VS019...from Heathrow to SFO

That was our flight. It seemed shorter to me than the flight going over - Kristin thought it seemed longer. The fact that I slept for a bit and she didn't - well, that might have something to do with our perceptions!

If you're me, there's never a time that's not a possible 'Kodak moment.' The plane ride was no exception. Larissa wanted me to erase the photo of her standing, waiting for the restroom, but her friends agreed we should keep it. You'll see her holding her fingers across her eyes. Did she really think I'd go away? lolA little background on this photo... Emily had been diligently collecting pins for her lanyard through the entire trip. Besides memories, it was also pretty pricey. Well, going through security at Heathrow, we had to remove the lanyards since they set off the buzzer. Emily had put hers in the basket...but after they all came through, she realized her lanyard was missing. We asked, they said they hadn't seen it. I assume the family in front mistakenly picked it up. Anyway, Emily was SICK...I was sick for her. But she kept going, trying to not let it get her down. We got situated in the waiting area - crowded...lots of stores...VERY crowded - and Emily and Cyprien took off to look around while we passed the time. After about 20 minutes, one of the ladies we had talked to at the security, came walking up holding Emily's lanyard. She didn't say how it had been returned, I didn't ask. I can't remember who it was, (Lauren?) but they took off with the lanyard to find Emily. This photo was taken after that!

Tommy O'Brien, our beloved Irish coach driver, would have been proud. At one point as we were probably an hour or so from SFO, our wonderful delegates, your wonderful children, broke out into our song. They, no WE, sang it all the way through, erupting in loud applause when we finished. Ah...like I said, Tommy would be proud.

Parents, it was so awesome having all of you standing there to greet us as we came out of customs...the snapshots, the cheers, the clapping!

Home sweet home!

July 25th, our last full day in England

Our medieval breakfast was in a medieval-decorated restaurant under the castle. Some of our delegates were able to visit with some of their new friends from Maryland and Virginia - another People to People group they met at the castle. After breakfast, we gathered our gear from the tents, loaded them in the coach, and then had till noon to explore the rest of the castle on our own. Some loved this, some were "castled-out" and relaxed on the lawn. Kristin and I took advantage of the time to explore, which you can check out in these photos:BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.



At noon, we had lunch on the lawn overlooking the river and an area where a jousting show was happening. Some went down to get a closer look as they finished their lunch, others went to have some archery lessons, buy a few last souvenirs... and then we were off...for a half hour drive to Stratford-Upon-Avon, best known as William Shakespeares birthplace.

Interestingly, Sam was less than excited about this stop. He said all the stories about Shakespeare are 99% conjecture and 1% fact. He said what is said is that "Shakespeare PROBABLY was born here... Shakespeare PROBABLY ate lunch here, etc." He even said there was question if there even was the person of William Shakespeare! Apparently, there is some speculation that 'William Shakespeare' was a pen name for someone else! I was totally surprised by all this information. I loved the town anyway... and I took plenty of photos of SHAKESPEARE'S HOME... because in my mind, it's all true. But, what if it's not? Um???

It's a beautiful town, with Tudor architecture everywhere.BubbleShare: Share photos - Powered by BubbleShare


Good-bye Stratford...and we were on our way to Sussex...or Woking? Is Woking an area of Sussex? Is Sussex an area of London? I have no idea, and I was so tired by this point, that I really didn't care. I was thinking of hot showers, comfortable beds, and a nice dinner after our evening at Warwick.

Seeing as this was our last night, most of the delegates dressed up for dinner. Ah, what a beautiful group - handsome group... great looking group....! Dinner was delicious - as was the dessert. We were then allowed to use the 7th floor conference room where we filled out evaluations for the program, and then got together for lots...and lots....and lots of photos. Some stayed around for even more photos, as you will see from the ones I post.BubbleShare: Share photos - Powered by BubbleShare


At 11:30 p.m., it was time for our last (sniff, sniff) bed checks. It kind of reminded me of the Walton's. (Does anyone remember the Walton's?) We'd do the bed check, and then a head would pop out of the door to ask another question. It made me smile then, and it still makes me smile today.

Chester, England and Warwick Castle on July 24

Chester... this was the first town we came to when we re-entered England from North Wales. We were scheduled to have a tour of the old Roman parts of the town by an authentic Roman soldier - yeah, right, but he played the part well...but seeing as we arrived 1 1/2 hours early, we had some free time on our hands. We all took off in different directions to explore this - another quaint town!

