As my first week in Crewe comes to a close I decided I should probably start to familiarize myself with this blog. Crewe is a very cool little city. The train station is right down the street, which is convenient for travel. It is a walk-able city filled with red brick buildings and traditional English houses. Savina and I are staying at the Halfway House on campus, which is awesome because we have a huge kitchen and lots of living space, but there is an unexpected issue that is stressing me out a bit. The accommodations we are in don’t seem to have the same reliable wifi access that the other accommodations on campus do. I was going to rely on a wifi connection in order to keep in contact with my loved ones back home, but now it is increasingly harder to talk to them. I have hijacked the phone jack to plug my laptop into, but if Savina needs to use the internet she has to stand in the kitchen and get a weak signal from the window. I’ve contacted IT and the school’s wifi provider and have essentially just been given a run around. Otherwise, my first couple of days at Leighton Primary School were a lot of fun. I have not had experience with elementary school aged children, so this is completely new for me. They are fascinated by me being an American. I’ve already had several pictures drawn of me and I’ve only spent one full day with these kids! Despite the enjoyment I’m getting from the primary school, I can’t wait to begin working at Sir William Stanier Secondary School. My license is in secondary education, so this is were I will be able to gain the most from my teaching experience here. I’m looking forward to seeing how the particulars of secondary education differ between our two countries. In a couple weekends I will be traveling to Dublin, with Savina, in order to explore Ireland. A lot of my ancestral heritage can be traced back to Ireland, so I am extremely excited for this trip.

Hi everyone,

Matt and I have arrived in Manchester.  It’s been a crazy two days. My flight from Paris to Manchester got cancelled yesterday because of the fog so they put me on a plane to Dublin. From Dublin I flew to Manchester. The airline lost my two bags but they found one and are currently looking for another one. The accommodations are great we are in a house with a kitchen and dining area. We start school tomorrow at Leighton Academy. We are both in year three with seven year olds which would be the equivalent of our grade two. After two weeks Matt will go to a secondary school. We also are going to be attending classes one day a week at the university which will be interesting to see the differences. I am going to be attending a religious education class. Matt doesn’t know what class he will be taking yet. We will be teaching Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday’s.

We will post soon,

Savina and Matt