On solid ground!

Wow, it was amazing!

Landing

I didnt really do anything to land, it was all the guy!

JUMP!!!

These pictures should explain themselves!

In the plane...

The is during the jump in the plane, I paid to have someone jump before me and take pictures all the way down. The view was amazing!

Before the jump...

Here are a few pictures of skydiving, before I went up! The guy is the one who was strapped to me when I jumped.

Sorry

ok, so I was just looking at my blog and realized that one of the posts, the texts published two times, sorry about that!!!

Rainbow Day

My last day there they dad a rainbow day, and everyone wore colors of the rainbow and we mad e a rainbow with the whole school, it was a very small school, and then we did color wheels!

Snow

These pictures are all of the day we had snow. It was amazing because this area of England never gets snow, and some of my kids had never seen snow before. We used this as a teaching opportunity...they played outside all day, some of the kids even tried to put snow in their pockets to take home, not realizing it melts!

Snow

These pictures are all of the day we had snow. It was amazing because this area of England never gets snow, and some of my kids had never seen snow before. We used this as a teaching opportunity...they played outside all day, some of the kids even tried to put snow in their pockets to take home, not realizing it melts!

The way to school

I had a taxi come and get me everyday and take me to my school, and it was the same driver everyday as well. So on my last day there I took pictures out the window of my drive...here they are! There were three of us who rode together everyday, so they are in the one picture with me. ANd one is of the back of our taxi drivers head, specifically to show the steering wheel on the right side! The final picture is of a random house in the small town I taught in.

Brighton

Brighton is a town in England that was created by King George the 3rd as a rebellion to his father. His father was very proper, and George the 3rd hated this, so he created a party town, with a beautiful castle! The beaches there are so nice, and it still is big on shopping and partying! While we were there we toured the castle, so here are some pictures of that!

Around Bognor

This is a picture of the dorm I stayed it, and a picture of us on the beach in Bognor Regis, the town I stayed in, eating Subway. The beaches there are very rocky, and cold!

The Roman Baths

A picture at the Roman Baths in Bath England. The water was gross, and VERY hot. The other one is a picture of all the money that was thrown into one of the cold baths.

Skydiving in Switzerland

Switzerland! The first one is of the School crossing sign, then me signing a paper saying that when I jump I might die! Then me waving bye before entering that tiny plane!! Jumping pictures to come soon....

St. Patrick's Day!

Here are pictures of St. Patrick's Day weekend!

Edinburgh

So I figured out how to add pictures! Here is a picture of Edinburgh Castle,as well as the view from the top.

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands was probably the most relaxing trip we took, as well as the cheapest! We basically spent 4 days laying around by the pool, drinking, sleeping, and eating! We stayed in Maspalomas, which in on the south end of the largest island.

Switzerland

We took a trip to Switzerland one weekend. It was really cool to see a small swill town! We saw the "schul zone" and LOTS of goats! The mountains were so pretty, as was the rest of the scenery! We went sled riding down these HUGE hills, which was a blast, and then my favorite part....skydiving over the Swiss Alps! I have LOTS of pictures of my dive, as well as a video of me the whole way down because someone jumped in front of me and took pictures. It was so amazing to see the mountains from that far up! I would LOVE to do it again!

Normandy

We took another trip to France, this time only for the weekend so we could see Normandy. This trip was very different from any other we spent. Yes, it was site seeing, but the feeling around you was so solemn. I do not think I can even explain it. Seeing the crosses...row after row going on forever, each one with a name, rank, and state on it. Each one a real person who died. It was an amazing thing to see. Then going down to Omaha Beach, reading the descriptions of what it looked like the day of the battle, red...it really brought it to life. We saw a cliff that was scaled by American troops in which they attacked and took over German bunkers. Walking through the holes, now grown over with flowers and grass, which were made by bombs, and walking through the sleeping/hiding areas in which they took cover, which caused me to have to duck inside and I am not ever 5'. It was all crazy to think about. It was really cool to see the American Flag all over the place as well. All over there were Americans going to visit the site, and talking to some of these people was cool because we talked to a few who were in the battle....all well into their 80's now, nut still remember it like it was yesterday. I think this was one of my favorite trips because it really made me think about things, and brought history to life.

Bordeaux

Following our trip through the Loire Valley we proceeded to Bordeaux. WINE COUNTRY! We literally tried wine after wine as we went from winery to winery! One other really cool thing we did was we went up in this old clock tower, it took forever to get up, and it was so many steps, but once up there we could see for miles! The city around us, as well as the vineyards out in the distance...it was beautiful! We saw many more castles, which are a site in themselves...they are just so different from anything here in the US. Once we were done here, we went back up to Paris by train to fly back to England.