Chester, I found out, is called England's Walled City. My first stop was to walk back to a portion of the wall - well, a bridge - we had driven under. As all the little old towns, I loved the architecture. Chester has a beautiful cathedral.As the time came near to meet, everyone slowly made their way back to the square. Some were hanging out in the little sidewalk cafes - some comparing their purchases (some new kind of earbuds was a hit... I listened to some and they definitely sounded good) and others were just hanging out on the benches watching the people and talking.

We had our count off, boarded the bus, drove to where we were to meet our very own Roman soldier. This guy was a RIOT! I'll show it to you all in pictures:BubbleShare: Share photos - Powered by BubbleShare

After leaving Chester, we headed to Warwick Castle. Now, I have to admit I was NOT looking forward to this. I think all the delegates were, but the leaders had heard horror stories, mostly having to do with the cold and wet conditions. Well, in keeping with the nature of this delegation, meaning everything going so well, we had absolutely beautiful weather! It did get a little cold during the night, and it was compounded when you woke up and had to go to the bathroom. Remember we're camping, in tents, on castle grounds... you didn't just hop up and run to the bathroom and hop back in your warm bed. No, you slowly and painstakingly forced yourself out of bed, tried to find your shoes and jacket...then unhooked the tent ties, crawled out of the tent, tried to remember where in the world the bathrooms even were, and then trudged through the paths to the bathroom. Then the return journey, and crawling back into a flimsy sleeping back. Well, all that is true, but it really wasn't bad, not even for a 53 year old!

Prior to this sleeping time, we had a medieval dinner when we arrived. After that, our delegation, which was one of three at the castle, was led through three different sessions. Our first was SWORDS - real swords - and taught to us by a guy who did swordfighting in the movie Braveheart. (I think that was the right movie!) We were in pairs, being careful not to cut off anyone's head or limbs. :)

After the sword fighting, came archery. Now we really didn't get the opportunity to shoot the bow and arrow, but this medieval man showed us all the protection and supplies needed. Jess was our model. He looked great in all the armor. The only problem with Jess was- well, he SAYS he wants to be an actor - however, I think he has a ways to go. When his head was about to get chopped off, he laughed....he smiled. The guy kept telling Jess to make a scowl, a frown, but no, Jess the future actor, just kept smiling....a big smile I might add.

From archery we moved to - well, I can't remember the name, but basically these huge sticks. You'll see them on the photos:BubbleShare: Share photos - Powered by BubbleShare

Our song...sung by The Dubliners

Quaint towns in Northern Wales

We started today by going to the Great Orme Copper Mine in Llandadno. This tour was led by the man who discovered the mine in the first place. We put on our hard hats and took off on two of the nine levels of the mine. It's still operational - closing for 5 months of the year to dig. Eddie, the owner, told me they would start digging in October. This mine also dates back to the bronze age - over 3000 years ago. During that time, the digging was done with animal bones. To date, there have been over 30,000 animal bones recovered. There is a lot of interest in this mine. The Smithsonian actually sends people over to work in it. Eddie, at the end of our tour, demonstrated how you can melt the malachite to liquify the copper and pour it into molds... which was how they would make arrowheads! It was fascinating to watch.BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.


We went to a quaint little town called Llanberis, which is the foot of Mount Snowdon. This was the ancestral home of Thomas Jefferson. There were more castles...BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.


We also went to another little wonderful town called Beddgelert. This means something like death of the dog... I don't think that's exactly right, but it's close. We then hiked in to see the grave of the dog... I'll add the story later...This town was totally picturesque.

We ate lunch at a place that we were told has THE best fish and chips in the UK. I don't know if I agree with that...but they were good. Sam told us the chips (french fries) were authentic British chips.

We also went to Conwy...and another castle. Here there is also the legend of Merlin and Arthur. Arthur is said to be asleep in the mountain to the left of Snowdonia. He will wake up and help defend the country the next time the Saxons invade! We were able to get out and put our feet in a gorgeous lake - Lake Llyn Padarn - with, of course, a castle in the background!

We learned some Welsh...the language is so different. The spelling gives you absolutely no idea how to pronounce it. To say 'good day' you phonetically say dif-da. But the way they spell it in Welsh is dyddda. See what I mean?

