Plymouth: First day in the classroom!!!

Today was our first day in the classroom. It started out with my alarm not going off, I was supposed to be up at 6:30, but didn’t wake up until 6:50… oops! At least I woke up! I was still ready by 7:45 though and Reid, Kelsey, Heather, and I headed to the bus stop to start our journey to St. Peter’s Roman Catholic School. The bus ride is about 30 mins., I think. The bus drivers are really nice here and they always help and let you know where to get off at. Once we got off where he told us to we had to find the school, our head teacher already told us that we were probably going to get lost and not to worry about being late… but the other Americans weren’t from UF and we were determined to get there on time! We asked a few people and some school children, who laughed at our accents, and finally we made it, on time! They showed us to our classes and we began our first day in an English primary school. The first thing that I came across was my last name, Bumsted here would be the equivalent to Buttsted in America, and so everyone got a good laugh about that. Some of the children later in the day told me my name was offensive, HAH! It’s pretty funny; I told them that if they wanted to they could call me Ms. B instead. The school day here is structured differently than ours, they have a 20 min. break in the morning and the teachers go and drink coffee and tea while the children play. Also at lunch it is an hour and the whole school goes at the same time, granted there is one class for every grade, and the teachers all get break at the same time. It was very different, but kind of cool to all be in there together. It’s also funny because we are the Americans and we are International students, which is a foreign (BAHAHA) idea to us. The students are really cute, they wear little uniforms, the girls in gingham dresses and the boys have little ties, and they are very interested in America and my accent. There is too much to put here about all that I observed today, but it was really fun being in the classroom again especially one that is different and offers different things for me to learn (Dr. Jacobbe would love the way they do math). I am excited to spend more time here and with the students! Also, the 5th year teacher is REALLY cute and he has a really nice accent. The four of us today were practically drooling at him! Should be an interesting 4 weeks 