Field Trips to London... is this really my job?

In front of the Tower of London with some of my students

Some of my kiddos outside of the Buckingham Palace

Of course I got lucky again and actually got paid extra money to go to London for a 2nd field trip with my school.  They came to me and asked is it okay if we give you 4 days off to go to London with students and 3 other teachers and then pay you additional money than we already pay you... let me think for a second... ummm YES!  So I agreed and we were off to London with 45 kids.  Let me put this in perspective... I am the only teacher on the trip that teaches all 45 of them so I think this gave them a sense of connection to me (aka they think I am their mother)  For every problem they encountered or any idea they had they were always running to me to see what I thought.  Needless to say it was a great but very exhausting trip. 

We left on Monday March 26th flying British Airways (another perk seeing as how I have been flying budget airlines the whole time I've been here... except for that one time to Amsterdam)  which definitely brightened my day.  We were picked up by bus and taken to the hotel and got everything ready for the day.  I must say I felt spoiled because I am not used to being chauffeured like this.

After getting everyone in their rooms and finally rounded back together we were off to see London. We saw Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and let the kids go around and do some shopping around Picadilly.  There is nothing better than watching a kid who has never left his parent's house before on his first adventure alone in a new city.  For me it was definitely the most rewarding part of my experience with all of the students.  We were informed later that night after we arrived that we were probably going to have to cut our trip short due to the strikes in Spain.  COME ON SPAIN!  We had two options fly home a day early or stay 4 extra days.  There was no way our student's could afford that so we went with come home 1 day early.  The kids were devastated so here was our difficult task.  See as much as we can in 2 1/2 days.  Ready... GO!

I had to do it... little kid at heart

Some of my kids being goofy

The next day we spent seeing as much as possible.  St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the Monument, a Boat Cruise down the Thames, the London Eye, Big Ben, the Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Kensington Park and of course some shopping at Harrods.  These kids were absolutely exhausted.  On our last day before we were chauffeured back to the airport we made a quick trip to King's Cross Station (Platform 9 3/4 for you Harry Potter fans) and to the British Museum.

The whole group

Although the kids were upset that we had to leave early I couldn't have asked for a better group to go to London with.  I am truly blessed that I was placed at the school I was this year as I am learning a lot about the teacher I am and how I affect students and how they can affect me when I least expect it.