The Wonderful Trip: Student Exchange to United Kingdom! (2014)

September 13^rd 2014

Yay, the D-Day of Departure! Actually, it’s not, because the flight would take off on the September 14^th. But we were coming to the airport on September 13^rd because we needed to pass some procedures before the flight.  That day was also the day Sky Avenue was held, which was the main reason why many of our friends could not come to say goodbye directly to us. I was actually kind of disappointed because my closest friends also told me that they could not come, but what can I do? I was sad too because I couldn’t watch Tulus (which is one of my favorite male singers) performing live in Sky Avenue. But all of them wouldn’t replace the experience of going abroad to my dream destination with my beloved friends, right? So I told myself that I would be fine.

We were told to meet up in Terminal 2D in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 09.30 PM. I was walking towards the meeting point, when Lintang rushed up to me and said, “Look who came!” I was confused and then asked back, “Who?” Suddenly Hanna and Bea (my best friends that told me that they couldn’t come) came to me and I was so surprised. There were also Eki, Rafdan, and Adit, they are all some of my closest friends. I was so happy and thankful that I had them in my life. We took some pictures and say goodbye to each other because we wouldn’t meet for two weeks.

After a little ‘farewell party’ in the airport, we had got to go and start the procedures of departure. We passed the security scanning and the baggage check-in. Then, we waited for the gate to be opened and sat down in a corner and ate J.Co doughnuts, but there were no drinks allowed for us to bring, so we became thirsty yet there was nothing we can do. After some time, we finally got into the gate and waited there.

September 14th 2014

Finally, we entered the plane. Our flight number was EY 471 (Etihad Airways) and our destination was Abu Dhabi International Airport. We waited for some time and then finally took off at 01.45 AM! On the plane, I was planning to watch The Little Mermaid, but after the scene when Ariel entered the wrecked ship, I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was already the meal time! I ate sandwich, and it was so yummy (maybe it was also because I was incredibly hungry).  After that, I listened to some music. Then, I ate scrambled egg as my breakfast. Long story short, we arrived on the Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Abu Dhabi International Airport

 We entered the room where we waited and it was full of shops. I and Najma bought a bottle of mineral water because we were so thirsty. I was about to pay with Euro coins but it turned out that the sellers did not accept the coins, they only accepted notes. So, we borrowed Cindy’s money to buy the drink.

Long short story, we entered the plane and took off to Manchester National Airport! We arrived in the afternoon, and after that, we got in a mini bus to go to our host family’s houses in Yorkshire.

I and Yasha’s temporary house is the farthest one from the school. It’s located in Goole, East Yorkshire. We arrived at our host family’s house at about 6 PM.

The mother in my host family’s name is Lyndsey Bower. She’s a single parent, and she’s very lovely. Lyndsey had 3 children which were Ashton, Brook and Destiny! Ashton and Brook were twins, they were 7 years old while Destiny was just born in July 2014.

 We introduced ourselves and then we settled our stuffs in our room in the third floor. Then, we went downstairs for a dinner. Lyndsey made us pizza, it was very delicious! Shortly after we finished our dinner, we went to bed. It’s pretty early to go to bed but we were very tired and the next day would be the first day of school, so we needed to have enough rest.

September 15th 2014

I and Yasha woke up at 6 AM. We prepared ourselves for school and then we ate cereal and toast for our breakfast. The taxi that would drive us to school had arrived, so we left our house at about 7 AM.

It took about 30 minutes to arrive at Ackworth School. We went to Central Library for our meeting with other students from SMP Labschool Kebayoran before we go to our classes. 

The first gathering

I was placed in 3M Class with Haya, Fari and Naru. We went to our classroom (home-base) in the English classroom first, and then after that we went to hall for assembly of all students.

