UPDATE - Cambridge ESOL Certificate of Proficiency in English

Hiya. I got an e-mail this week about my Cambridge exam (the Prociency one, I'll receive my results for the Advanced next week), and I did it!!!:)
My score isn't actuallly too great - I got 69/100, which is a pass with grade C. I'm not sure if it matters with what grade you pass but if it does, I'm going to do it again. It'd be a good excuse to come back next year and maybe do a preparation course this time... and I could go to Bath, to mix it up a bit.
I got a table on my Statement of Result and my Use of English, Listening and Reading parts are 'exceptional', however, I was absolute shite at Writing (I think that's the essay part) and the Speaking, which is rather worrying. I don't know what they flipping want from you!! But I probably should have done a course to understand that:P
All right, update finished.

Another really important thing... :


THEY'VE GOT ICE CREAM VANS IN THE UK!!!

See you later xxx

Cabot Tower, Bristol

Hello friends:)

I hope you all had a good easter, if you celebrated it. I didn't. It's strange, here they eat big chocolate eggs instead of chocolate bunnies.. doesn't look as cute.

Today's the penultimate time of my holiday. Got my ear pierced (do not tell the organisation), went to Cardiff and visited London twice (posts about that still to come). So yeah, I'm quite happy with my holiay:). I also went to see Cabot Tower with another exchange student girl from Italy. I had never heard of it before, but my friend's mum informed me about it when she drove us into town once. It's a tower but it is rather hidden and not high enough to see it from the centre - it isn't far from Park Street. 

The weather was lovely!:) We might go again for a picnic.

The stairs are horrible but it's worth it for the view

It was built in memory of John Cabot, who discovered Newfoundland in 1497 on the Matthew. There's a duplicate of that ship in the harbour here, which I really want to visit soon. Oh, and there's a 'Cabot Tower' in Newfoundland (for the same reason..), which I want to see as well :P.

Also this:) Froyo!!

The sunset in the evening was lovely as well!

Also: A girl from school and I finally went to YO! SUSHI. It is so good! And expensive, but there's a 20% student discount if you're part of their YO! Love Club, which I am now :P

Afterwards, I showed her how to use skype for when I'm gone. We've already used it a few times now, we live about 20 minutes apart mind. She plays Sims (3 of course) and turns her camera around so I can help her :)).

 Have a good weekend, I'll write about London and Cardiff soon. I just need to organise all the pictures.. and I still need to do all of my coursework for next week xxx

Time Out Offers

Hey guys! 

I haven't done much in the holidays so far, except for going to the piercing parlor again yesterday and then drinking some mango tea with a friend in cabot circus. We're such rebels :P.
However, I found a website which is really helpful for planning things, so I wanted to share it with you.

www.timeout.com is a website that shows you what you can do in different cities and I now get e-mails regularly with different vouchers and some percentages off. To sum it up, it's amazing!!

I don't know if it's a very famous site you've all heard of before, if so, I'm sorry.

That's the one for London: www.timeout.com/london

Oh, and look what I saw the other morning :) I missed my bus for that picture, so appreciate it! ;)

I was supposed to go to Cardiff with a friend today, but we had to postpone it because of all the snow. We're going on Thursday now, and on Saturday I'm meeting some friends from home in London. I can't do much this week as almost everyone from Hanham is on a school trip to New York City..

Laters x

Cambridge ESOL Certificate of Advanced in English

HEY again.

Today's the first day of half term! We had an inset day today and therefore didn't have to go to school. I went anyway for an Envision meeting. 

So, I had my advanced exam last week. On Wednesday, I had my speaking and all the writing tests on Saturday.

