Posted by Ksenia
For the Sunday 10th of May a trip to Seven Sisters was planned. Basically it’s a huge country park on the south coast situated between Seaford and Eastbourne. The sisters are a series of chalk cliffs formed where the South Downs meet the sea. That was all I knew about our destination when our little group (Mr. Loft, Dr. Andrews and a few A2 chemistry students including myself) was getting on the bus at 2.55 pm.
The idea was given to us by Mr. Loft – my chemistry teacher (who I have already mentioned in my blog so many times so it’s absolutely unnecessary to describe how brilliant he is) – and he was the one to organize everything including the bus journey and even the entertainment (how great it is when at least someone is organized). We played something which is called Salami Game (do not worry if you never heard of it – I didn’t have a slightest idea about it as well). Originally it was played in some TV show and involved slicing sausages in five pieces. Obviously we didn’t have any sausages (which some people regretted a lot) so it was suggested to play with 100 coins (imaginary as well – or do you carry a hundred identical coins in your pockets?).
We were all given a pen and a piece of paper – then everyone should play with a partner and write a number to show how many coins he is willing to bet. At the same time the partner also writes a number. The biggest one wins. The trick is that you only have 100 coins and you have to win 3 rounds (so it doesn’t make sense to bet 95 in the first round – even though you are going to win it, you will have only 5 coins let and your partner will beat you in the next 3 rounds and will win the game. So you somehow need to guess what the other person is going to bet. Clever, isn’t it?).
Talking to each other and playing we did not even noticed how an hour went by and we arrived at a small bus stop not far away from Seaford. So our discovery of the English country side has begun. Everyone was very enthusiastic to know the names of all the plants we were seeing on our way (we were extremely lucky to have a professional biologist – Dr Andrews – with us) and when we suddenly saw a field with lots of sheep everyone started running around and taking pictures (this joy was quite understandable as one of the boys from Hong Kong has never seen a sheep before).
It was quite a while before everyone got together again and we continued our walk. When we finally reached the seaside we took our cameras out again – the landscapes were absolutely fantastic and we did not know at that moment that the most breathtaking views are still waiting for us (or could just guess).
The walk was not the easiest one – we had to almost run down the hills and then climb the next one, again and again – of course they were not that steep but it was quite challenging for people who are used to spend most of the time in their rooms (That was actually one of the reasons Mr. Loft decided to take us out – some of the Bellerbys students are simply not getting enough fresh air as they are studying so hard – poor people I really feel sorry for them – I obviously do not have this problem!). But as the conversation we were having been so interesting (and quite an odd one sometimes – I guess people who would hear us accidentally would think that we were completely mad. Imagine what a group of science teachers and students can talk about on Sunday afternoon – well, about everything including ecology, genetics and flame tests!) I have barely experienced any difficulties.
We were extremely lucky with the weather – it was warm, sunny and slightly windy – ideal conditions for a walk (to be absolutely honest I expected it to be quite the opposite - rainy and freezing - not because I am a pessimist – just trying to look at life and English climate realistically) so I took a warm coat with me – and I was absolutely right at the end!). Our plan was to watch the sunset at one particular place from where the cliffs looked particularly beautiful – and we even reached the required point on time, taking lots of picture of the stunning landscapes surrounding us on the way.
At first the plan was to go back to Brighton on the 8.30 bus but as anyone was in a hurry and were all a bit tired (we had walked around 10 kilometers by then) so we decided not to rush for it but to have a short break on a particularly picturesque top of a hill and then slowly walk to Seaford.
As the night approached it was turning quite cold (that’s when I was so happy to have my warm coat!) so we were all extremely pleased to get on the bus and used our time to look through all the pictures from the different cameras taken that day (the photos you see here are mainly by Mr. Loft – besides his other talents his a very good photographer). It’s only when I finally got home I really felt how totally exhausted I really was – the only thing I could do is to say hello to my neighbour, set my alarm clock for a bit earlier to collect everything I would need in college on Monday and fell asleep immediately.
And the next morning, even though my legs were refusing to go anywhere I realized that it was the best school trip I have ever been on.
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