Another busy week on the Social Programme this week! On Monday, I took a group of students, or should I say two groups, to the pub after their afternoon classes: I say two groups because one of them was the French "Cap Gemini Group" – They didn't know each other until this week as they all come from different parts of the company, and different areas in France, but they were all sent at the same time for a week of English training ; and the "IELTS / Foundation Group" – our long term students, at SGI because they all want to enter university in England. They all know each other really well, and seem to spend a lot of time together, and really get on, which is nice to see.
While at the pub, we chatted about food… One French student said she was surprised with the quality of the cheese presented to her by her English host family the night before: YES, we have good cheese! We also talked about the great variety of food available in London restaurants. A student from Paris was comparing the two cities, saying that the choice in London is immense compared to Paris. He did also ask the other French students where the bad reputation of "Parisiens" came from?! Any answers welcome!
On Tuesday it was me on duty again, and I accompanied 7 students to Kensington where we visited the Royal Geographical Society for a "Travel Photography" Exhibition. There were about 100 pictures, from young people's to older professionals', as well as very old photographs, taken in the 18 & 19 hundreds. These were really interesting and surprising – the material used at the time was also displayed in some pictures, and students commented on the difficulties of carrying the heavy equipment on long journeys! Highlight pictures were the lion, taken very closely from the front as he is startled by the camera – He looks like he's going to attack it! Others were the amazing colours of pictures in the ice. The old photographs from Egypt, on the river Nile with the pyramids in the background were also great… Well, they were all very good actually, so if you weren't with us, how about visiting it by yourself?! 
On Wednesday, Owen took a group of 6 people for his "Under the Bridges Walk". They managed to end the walk just minutes before it started raining! The students were really interested in the Monument – a tall column representing the place where the Great Fire of London started in 1666. The other highlights were the Millenium Bridge, which you can see being destroyed in the "Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince" movie… Finally, one student expressed interest in some of the City Buildings, one of which has a lift built on the outside! I have never actually noticed that one, so I'll need to check it out myself… As usual, Owen gave the students lots of little anecdotes about the areas that they walked through, and they had fun! 
Finally on Thursday, it was Julia's turn to join in, and she probably had lots of fun, bowling at Bloomsbury Lanes. 5 students were in for a good game. They arrived in the EMPTY Bloomsbury Lanes Club, and were asked if they had made a booking… A little strange! but then after a few minutes, a large group of people arrived and it turned out that they had booked all but one lane in advance! We were lucky! 
They all had a good game, unfortunately, Julia has now disappeared, without telling me the name of the winner! If you read this blog and that you were there, please let me know!! So this is it for the week. We'll be having an eventful one again next week: the usual pub BUT with a new teacher! Kevin will be joining our programme! I'll take care of Tuesday and Wednesday myself with the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baker Street and Afternoon tea near Leicester Square! (yum yum, looking forward to it!) Finally, there'll be more food on the programme as Amy, on Thursday, will take you to Soho Japan, a great little restaurant! Join us if can!