After the assembly, we went to the Home Economics class. We learned about Food Labeling there. And then we learned about Developing Countries in Geography lesson, War Poetry in English lesson, swimming, worked on Math Puzzles in Mathematics lesson, facts about Germany in German lesson, the structure of a pop song in Music lesson which was very fun and interesting for me, and made a communication shield in Personal Social Education (PSE). We had our lunch between the lessons, and we finished all of our lessons at 4 PM. We learned that Ackworth School was a very huge school after we took our lessons. Then, the students from SMP Labschool Kebayoran gathered in the Central Library again and then went home.

I and Yasha arrived in our house at about 5AM. We went upstairs to have a short rest, then went downstairs to have our evening meal! This time, we ate fried rice with something like cordon bleu as the side dish. We also had a chocolate dessert which tasted amazing. It was really yummy. I loved it so much.

Then, I and Yasha went upstairs again. We planned to sleep for a while and then wake up and take bath. But unfortunately, we happened to sleep and just woke up at the morning. Maybe it was because we were very tired, hehehe.

September 16^th 2014

I and Yasha woke up and got shocked because it turned out that we woke up at the morning while we planned to wake up last night. We prepared for school, ate breakfast, and then off we go!

The taxi driver was really nice. He talked to us about England and we shared some things about Indonesia. Shortly, we arrived, gathered at the Central Library and took our lessons.

The first lesson was Religion Studies. We studied about Punishments in Bible. It was kind of awkward because I learned about Christian religion which isn’t my religion, but it was okay.

And then, we learned Spanish! It was really fun. There was this one student from Spain (he was one of the student exchange team from his country too!) that presented about his country. We were fascinated about Spain!

After the Spanish class, we went to Geography lesson that taught us about the different levels of development. In the middle of the class, one of the principals got in the class and announce to everyone in the class to look after us, the Indonesian students. He was afraid we would get lost, because this school is massive, yes.

The Chemistry class! We learned about physical state of matters that I’ve actually learned in the previous lessons in Indonesia.

In English class, we continued our study about War Poetry.

The last lesson was Games! We played netball and we had so much fun.

After that, we went home. Lyndsey made us burger, chips and onion ring for dinner. We got so full and sleepy so we went to bed. We decided to turn off the lights and we slept.

September 17^th 2014

WE WOKE UP AT 7 AM! We were late. The taxi driver would arrive at 7.30 AM, OH NO! We prepared ourselves with the speed of light. We rushed downstairs and tried to finish our breakfast as fast as possible.

We left home and arrived at Ackworth School and started our lessons.

The first one was History! The teacher told us about the local industries, especially in Pontefract, the location of Ackworth School.

Then, we went to Mathematics class and continued our puzzles.

The next lesson was German. We learned about the past participles in German.

After that, we changed our clothes and went for Physical Education! We learned about how to star-jump perfectly. It was my very first time, but it was great! I had so much fun, though.

We went to English class after that. Just like the previous lesson, we continued our study about War Poetry but in the ICT room (computer library), because Ackworth students needed to input their essays in the computer.

In the Biology class, we studied about DNA, Cell, and Chromosomes! We also did a little experiment about it. 

In the last lesson of the day which was Religion Studies, we studied at the ICT room again and browsed about Crown Prosecution Service Sentencing and compared it to the punishments in Bible.

After we finished our lessons and gathered at the Central Library, I and Yasha went home by taxi again. After we arrived, we changed our clothes because Lyndsey invited us to go with her, Ashton, Brook and Destiny to the Westpark, where Ashton would play football.

We went to the Westpark which was a very big park. It had a playground, a football field, cafés and many more. It was a beautiful place! Brook also took me and Yasha to the café. I drank hot chocolate there. 

It's me with Brook (left) and Ashton (right)!

We played there until it got a little bit darker, and then we went back home.

We had our dinner. It was a Yorkshire pudding and it was really delicious! I can’t describe how much I love the taste. 

Yorkshire Pudding! :_)

Then, we went to bed.

September 18^th 2014

It’s the last day of school! As usual, we woke up, prepared ourselves, ate the breakfast, and left for school.

I and Yasha presented about Indonesia in the assembly of all Ackworth students. We were nervous but we did great! Alhamdulillah.