Here's the plan:

Date	Time	Paper
13/03/2013	12:31 - 12:48	Speaking
16/03/2013	09:15 - 10:30	Reading
16/03/2013	10:50 - 12:20	Writing
16/03/2013	12:45 - 13:45	Use of English
16/03/2013	14:30 - 15:10	Listening

The speaking was a bit more nerve-racking than the proficiency one. I was there half an hour early (as they tell you to) but then I had my test right away, as some people apparently didn't turn up on time. Therefore I couldn't get to know my partner better. I was with another Swiss girl, but she's from the French part of Switzerland. Almost all the girls I met this time were Swiss - one from Lucerne, one from Geneva, one from Berne and I was representing Zurich (although I'm not actually from there). What is it with Swiss people and doing certificates?!

The actual oral test wasn't much different to the proficiency. It was one minute shorter but we also had to introduce ourselves and then we were asked questions and then we were shown pictures to discuss. All the other girls were attending a language school to prepare for the test and had learnt fancy words and tried to use as many as possible ... I didn't :/. I don't know, they all said you don't get marked on what you say, but on how you say it. I'm not sure if that's true, but I wouldn't like that concept. The questions in the oral test aren't straightforward at all. One of the guys, Nick, at the proficiency, he was asked the question: "What do you think is better - being a leader or a follower?". That's just a bloody weird question! 

The writing bit was tiring as hell. It was SO much easier than the proficiency though. It was based on the exact same parts - reading, writing, use of English and listening - but most of them are longer than in the proficiency, and the use of English bit and the reading is separated. I had to rush a bit during the proficiency but the advanced was almost too easy and I had too much time.. I don't believe in jinxing anyway.

As half term just started, my post should start getting more interesting.. I've got some things planned;). But check out the Cambridge exams if you'd like to. 

Now that we're finished talking about tests, here's Ed! My host brother and I always talk about music. He knows so much more, but I just pretend to be cool :P. He wanted to see the 'Ed' of Switzerland, so I showed him DJ Bobo and Baschi (not going to show you those :P).

My host brother showed it to me, he's flippin' cool (Ed and my 'brother'). 

My now host family is amazing! I'm so happy here. My host mum and I are going to move to Florida though, we're sick of the weather here :).

have a lovely spring time! xx

Cambridge ESOL Certificate of Proficiency in English

HIYA. It's been rather nice and spring-y the last few days but now we're back to freezing cold. It was even snowing today!
Enough about the weather. So, as you (might) know, I signed up for the Cambridge ESOL exams for Proficiency and Advanced. There are three different levels: the First, the Advanced and the Proficiency as the highest one. My English teacher at my home college said I should be able to do the Advanced one and just skip the First and with professional help I could even manage the Proficiency. However, as I'm in sixth form all the time, I didn't have time for any preparation courses. I think they'd be about 23h a week. The tests are held every few months. I signed up for the ones in March, then they're held again in June and so on. I had the Proficiency exam last week on Friday and Saturday, so I can tell you a bit about it, but I haven't had my Advanced yet. That's this week on Wednesday and Saturday.

Here is the plan they gave me:

Date	Time	Paper
08/03/2013	14:15 - 14:33	Speaking
09/03/2013	09:00 - 10:30	Reading and Use of English
09/03/2013	10:50 - 12:20	Writing
09/03/2013	12:50 - 13:30	Listening

All of them were in Clifton (the posh part of Bristol) and thankfully a friend of mine knows her way around as I had no idea. We went up to Clifton and found all the centres (and got Shakeaway;)). Then, on Friday, I had my speaking exam. The 'International House Bristol' is much smaller than I'd thought, but you can learn quite a lot of different languages. 