Tomorrow we head back to England...it will be an exciting time for everyone, spending tomorrow night ON THE GROUNDS of another castle! The delegates have been informed to pack their warmest and driest clothes in their backpacks. The weather has actually been perfect, and as far as I know there is no chance of rain. So we should have good weather! We'll all be sleeping in tents - something like 6 - 8 to a tent. Doesn't that sound fun?

I know there will be no internet in the tents.... then we only have one night left after that! It is so hard to believe we are coming to the end of this journey. I've been asking some if they're ready to go home. Almost the universal answer is Yes...and No. Yes, they're missing their families and boyfriends/girlfriends (I'm sure they're missing their parents the most!), but No - because some wonderful friendships have been formed. Traveling with a group of your peers is an experience they will never forget.

As I've said before, and can still truthfully say after 17 days on the road, this is an absolutely wonderful group of young people. Talking with a group as we waited for the ferry the other day, I think it was Melanie who said she thought we really had a great group... I couldn't agree more!

July 22 - Penryn Castle

Today was our FULL ON day. It was awesome.

We arrived at the gym of the university and were met by a team of highly energetic people from New Zealand. As we came in, the song - Celebration - was blaring. The crew got the kids moving and doing a little dancing. (Remember, this is about 9 a.m.) After a few words, they talked to the kids about fears - about conquering those fears - about trust - making choices, etc.

We hopped in the coach and drove to Penryn Castle, which actually is not a true castle, but a vacation home that was built by Lord Penryn. It looks like a castle to us, but because it has large 1st floor windows...and easy access, it's technically not a castle.

Our group was again broken into groups - 3 groups - and we had more activites to build trust and team building... and problem solving. I won't go into details since the computer only has 10 more minutes...but they were great exercises that I want to use in my classroom (remind me to tell you Pamela and Laner!)

Next: rappeling off the castle. MOST of us did it...but a few - I think there were 5 - who made it all the way to the top, even as far as standing on the edge, and then just couldn't go over the edge. Those of us who did, were exhilarated by the experience. We took so many pictures...and there was so much encouragement being yelled out. All of this was done on the absolutely beautiful grounds of the castle. We were in harness...and it was all safe...BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.


We had quite a bit of free time back at the university. It was also warm and beautiful weather, so lots of groups took off walking into town.

An exciting day!

July 21 - Goodbye to our home stay and hello to North Wales

Finally, a computer...but there's not much time until it shuts down.

Back on July 21st, we said good-bye to our home stay families. We also said and sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Kale. As the families dropped their delegates off at the bus, there were a lot of hugs, lots of pictures...and some promises to stay in touch. There were some who had a disappointing home stay, not bad, just disappointing. I gave a report regarding the families who weren't as warm as what our delegates had been expecting. The home stay, in my opinion, is the heart of the program.

We took off in the coach and drove to the dock to catch the ferry, saying good-bye to Tommy O'Brien - our awesome coach driver. This ferry was much faster than the first one we rode to Ireland. We made the crossing in less than 2 hours. We entered north Wales on the Isle of Anglesey. Beautiful!BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.


We were met by another guy named Sam...who stayed with us for the day and led us around. Our first stop on the Isle of Anglesey was a 5,000 year old burial ground - called Bryn Celli Ddu - ...which was made in the Stone Age. Sam, who leads a lot of tours and has been a university lecturer. He told us you can go from the Stone Age to the Nuclear Age in a 20 mile radius.

Next stop was - get ready for this name - Llanfairpwllgwynayllgugerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliugogogoch - honestly, that's the name. There is a train station there and at one time it was shortened so the name could fit on a train ticket. The name translates to: The Church of Mary in the Hollow of the White Hazel Near the Fierce Whirlpool and the Church of Tysilio by the Red Cave. While we were here, we had the SUPERMARKET SWEEP! Our delegation was divided into 4 groups. Each group had a budget and was told what kind of foods to buy to make lunches for the next day. For example, my group had a budget of 50 pounds...and we were to buy the fillings for sandwiches. We also only had 20 minutes to do all our shopping....mission was accomplished.My shopping group...a great, efficient, shopping group!

We came to the university where we stayed. After dinner, there was a crew who made sandwiches to order... a great assembly line effort.BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.


Tomorrow... the castle!