Анна Симакова, школа EAC, Эдинбург, весна 2008 г.
прим. Study Line: Анна – победитель конкурса “The Coolest Business Plan ’07”, проводимого агентством “Study Line”, совместно с сетью языковых школ в Великобритании “EAC” и журналом “Cool English”. Как автор лучшего бизнес-плана, Анна провела 2 недели в Шотландии, изучая английский язык в одной из самых знаменитых языковых школ Великобритании.
Anna’s first feelings: Hurrah! I am so happy - you can't even imagine!... It is so breath-taking - just to think of going to Scotland... The name of the country associates with so many things, movies, books, pictures! I couldn't help dreaming about visiting Scotland, but this dream coming true, I can't believe that it is me who is so lucky! I want to thank all the organisators - the Cool English magazine, Study Line Company and EAC School! I am very grateful to you, so grateful that I can't even describe it in this message!
Anna’s “after-Scotland” feedback: Visiting Edinburgh was the dream of me life. But I have never thought that I would find myself in this gorgeous city not even being 20 years old. Dreams appeared not only to exist but to come true.
My entire trip was like a two-week fairytale. I lived in a nice family, where I felt that everybody was glad to meet and to talk to me. Raymond and Linda, married couple, did their best to make me feel comfortable and ease.
At school where I studied I got acquainted to lots of people of various nationalities, so it was rather interesting to communicate and sometimes to find great differences, e.g. in world outlook. I was really surprised to see a lot of Spanish students at school, because for them, as far as I know, it’s hard to learn English. Moreover, Edinburgh being a northern city, Spanish people must be courageous to come there for more than a half a year!
Edinburgh appeared to be more mesmerizing than I even expected. It is not only the architecture, beauty of the city. But people, first of all! Scottish people are so hospitable, amiable and friendly – you can’t even imagine until you go there!
My new friends and I visited the Edinburgh castle, which was a prison for a long time. It must be because of severe architecture, gloomy sky and unusual atmosphere of the place that I felt as though I was back in the Middle Ages. This impression was reinforced as the story about 49 prisoners who tried to escape from the caste jail was told.
One night we decided to go to the Dungeon Tour. I couldn’t imagine that it will be so frightening to listen to stories about ghosts, haunted places, dead people and tortures. The thing, to my mind, was in the atmosphere of Edinburgh streets and in the mysteries surrounding every building of the Old Town. By the end of the tour to my shame I had realised that I almost believed in all these legends!
During the first weekend I had in the UK I went to London. London seemed to be very crowded and noisy after cosy and nice Edinburgh. When I went upstairs to the dome of Saint Paul’s cathedral I couldn’t believe my eyes. I saw London, the city which I had been reading so much, the city which was so unreal for me!
As a real culture vulture I have visited National Gallery, British museum, Victoria and Albert Museum. And then I was walking along London streets to sense the life of this awesome city with every step I made. In my opinion, different architectural styles, having mixed in the UK capital, make an impression on every person! While walking along London streets you are always looking up to see the beauty of numerous architectural masterpieces.
After coming from London my fellow students and I went to Loch Ness. Of course, none of us believed in this well-known story about the monster. It seemed to have been made up by locals. However, we made up our minds just to have a nice trip. We were lucky as the weather was incredibly fair and we had a nice time there. We met several hydro biologists who insisted on the Nessie monster existence. Moreover, they claimed that there are 18 animals inhabiting this lake. They even gave us pictures!... You know, it was rather odd to see people who were talking about Loch Ness monster so seriously and emphatically!
The last day in Edinburgh was really memorizing. Having the flight from Edinburgh at 1 o’clock p.m. we decided to climb the Arthur’s Seat – the extinct volcano in the city. However we could not imagine that it will be so high! On the very top of it (209 m) – the wind blew with such strength that I thought I would fly away like a feather!
My spring holidays were wonderful! And I am very grateful to people who gave me such an opportunity – Andrew Fisher, the director of the EAC school in the UK, and Natalia Lebedeva, the managing director of Study Line Company. And of course, I wanted to thank “Cool English” as it was this magazine that became a source of information about the competition for me!