I had to be there half an hour before the start of my exam, so I just sat around in the waiting room. Yeah, I'm one of those people who are early to being early:P. I was the youngest one by far, but then a gril came in and sat down next to me and I could see her Swiss passport so we started talking. She was from eastern Switzerland so we thankfully spoke English;) (interesting dialect, you know). She's nineteen and just finished college in Switzerland. We were put in pairs - we got to do the test together!:D. We kept talking until the exam began, which I think made it a lot easier. We had to speak to a woman for 18 mins with a marking person in the room. First, we had to introduce ourselves, then she asked us questions individually and the other person had to comment on what the other one responded. Our conversation was based on fashion and its image. Then we were given 8 pictures (in our case pictures of different jobs) and had to talk about their value in society and think of two other jobs. That was basically it. The examiner was really lovely and she always explained everything and told us how much time we'd have for each test. I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous while being on the bus to Clifton but knowing my partner a bit better calmed me down and I really wasn't very nervous during the actual exam. I'm not sure it was enough though :P. I don't want to jinx it. It seems hard to actually show of your English abilities while talking about topics like fashion and jobs..

The other Swiss girl, Debby, and I found out we were living in the same neighbourhood, so we exchanged numbers and took the same bus the next morning. It was nice to have someone:). We were twelve people to take the test. There were four Swiss people all together - I've never seen as many Swiss people since I've come here! And yes, I was the youngest of everyone, but oh well. I think most of them were 20-30 years old. It seems as though they all did a language course over here. Most of them left on the same weekend to go home or in a few weeks. They were only here for two months at the longest. And they mostly all did another English exam before that (on the test you had to tick any you already did, and there wasn't a 'none', so I felt very unprepared :P. One of the Swiss guys, Nick from Zürich, he told me he did the First and then the Advanced in Switzerland and it was very different than it was to do the Proficiency here. He said there were about 15 examiners watching them during the tests and it was all very formal and they stored all the mobile phones in separate pouches. Compared to that, it was very chilled here. The writing exams were held in the back of a church in Clifton and there weren't many rules. We just had to leave our bags in the hallway and were only allowed a water bottle.

The 'Use of English' was by far the hardest one. To be honest, it doesn't seem very reliable to me. It's mostly about interpretation...

'Writing' was doing a summary and evaluation on two small paragraphs (on the term 'talent') and then an essay on a chosen topic (there were about five categories to choose from.. even a book review on a book I've never heard of). The 'Listening' was only about 40mins but not really straightforward either. 

What I really disliked were the answer sheets... you know, the ones you have to colour in A B or C. I think it's simply a waste of time to transfer your answers to a separate sheet..

Afterwards, Debby and I went to AngelBerry , a frozen yogurt place :D. It was lovely to meet some more exchange students although most of them already went home now.

If you've never heard of the Cambridge exams, check it out here . There are test which tell you which test would fit you best:). There's nothing to loose, except for time and money (£124 for the Proficiency and £118 for the Advanced), but that's what it's about ;).

Have a nice week x

Oliver! at the Bristol Hippodrome

I went to see Oliver! The Musical at the Hippodrome in Bristol with a friend on Sunday. It was absoultely brilliant!! Was the closing night as well:).

 

The theatre hall is beautiful as well! Very Victorian.

Neil Morrissey played Fagin and was brilliant! He's known for Men Behvaving Badly, which I haven't seen yet but my host mum really wants me to. My host brother's going to download it:). And, you won't believe it, he is the voice for Bob the Builder!!!

him as Fagin

Neil Morrissey

Yeah, everyone was brilliant, the kids too. It wasn't the kid on the advert that played Oliver though. I think it's because of child labor restrictions, they have to change the kids all the time. 

A woman with her family sat in front of my friend and me. Her 13-year-old son was part of the show, so they were all very nervous. She told us that her son has been travelling through the country for the last 6 months. That sounds flippin' awesome! I wish I would have done something useful and cool like that when I was that age!!

Here's the link to the Hippodrome, if you ever find yourself in Bristol. I definitely recommend it! The seats were really uncomfortable (a padded bench on the 'upper circle') and it was rather expensive (we payed 37.50 each, but there were seats from 25 - about 60 quid), but it was worth it.

Have a good week! x

the glass is always half full and never half empty

cheesy title, innit?:P I'm past the halfway point now..:( but I still don't know when I'll be flying back.

