Departure Day!

I think everyone on the trip could agree that we were all feeling sad to leave England, and begin our journey back home to the states. We made new friends, amazing memories, and became a closer knit group within the span of 10 days. Some of us even managed to pick up British slang and sayings, and in some cases, the Yorkshire accent itself. 

Departure day ended up being the best day weather-wise: sunny and "quite" warm. After a bit of free time to roam around and say a "proper" goodbye to London, we left for the airport. We met up with our friends who travelled to Barcelona and told stories upon stories about our different trips. Needless to say, it was hard to get a word in, because we were both "buzzing" about our amazing experiences. 

Most of the Pingree students on the plane to Boston were passed out during the plane ride, including myself. We were all exhausted, but excited to see our families. My "mates" and I had "loads of" conversation on the plane in between all of the sleeping. We reminisced on our trip and were already planning things to do in October with the QEGS and WGHS students! 

We touched down in Boston around 8pm, collected our things, and said our goodbyes. Our amazing trip had come to an end for the time being, but we can all agree we are excited for it to rekindle in October!! 

Thanks to Arlynn and Mr. Haltmeier for making the trip, not only possible, but so much fun!! 

-Audrey St.Clair, '17

London shopping!

The London shopping scene is literally iconic. The best place to go is obviously Harrods, the biggest store in the world, where you can buy, and I'm not exaggerating, ANYTHING. It has every brand, every item, etc that you could ever desire. When you walk into the store you are hit with the biggest designer brands in the world. That alone is enough, but little did you know there are 8 floors, and they get more impressive with every floor. After you were put in a daze from the handbag department, you walk into the food hall, which houses every cuisine you could ever want. Next to that is the fine watch room, where prices soar over 100000 pounds. Harrods even has its own laduree, the famous macaroon shop that makes the best macaroons in the world. In the rest of the store, there is a furniture store, toy floor, and over 20 restaurants. That's only one part of the London shopping scene, and the rest of it is just as impressive.

- Nick "Dhurk" Laezza '18

Monday!

Today was our last full day in London so we decided to walk our way to some hotspots. We had about four hours to split up and go see what we wanted. My group decided to go into Westminster Abbey and despite having already seen the inside, I was just as impressed this time around. Seeing all the history and how old everything was certainly humbling. After walking to Pizza Express for lunch (a delicious chain in Great Britain) my group found a little park on the river Thames with a view of some famous London attractions. We swung on a tire swing in the playground and then took some photos on the lawn whilst walking along the river. We proceeded to visit our favorite coffee shop, Costa, and then returned to the whole group. After going back to the hotel to get on our concert attire we went out to dinner and then walked our way to the Roundhouse Theater in Camden. It was a fairly small venue and everyone was pretty excited to see the band The Neighbourhood. Having seen them open for another band a few years ago I was super excited to see them as the headliner. They put on a great show and most of us were impressed with the quality of the live performance. I also discovered a great band that opened for the headliner. Once the concert was over we took the tube home and crashed in our hotel rooms wanting to do nothing but stay in London.

Sarah Fiery '17

Sunday!

On Sunday, we went to Buckingham Palace and had 4 hours to walk around
and explore! We saw the changing of the guards, where white and black
horses led a stampede of guards around a huge fountain. Then, we
walked through a beautiful park on our way to Oxford street, which is
one of the most famous shopping streets in London. It's like Newbury
street in Boston, but 10 times bigger! And for me, someone who is
obsessed with shopping, I had an amazing day. We went to a café for
lunch, then went to a HUGE department store called Harrods. There was
an entire floor dedicated to chocolate!! We were so mesmerized by all
Oxford street had to offer, that 2 of us lost track of time and had to
run more than a mile back to Buckingham Palace. Then, we
all went to family dinner at a typical British pub called "Shakespeare
Pub." We feasted all together to get ready for our night at the
cabaret!! After dinner, we walked to an intimate cabaret style
theater. (Everyone sat around candle lit, small tables). There,
Broadway stars sang classic and new Broadway songs in their own style.
My favorite was the final song, which was from RENT. The performer had
the best voice I had ever heard in my life and transformed the song
into something even more incredible than the original recording. After
that amazing night, we took the Tube back to the hotel, some of us got
dessert at Pizza Hut, and then everyone went to their hotel rooms to
sleep and get ready for the next day in fabulous London!

- Ilana Mack, '17