Mind The Gap

Because it was the weekend, we had an excuse to spend all our time sight-seeing. But come Monday, schools were back in session and we were back to the academic side of the trip. However the day started out with a visit to the Freud Museum, where he spent the final year of his life after the British government paid the Nazi ransom to bring him, a Jew, to London.


Our school destination was Lindon Bennett School, which, other than a ridiculously long train ride (where we had to stand most of the time), is a school for children with severe and multiple learning disabilities. With one teacher and at least three TAs for every class of 6-8 pupils, the school was an example of the top-tiered special needs education in England. They had their own pool for water therapy, giving children in wheelchairs a sense of mobility they would never otherwise experience. The children went on frequent field trips, seeing and doing things their parents would otherwise be too tired (or embarrassed) to do with them. Specialists came in to work with the children several times a week, from physical therapists to speech and vision therapists. There was a lovely garden, a learning-intuitive playground and some of the most amazing facilities you could imagine. And the dedication and compassion of the teachers and staff was unbelievable. Their passion for the job truly shows that teaching is more than just a profession - especially with special needs children (some of them very severely impaired), it is a matter of life work. There was one girl we saw who, upon arriving one year ago, was unable to walk and very shy and quiet. When we visited, she stood up, walked over to us, and greeted us. It was quite a sight and her teachers were so visibly proud of her - further giving her the confidence that she would otherwise not have to do such simple, but incredible things.

We got back from the school just in time to see the Tate Modern Museum. The key word is "see." The train ride back was ridiculously long and we had a reservation to go on the London Eye. So, our group made it to the meeting point with a full ten minutes left of the allocated time to rest and enjoy the building's exterior.



The London Eye, however, made us forget all about the Tate Modern. The world's largest observation wheel, it does one rotation every half-hour, bringing you up 135 meters above the city of London. Originally built for the millennium for a period of five years, its popularity with tourists and residents alike have kept it going as an icon of London.


The next morning, I found myself at Sunrise School, a more standard primary school. Upstairs was a nursery which was supposedly the main focus of the visit. However, the primary school downstairs was of more interest. It reminded me of a one-room schoolhouse, with one side of the room for ages 5-8 and another section for ages 9-11 - all with one teacher. The pupils were a breath of fresh air from all the kindergarten and special needs children we had interacted with in the month of the program. These were children that reminded me of myself and my classmates at that age. Some of the questions we got? How old were we (the shock we got at saying we were 20 made us feel so old)? Can we show them our British accent (which they found hilarious - as hilarious as we found their American ones)? Do we have a boyfriend/girlfriend (ah, puppy love and school gossip)?

From there we made our way to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, located on the banks of the Tiver Thames. It was a careful recreation of the original 1599 theatre for which Shakespeare wrote many of his plays. We watched a performance of Othello, which, as unexpectedly long as it was, was quite a treat to see it in such an atmosphere.


From there we made a visit to the last area of interest: Parliament. The exit from the Underground literally lets you out at the base of the clock tower, immediately dwarfing you as you emerge. Parliament is stunning - to think that such architecture exists in a modern city. And not only that, but in that building is where the British government is housed. It's quite a sight:


It was a nice way to spend the last afternoon there. That night, like all the other nights, we paid a visit to one of the numerous pubs that dot the streets of London. That's something I'm gonna miss - the pub scene is genuinely unique to London and the atmosphere one-of-a-kind. The next morning we returned back to Copenhagen for our last week abroad.