Hey guys! Sorry I took a small break. We had half term (holiday) last week and went back to school on Monday. A few of the exchange students have left now (the ones that did a 5-month stay), and one of my German girls left.. :( 

I'm sure I'm going to see her again though.

She invited some of us to a goodbye meal... at ZA ZA BAZAAR!! Still absolutely love it!

my dessert :D (jelly beans, chocolate-covered marshmallow, some Indish sweet ball and sushi)

those ladies were there as well :) British.. what can you do?

Oh, and I went to Bath some more... It's actually about ten minutes closer to 'my' house than Bristol, but for everyone else (people from school) it's much further. The journey by bus is really beautiful though - loads of hills and really posh houses.

When I was there, I went to shakeaway . My friend told me about it. It's flippin' amazing! I strongly recommend the custard flavour, however, my friend says Daim's the best. We'll go to the one in Bristol next week and I'll let you know about that one.  

I looked it up online and saw they're expanding internationally - but in Pakistan.. :/. Nothing good ever comes to Switzerland - except for Bruno Mars! Autumn 2013!

We also went to Swinky's - a sweets shop on Park Street in Bristol. We've exchanged our tennis-subway tradition for that now :).

I'll have Red Velvet Hot Chocolate and Rocky Road over sport anyday.

Rocky Road (dark chocolate with marshmallow and peanut butter chunks and so on..)

I'm telling you about my eating habits too much, aren't I...

The other exchange student from Hanham had a gig the other night. I couldn't take many pictures as I was filming it for his family, but here you go. Was brilliant. It was organised by 'Youth for Youth' in town.

There are ponies in Willsbridge now!! :D

I signed up for the Cambridge exams in March now. I couldn't decide if I should do the Advanced or the Proficiency, so I'm doing both now.. yaay:/. I think the Advanced is about 118 and the Proficiency 124 quid.. They're quite full on, but I unfortunately can't go to any of the preparation classes because of sixth form. I'll just try my best but it is rather scary. Let me know if you've done any of them before and have any tips. Would be lovely. I've got them on the 8th, 9th, 13th and 16th of March in the International House Bristol. Reading, listening, writing and oral.

Training has been amazing! I'm now in the men's class on Mondays and women's class on Wednesday. It's called HitFit by the way, but I think it's just a very small club - very successful though. I go to the men's class regardless, I don't like such separations. There are some machos, but then I can always just kick them in the thigh ;). We did that the other week and today one of them said he couldn't get up from the toilet afterwards (as his legs were bruised), because of me :). 

I've taken soo many photos of the sky in the morning while walking to school and don't want to waste them.. they are quite nice :). The weather isn't as awesome anymore. It's just freezing now and it even was snowing a bit this morning. But nothing long-lasting.

Ben Howard won 2 BRIT Awards this week, which is great! Quoting my host brother: ,,He is pretty fucking good!". I think I found a new method to swear in my posts without actually swearing :).

I got lost again the other day. I walked home with a girl I used to walk home with, back when I lived with my old family. She walked me to the borders of Willsbridge, however, it still took me about 50 minutes:P. It's such a small town, but everything looks exactly the same - red-bricked. I actually really like getting lost now though :) since I got lost all the time in the first few weeks, I know really random corners now, but that can be useful sometimes.

I'm going to the Bristol Hippodrome this Sunday with a girl from school. We're going to see Oliver! which sounds brilliant. It better will be, we had to pay 37.50 each!! That's even rather expensive for Switzerland. There were tickets from 27.50 up to around 60 pounds, but those for 27 were absolute rubbish..

I've bought all the Inbetweeners series now - and the film. I really like it!!

 Oh, and we're going to Paris during our next holiday. My friend's dad wants her to improve her French so he's paying for all of our Eurostar journeys :D I'm not sure it's going to help with our French, but I'm certainly not complaining..!

And the guy I used to help with French.. he dropped it now:P don't know what that says about my teaching skills^^.

Have a wonderful weekend!! x