We went into one lesson and then gathered with other SMP Labschool Kebayoran students for the rehearsal of our farewell party.

OH NO! I just remembered that I left my hand-fan in my host-family’s house. I got panic because it was the property of the dance I would be performing. I called Lyndsey to ask if she could bring it to me, but the call cannot connect to her phone. Ah, I was so stressed. But I went through it with all the help from my friends. We re-arranged the things that were related to the use of the hand-fan so it would still look perfect. I thanked so much to God that I had my friends, I was so grateful because they were so helpful.

The farewell party was amazing! We performed all of our dances and performances greatly. We also got the certificates of finishing our student-exchange in the Ackworth School.

Then, we had our lunch, and went to our last lesson of the day, and the last lesson of our study in Ackworth School. The lesson was Drama, it was very fun! After the lesson had ended, I gave the souvenirs from Indonesia to some of my friends in Ackworth School. 

Will miss you! 

After we took some photos, we went home.

Right after we arrived, we played with Brook and she  took us to a playground named The Blue Garage where all the children in this area play together. After that, we went to a monument for the remembrance of World War II near the house, bought some stuffs from Tesco which was a supermarket, and then went back to Lyndsey’s house.

It was also the last night of me and Yasha for staying in Lyndsey’s house. Lyndsey made us spaghetti for dinner. We also ate muffins and ice creams for the dessert.

After we finished our dinner, we gave Lyndsey our souvenirs as a thank you gift for looking after us while we were staying there. Then, we slept.

September 19^th 2014

We left Lyndsey’s house at around 7 AM in the morning to the meeting point in Ackworth School. We were leaving for Manchester! We got in the bus and started our trip.

We finally arrived in Manchester, and our first destination was Old Trafford, the Manchester United’s stadium. It was funny when two of our friends, Fari and Farras, wore the jersey of their favourite football teams which were the rivals of MU. Fari wore Arsenal jersey and Farras wore Liverpool.

We entered the museum of Manchester United football team and of course, we went on a tour to explore the stadium! It was enormous, the stadium. We got into the dressing room of the football players, the interview room, and many more cool places. Finally, we went to the megastore of Manchester United merchandises and bought some things to bring home.

Old Trafford!

Inside the stadium!

It's Aimee, me and Athaya imitating the statue! :-)

After we finished our tour in Old Trafford, we traveled to Oxford! In the bus, we sang together, threw our jokes, laughed and had so much fun. I won’t forget these times.

We arrived in Oxford and the first thing we did was went to Beefeater Grill Restaurant for dinner. We joked about so many things before we ate the dinner.

Then, we went to the Holiday Inn Express where we would stay that night. My roommate was Yasha (again). We had a nice rest that night.

September 20^th 2014

After we woke up, we prepared ourselves and had our breakfast in the hotel. And then, we left for the tour around Oxford! YAY! I was so excited.

We were divided into two groups with two different tour leaders. The tour leader led us around Oxford. We went and saw many colleges such as Mew College, Christ Church College and Merton College. We also learned about the history behind those places. I was so amazed by the view and the atmosphere in Oxford.

These are the photos taken during the tour of Oxford:

We fortunately came by the time one of the colleges was having a graduation day!

We finished the tour and we got the free time of around 2 hours. I explored the Oxford Street with Najma, Fausta and Nanta. We went to many shops such as Pylones, the bookstore, and many more. We also got into this one shop that sold Oxford merchandises and also Harry Potter’s! I was a huge fan of Harry Potter so I bought many of them, hehe.

After exploring the shops on the street, we went to Primark! Primark was a huge store that sold clothes for men & women with affordable prices. I bought many clothes because they were so cheap but the quality was great! I also accidentally met one of Indonesian students that studied in Oxford.

And we took a photograph!

We rushed to the meeting point because we spent too much time in Primark. When I was going along the way, suddenly I got hit by a pigeon’s droppings……………………………………………………………………………………………….. they said I might be lucky. But I felt so embarrassed… it was funny that this was my first time, though! I am not going to forget this. Then, I cleaned it.

