Day-1   26th June 2016 – The SIS group reached the Biju Patnaiak International Airport in Bhubaneswar with great excitement and delight. The parents, Principal and teachers of the school cheered the group and also gave necessary tips for the trip. After a long overnight flight we reached Heathrow early in the morning with a pleasant English weather. The drivers took us to the Chosen Hill with a short break for a Mc Donald’s treat as a brunch. The coordinating teacher Amanda Ma’am and the parents with our host friends were waiting to receive us in the school Campus. It was such a pleasure to meet our respective host students and later we drove to their houses and we all were very happy and comfortable in a new home yet so friendly and warm. – Anuj Mohanty

Day-2   27th June 2016 – It was a fine day with the sun in the sky… we got to know something about the English culture means how they eat ,what they eat and many more. Today was our first day in Chosen Hill School. It is really a beautiful school with lots of greenery. We attended classes with our hosts to get some information about the educational system and we got it too. We played an English sport known as rounders in the afternoon. We made a lot of friends and gathered a lot of experience. We all had some wonderful lunch in the school. At last we prepared baked Swiss rolls and enjoyed it a lot. Doing the activity along with the students of SAI and Chosen Hill guided by the English teachers was a real fun activity. We can now make baked Swiss rolls for our parents. The day was wonderful with lots of learning and fun as well. –  Soumya Saswat Panda

Day-3 28th June 2016 – On 28^th June we reached the Churchdown Primary school with our teacher, Amanda Ma’am and Alice Ma’am for a project. It is a junior school with classes I to VI.It is a lovely school and some students of class VI showed us round the school. We helped some students with the water measuring activity and then we went to class V where we helped them with understanding of water cycle. After that we participated with the class IV students for a camping activity where the students showed us the different places with fallen tree and dry areas. The teacher then taught us a kind of a knot to tightly hold a bunch of logs which can be burnt easily. We made a camp fire for making marsh mallows and popcorns. We conducted an assembly to show the students a presentation on saving water.We also met our Rosy Ma’am there who came from Churchdown Village Infant school to meet us.We returned back to Chosen Hill school after having our lunch there. – Aadyasha Mohanty

Day-4   29^th  June  2016 – Today we went to Oxford with Jaysurya sir and Miss Amanda. It was an open day at Oxford so we could actually go inside the library and see the students’ rooms in the hostel. It was a majestic experience. Only disadvantage was that it was raining and we couldn’t put out the school banner and take a group photograph. Seeing one of the most famous Universities of the World , gave a different kind of experience all together. The entire place is beautiful and very oriental. We also looked around the place and did little bit of shopping inspite of the drizzle and showers. We had lunch in Oxford and came back in the evening with pleasant experience. – Anwesha Mohanty

Day-5  30^th  June  2016 – Today in the morning we reached Chosen Hill School with our host. We were told to conduct an assembly in the morning. We conducted an assembly for class 7 students. We showcased our Indian culture on the stage.We were dressed up with dresses of different states of India and we walked on the stage while two of our friends showed a power point presentation.The student audience asked us a lot of questions on Indian culture and we all loved to answer them.

Then we took the group photograph after the assembly. After that we went to Drayton manor in the bus. After a long journey of  one and a half hours we reached Drayton Manor. We were given some breakfast before we went for the rides. We had great fun on the different rides. We were given time intervals  and identified places where  we would meet . We got around six hours to enjoy the beautiful theme park and have fun. Then finally we came back from that place having a great time. I think the rides were amazing. I went to all the rides and had lots of fun. – Jayesh Jethy

Day-5  30^th  June  2016 – I woke up at 7:30 am with the feeling that this 30^th of June which surely promises me even an  exciting yet learning experience. Today is my 5th day in Gloucester. Started the day with breakfast at 7.45, prepared by my host Mom.We had pan cakes. At 8:15 I reached Chosen Hill school with Bethany (my host) in my traditional costumes for assembly. I was representing West Bengal so I was wearing a white saree with  red border. So were other students ready with their costumes. We got a very thrilling response from the audience. Representing my country’s culture in a foreign land gave me and my companions a sense of pride and honour. After the assembly we had a group photograph. We changed our costumes and boarded our bus to Drayton Manor,the theme park. It took us two hours to reach there.  Our teachers instructed us some rules and then we all were busy in our rides and fun games. Excitement coupled with entertainment followed and kept us occupied for a couple of hours till we felt hungry. French fries and fried chicken was a relief to hunger pangs. We had lots of fun and then we boarded the bus at 3:30 and reached the school at 5:30 and I went with  my host to a pub, as they call a restaurant there. The host family with all their extended family members were present and I felt at home. It was already 7.00 pm when we returned to our beds. In spite of being a tiring day the rides in the park with friends from Chosen Hill school was quite an experience. It made me take chances and explore my potential to take risks with many rides which seemed awful. The warmth and friendliness I discovered among us was amazing. Be it anywhere… it is always adjustment with a positive feeling. – Mansita Mishra