Loire Valley

From Paris we took a train to the Loire Valley where we went on a castle tour. There are SO MANY castles around France. We saw 3 of them. Chambord, and Chenanceaux, and St. Amelion. Chambord had a double helix staircase, desined by Divinci especially for the king. We also saw the Divinci house in which he lived, as well as many of his origional drawings and models. We also went through many vineyards, and did a lot of wine tasting. We stayed with a french family. The other girl I went with had a French exchange student a few years before this, so we stayed with her family. It was really neat to see and experience french culture inside a real house, and not necessarily in a tourist area.

Paris, Trip 1

While we were student teaching we got a week off in February for a mid winter break. During that time, 1 other girl and I went to France. We started in Paris and we spent 4 days there. We had a goal to see as much as we could, and I think we succeeded pretty well. We saw the Arc de Triumph, and went to the top, we walked along the Champs Elysee, the Eiffel Tower, and went all the way to the top, we walked through the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, the Centre Pompidu, the Pantheon, as well as ate at many of the French Cafes. I think we lived on sweets that week! My favorite part of that trip was seeing the Eiffel Tower glitter at night. It was probably one of the most amazing sites of the trip!

Ireland

A couple of girls and I went to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day. It was very different from being in the US! First of all we realized just how we have taken that holiday and made it into an excuse to drink! Yes, they drink over there as well, but not like we do. It is mostly beer...no shots, no drinking for the sole purpose of getting drunk.

The day started off with the St. Patty's Day Parade, which was exciting because we saw many university bands from the US marching, such as University of Arizona, and University of Texas. It was actually nice to see the American flag because by this point it had been about 2 months since we left and we had not really been reminded of home much. Once the parade was over we toured the Dublin Castle, and then proceeded to tour the Guinness Factory. The showed how beer was made, as well as free beers throughout the whole building. Once we reached the top we were able to pour our own beer, and got a certificate that says "I poured the perfect pint!" One of my favorite pictures from over there is a picture of me in a bright green shirt (we all got matching ones made) that said "trust me, i'm a teacher" and I am holding a rather large beer. It is even funnier if you know me, because you know that I do not drink very often at all, so just seeing me with a drink is amusing.

Once we left there we proceeded to tour the Jameson Factory to find out how Whiskey is made. That was a very interesting experience as well. I enjoyed learning about that! We got free samples again along the way, however as I said I do not drink often, and straight whiskey is not my choice of a drink, so I stuck my tongue in, but that was about it. I poured the rest away.

This was probably one of my favorite trips while we were over there. Ireland is beautiful, although I have heard that Dublin is not even the best place to visit. I would like to go back and see the rest of the country at some point in time!

Windsor Castle, and the Roman Baths

One of the next trips I took was to Windsor Castle. The is the Castle that the current Royal Family currently lives in for part of the year when they are not at Buckingham Palace in London. The castle was amazing! It was so beautifully decorated with a large chapel attached to it. The chapel there is where the Family goes to Easter Service. The tour included a history of the Royal Family and a history of England as a whole. It was here that I learned of England's youngest queen, who was 9 months old, and was later killed at age 12. We also got pictures with a guard. They do not move!!

That same weekend we went to visit the Roman Bath houses. They were discovered because a woman's house we flooding and they could not figure out why. When they dug down, not very many feet,they discovered what appeared to be an underground bath house, and it was. The bath house was just room after room of large rooms with warm water flowing from natural hot springs. Many years ago these baths were believed to be the social spot of the area. People would through many valuables into the baths to honor gods. A lot of these things are on display now throughout the tour. At the end there is a dining area where you can have tea, and there is a fountain there that flows from the hot spring (and it filtered now) and you can pay to have a glass of water from it. I took one sip, but it was very gross!

Scotland

The first trip we took out of England was to Edinburgh Scotland. We saw the Edinburgh Castle, as well as the shops in the town. It was a very cute little town. There was also a farmers market there that we went to. One of the traditional dishes of Scotland was Haggis. I chose to try this, along with some of the other girls that I was with, however I did not choose to know what it was until after I ate it, and I was glad because there is no way I would have ate it. Here is the definition of what it is: sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Surprisingly it was not as gross as it sounds, but I don't think I will be eating it again anytime soon.

The other thing that I did while I was there was have a kilt made for myself. That is the true Scottish attire, everyone wears one whether you work at a fast food place, or in a business setting! There were also many people playing bagpipes all over the street, almost like people play music over here for money on the streets.

London

The first place we actually traveled to away from Bognor was a day trip to London. We went up there early the first Saturday we were there on the train. The trains were so easy to use over in Europe, and you could get basically anywhere on the train. On that first trip we went right to the British Museum as soon as we go into London. We found the architecture to be amazing! The building were so different than we have over here, even in the lesser areas of London they were beautiful!

The British Museum is free to go into, and it is also one of the largent museums in Europe. We did not even get halfway through it! I have a picture of am old fist of a statue they found burried somewhere with my fist on top...the fist islarger than me, so I can not imagine how big the rest of it was!