It was all for Oxford. We were leaving for LONDON! FINALLY! The first thing we did when we arrived was to explore The Natural History Museum. We learned the history of creatures there. It was a very beautiful building. 

...hehe :-D

We also bought some souvenirs there. I collect postcards, so I bought them there.

We went to Bayswater Inn, the hotel we were staying at for some nights. My roommates were Nadika, Fausta and Yasha. And then, we went out for dinner. It was an Italian restaurant, and we ate risotto for the meal and blueberry cheesecake for the dessert. After we finished, we went out to the souvenir store and bought many souvenirs for our family and friends in Indonesia. Then, we went back to our hotel and had a rest.

September 21^st 2014

This day, after we finished the breakfast, we were going for LONDON CITY TOUR, the time I was impatiently waiting for. We got in the bus and started the tour! We finally saw The London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square..... and also, The Big Ben by our own eyes! It was unbelievable that I finally reached my dream to saw them by myself. We stopped at the Parliament Square to take photos! The time given was 15 minutes. I and Aimee rushed and captured many moments to remember. 

THE LONDON EYE! 

PALACE OF WESTMINSTER!

The Thames River

BIG BEN!!

After that, we went to the Buckingham Palace! 

Then, we went back to our bus and left for Oxford Street in London.

This Oxford Street was different than the Oxford Street in Oxford. This was placed in London and had so many branded shops along the way. We went to Marble Arch to meet and share stories with our seniors, Kak Marshiella, Kak Karin, Kak Talitha and Kak Dimitri. After that, we were given a free time of 5 hours. Ten of us including me decided to go to Sherlock Holmes Museum in the Baker Street and Abbey Road where The Beatles took the photo their very famous album cover. We bought the one day pass of London Underground and started our trip to The Baker Street! It took just a while and then, we arrived!

We walked for some time and then we arrived in our destination, Sherlock Holmes Museum! But we decided to only go to the souvenir store because it would took so much time exploring the museum and needed a lot of money to buy the ticket. I bought postcards, again.

After that, we went to the Abbey Road by London Underground. We actually wanted to ride Double Decker bus, but it would take much time to buy the ticket from the nearest ticket box. So, we decided to go by London Underground. But, unfortunately, the way was under repair, so the management gave us a free replacement by bus. Yes, DOUBLE DECKER BUS. Free. Alhamdulillah.

We arrived in the Abbey Road! But it took us some time to find the actual place where The Beatles took the photo of their album cover. Finally, we found it!

We took the photo imitating The Beatles with so much effort. We had to know when to pass the street. But it was once a lifetime, so why not?

:D

We went back to the Oxford Street and entered the Primark there! After that, we went to McDonald’s to buy something to eat because we were so tired and hungry. We bought 2 share-boxes of McNuggets for all of us. And then, we went straight to the Marble Arch, the meeting point.

We ate our meal at an Indian restaurant named Lal Qila, and then we went back to our hotel. I and some of the team went out again to the supermarket to buy a drink. I bought a Starbucks’ Seattle Latte.

We went back to Bayswater Inn and had rest.

September 22^nd 2014

The last day of being in The United Kingdom.. :(

After we finished all of our breakfasts, we went to the Indonesian Embassy in The United Kingdom. There was a sharing session and we were given the opportunity to ask anything to The Ambassador of Indonesia in The United Kingdom. I asked about how to get the scholarship to study in UK, and he answered me with the information I needed. I was so grateful we were given the chance to meet him.

Then, we went to the Heathrow International Airport. It was very sad that we were leaving.. :(

Heathrow International Airport

It had been a really wonderful trip with wonderful people. We took off, arrived in Abu Dhabi, waited for some time and then took off again to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, and then arrived in our lovely country, Indonesia on September 23^rd 2014.

Thank you so much for anything, Ackworth School, Lyndsey Bower’s family, our tour leaders, and the United Kingdom Student Exchange Team. It was a blessing to have you guys. 

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Me, Lyndsey, Brook, Ashton, and the baby was Destiny!