Trips to Portsmouth and Hengistbury Head

After our first day at “School of English” and the first experience with the very “delicious” lunch, it was now time for us to explore the surrounding area of Southbourne. The destination of our trip was Hengistbury Head, a sandstone headland.

Even though we had been driven there by bus, the small rise at the beginning of our walk was too strenuous for some of us. However, the overlooking view on the hill was worth it! After our photo session was finished, we went down to the beach. I was really looking forward to this, as I, unlike some others, had not been at the sea in Bournemouth yet.
We walked along the beach to a small jetty, passing several beach-huts. At a café, we finally made a break, where some of us bought ice cream, played soccer or just enjoyed the beautiful landscape.

Hengistbury Head



 

As days passed and we got to know our host families better and settled in Southbourne, our second trip led us to Portsmouth, a city which is well known for its harbour.

Most of us will never forget this journey with these cuddly three seats in the bus. Fortunately, I am not very tall, so at least I did not have such a big problem with the space, although it was anything but comfortable.
In Portsmouth, we were divided into two groups, as the 7B wanted to visit the shipwreck “The Mary Rose”. As they told us afterwards, we had missed a lot there.

But our trip wasn’t less interesting. We went to Gunwharf Quays, where you can find a lot of outlet stores and cafés. I spent most time in the sweet shops, as you could buy so many kinds of sweets there, you cannot even imagine in your sweetest dreams.We also had the opportunity to visit Spinnaker Tower, which was being modelled after a sail and from where you have a great view on Portsmouth. However, I did not go up to the top, but explored the harbor from the ground.
Afterwards, our whole group walked through Portsmouth to the Roman Catholic cathedral of St John.Back at the harbor again, we joined the other class and travelled back to our host families in our “cosy” bus.

Spinnaker Tower

As my camera was not working on these two trips, I want to say thank you to all of my classmates, who were so nice, as to give me their photographs from the excursions, so I can publish some of them in my blog entry.