We then spent time walking around London, and evenyuallt ended up at Harrods Department store. This is the World's largent department, all designer things, and very classy. It is owned by Princess Diana's fiencee's Family, Dodi Fayed. There is an exhibit there that has her enggement ring on display (which is huge) as well as the glasses they drank from the night they died, and a picture of the two of them. I think she will forever live with how much people still morn over her. There were things to buy EVERYWHERE with Princess Diana's face on it. There were also many memorial spots all around Londo where people still left flowers mourning her!

The last thing we did for the day was take the train down to Wimboldon. We wanted to walk around there and see some of the tennis courts. The town is a VERY wealthy town, with very large houses. We were able to see some of the outside of the tennis courts, but not the insides.

We didn't get back to Bognor till late, but it was well worth the trip, and throughout the course of us being there we went back many more times!

Teaching

Since I just posted about Bognor Regis, when is where I spent most of my time, I figured I would focus next on the reason I was over there, which was to teach. I spent my time teaching in a small village school in a town called West Dean. It was a beautiful little down about half an hour from Bognor, and on the way there we went through field after field of sheep, and beautiful rolling hills. There is a college in the area as well. The school I taught at is called West Dean Church of England Primary. The whole school consisted of 72 students and three classrooms. I taught years 2, 3, and 4, and I had 31 students in my class. It was much different from teaching over in the US. I had three lesson plans every day for every subject. They are very big on independent learning over there, as well as having a differentiated teaching style. The kids LOVED to hear me do "read alouds" because they thought that my accent was funny, and also because they thought it was funny to hear me ask what certain words meant as I read.

There were so many things that surprised me while I was over there. Things are much more laid back over there. One of the first things I had to help teach was woodworking class. Oh yes, my 6, 7, and 8 year old were using hand saws, power drills, screw drivers, and hammers, BY THEMSELVES! There were 2 teachers in the room during this time, me included while 31 students used these tools. I was terrified the first few days of my teaching that one od my kids was going to cut their fingers off, or drill right through their hands! The worst part was that there were probably 15 or so students drilling and sawing at once, I I cant be 15 places at once, so I had to learn that it was not America and it was ok to let these kids do this!

Another thing they thought was funny was when I would write on the smart board and spell words "wrong." For example I was there for Mother's day, and so I wrote different things on the board that they could write on a card such as "Happy Mothers Day Mom!" Well, they say Mum, so they all laughed because "Miss Becker couldn't even spell mum!" This was about the time I bought a pocket dictionary to carry with me. There were many words that were different, and a few are programme (program), neighbour, and colour.

It was a wonderful semester and I would go back and do it again in a heartbeat of I could!

Bognor Regis

I am going to start my first post by talking about the place over in Europe in which I spent the majority of my 5 months. It was a small town on the South of England right on the English Channel called Bognor Regis. It was one of the cutest towns I have ever been it. It reminded me of one of the Eastern US beach towns such as Wildwood NJ, or Ocean City. There were many small shops selling beach type items, as well as multiple fish and chips stands. I got there in January so many of the places right along the water were closed because it was not tourist season, but the small town shops were opened and we spent a lot of our free time there walking around and enjoying talking to people. It was basically only locals there at that time of year, so they were fascinated by "the Americans." All of the bars and restaurants there were filled with locals and regulars, and we because well known in the area probably because we were not only new comers, but also we were not from England. People were very nice to us, and it was easy fall into a rhythm there.

One of the things that was neat to do was go to the grocery store. Since we lived in dorms, (very small campus, called University of Chichester. We had the entire top floor of the 4 floor dorm, and there were only 12 of us who went over to teach.), and ate at a dining hall we did not really need to buy food, but we did because it is all so different! They have food there that we don't have here and it was fun to try it all.

Another thing that was cool was their beach. It is all stones, and not small pebbles, but stones that barely fit into my fist. This was so normal to them. They got confused when we would talk about sand beaches. Once tourist season came around, in April or so, people would lay out on towels just like we would do here. I tried it, but found it to be very uncomfortable!

The final thing I want to discuss are the signs that were all over. They were on all the lamp posts, and they said "Welcome to Bognor Regis, the Sunniest Place in England!" It was NOT sunny! It rained everyday for at least a few minutes. It could be sunny and 5 minutes you would find yourself caught in a downpour! We had to have an umbrella with us all the time, even if there were not clouds in the sky!

Introduction Post

I have decided to blog about places I have traveled, as well as places that I would like to travel to eventually. I did my student teaching in Bognor Regis, England, and it was the best experience I have ever had. It allowed me to travel Europe, however there is so much that I have not seen that I still want to.

I decided to organize each post by a different area of the world, discussing the reason I want to go there, or why I enjoyed it there. I am very excited about this topic, and I hope I can excite anyone who reads this to research places they would like to visit.