Gratefulness Is Always In Style

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NOTE*--I must say, that this blog post is a bit late, and we do apologize. I really hit the ground running when I returned to real life. Between Rachel and I, this is the best we could do time-wise. Better late than never. Right? -Carolyn

The last student blogger is Rachel, a grade 10 student, who is 16 years old. Rachel was prepared for everything. If someone needed something while we were travelling, chances are that Rachel had it! I was impressed by that. Rachel attended both Riverside and Burntwood schools before coming to R. D. Parker. She's been out of Canada a few times before we went to the U. K., but never without her family. Her EF Tour was something that she will always remember.

I just want to start off by saying how extremely grateful I am for this experience. I'm highly doubtful that I will ever be able to do this trip ever again. Having the other schools included with our group just made the trip all the better. I'm not sure if I want to do another EF Tour just because I won't have Lewis (tour guide extraordinaire)again.

Ireland was beautiful and I wish we got more time there. There is so much history that we took in just in those short days. Being in Ireland for the Easter Rising remembrance made me realize that other parts of the world are going through such hard times within their own countries. We saw so many different cities in so little time.

Scotland was beautiful and it felt so different than Ireland and it had the same amount of dark history and ending. We saw so much of the country's history through the food, people and music. I just wish we could have seen more.

London wasn't what I expected it to be. It didn't feel old and historic like Scotland and Ireland but it was modern and American in my opinion. I loved it too, but it just wasn't what I expected.

I just want to say a final thank you to my parents who allowed me to go on this trip, and a special thank you to Ms. Halcrow for taking all of us. I know we weren't always great but we all appreciate everything you did for us to make the 7 of us have one of the greatest trips we will probably ever have.

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Photos

Easter Rising in Dublin
There was a very important celebration of Remembrance Easter Sunday while we were in Dublin. The President and Prime Minister of Ireland attended. We were all struck by the gravity of the history for the Irish.

The Giant's Causeway
The glorious Irish Sea...this is such a beautiful place. I highly recommend it to all.

Edinburgh Castle
Castles are amazing. I will never tire of exploring castles.

Dusk in London
We spent one evening on a bridge spanning the Thames. It was glorious.