy all the attractions and admire this beautiful city. You will hear their traditional music everywhere, played with Scottish Lowland bagpipe, and you will know why they're so proud for being Scottish!

My first impressions of London

My first impressions about London are very good.
I got information’s about my accommodation, my internship, and my English school before my departure.
I was cordially welcomed at my first day at the English school in London.
It’s easy to catch up with other students and make new friends. Besides grammar, spelling
and pronunciation, conversation a big part of the lessons. I learnt it all with fun and enjoyment. (Also the teacher took time during his break, when we had some questions about situations we were in and don’t know what we should have done or what people meant.)
I made my internship in a company, where everybody was very nice. They helped me if I had questions and really wanted to teach me.
You can go to Twin Internship department and talk to your contact person, if you aren’t pleased with something. They will help you as they helped me.
Of course I liked it to be in London! You can see so many things and go shopping. I knew London is very expensive, but there are plenty of museums you can go and don’t have to pay anything. So I saved a little bit of my money and can go to Madame Tussauds and made a trip to Brighton.
Yes, there are things I don’t like. Someone stole my camera! But that’s not a fault of the organisation. I thought my camera was save. So be careful with your things when you are in the city.
To sum up I would do it again!

By Franziska Schneider

Football in England!

England has a lot of things.
Football is very famous in England.
English people love football matches.
I went to Chelsea and Arsenal stadium.
It is very easy to get there.
You just have to get off in Arsenal underground station.
I am interested in each team having stadium.
Chelsea is sponsored by Korea company "Samsung"
When I saw the brand name in the stadium, I was proud of that.
Because I am Korean.
Unfortunately, I couldn't join the stadium tour, because I arrived late.
If you want to see stadium, you'd better check the time of stadium tour.
Each team has souvenir shops.
There you can find clothes,football's instruments,cups,balls etc.
Before I go back country, I will absolutely watch a big matches!
Coming to England to learn English means having the chance to visit fantastic places like stadiums.
If you come to England to study English, plan your trip and the places you would like to visit.
by HyeKyoung Kim from Korea.

Afternoon in the Camden Market

My afternoon in the Camden Market was great! It was a sunny English day, perfect to go to a market in London. As soon as you come out of the station, you realize that you are in a special place of London: a crowd of people heading toward the market, various styles with people wearing eccentric clothes. When I arrived in the market, it was as if I entered in the Aladdin’s cave! There are so many things and so many shops that at the end of the afternoon, you wonder where you have been or not. There are also different types of food available there, from Chinese and Indian to Italian pizzas!! During my afternoon, I entered a shop to buy a present for my friend, and managed to pay the item half of the former price. It is so easy to bargain there, and this helped me to practice my English with retailers. If you are in London for holidays or if you are here to take some English Courses, it’s worth going there.

By Estelle, from France

Buckingham Palace: Visit of the State Rooms (24/07/2009)

Last Friday, I had the privilege to visit the Buckingham Palace in London. Residence of the Royal Family in England, this Palace is sumptuous when you see it from outside. But inside, the palace is more spectacular; we were allowed to enter in some of the 775 rooms of the palace. I was really impressed by the nice and rare furniture in all the rooms, the large windows that let the sun enter the palace, especially in the white drawing room. During the visit, you can also see all the countries visited by the Queen during her reign; in the Buckingham Palace are exhibited all the dresses that she was wearing during some of her visits in all the continents! You can also see that all the gifts received by the Queen during her visits have a place in the Palace, be it statues, trees…
I was also really impressed by the dining room: a large table in the middle of the table, paintings on the walls; this is the room where the Queen receives guests for dinner. But preparing this table is not that simple! All the plates, glasses and cutlers are arranged very precisely, they even use a ruler!
I really enjoyed my visit of the Buckingham Palace and it is something to see if you come to visit London.

Estelle, France

Pub Quiz

After having our lunch together most of Twin school's students met at the Fused Bar (a pub closed to the English School in London), a perfect place in London to make new friends and have fun.

We decided about 3 or 4 teams and defined prices; one for the best team's name and another one for the winner.
Indeed, everyone gave £0.50 to make the final price.Twin's teachers suggested questions about England, fashion, science and foreign countries.
The subjects were really instructive for all of us but we were not always sure of the answer ... Could you believe that we have 9 senses?
Here is the teachers' answer!!Finally, a team won and paid drinks to the other one!
We spent a nice afternoon together, with more knowledge, friends and paid drinks!

Clea Beze.

France

Hastings Festival - Jack in the Green - 4th May 2009

This was the first festival I have been to in the UK.
I really enjoyed my time with my friends and people who were participating in this festival.
I liked their costumes very much, as they were different from group to group.
Some wore tree costumes and others had painted their faces and their bodies with different colours.
I saw two uniquely strange figures.
The 'Jack' is the centrepiece of the celebration.
'Jack' is a traditional May Day figure.
Some believe it is just a garland dating from the 17th century; other think he is a much older character and more significant.
The second figure was the 'Bogeyman', part bush and part man.
He is Jack's friend, and he stays with Jack from the beginning to the end of the festival to protect him.
The participants were divided into many bands, and most of them played different musical instruments and nice music.
After the procession had arrived in Hastings Castle, we had lunch on Castle Hill and enjoyed a nice view of the sea.
It was an absolutely wonderful festival.

Twin in Eastbourne.
Mohannad Bafail, Saudi Arabia.