Day-6   1^st July 2016 – Today morning we first went to school then after that at 8:55 am we went to the famous Gloucester Cathedral .It was a beautiful cathedral and we enjoyed a tour of the Cathedral that said a lot about the history of the place and the most important of all reminded us of Harry Porter stories as most of the movies are shot here. After that we returned back to school and then we attended the last period after that we all returned back to our host family’s house with our hosts. It was a very good day for us. By now we had become very friendly with our host and his family.We really enjoyed in their homes.They also took us to different places in the evenings which was another great experience.   – Gour Gopal Karan

Day-7 : 2nd July, 2016 – We were almost heading towards the end of the 10 days trip to the UK.We had already spent six wonderful days in Gloucester. Today we got together and as it was a Saturday there was no School so it was a free day. We had an English breakfast and then we went to the Gloucester Docks. It was nice and in the evening our hosts had special plans for us which we  enjoyed and went to bed early after packing as we had to start early for London the next morning.As I rested on the last day I thought about all the learning experience we had and also all the fun we did besides having the company of new friends and the host families who treated us so well.Of course we looked forward to the three days we were going to spend in London before departing to our own country. – Rishabh Parida

Day-8 : 3rd July, 2016 – We all left our host homes and went to Chosen Hill school. Our teachers and the teachers of CHS along with the host families were all waiting .Our hosts bade farewell in a very nice way. We exchanged some thank you cards and said the final goodbye at 9.30am. We started off on our London trip to explore yet another part of our trip by visiting a dream city that is London and Mr. Ken ,a former teacher of CHS and  a teacher trainer who visits our school every year also joined us.He was kind enough to be there with us and guide us in London. We checked in to the Hotel London Central Kings Cross Travelodge and kept our luggage in our respective rooms.  We moved to an Indian restaurant and had Biryani there. It was great to have Indian food after a long time.We moved on for a city tour hopping on the Red bus and changed our bus twice to move on different routes. We watched different monuments like the London Bridge, Big Ben ,Trafalgar square and the Buckingham Palace etc. We moved to an Indian restaurant and had dinner and went to our respective rooms to wake up for one more day of excitement. – Subham Chandak

Day-9 : 4^th July  2016 – The 2^nd day in London was very exciting as we knew from our itineraries that we are going to visit some very exciting places.After breakfast we all took the tube train to rush to Madam Tussauds as we had a time slot for 10.30 am.We all reached there on time and looking at the Wax statues of the famous personalities of the world was astounding.We took selfies with Indian celebrities there.After that we soon rushed to the London Eye where we enjoyed the ride.It was like being on top of the world at one point of time.After having lunch we moved to the Oxford Street to do shopping. In the meanwhile we said bye to Ken Sir who was with us for two days. We returned back to the hotel tired and with shopping bags full of gifts for our near and dear ones. – Adarsh Chandak

Day-9 : 4^th July  2016 – The 2^nd day in London was very exciting as we knew from our itineraries that we are going to visit some very exciting places.After breakfast we all took the tube train to rush to Madam Tussauds as we had a time slot for 10.30 am.We all reached there on time and looking at the Wax statues of the famous personalities of the world was astounding.We took selfies with Indian celebrities there.After that we soon rushed to the London Eye where we enjoyed the ride.It was like being on top of the world at one point of time.After having lunch we moved to the Oxford Street to do shopping. In the meanwhile we said bye to Ken Sir who was with us for two days. We returned back to the hotel tired and with shopping bags full of gifts for our near and dear ones. – Adarsh Chandak

Day-8 : 5th July, 2016 – Today is the last day of our very enjoyable UK trip.We were little bit sad but happy that we would go back home. Some of us had really started feeling home sick.However,early morning we woke up and went out to have breakfast. After that we took the tube train to reach Buckingham Palace to see the changing of Gaurds ceremony which was really a feast for our eyes. We will always remember the view of this event. We took a lot of pictures there. As it was already late we came back to our hotel to check out and then waited for the taxis to arrive. By evening 6 pm we were there at the Airport. It was easy for us to complete the boarding and immigration process much before the flight time. We whiled away our time in the Airport and boarded the AIR India flight back to our own land-India. We reached Delhi the next day morning and we had the whole day with us to take the next flight to Bhubaneswar and we knew our parents would be waiting eagerly at the Airport to receive us. We spent the day having lunch and looking around the different shops at the Airport. We all came back loaded with great experience which will be cherished by all of us forever.

We all are very thankful to our school and parents for having given us this opportunity of going on this student exchange visit to UK. – Animesh Mohanty