Le Journal de Bord

Sunday, 13th July

Today is arrival day : the educators went to Heathrow and Saint Pancras to fetch the participants. Some arrived really early, others in the afternoon. This meant a lot of waiting... But we could all start to make acquaintance, play a few games, have picnic...

In the afternoon we went to the youth hostel to settle in. We had a break new the river Thames and ate a nice « fikka » (bread, chocolate and bananas). Then we started discussing the week : what are we going to do, what is the scientific project... We also wrote our collective agreements (how to spend a nice week together as a team).

After dinner (beef chili and lemon pie), we went out to discover the neighbourhood. We did not see any fox, but we had a nice walk in the parc and around Canada Water.

Monday, 14th July

After breakfast we held the daily forum and played « 1 2 3 Bottle ». It was very funny. We took the Tube (the London underground) to the city center and saw the most famous monuments, such as Big Ben and Buckingham Palace.

We ate our picnic in Saint James’s Park and did some challenges to learn how to introduce ourselves to strangers. We heard music because military were rehearsing for a parade. We saw people doing a « bag run » and asked if we could try. These people were very nice and said we could !

Then we went to the National History Museum and visited as much as we could. We all love the dinosaur section. At the end of the day we went back home. So of us went running before dinner. After dinner we gather to talk about our day, to discuss our words of the day. Finally we went « fox-sighting ».

(Martin and Paul)

Thursday, 15th July

In the morning, we prepared the picnic together in the kitchen of the hostel before leaving. Then we played a game where we have to stand when we are happy, or seat when we’re not happy about something. Then we took the tube (Jubilee line) to Canary Wharf. At the exit of the Tube, we got free raspberry sparkling water. It was fresh sparkling— a nice surprise !

Canary Wharf is a modern neighbourhood with skyscrapers. Then we visited the London Museum Docklands. We learned about the history of the docks, the ships, the trade, and also the slavery that was part of this history. We also watched a short movie about the docks during World War II. It was interesting and emotional.

Just after we had lunch in a square. We also found a children playground and had fun there. It was a very funny time. Later, we walked through Isle of Dogs and found a park where we played football. It was very fun and a good team moment !

In the afternoon, we went to Mudchute Park and did some interviews for the survey about foxes in the city. We asked a few people questions — some people answered kindly, others didn’t want to stop (understandable of course).

Then we walked through a tunnel under the River Thames. After that, we had a quick visit to Greenwich, where we walked around and saw the place. We took a double-decker bus — we were happy to went upstairs, it is an iconic thing to do in London !

After the dinner we did “the word of the day” and after a times up with all the words it was also a funny moment. Finally we went see foxes but about 15 after the beginning we got caught in the rain and went back home.

It was a long but amazing day. We learned many things and had a great time with the group.

(Theophile and Manech)

Wednesday, 16th July

This morning, we volunteered at Stave Hill Ecology Park with Rebeka. Rebeka has been volunteering since the beginning 37 years ago !

Rebeka explained how the park was created after the docks were filled with rubble. On a very thin layer of soil, the volunteers started planting trees and flowers, and creating different areas. Nowadays it is a real ecosystem ! We planted flowers in a meadow and installed fences to protect the flowers. It was interesting and satisfying for our egos ! (according to Rebeka we did great).

For lunch, we cooked a pasta salad together, with cucumber, eggs, mayonnaise, cheese, tomatoes, fake ham, corn,olives.
In the afternoon, we did two activities to understand what is an ecosystem. We learned the definition and what it is exactly. It was super interesting and entertaining !

We also played football, before having a quick snack. The game was really funny. In the evening we had dinner. It was really funny too, we were rolling on the floor laughing !

After dinner, we did several activities : the usual words of the day, a game of Times’ Up, an activity about the « stones » we found at Stave Hill, and we finished the activity of the afternoon about ecosystems. Then we went on a walk to see some foxes, because they are easier to see in the evening. We saw a few of them and we went back at the youth hostel.

(Lily-Ann and Raphael)

Thursday, 17th July

On Thursday, we first did the morning routine (stretching, giving our opinion on different subjects). Then we talked a lot about ecosystems , and how to have a scientific opinion of the subject . Then, we had a classic picnic with wraps.

Opposite to the morning, the afternoon was very intense, as much cultural as popular ; because we went to Camden Town, a neighbourhood where there are vintage and music shops on every street. During more than one hour and a half, we did some shopping into clothes shops, street food restaurants, folklore memories and more. During this time, we improved our English by talking with the sellers, and it will be useful in the future ! The meal of the day was cheeseburgers, we enjoyed it and we finished our day by observing the foxes.

(Martin)

(sorry, no pictures !)

Friday, 18th July

Today, we started our transmission projects : we had to summarize all that we learned so that next week’s group can easily understand what we did.

We decided to create 4 different projects : a quizz about foxes, a memory game about urban ecosystems, an image showing the elements of the local ecosystem, and a schema showing how the former docks looked, and how they look now.

We wanted to visit a museum in the afternoon, but it was really hot and everyone was tired. So we stayed home but enjoyed the afternoon by playing ball and having an ice-cream !

Saturday, 19th July

This morning we presented our transmission project to Nourelise, a new educator. Then we packed our suitcase and left to go downtown. When we exited the station, it was raining heavily ! Fortunately, the restaurant was really close. We all had a very nice (and huge) lunch at a Chinese restaurant and enjoyed it a lot !

Then the educators left and started sending us clues on WhatsApp. We had to find places or solve riddles. It was a city race that took us through Leicester Square, Seven Dials, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, and all the way to Parliament Square where we had fikka.

Then we took an Uber Boats to go to Tower Bridge. We saw the Tower of London, walked across Tower Bridge, and met Emilia and Nour at the « Scoop ».

We bought street food (fish and chips, or Korean food) and spent our last evening by the river Thames. This was a great evening together !

Sunday, 20th July

Today is our last day... Some left by plane, others by train. Bye bye London !

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